Start from 19 curated places around Girdwood, AK, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Jack Sprat
A beloved A-frame restaurant at the base of Alyeska that has served carnivores and vegans in the same room since 2001 with a menu that genuinely splits the difference — the vegan nachos and the Alaska Man burger are equally serious items. The room fills with a mix of ski patrollers, trail runners, and Anchorage weekenders, and the natural wine list is unusually considered for a mountain ski town. Reservations fill fast and walk-in waits run long on powder days.
Double Musky Inn
A Cajun roadhouse dripping with Mardi Gras beads, mirrors, and five decades of ski town memorabilia — exactly as improbable as it sounds in a rainforest canyon 40 miles from Anchorage. The shrimp bake and pepper steak are the moves; the Musky Pie (a dense chocolate pecan cream pie) has its own cult following. They take no reservations and never have, so arriving at opening time is the strategy.
Trails & outdoors
Winner Creek Trail
A 4.3-mile out-and-back through old-growth spruce and cottonwood forest above the Alyeska Resort that ends at a dramatic gorge where glacial runoff churns through a narrow bedrock channel. The first mile is paved and wheelchair-accessible; the trail beyond gets progressively wilder and muddier, ending at the gorge viewpoint. The forest is genuinely lush even by Alaska standards — chest-high ferns and carpets of club moss line the path.
Crow Pass, Crystal Lake, and Barnes Mountain Trail
The crown jewel of Girdwood hiking — a hard 7-mile (one-way from the Girdwood trailhead to Crystal Lake and Barnes Mountain, with the full traverse continuing 21 miles to Eagle River) that climbs through subalpine terrain past the massive Raven Glacier to a cirque lake at 3,500 feet. Day hikers go as far as the glacier and Crystal Lake before turning back; the full traverse is a classic overnight. The first four miles to the glacier are where the best photography happens.
Things to do
Alyeska Nordic Spa
A 50,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor thermotherapy facility at the base of Alyeska Resort with hot soaking pools, a cold plunge, steam rooms, and sauna circuits set against mountain views. The outdoor pools are the draw in all weather — soaking in 104-degree water while watching snowfall or autumn fog in the valley is the kind of experience the resort is known for. Go on a weekday to avoid the weekend crush.
Girdwood Forest Fair
An annual midsummer arts, music, and community fair held in the spruce forest below Alyeska that has been running for decades and functions as the social event of the Girdwood calendar. Local and regional artists sell work, bands play across multiple stages, and the vibe is firmly 1970s-Alaska communal — think hand-dyed fabric, chainsaw sculpture, and berry pies. The fair draws people from across Southcentral Alaska who come specifically for the atmosphere.
Landmarks & sights
Alyeska Aerial Tram
A 60-passenger gondola that hauls you from the base of Alyeska Resort to 2,300 feet in seven minutes, depositing you amid views of seven hanging glaciers and the sweeping mud flats of Turnagain Arm. Non-skiers ride it in summer for the panorama alone — Conde Nast called it the best view from any U.S. ski resort. On a clear day the vista stretches from the Chugach peaks to Cook Inlet.
Crow Creek Mine
A working 1898 gold mine tucked into a rainforest canyon above Girdwood where you pan in a real glacier-fed creek — not a tourist trough — and keep whatever color you find. Eight original buildings remain on the National Register of Historic Places, and the mossy timber structures feel genuinely undisturbed. Best for families or anyone who wants Klondike history without the kitsch.