Best Time of Year to Visit Alaska
For Anchorage and farther north, the last week of May is when we usually advise our friends to come – the weather is nice and the cruise ships haven’t arrived en masse. (For travel to southeast Alaska (Juneau, etc.) the weather starts to be nicer about mid-May.) If you are planning a lot of backcountry hiking you might want to wait till mid-June to be sure to avoid snow. Even late June. You could avoid the snow earlier than that by staying at sea level but there are few backcountry hikes in Alaska that are entirely at sea level. As for the end of summer, the weather is milder starting the first week of September (light jackets), but still reliably nice through the end of September. After that, well – you could get snow and freezing rain (or some really nice days.) August tends to be rainier than July. As for the light, there’s plenty all summer long – a very cool feature of summer.
A Plug for March: Most long term Alaskans find a way to leave for at least one stretch in the winter, usually in December when they visit family and skip the shortest day of the year. But March is really nice. Plenty of light (about the same as most of the Lower 48 as we’re half way between the shortest and longest days) and plenty of snow (November and December can have heaps of snow, or worse, none at all.) But in March you can reliably ski (downhill, cross country, back country, heli skiiing), snowmachine (though not our thing) or ice skate (not that you’d really go anywhere to ice skate but you should consider this amazing ice skating around icebergs in Cordova, Alaska [link]. Also in March: The End of the Ididarod and Ski Train! [links – our two favorite festivals of the year (and there are plenty to choose from.)
