Denali Park Road Timed Entry (2020)

Permit Reservations

Any private vehicle driving the Denali Park Road past Mile 15 will need a permit. The permit holder needs to be in the vehicle and present ID at the time of entry. Visit the park's current conditions webpage for answers to Frequently Asked Questions .  

PLEASE NOTE: Permits are only available during the summer of 2021 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because these permit reservations may sell quickly, we recommend that you create an account on Recreation.gov and ensure that you're logged into your account prior to the ticket release time.

Park Entrance Fees

Are required at the time of the permit reservation, no payment accepted when entering the park. Please purchase entrance fees through Recreation.gov and present the receipt at time of entry. Or if you have an annual or lifetime pass at the time of your permit reservation those are accepted as your entrance fee. Valid entrance passes accepted are: Denali National Park & Preserve Annual Pass, Interagency passes including: Annual, Senior Lifetime, Senior Annual, Access, Volunteer, Military, Veteran, Gold Star Family and 4th Grade Pass. 5th grade voucher also accepted for summer 2021. Pass holders must present pass and ID at time of entry.    

Additional information

Denali National Park & Preserve is six million acres of wild land, bisected by one ribbon of road. Travelers see low-elevation taiga forest give way to rivers and views of the snow capped peaks in the Alaska Range. Wild animals, large and small, roam unfenced lands, living as they have for ages. Solitude, tranquility, and wilderness await.    

Visitors are invited to explore the  park's websitefor additional information.   

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the park will implement a timed entry road permit reservation system to allow some private vehicles to travel the restricted portion of the Denali Park Road to Mile 30. This 2021 offering will allow for additional access beyond the limited transit and tour bus schedule and complies with CDC social distancing guidelines. Visitors who wish to explore the park road past Mile 30 should explore bus reservations. 

Driving the Denali Park Road is a unique opportunity and not to be undertaken lightly. Visitors will traverse a winding, gravel road with some steep slopes, narrow shoulders, no cell service and limited access to facilities. Please be aware you’ll be sharing the road with buses and heavy equipment.   

Many rural locations in Alaska use a mile marker on a road to denote their physical address. Denali's entrance is at Mile 237, Highway 3. For people who wish to use a GPS device to navigate their way here, you may need to input the latitude and longitude of the park entrance: 63.728443, -148.886572.  

There is one road entrance into Denali. This entrance is along Alaska Highway 3 (also called the George Parks Highway) about 240 miles north of Anchorage and 120 miles south of Fairbanks. For reference with neighboring communities, the park is 30 miles north of Cantwell and 12 miles south of Healy (the nearest year-round communities in the Denali Borough). 

Upon arrival at Denali’s entrance it is a 30-minute drive to Savage River Check Station, Mile 15 of the Denali Park Road, to check-in.