Denali Adventure Tours — Attraction in Alaska

TLDR: weather has huge impact on what you will see with the Denali Peak Experience Flight. Don’t rely on booking agents advice.

As some reviews suggest, be very careful of when you decide to do a flight excursion if you want to see Mt. Denali. I did the Denali Peak Experience Flight in mid/late August 2023 (449 USD) and I was quite disappointed. Not with the pilot or his thorough knowledge of the park, but with what the tour and booking agents advertise versus what you will experience. Tour description suggests “to get within ½ mile of Denali. Weather permitting, this flight will circle Denali to see every spectacular corner of this majestic mountain”. Asked booking agent in town his opinion on the weather for the tour (mainly overcast in town) and he suggested the weather looks decent for the tour. Unless you’re considerably tuned to what weather patterns the mountain might cause, this suggestion was really misleading. It wasn’t until we got to the facility/Denali Air’s runway that the desk attendant and pilot informs us that Mt. Denali creates its own weather pattern and pilot did not feel confident we would venture far into Denali. We ended up reaching 20 miles away from Mt. Denali before turning back and hardly broke into territory of snow capped mountains, let alone even see Mt. Denali from a distance (I never ended up seeing the mountain). For our limited viewing, we were refunded 80 USD. Nonetheless, the pilot was great. The reason it’s not 1 star, is because the Pilot did a great job given the circumstances. The negligence here seems to lie on the booking agents and their correspondence with the tour company regarding conditions and communicating the reality of the conditions and what’s to be expected before booking. If conditions aren’t adequate to have the experience advertised, don’t advise customers to do it. I much rather would have preferred to be educated on adequate conditions to see Mt. Denali and the surrounding mountains, and done the tour during a future visit rather than waste 370 USD on a mountain viewing where I saw essentially none of the snow capped mountains and saw more mountain views from a window seat on my flight out...

Beyond Words! My cousin and I were visiting Denali for the first time and had just "landed" in town after taking the bus from Talkeetna. It was a blue sky day and we decided to walk and explore as we were not able to check in to our hotel for another couple hours. We decided to walk the strip with gift shops and look for restaurants and just stretch our legs after the ride. We locked eyes with Matt with Denali Adventures as we were ascending the steps and he immediately greeted us with a friendly smile and told us we should "take a plane tour today!" My cousin and I were a little skeptical at first, but we were encouraged by Matt's enthusiasm and emphasis on the fact that this was the best day, with the best conditions for flying all season! He emphatically showed us video of the flight and photos of how beautiful the park is from above. Given that the park was closed we were strongly considering taking the offer to fly. My cousin and I talked it over during our lunch at a restaurant (black bear) recommended by Matt that was fantastic as well! We decided to take the tour! We didn't know when we would be able to return, and we were reminiscing about how our parents had not been to the park in over 25 years. Our flight was INCREDIBLE! Our pilot was Captian Kurt! He was well informed and when we were not listening to the audio guide was excitedly telling us about how this was one of the best days he had seen all year! We had a very smooth ride with nobody getting an upset stomach. Which we were very happy about. We were able to see ALL of Denali and this is more rare than we expected. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who is visiting the area. Our experience from booking to touching back down was a SPECTACULAR. This was not a planned adventure for us but it will be the part of our trip we will be talking about the most for many years to come! See the photos below for how incredible the day was! Thank you...

I lucked out by calling Denali Adventure Tours because our previous days plan was cancelled by inclement weather. Other tour companies i found were booked out for a week or longer. I spoke with Whit who asked what I was looking for. I simply replied "Something Epic, for 3 adults preferably today". He chuckled, "I have just the thing. Small aircraft flight around the summit of Denali." Oh hell yes! With a credit card over the phone, we went to the local airport 3 hours later. The flight was on a Piper Navajo, a 6 person (plus pilot) twin engine aircraft. One hour flight, with recorded narration and stories by the pilot. The flight was smooth and OMG worth it! We saw the glaciers below, and circled the Denali summit as promised.The experience was absolutely breathtaking. Thank you Whit for the most...