This charming pioneer town, with its block-long Main Street, is halfway between Anchorage to Denali in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, and offers tons of adventures as well as great views of Mt. Denali (it’s actually closer to the mountain than the Denali National Park entrance. In fact expeditions to climb Mt. Denali start in Talkeetna!).

There are only a limited number of escorted tours and small group escorted to Talkeetna, but it’s very easy to explore as an independent traveler.