Ideal Summer Alaska Packing List for the Perfect Trip

Sign up for Kate's newsletter and receive a free travel photos e‑book.Subscribe

Travel Planning

Alaska Packing List for The Ideal Summer Vacation

By  | 

My summer Alaska packing list is the best I’ve used in a long time. I used every item in my bag! It has all the travel items for a woman (or a man) to pack for a summer trip to Alaska. The first piece of advice I have is to make sure you are thinking about layers. Lots of layers make it easy to stay warm and cool while looking stylish. After all, you want to look great in your photos – so think about limiting the colors you bring and make sure all items work well with each other.

The Best Summer Alaska Packing List

Pack for rain or shine when you travel to Alaska since it has variable weather all year long. Especially in the summer, you may experience temperatures in the 80-90 and then drops to the low 40’s.

Where I Went – Alaska Itinerary

My itinerary for Alaska might help you in your planning and offers some trip tips. Take a look at the great places I saw. It was so much fun!

Where I Bought My Gear

If you want to buy what I use, in these trip photos, and all my other travels, check out Women’s Warm Weather Shopping list. The clothing I took on my trip to Alaska is on the shopping site and I loved everything I wore. If you want to see everything I use while traveling, check out my travel store the influencer section is the comprehensive list. Also check out my Amazon store directly from the Where in the World is Kate.com site top menus, Travel Store.

By the way, you might notice my friend and I – seemed to have matching outfits. We didn’t mean to do it but it made the photos look great. Match outfits also made us laugh a lot. We even got comments about it from people on the cruise to the Kenai Fjords. Well, what can you do, when things just work out, just as they are meant to be.

Full Disclosure: I make a small commission but you won’t pay one penny more, by shopping through the website you help support the WWK site by shopping through the pages.)

summer alaska packing list

Packing for Alaska

Pick two colors, I picked purple and blue because they look nice together, and a basic color. The basic color I used with my outfits is black. I have black hiking pants, bathing suit and wool tops. This way everything went together and all my items can be found in my Amazon store.

  • 3 wool shirts
  • 2 tee shirts
  • 1 shorts
  • 1 bathing suit
  • Packable travel rain jacket
  • 1 long raincoat
  • 1 rain windbreaker
  • lined waterproof hiking pants – Look at mine in my Amazon store or check out REI for hiking gear
  • unlined waterproof hiking pants
  • lightweight hiking pants
  • silk longjohns
  • underwear
  • 2 sports bras
  • Merrell Hiking boots – I wore these on the plane
  • Running shoes

summer alaska packing list

Summer Packing List Items – Accessories

  • Bug spray with DEET – (buy the most DEET you can find)
  • Rain hat
  • Folding baseball cap from REI
  • Beanie
  • Gloves
  • Neck warmer
  • Wool socks
  • Travel umbrella – didn’t use this but, I’m glad I had it.
  • Travel binoculars
  • Cosmetic bag, with basics like toothbrush, toothpaste
  • Medications: Fiber pills, sunscreen, Benadryl, NSAID, regular meds.
  • Camera bag: Nikon, cell camera, waterproof camera, Canon Powershot, batteries, media, charger
  • Cellphone – charger with cables and chords

Whatever you forget, you can buy at the airport vending machine in Anchorage!

summer alaska packing list

Here is how I pack my camera bag and a carry on bag, in case you might be looking for help organizing your gear. I pack as light as possible. See my handsome Merrell boots! Love them.

summer alaska packing list

If you need a detailed planning tool for packing try my Ultimate Packing List Planner or if you are a minimalist, try my minimalist packing guide.

Copyright © 2024 Capetown-Rio, Inc. USA. All rights reserved. Republishing is allowed only with written permission. All photography rights on this page belong to Capetown-Rio, Inc. and the author. Do you have a question, business proposal, or speaking opportunity? Please contact me here.

Kate started traveling for work. Now with grown children, who are travelers, she travels for pleasure looking for great travel experiences. Currently, her home is in Bellevue, WA, and lives with her cat Angelina Jolie. She has a Bachelor's of Fine Arts, Studio Arts and Art History from the University of Colorado, and from City University, Seattle, an MBA and Master of Arts, Management. Her favorite things are exploring cultures, traveling the world, creating a painting and sour foods.