There is no road to Barrow. The only way in is by air. Alaska Airlines runs two or three daily jets from Anchorage to Wiley Post–Will Rogers Memorial Airport, with a stop in Fairbanks or Prudhoe Bay. Flights are roughly two and a half hours from Anchorage non-stop, around four with the connection. Cargo arrives by barge twice a year in the brief ice-free window from late July to mid-September; everything else is freight on the daily jet.
Day-trip packages from Fairbanks and Anchorage are sold by several Alaska tour operators and are the most efficient way to see the place if you have a single day. Independent stays are possible but require booking a hotel — there are no hostels — and the per-night rate is high.