Key factors that will affect how long it will take you to drive to Alaska This will mean that even if your car is well prepared with winter tires, 4 wheel drive and good insulation, you'll often find yourself driving much slower than what you'd be able to do in the summer months.īake in at least 50% on top of the normal amount of time it takes and allow for more frequent overnight stops if you're driving to Alaska in the winter.Īt times, a major snowstorm will mean that even the well maintained and generally clear Canadian roads become impassible which can mean having to wait a day or two for them to be cleared and reopened - be prepared for having to turn back and spend longer on your way. The weather in the winter in parts of northern Canada can turn very harsh with snowstorms and lots of ice on the roads. The roads are paved the entire way and the quality of the roads is generally very high - that's not going to be your problem. If you're driving from the Lower 48 states of the United States to Alaska in the winter, be prepared for your journey to take much longer than the navigator will say or you might think. The time taken to drive to Alaska depends on which route you take. to Alaska is going to be long wherever you start, but if you live on the East Coast, I'd seriously consider your options - the drive will take you 20 days if you're planning to return so you'd better have a great reason for opting to do it instead of taking a flight! How long do the four routes to Alaska through Canada take?ĭepending on where in the United States you start from, you're likely to drive to Alaska along one of 4 different routes that each take a different amount of time to drive.įrom the West Coast, you'll follow the route north from Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and other neighbor states will cross through Montana and drive the length of Alberta.įor the majority of the U.S., the fastest route to Alaska cuts through from North Dakota while the residents of Maine will find that driving across the Trans-Canada Highway is the quickest option. Cities to Anchorage, Alaska, assuming up to 8 hours on the road per day. All distances are to Anchorage so if you're going elsewhere in Alaska, it may take longer or less time to get there. The driving time given below is in hours with a realistic expectation for how many days that will take if you're going to be driving for up to 8 hours a day before taking stops into account. cities in order of the least time it will take to drive to Alaska below - if you live in or near one of these, that should give you a decent benchmark. Even if you're coming from Southern United States and have to drive through the whole country before you even enter Canada, you'll be driving through more of Canada than you will the U.S. The fact is that you have to drive through a long stretch of Canada wherever you're coming from in the U.S.
Starting in Washington State or Montana, the journey will be shortest at as little as 45 hours on the road, but if you're setting off from southern Florida, expect to spend 2 weeks driving all the way across the United States and Canada. The time taken to drive to Alaska depends a lot on where you start from in the United States.
How long it takes to drive to Alaska from different parts of the United States