Alaska travel in May/August?
 

We (2 of us) are planning a trip to Alaska. Confusion is whether to go towards end of May/early June or travel in August for the fall colors.

Please suggest.

The colors along the Inside Passage are green for spring, summer, and fall; in winter, they are green and white. Far more evergreens than deciduous trees. Don't make your decision based on fall colors.

Alaska is a very big place with a lot of vegetation and climate zones, so it depends on where you're going.

In the arctic and subarctic, and in places like the interior of Denali Park, the tundra will start turning in late August. In places like Anchorage and the Kenai, there will be some color change at higher elevations in August, but not much will happen at lower elevations until mid- late September. In the SE panhandle, as Bobmrg says it's mostly coniferous at low elevation, so it's moot; but again, at higher elevations there will be some change, but generally later than farther north.

I would go in August for another reason - bugs. May and June is when the bugs hatch out, and if you're going someplace buggy, such as the interior of Denali Park (which may or may not be open in late May or early June anyway) or most certainly out on the tundra in the north or west, in June you can be carried off by bugs. It's much less a worry later in the summer; the tradeoff of course is that it might be cooler at night, but that's an exchange I'd take any day.

But again, it very much depends on your itinerary.

We went the last week of Sept/first week of Oct and encountered no bugs at all and Denali was in spectacular color. It also tends to be less rainy then. OTOH, the daylight hours are about what they are in the lower 48, so if you want the very long days, you will need to go in June.

Thanks all for your insightful replies. Our itinerary is to cover the best spots in Alaska given a 10 day window. Our main interests are sightseeing, photography, wildlife watching, cruise experience....Not much of a camping enthusiasts (bugs might not be a problem?)

Please let us know if its ok to pick end of May compared to mid August. Thanks!

Also, if we land in Juneau can we travel rest of Alaska with out crossing over in to Canada? I am asking this because me and my wife are on a U.S. visa. Thanks.

Yes. No problem traveling from Juneau to points north and west (and even south, if you want to visit Sitka, Wrangell, Ketchikan, or Petersburg).