Van Gilder Hotel in Seward

Great for staying at Seward on a budget. Centrally located close to all the action. Try the Cookery for dinner and the Yukon Bar for live music and drinks. I wouldn't recommend this place if you tend to spend time in the hotel room during trips. It's a great place to sleep. Free coffee and wifi.

Danny was the hotel manager during our two-night stay for our honeymoon in Alaska. While we enjoyed this historic hotel and our room was nice, it was really Danny who made this a great experience. He was always around with helpful information about whatever we were doing. He was also just great to talk to. We're so glad we picked this hotel right in the middle of Seward!

Amazing little gem of a hotel. Highly recommended. The staff was kind and helpful, the room super clean, and the bed ridiculously comfortable. It was PERFECT!

Beautiful, historic hotel. The creak of the floorboards and old style furniture was charming as heck. The updated bathroom was a pleasant surprise! We didn't see any ghosts but I'm not complaining :) The staff was kind and hospitable.
Thank you for a lovely stay.

If you are looking for shiny, new and fancy, don't stay here. The rooms were clean and the hotel is like a museum with a rich history including some ghosts (I didn't see any, but a plaque outside mentions some). Some reviews said it was dirty but it wasn't when I stayed there. Some of my group thought there was a funny smell but I didn't notice it. If there was any it was slight even to the sensitive smellers in the group. There is no question that the hotel is old and a lot of the decor and furnishings are old. That's the character of the place. However, it was a perfectly fine hotel and could not be better located for access to restaurants and shopping in the interesting shops along the main drag of Seward. If you are a "thread count" person look for a fancy place. If you are normal, stay here. They don't have a shuttle but they were able to send a cargo van for our luggage. There are plenty of taxi cab companies in town. Some of the rooms have bathrooms and others have to access shared bathrooms in the hallway. You can pick this when you make the reservation online so pay attention. The two rooms we got both had bathrooms and Murphy beds that would allow you to accommodate an additional person in the room. You can communicate directly with them over text through Google maps which allows you to get your questions answered if you have any.