Denali Perch Resort — Hotel in Alaska

Would stay here again. With my family in July as a base for visiting Denali. Next time we’ll try to get dry cabin 1 or 2 (which have a view of the creek). ||||My family (husband and wife and 6 yo) stayed in dry cabin #6. For those unfamiliar, a dry cabin doesn’t have water, hence no toilets, sink, shower. They have cabins with toilets/sinks/showers but that’s not what we stayed in. The dry cabins at The Perch share a bath house. Cabin #6 faces the creek but due to trees and shrubbery you can’t see it from the cabin. However, the cabin is steps from the creek and extremely easy to walk to (literally about 20 steps away and a charming trail takes you to it). ||||The cabin is very clean and reminds us of the public use cabins we’ve rented over the years in Alaska. The cost is about the same (compared the Ken k’esugi and other premium public use cabin locations) and the size is comparable. We had a queen bed, twin bed, and loft (with a twin bed and accessible ladder). There was a table and 2 benches and 2 windows (one in front by the door, and one the side of the cabin). And small pot of flowers and a small deck with a bench in front. There is electricity too. There is only one outlet. There were several hooks to hang things on and small shelves. The cabin is roughly 12’ x 12’. The overall effect is charming. ||||The beds were comfortable (to us) and there were 4 pillows on the queen and 2 pillows in the twin. Both with quilt comforters and sheets. The heater in the cabin was nice to have but unnecessary for July (for us). The door is loud to open and close and the cabin has the tiniest slant (probably due to earthquakes. I’m sure it used to be 100% level). The slant isn’t noticeable - my husband and kid didn’t notice. The floor is (I believe) vinyl and looked very new. We were comfortable taking our shoes off at the door. ||||We are long time Alaskans and brought several items that made out stay easier: (1) a power strip; (2) an extension cord; (3) a small table lamp (this helped in the back where the cabin is dark); (4) a cooler (no fridge); (5) a 5 gallon container of water; (6) an electric kettle (nice to make a cup of coffee and drink it on the deck); (7) wet wipes; (8) mosquito coils - mosquitoes weren’t bad (probably due to the creek and small breeze) but the horse flies were horrible. We treated it like a camping trip and brought utensils, mugs, plates, beers, etc. We packed items in plastic totes. The trail to the dry cabins is an easy walk. You cannot park in front of your cabin. We parked, walked past the bath house, down a ramp to a gravel trail. To the right are cabins 1-3 and left are 4-6. In front is Carlo Creek. ||||There is no open fire at the cabin and no cooking over a campfire or camp stove. We ate one dinner out, one breakfast out and the rest at the cabin. Our cooler came in very handy. For those traveling from out of state rest assured there are plenty of good restaurants nearby and within walking distance. Just be mindful in a dry cabin there’s no place to store leftovers. I even made overnight oatmeal in a 2 qt crockpot for my family. ||||The checkin was at the restaurant which is a drive around the grounds and up a hill (follow the wooden moose). The sign off the highway is large and easy to see. The keys are actual keys (not card keys). The check in process was easy and smooth. Same for check out. ||||The bath house has 2 bathrooms and 2 showers for each gender (men on one side and women in the other). They all have doors that lock. There is one sink and mirror and a hair dryer. We never had to wait and never ran out of warm water. The showers are small stand up enclosure (about 3’x 3’) and have a small bench to place items and hooks on the doors. If you adjust the water BEFORE you get in it’s fine. Turn on the hot water first then the slightest turn for cold. If you turn on as much cold as you did the hot water you’ll become an icicle. I’ll also admit I might feel differently if I had to make the walk in the rain in the middle of a dark night (opposite of what we had). But we know what to expect in any weather. ||||For the shared bath common courtesy goes a long way. Floor mats are available to reduce water on the floor. Paper towel dispenser is available for wipe hands and around the faucet. ||||As with most places that are near a highway there is some road noise. The creek is much closer and is also noisy. We always travel with ear plugs and slept well. The neighbors were all considerate and even when I was walking to the bathroom at 1am there was no inappropriate behavior (e.g, partying). Everyone seemed very considerate. We saw neighbors and said hello in passing but everyone pretty much stayed to themselves. ||||This is a fair and objective assessment of cabin #6 at The Perch. We did not expect more than what we got and enjoyed our time there. ||||Pictures: the cabins look like what’s on the website. We saw Denali on our sunny day in the park. We drove to Teklanika (30 miles in). We saw a grizzly at Teklanika and a caribou on the road on the way back to Savage River (mile 15). See if you can spot the rock formation that looks like a sled dog musher and his team. Picture of the cabin didn’t load due to being oversize. ||||||We had a permit to drive to Teklanika, if you’re not on a bus or there for the road lottery you can only drive to mile 15. Next year we’ll put in for the road lottery and if we get it will probably stay at The Perch again. ||||The house cleaning staff was nice and helped find my personal towel. They spent about 5min away from their regular duties to find it. We left as much cash as we had and some homemade cookies for gratuity. ||||Oh, WiFi was fine but we weren’t streaming...

If you do not plan to rent a car, never go to live in their hotel, they do not have a clear pricing system for the shuttle.

Also, their 3 people bedroom is super tiny and has one bed in the attic, you need to climb up a vertical ladder. If you do not have a car to put your luggage in, there is no standing space. And shower water in bathroom was either too hot or completely cold, you can never adjust to the right point.

They do not have microwave, refrigerator, and the dinner served in their resturant is about 35 dollars (including tax and low tips) per person if you only order entree without appetizers and wine and the dish quality is so low compare to what you can get using 35 dollars in manhattan. ( we have tried salmon entree)

They have no phone signal at all in their cabin, but they do have wifi.

We put their coffee in our own plastic bag and plan to take that with us into the park since everything in Denali is super expensive, but their cleaning stuff took coffee out of our bag and put it back!!! They looked into customer's bag and took things out of it!

When I booked the hotel in July, I saw the website say they provide free shuttle to the parking at 8 am in the morning and 8pm in the evening. And also my friend lived there at the end of June said they get free shuttle service to/from the denali by the perch. I pay for three nights. The first day the driver picked us ( for three days we were living there, there are only 3 of us needs shuttle to park service) back from the park and did not mention they charge, the second day when we are on their shuttle half way back to the perch, the driver told us they need to charge us 60 dollars(the owner asked for 120 dollars) for picking up from the park for past two days. I argued with the driver that even they made changes after I booked the hotel, they need to tell me the price before service is provided. Later the driver agreed to drop the fee and still take us to railway station for free next morning at 8am. But next morning, the owner and driver ate their promise and refused to take us to railroad station unless I paid their shuttle fee. The owner said since they told us the second day about the shuttle fee, I should pay for the second day. But the driver only told me when we are half way to the hotel！Since their word keep changing so I called for a taxi and wasted 1 hour waiting for taxi, if they told us early last night, I can reserve an taxi in advance. Later we missed the bus going into the park to see the Denali. We were there 3 days but only the last day is sunny and the mt. mckindley is visible!!!

Besides, the driver lure us to take their shuttle going to visitor center rather than wildness access center, and ask for 60 dollars. Going to wildness access center is free, and visitor center is only 15mins walk from wildness access center. And the second day, he offered to send us to railway station at noon rather than 8 am since our train is in the afternoon and he is more available after noon time, but he wanted to charge for 60 dollars as well. I refused the offer of course. But later he said we need to pay for pick up from the park for last two days. They are playing different games to ask for 60 dollars and I do not understand why they did not simply state the price upon my arrival the first day!

All the things I met give me the impression that the hotel is not very well organized and the people is rude. It totally ruin the last 3 days of our...

I had high hopes for this place, but was a bit disappointed. It was charming like the pictures, but both of our cabins had limited hot water for showers. One of our cabins had enough for less than one full shower (ended cold!) And the other had only enough for 1 warm shower, but there were 2 of us...fortunately got it, lolz...

The restaurant was charming as well, and the food was delicious, but the service was poor. Seriously, the bruschetta was the best I've had! Home made bread, toasted and topped with fresh tomatoes, basil, basil infused olive oil, and goat cheese, I devoured it. (Fortunately my dinner companions let me). The fish chowda soup was very good, the scallops were tender and delicious, with wonderful vegetable medley (late in the season, they were out of their alaskan potatoes they said. Maybe they seasoned it the same, tho, because they were delicious!) The Brussels sprouts starter/side was served after the meal, was very good, but we were full by the time they came. The total came to $81 before top. The waitress was lukewarm from the beginning: never asked if we wanted drinks (too bad, our bill would have doubled, along with her tip)

I guess you should know what your expectations are before booking. Maybe this hot water situation isn't uncommon in Alaska?...