Alaskans, or those who have vacationed there, a few vacation questions.

[jwatts]

My wife and I are planning to go to Alaska in early July. We were all set to book a cruise and do a few day land tour. We have since decided to spend more time on land, see more of Alaska, and do a day cruise to check out some glaciers and sea life. I have been looking into some outfits that do self guided driving tours. Basically, they book your rental car, rooms, and excursions. They can customize their trips around what you want to do and how long you are going to be in the state. We found one that we like for the most part. I can't help but think I can put the time in and plan something similar on my own. We would be coming in early July and plan to stay for around 8 days.

What I was wondering is, do yall think it would be worthwhile to try and plan a similar trip on my own? Have I waited too late to try and book all of this during what is likely peak tourist season? Would any of you add take away, or change any of the itinerary below?

Day 1
Begin tour in Anchorage - late model rental vehicle provided for 8 days with unlimited mileage
• Travel down the Kenai Peninsula from Anchorage to Seward ( 2 hour drive)
• Arrive into Seward- gateway to the Kenai Fjords National Park
• Take a three hour kayaking tour of Resurrection Bay (no experience necessary)
• Seward lodging provided

Day 2
Have breakfast at Bed and Breakfast *
• Take an all day cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park, one of Alaska’s most scenic and wild national parks. Cruise aboard a comfortable 20 passenger vessel , lunch and snacks provided. This nine hour cruise will take you deep into the park providing a full day of wildlife viewing. Have lunch in front of one of the Kenai Fjords largest glaciers while waiting for the glacier ice to calve.
• Seward lodging provided

Day 3
Have breakfast at Bed and Breakfast *
• Drive from Seward to Homer (approx. 3.5 hour drive)
• Take the historical Danny J Ferry across Kachemak Bay to Halibut Cove
• Visit the artistic community of Halibut Cove before returning on the evening ferry back to Homer
• Homer lodging provided

Day 4
Have breakfast at Bed and Breakfast *
• Drive from Homer to Girdwood (approx. 3.5 hours drive time)
• Tour the Russian village of Ninilchik
• Fly across the Cook Inlet for a remote float plane landing - watch grizzly bears fish for salmon
• Girdwood lodging provided

Day 5
Have breakfast at Bed and Breakfast *
• Start driving north from Girdwood to Talkeetna (approx. 3 hour drive)
• Stop by at Potter Marsh to enjoy bird watching and salmon viewing
• Take a 1.5 flight-seeing tour of Mt. McKinley with a glacier landing on Ruth Glacier
• Talkeetna lodging provided

Day 6
Have breakfast at Bed and Breakfast *
• Explore the history of Talkeetna on a walking tour
• Ride the Hurricane Train with the Alaska Railroad to a wilderness homestead community
• Drive from Talkeetna to Denali (approx. 2 hour drive)
• Denali area lodging provided

Day 7
Have breakfast at Bed and Breakfast *
• Pick up a picnic backpack lunch for your day in Denali National Park
• Spend the day viewing wildlife and exploring Denali National Park
• Ride the Shuttle Bus to Wonder Lake in Denali National Park (travel to the end of the park road)
• Denali area lodging provided

Day 8
Have breakfast at Bed and Breakfast *
• Drive from Denali to Anchorage (approx. 4 hour drive)
• Day hike in Denali State Park
• Enjoy day hiking and wildlife viewing at Nancy Lake, Hatcher Pass & Eagle River
• Return rental vehicle- transportation provided to the Anchorage Airpo

 

[Nick Muche]

Sounds like it could be a great time but it's too structured for me. Lot's of moving pieces in your itinerary and if one or more of them go wrong it looks like it could mess up other portions of your trip. Good luck and have fun though! Lot's to do!

 

[jwatts]

Sounds like it could be a great time but it's too structured for me. Lot's of moving pieces in your itinerary and if one or more of them go wrong it looks like it could mess up other portions of your trip. Good luck and have fun though! Lot's to do!

Yeah, it does seem that way. The bigger excursions are pre booked. A lot of the other stuff is optional from what I can tell. I wasn't sure about the day in Homer/Halibut Cove. I am not sure if that is something we should try to do or not.

 

[Dromsky]

My wife and I did a similar trip a few years back, we booked it ourselves using tripadvisor and vrbo, rented small cabins when we could. Main difference in our schedule was we stayed 2 days in each location, Seward, Kenai/Soldotna, and Anchorage. Fished 1 day in each area then spent the remaining time exploring on our own. Some of the Alaska guys might chime in here but your drive times look a little optimistic, especially during high season? Its a big place, a week is hardly enough to cover it all, unless you save Denali for another trip. Have a great time its one of my favorite places to visit.

 

[Kevin Dill]

My wife and I just did a full-on diy vacation in Alaska last August. We're the very independent type and no way we could turn our trip over to a company. I'm not down on that at all; it's just not us. We like complete autonomy and the ability to discover stuff on our own. That's the fun of vacations for us. Anyway...I think we did 12 or 13 days of driving, hotels, restaurants, hiking, inns, photography, glaciers, wildlife, flying...I mean an enormous amount of stuff. We planned it 100% ourselves and made every reservation. It was a lot of work but the anticipation was half the fun. We are going again in the next 3 years with a different itinerary but it will be all ours again.

 

[jwatts]

My wife and I did a similar trip a few years back, we booked it ourselves using tripadvisor and vrbo, rented small cabins when we could. Main difference in our schedule was we stayed 2 days in each location, Seward, Kenai/Soldotna, and Anchorage. Fished 1 day in each area then spent the remaining time exploring on our own. Some of the Alaska guys might chime in here but your drive times look a little optimistic, especially during high season? Its a big place, a week is hardly enough to cover it all, unless you save Denali for another trip. Have a great time its one of my favorite places to visit.

I wasn't sure on the drive times either. Those times were provided by the agent. The more I look at it, the more I think we need to do like you said and pick a few towns, spend 2 days in each, and do it more on our own.

Denali is high on the list for me, bear watching and glaciers are high on the list for my wife. We may be better off focusing on those and planning around that.

 

[jwatts]

My wife and I just did a full-on diy vacation in Alaska last August. We're the very independent type and no way we could turn our trip over to a company. I'm not down on that at all; it's just not us. We like complete autonomy and the ability to discover stuff on our own. That's the fun of vacations for us. Anyway...I think we did 12 or 13 days of driving, hotels, restaurants, hiking, inns, photography, glaciers, wildlife, flying...I mean an enormous amount of stuff. We planned it 100% ourselves and made every reservation. It was a lot of work but the anticipation was half the fun. We are going again in the next 3 years with a different itinerary but it will be all ours again.

What resources did you use to plan your trip? Did you use Tripadvisor or anything like that to get ideas on where to go, stay, eat, etc, or did you just look into the various towns and go from there?

 

[Bmcox86]

All the tours in Seward are nice, think about taking an extra day here to take a fishing charter or hike into a lake and catch some grayling.

 

[Dromsky]

Denali is on my list for sure, I think you need 3 days just for that including drive times to and from Anchorage. You can only go in Denali on a tour no private vehicles, so look at those schedules and build around that. You can also see a LOT from Anchorage if your willing to pay for float planes$

 

[Kevin Dill]

We used every source of Alaska info we could find. Websites. Park info. State website. Tour books. Magazines. We talked to people who had been there. We decided a driving route and from that decided on towns and stops. Basically we flew to Anchorage. From there it was Soldotna, Homer, Kenai, Seward, Whittier, Valdez, Tok, Fairbanks, Talkeetna, Denali, Fairbanks and then home. Those weren't all towns we over-nighted in, but some were. We used hotels and lodges and cabins. Our car rental was a Dollar unit. We drove 2400 miles. We flew around in Denali with K2 Aviation including a glacier landing. We did 5 nights in a vrbo in Fairbanks. There is a LOAD of info available on Alaska, but you have to dig in and start researching. Lots of phone calls. It takes time to do it all....months to plan. I suppose that's why tour groups succeed, but a diy trip is so much more rewarding. It's worth all the hassle and effort in the end. We did dozens of stops and saw stuff we'd never seen on a tour. Eating in little diners....shopping where we wanted...nobody to please but us.

 

[kodiakfly]

Yeah man, you tour sounds way too structured and time-compliant. And I'll be honest and not just because I live here, but some of it I read and thought, "man if they come all the way up and do that...that's pretty boring, when they could be fishing, combing a beach on their own time, staring at a moose, skipping so-and-so to go do this instead..." I know you gotta keep mama happy with the tourist stuff and artistic towns, but while you're looking at a totem pole that some white guy originally from Colorado carved with a chainsaw, you could be neck-deep in nature without much hassle.

Also the weather. You might have a fjords trip planned and it's blowing 40 and raining. That'd be a good day to change plans, spend the day in the car and get somewhere else, ready to hit the ground running the next day. There's tons of trip planners, both local and national with maps, descriptions and such and you can go from there. And don't try to cover the whole state. Think of it as covering the entire Midwest in a week. Lots of driving and there are major roads that are two-lane and we do have construction here. So a 3.5 hr drive could be a 5-6 hr drive depending on traffic and construction. Now you just spent a gorgeous day in the car when you could've been on a light hike.

That's just my take on it. And I'm being honest. I'm not jaded to everything this state has...heck, I don't have any moose, sheep or caribou on the island so I still like to stop and look when I'm up on the mainland. But I know I'd rather go find a moose and take some pics at my leisure than tour Ninilchik. (No offense to anyone living in Ninilchik...but would you want to "tour" Kodiak or go fishing here? Same thing.)

 

[AK Shane]

First question, do you have a day in Anchorage on each end of these 8 days or are you walking off the plane and hitting the ground running?

I'm going to agree with a few of the other, I think your schedule is a little ambitious. I've lived in Anchorage for 11 years and over that time have hosted family from the lower 48 on these marathon type vacations. I'm like you, I always want to cram as much into my trips as possible but I don't think any of them has ever gone exactly as planned. The entire Kenai Peninsula along with a trip up to Denali in 8 days is a tall task.

Seward is a nice stop on the Kenai Pen. If you're going to be in Seward over the 4th of July weekend then book your hotel and cruise now. The population of Seward on the 4th probably doubles in size. I've been on a number of the boat cruises over the years and have always liked them. I like the Major Marine Tours cruises that take you out to Aialik Bay or Northwestern Glacier. These are 8 hour type cruises but get you way out there into some awesome Fjords. I also like Major Marine because you eat on the boat and aren't spending a bunch of your cruise time stopping at Fox Island for dinner. The 20 person cruise you mention may be less crowded but the larger cruise boats are much nicer when the seas are a little rough. Also in Seward, if kayaking doesn't work out, stop by Exit Glacier and/or the Sealife Center. If you kayak, do it out of Miller's Landing or one of the coves and don't do the trip that starts out on Fox Island.

If you spend a day or two in Seward then I would skip Homer. Homer is nice but similar to Seward and is going to eat up a LOT of driving time. The drive to Homer also pulls you out of the mountains and isn't near as scenic. Other things to see between Seward and Anchorage instead of driving to Homer: hike into the Russian River Falls, stop at the Wildlife Conservation Center, hike 3/4 mile into Byron Glacier, Exit Glacier visitors center, to name a few. Fair warning; if you stop by the Russian River area you're going to see 100's of fishermen and you'll be kicking yourself for not fishing on your trip.

I've always wanted to do the bear viewing trip or a flight around Denali. If the weather cooperates, these should both be great. I've done a number of train trips and enjoy them. Honestly, the Talkeetna to Hurricane train pretty much parallels the hwy it just runs on the other side of a ridge. So the view from the hwy is pretty much the same as the train. If you want a nice short train trip look into the Portage (right by Girdwood) to Grandview ride. If you want another activity in Talkeetna instead of the train look into the Mahay's Riverboat ride up into Devils Canyon.

You can easily spend two days up at Denali. Spend a full day doing a tour into the park. You can drive your private car the first 15 miles into the park. Drive in and spend half a day just hiking around the Savage River area. There's typically dall sheep hanging around Savage River.

The thing with Alaska is that almost every activity is weather dependent. You're not here to wonder around museums and art galleries. You're here for the outdoor experience. So having some flexibility to play the weather can be a big help. If the weather is looking bad on the Kenai Peninsula, flip your schedule and head north first. I know it means booking last minute hotel rooms but there is usually lodging available if you make a few phone calls.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Part of deciding is knowing what kind of people you are and what appeals to you. If you're about sightseeing then by all means do a run-and-gun road trip covering lots of miles. If you are more into time spent on foot, you'll need to pick stops and allow for time there. Fishing takes time. So does hiking, exploring and connecting with history. There is far too much to do or see in 2 months...so figure out what type trip suits you best. We thought Homer was really fun and any first-time person should consider it. I would go there again absolutely. Russian River Falls is a great easy hike. Avoid the town of Kenai as it really has little to offer except a hotel or two. We thought Seward was phenomenal and will go back there for a 2 or 3 night stay. Great food, scenery, glaciers, fishing, shops. We took the Whittier Tunnel into Whittier and caught a ferry to Valdez. That was a superb choice for us. Valdez is a very small town but full of little things to see and do. Great fishing destination.

Knowing what I do now, if I had 8 days in AK I would spend most all of it in the south central area. I would likely allow for 2 nights in a few locations. I might allocate time for Denali/Talkeetna but one day isn't enough there. The tourist crunch is severe there; know that it's busy everywhere. If I didn't do Denali I would undoubtedly line up some fishing, either a halibut/salmon charter or (more my style) a river jaunt on the Kenai or Russian while going for salmon or big 'bows. Fly fishing is big-time popular there.

I should say that I really love the Tok-Glenallen-Delta-Fairbanks region. It's less stunningly magnificent in terms of scenery, but the people are superb. The bush always calls to me...lonely roads in some big country. The Richardson Highway is a great drive. I've spent so much time in Fairbanks I can drive around there like my home town. My wife and I loved exploring everything possible in that area. I took her to the best eateries and pubs in the region. One day we went to the farm market and ended up meeting a superb woman who is an extraordinary potter. She invited us to her home and studio. Suffice to say we made a friend and today we own several pieces of her Alaska-inspired pottery art. Another day my wife asked me to take her to Gold Rush Jewelers downtown. An hour later she left the store with a lot less money and one of the neatest gold nugget-and-diamond pendants I've ever seen. You know it's a good trip when she looks at you with a grin and has tears shining in her eyes. You don't get that (so much) when you sign on for a tour. We saw a lot of obvious tourists and bus-gangs as we called them. Not my style...BUT I would still rather do that method than not go at all.

 

[jwatts]

I really appreciate all of the feedback. After looking at it more, I am like a lot of you. It does look like a lot of stuff crammed in. I am probably going to plan out an itinerary on my own. I like the idea of having one thing planned per day, and just doing the rest on my own. The last thing I want to do is go all the way up there and get hung up at tourist traps when I could do other things that I would enjoy more.

When we originally started planning this trip I wanted to see Denali park and my wife wanted to see glaciers and marine life. We are still trying to plan around both of those and catch sights in between. If that is too ambitious, I wouldn't be against skipping Denali and checking out some of the other national parks closer to Anchorage.

As far as the schedule, pretty much any flight we do will have an overnight layover in Seattle. We would likely plan our flight departing Seattle to have us in Anchorage around noon. That way we could have some time to get our rental car, get in the hotel, and check out some things in Anchorage that afternoon. On the back end of the trip, if we leave Anchorage at 6am we can be back in New Orleans by 6pm with no overnight layover in Seattle. If we decide to plan our own trip we would try to arrive back in Anchorage mid day the day before the flight so we could do some more in Anchorage prior to leaving the next morning.

I am going to pull the things from the itinerary above that are must do's, remove the things we are iffy on, and see what I can come up with for a trip we do on our own. I do like the idea of planning excursions in a town for one day and leaving the following day open to do anything else that grabs our attention.

 

[VernAK]

Way-way -way too structured for my tastes......but I don't know your tastes.

Rent a small motor home in Anchorage and then get out of that hell-hole!
If the weather is bad toward Seward, drive toward Denali and versa-visa.....Parks Highway, Richardson, Glenn etc.....see a lot of beautiful country.
Hire a bush plane for a glacier flight!
Kenai Fjords dinner cruise out of Seward will provide a taste of the sea life.

 

[jwatts]

Kenai Fjords is on the must do list. We are going to do a bush plane, but we haven't decided if we wanted to do a glacier landing out of Talkeetna or Denali, or fly across Cooks Inlet for a bear watching tour since they fly close to the glaciers and land on the beach around Lake Clark. It will likely be the Cook's Inlet option though. I have kicked around the idea of a small motor home, but we would prefer hotel, cabins, or B&Bs. Anchorage is going to be the start and stop for the trip since we will be flying in and out of there. Otherwise I plan to be away from there.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Motorhome rentals are enormously popular in Alaska, but I noticed one consistent theme: They are a lot more difficult to navigate into busier areas and find parking. A lot of motorhomes would slow down and look longingly at a busy attraction or superb restaurant, but have to drive 1/4-1/2 mile to park. The motorhome experience is for people who are basically 80% about the camping and sightseeing away from towns. Alaska highways have a lot of frost heaves and our friends told us plenty of stories about rattling pans/dishes and wildly rocking cabins while chugging along. My recommendation would be an intermediate SUV like a 4Runner, Equinox, Acadia or similar. I got tired of bumping my head in our coup.

 

[jwatts]

My recommendation would be an intermediate SUV like a 4Runner, Equinox, Acadia or similar. I got tired of bumping my head in our coup.

That is some good advice. I just found out I get a substantial discount on car rentals though work. It would be worth stepping up to an SUV if that is the case. I have about got another itinerary built to do the trip on my own. I may put it up on here if you locals or guys with experience wouldn't mind steering me away from anything I should skip or things I should do different.

 

[jwatts]

After looking at prices and what we want to do, I found that we in fact will be better off planning it all ourselves. I made a list of what we wanted to do, where we wanted to go, and put it together. This list may still be too ambitious, I don't know. None of it is in stone. It is structured around what we want to do, but should leave time to do what we want. Any input would be appreciated.

Fly out of New Orleans 7/4, layover in Seattle

Day 1
Land in Anchorage (11am or so), get car
Tour Anchorage
Stay in Anchorage- Hotel
Check in 7/5, out 7/6

Day 2
Breakfast in Anchorage
Drive to Seward
Kayak trip
Tour Seward
Stay in Seward- B&B or cabin
Check in 7/6, out 7/8

Day 3
Glacier Cruise, Kenai Fjords
Stay in Seward- B&B or cabin
Check in 7/6, out 7/8

Day 4
Drive to Talkeetna
Stop in Wasilla at Iditarod museum if time permits
See Talkeetna (walking, hiking)
Stay in Talkeetna- B&B
Check in 7/8, out 7/9

Day 5
Drive to Denali
Whitewater rafting- (2pm or 6pm)
Tour Denali by car as far as we can or hike at the entrance ( check out trails close to entrance, Savage River or Mount Margaret?)
Stay at Denali or close by- B&B or cabin
Check in 7/9, out 7/11

Day 6
Denali Hiking- (maybe hike close to Wonder Lake?)
Stay at Denali-B&B or cabin
Check in 7/9, out 7/11

Day 7
Drive to Soldotna
See Soldotna
Stay in Soldotna- B&B or cabin
Check in 7/11, out 7/12

Day 8
Bear tour around Cook's Inlet
Drive to Anchorage
Stay in Anchorage- Hotel
Check in 7/12, out 7/13

Day 9
Return car
Fly home 7/13

 

[colonel00]

I haven't read through this whole thread (yet) but I did notice one thing I should mention. On Day 6 you mention hiking at Wonder Lake. We kinda wanted to do this last year as well. However, you need to look into the bus schedules and all that. Basically, you spend half a day getting back to Wonder Lake. Then, to really spend any time there, you would want to camp there as the buses are basically heading back in the afternoon. If you do camp there for a night, it is still a half day ride back to the park entrance. Just something to check into more.