Historic Inns & Hotels in Alaska

The regions

Where to stay, by region

Southeast Alaska

Seven of the 10 stays we list are here, in five towns. Ketchikan, Juneau and Gustavus have no road link to the rest of North America, so you reach them by plane or ferry. In Juneau, The Alaskan Hotel & Bar opened on South Franklin Street on September 16, 1913, and is individually listed on the National Register. The hotel calls itself the oldest operating hotel in Alaska; the National Register form says more narrowly that it is the oldest operating hotel in Juneau and among the oldest in continuous operation in Alaska. The Baranof Downtown, on North Franklin Street, was dedicated on March 10, 1939, as a six-story hotel and has been nine stories since 1970; it was formerly the Westmark Baranof. In Skagway, At the White House is the 1902 home of Lee Guthrie, a contributing building in the Skagway and White Pass District National Historic Landmark, and the inn lists nine rooms. In Haines, Hotel Halsingland occupies former officers’ quarters inside Fort William H. Seward, a National Historic Landmark built in 1902–04; we have no date for the specific quarters, and the hotel lists 35 rooms. In Ketchikan, the Gilmore Hotel opened in 1927 on Front Street, and the New York Hotel went up in 1924 on pilings overlooking Thomas Basin. In Gustavus, Glacier Bay Lodge is the only visitor lodging inside Glacier Bay National Park. Its lodge and first cabins date to 1965–66 and more cabins to 1972–73, and it was listed on the National Register on October 5, 2026, as the Glacier Bay Lodge Complex Historic District. We list no stay in Sitka, Wrangell or Petersburg.

Southcentral Alaska

Three of the stays we list are here: two in downtown Anchorage and one in Talkeetna. Hotel Captain Cook is Wally Hickel’s hotel, built after the 1964 earthquake and opened in 1965. It grew with two later towers, and it is the only Alaska member of Historic Hotels of America. The Historic Anchorage Hotel on E Street is the 1936 Anchorage Hotel Annex, individually listed on the National Register. The hotel markets 1916, but that date belongs to the original Anchorage Hotel, which stood across the alley and was demolished in the late 1960s, so guests sleep in the 1936 building. The Annex predates the 1964 earthquake. In Talkeetna, Ben Nauman built the Fairview Inn between 1920 and 1923. It is individually listed on the National Register and a contributing property in the Talkeetna Historic District, and President Warren Harding had his hair cut there during his 1923 trip to drive the gold spike marking the railroad’s completion. Its rooms share two baths and sit above a live-music bar. We list no stay in the town of Seward, Palmer or Homer, because none passed our checks.

The Interior, Copper River and Arctic

We list no stay here yet, because none passed our checks. The places we looked at fell short on a historic credential, on online booking or on evidence that they are operating. That covers Fairbanks, the Denali area and Nome as well as the Copper River country.

Before you book

Planning your stay

Before you book

Check dates first, because these stays do not all sell the same months. On October 30, 2026, At the White House had its November 2026 dates on sale, but its July 2027 dates were not. The same day, the Gilmore Hotel showed no availability for that night and showed June 2027 rates, so check winter dates there. Hotel Halsingland had June and July 2027 on sale, but it does not state whether it operates in winter. Glacier Bay Lodge’s published 2026 season ran from May 21 to September 8; July 2027 was on sale, but we could not find its 2027 season dates. Travel Juneau lists the Baranof Downtown as year-round.

Room choice matters at two stays. At the New York Hotel, book a New York room, not the Inn at Creek Street’s Bayside rooms, which are in a different building; the inn’s site says to call to book a specific room. At Hotel Captain Cook, ask which rooms are in the 1965 building, because we could not confirm that the booking engine sorts rooms by tower.

Expect shared baths at two stays: about half the rooms at The Alaskan Hotel & Bar use them, and the rooms at the Fairview Inn share two baths and sit above a live-music bar. The Alaskan Hotel & Bar is stairs only, with rooms on the second to fourth floors. At the White House has no elevator. Neither does the New York Hotel, which has a steep original staircase. The Alaskan Hotel & Bar calls itself a 21+ adult establishment because of its attached bar, and Expedia listings say the Fairview Inn requires guests to be 21 or older, so ask the inn. At the White House, at least one person in each room must be 18 or older, and no breakfast is served. Breakfast is included at The Historic Anchorage Hotel, where parking costs $20 a day. Parking is free on site at Hotel Halsingland. Hotel Halsingland and The Alaskan Hotel & Bar take pets; At the White House, the New York Hotel and Glacier Bay Lodge do not.

Ways in

Themes in Alaska

Skagway’s gold-rush house, Juneau’s hotels

At the White House in Skagway was built in 1902 as the home of Lee Guthrie, a saloon owner and civic official during the town’s gold-rush years. After Guthrie left town it became a small hotel, and the Army used it as a small hospital during World War II. The hotel ran through the 1977 season, when a fire damaged the building, and later owners restored it as a guest house. In Juneau, promoter Jules B. Caro and the brothers James and John McCloskey, miners who had struck pay dirt at Atlin in British Columbia, formed the partnership that built The Alaskan Hotel, which opened on September 16, 1913, next door to the declining Central hotel. It later traded as the Northlander. Mike and Bettye Adams bought it in 1977 and restored the original name and Victorian interior. On North Franklin Street, the Baranof was dedicated on March 10, 1939, with more than 400 people attending. Records for the Juneau Downtown Historic District describe it as among the first structures in Alaska built entirely of reinforced concrete.

Fort William H. Seward

The U.S. Army built Fort William H. Seward between 1902 and 1904 beside Haines, a settlement the hotel’s history says the Presbyterian Church founded in 1881 at the invitation of local Tlingit people. The post was established during the U.S.-Canada boundary dispute and was renamed Chilkoot Barracks before its deactivation after World War II. Five veterans and their families bought the fort as surplus, and in late 1947 Hilma and Clarence Mattson bought the commanding and bachelor officers’ quarters. Hilma, an immigrant from the Swedish province of Hälsingland, named Hotel Halsingland after it. The hotel says Eleanor Dusenbury, a commander’s wife, wrote the music for Alaska’s flag song there. The fort is a National Historic Landmark, and we have no date for the specific quarters the hotel occupies.

Glacier Bay’s National Park lodge

A lodge at Bartlett Cove was first proposed in 1945 but was built only under the National Park Service’s Mission 66 program. Seattle’s John Morse and Associates designed the complex, which won AIA honor awards in 1967 and 1974. The lodge and first cabins were built in 1965–66, and more cabins followed in 1972–73. NPS says its forms respond to the temperate rainforest and recall the arts and crafts traditions of the Indigenous Tlingit people. The complex was listed on the National Register on October 5, 2026, as the Glacier Bay Lodge Complex Historic District. It remains the only visitor lodging inside the park, and the park’s visitor center occupies the second floor. Gustavus has no road link to the rest of North America, so you reach it by plane or ferry.

Road trip

Up the Inside Passage

Ketchikan

This is a trip by ferry or plane, not a drive: Ketchikan and Juneau have no road link to the rest of North America. Start at the New York Hotel of 1924, on pilings overlooking Thomas Basin, or the Gilmore Hotel on Front Street, opened in 1927.

Juneau

Stay on Franklin Street at The Alaskan Hotel & Bar, opened in 1913, or the Baranof Downtown, dedicated in 1939.

Haines

Stay at Hotel Halsingland, in former officers’ quarters inside Fort William H. Seward, a National Historic Landmark.

Skagway

Finish with a night At the White House, Lee Guthrie’s 1902 home. Check dates first: on October 30, 2026, its July 2027 dates were not on sale.

Context

History and architecture

Hotel Halsingland’s history says the Presbyterian Church founded Haines in 1881 at the invitation of local Tlingit people. The earliest buildings we list date from the first years of the 20th century: Lee Guthrie’s house in Skagway, built in 1902, and Fort William H. Seward, which the U.S. Army built beside Haines between 1902 and 1904. The Alaskan Hotel opened in Juneau in 1913, a year after Alaska became a territory. In Talkeetna, Ben Nauman built the Fairview between 1920 and 1923, shortly after the Alaska Railroad station was established. Ketchikan gained the New York Hotel on Stedman Street in 1924 and the Gilmore in 1927, after a February 1926 fire destroyed the Pioneer Hotel and nine other businesses. The Anchorage Hotel Annex opened in 1936, and the Baranof was dedicated in Juneau in 1939. After World War II the fort at Haines was sold as surplus, and its officers’ quarters became Hotel Halsingland. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Wally Hickel built Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage after the 1964 earthquake, and it opened in 1965. Glacier Bay Lodge, a National Park Service Mission 66 project, opened in June 1966.