The Seward Highway leaves Anchorage behind and settles in along the edge of Turnagain Arm, where the Chugach Mountains drop toward gray tidal flats and the light changes every few minutes. At the end of that long inlet sits Girdwood, a resort town under the slopes of Alyeska, with forest on every side. Getting there from Anchorage is a morning’s outing by road or by rail, and it is the start of a good day in the mountains.
How do you get to Girdwood from Anchorage?
Girdwood lies 37 miles south of Anchorage, and the main way in is the Seward Highway, about an hour behind the wheel. Girdwood is reached from the highway at Milepost 90, so the turn is easy to keep in mind as the miles tick by along the water. The Alaska Railroad also serves the town, and its trains take a little longer than the car.
What decides between the two is the kind of day you want. By car, you set your own hours, you can pull over wherever the view asks for it, and you can head back to Anchorage whenever the afternoon is over.
By train, you give up that freedom but you also give up the driving. You sit by a window while the track winds along Turnagain Arm, where the mountains plunge directly to the water, and you arrive without having watched the road at all.
Timing matters on the road. The Seward Highway is scenic, but it can be slow during peak summer travel times, so a morning departure from Anchorage leaves room for the pace to change on you.
Alaska 511, the state road information service, sorts road conditions into clear categories, from Good and Fair up through Difficult, Very Difficult and Hazardous, to Road Closure and No Winter Maintenance. It also carries incidents and closures reported through Waze, so a look before you leave tells you what the highway is doing that day.
The train comes with its own calendar. The Coastal Classic runs between Anchorage, Girdwood and Seward only in a set season, and the Glacier Discovery Train follows much of the same route with its own stops.
Both are described in the next part, along with what each is like to ride and who each suits. Whichever you pick, the destination is the same: a resort town near the end of Turnagain Arm, with Alaska’s largest ski area rising behind it.
Ways to get to Girdwood from Anchorage
By car on the Seward Highway
The drive is the most direct way to reach Girdwood and the one that asks the least of your schedule. You follow the Seward Highway south out of Anchorage, with Turnagain Arm on one side and the Chugach Mountains on the other, until Milepost 90 brings you to the Girdwood turnoff. The trip takes about an hour each way, though a busy summer day can stretch it.
A car suits anyone who wants to stop along the way, whether for a look at the tidal flats or for a longer stay at Alyeska. It also suits those who want to leave at an odd hour or make a second stop before heading home. Turnagain Arm has the largest tides in the United States, and the water level and the light on the flats change from one visit to the next, so the same road can feel different on two trips.
One tip: look at the Alaska 511 site before you leave. Its road condition categories and Waze-reported incidents give you a picture of the highway that morning, which matters most when the traffic is heavy or the weather is turning.
By train on the Alaska Railroad
Two Alaska Railroad trains serve Girdwood. The Coastal Classic travels from Anchorage through Girdwood to Seward, and the Glacier Discovery Train runs from Anchorage to Girdwood, Whittier, Portage, Spencer and Grandview. The ride from Anchorage to Girdwood takes about 1.5 hours. Along the way the track winds beside Turnagain Arm, where the Chugach Range drops straight to the water, and National Geographic Traveler ranked the Coastal Classic among its Top Ten Train Rides in North America.
The Coastal Classic runs daily between Anchorage, Girdwood and Seward from May 14 to September 12, 2027. Its train leaves Anchorage at 6:45 AM and reaches Seward at 11:20 AM, and the return leaves Seward at 6:00 PM and arrives in Anchorage at 10:15 PM.
An Adventure Class adult one-way fare from Anchorage to Girdwood is $103, and a child from 2 to 11 pays $52. GoldStar Service is also offered on the Coastal Classic route.
The Glacier Discovery Train covers much of the same ground, then turns off the main line toward Whittier and goes on to a turnaround point at Grandview. It stops at some areas reachable only by train, which makes day trips possible for all ages and energy levels. The train suits travelers who would rather look out the window than at the road, and those who like the idea of reaching Girdwood with the scenery doing the work.
Options compared
| Option | Time each way | Best for | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car on the Seward Highway | About 1 hour | Setting your own hours and stopping along Turnagain Arm | Can be slow during peak summer travel times, and Alaska 511 shows road conditions |
| Coastal Classic Train | About 1.5 hours | Watching the Arm from a window on the way to Girdwood | Runs daily from May 14 to September 12, 2027, and leaves Anchorage at 6:45 AM |
| Glacier Discovery Train | About 1.5 hours by Alaska Railroad train from Anchorage | Reaching stops that only the train serves, including Whittier | Follows much of the Coastal Classic route and turns around at Grandview |
The two ways of getting to Girdwood differ less in distance than in what they give you. The car gives you control of the day, from the first stop on the shore of Turnagain Arm to the last look at the mountains before the drive back. The train gives you the view without the work, and a morning departure that fixes the shape of the trip from the start.
The Glacier Discovery Train adds a third pattern, since the same line that reaches Girdwood also reaches Whittier, Portage, Spencer and Grandview. A traveler who likes the idea of a rail day can think of Girdwood as one stop among several rather than the only point on the map. The Coastal Classic does something similar in the other direction, continuing on to Seward for those who want a longer journey.
None of these choices changes where you end up. Girdwood is a resort town at the foot of the mountain, and the pleasures of the place are the same whether you arrived by highway or by rail.
Making a day of it
A day in Girdwood begins before you arrive, because the road or the track along Turnagain Arm is part of the outing. The inlet stretches from east to west for a long way, and the shoreline changes character as the mountains close in toward the end of it. Starting early from Anchorage leaves the day’s best hours for the mountain, and the morning departure of the Coastal Classic builds that start into the schedule.
Along Turnagain Arm
Turnagain Arm has tides of up to 40 feet, the largest in the United States, and the water leaves the flats and returns on a rhythm of its own. The flood tide often begins with a tidal bore, a wave that can reach 6 feet and moves at 5 to 6 miles per hour. Whether you see one depends on the tide that day, so treat it as a chance rather than a plan.
If you drive, the Seward Highway lets you watch the shoreline at your own pace, with the Chugach Mountains rising close beside the water. If you take the train, you see the same stretch from the window, which suits anyone who would rather not split attention between the scenery and the road. Either way, the Arm is the first thing Girdwood has to show you.
At Alyeska Resort
Alyeska Resort sits in the heart of the Chugach Mountains and is the largest ski area in Alaska. Its name comes from an Aleut word meaning great land of the white to the east. At the top of the mountain stands the Mt. Alyeska Roundhouse, an octagonal building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, which now houses a museum of local ski history.
The resort offers summer activities such as sightseeing, kid-friendly activities, day trips and biking, and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is highlighted among them. In winter, the same center is still on the list, and heli-skiing and cat-skiing tours are offered as winter activities. What you do depends on the season, but the mountain is the reason most people come to Girdwood.
A side trip toward Whittier
The Glacier Discovery Train stops at Whittier as well as Girdwood, so a rail day can stretch beyond the town. By road, Whittier is reached through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which connects the city and the Portage Glacier area to the Seward Highway along the Portage Glacier Highway. Vehicles are limited to 25 miles per hour inside, so the passage takes about ten minutes.
Pedestrians and bicycles are not allowed in the tunnel, except during the annual Walk to Whittier event. That makes the train the way to reach Whittier without a vehicle, and the road the way to reach it with one. It is a different kind of outing from a day at Alyeska, and one that fits a traveler with time to add a second destination.
Good to know before you go
Seasons shape the choices. The Coastal Classic runs from mid-May to mid-September in 2027, so outside those months the road is the way to reach Girdwood from Anchorage, and Alaska 511 is the place to see what it is doing.
Alyeska keeps a separate list of activities for summer and winter, and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center appears on both. Whichever way you arrive, the Seward Highway at Milepost 90 and the train line both end up at the same resort town at the head of Turnagain Arm.
Sources
- Alaska.org, dest girdwood (https://www.alaska.org/destination/girdwood), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikivoyage, Girdwood (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Girdwood), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikipedia, Girdwood, Alaska (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girdwood,_Alaska), checked October 11, 2026
- Alyeska Resort, Girdwood (https://www.alyeskaresort.com/), checked October 11, 2026
- Alyeska Resort, summer (https://www.alyeskaresort.com/summer/), checked October 11, 2026
- Alyeska Resort, winter (https://www.alyeskaresort.com/winter/), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikipedia, Alyeska Resort (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyeska_Resort), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikipedia, Turnagain Arm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnagain_Arm), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Our trains (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/our-trains), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Department of Transportation, Alaska Marine Highway System, Alaska Marine Highway System (https://dot.alaska.gov/amhs/index.shtml), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska 511 (https://511.alaska.gov/), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Denali Star (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/our-trains/denali-star), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Coastal Classic (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/our-trains/coastal-classic), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Glacier Discovery (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/our-trains/glacier-discovery), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Train schedules (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/schedules), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Train fares (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/fares), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikipedia, Whittier Tunnel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittier_Tunnel), checked October 11, 2026