Alaskan vacation

[Lariat]

My family and I are planning to do an Alaskan vacation next summer. With limited time, and all that the state has to offer I would like some advice/ideas on some places and things to see. We would like to possibly slip in a fishing trip of some sort as well. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[timberland]

My first AK trip was 2 yrs ago as a vacation package, 3 day cruise inside passage, bus and train to Dawson city, flight to Fairbanks, a couple days in Denali and flight home out of Anchorage. all in a week, lots of sightseeing and a great way to get your toes wet. Now I can go back and concentrate on fishing and hunting.

 

[jwatts]

We've been twice, once with my wife, the second time with her and my son (8 at the time). If you're limited on time there's a good bit to see close to Anchorage. The zoo in Anchorage was fun. We also hiked Flat Top and visited Kincaid Park.

I enjoyed the area around Seward. The drive from Anchorage to there along Turnagain Arm is amazing. The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is on the way out of Anchorage. Closer to Seward you can hike around Exit Glacier. When you get to Seward you can take a wildlife cruise, or catch a fishing charter right there in town. On our last trip we detoured to Cooper Landing and trout fished the Kenai on our way to Seward.

We also went north out of Anchorage and checked out a few sights that way. There's a musk ox farm in Palmer that's pretty cool. We did a few hikes out that way too. Rendezvous Peak was a good one.

I got a lot of good info and suggestions on this site from locals and others that have vacationed up there. If you've got any questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

 

[darcytribe]

Make sure you include s few days in Denali

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Overview of family trip to Alaska in July 2017:
Day 1 - Flew into Anchorage, rented car & drove to VRBO cabin in Talkeetna.
Day 2 - Half day of guided (Fishbone Charters) king salmon fishing on Talkeetna River. Took jet boat upriver and fished from bank with hip waders. Fishing was good but not great, all 4 of us landed at least one 15-20 lb king and had several others get off before landing.
Day 3 - Drove to Denali National Park, rode shuttle bus to Eielson Visitor Center and back. Saw several grizzlies, several moose, many caribou.
Day 4 - Drove to VRBO cabin in Cooper Landing. Stopped at Alyeska Resort along the way and rode ski lift up to restaurant.
Day 5 - Drove to Seward. My parents & wife's parents took cruise (Major Marine Tours) along Kenai Fjords, saw many whales, sea lions, and puffins, enjoyed prime rib & salmon buffet on boat. "Kids" (wife & I plus my brother & his girlfriend) went on guided (Exit Glacier Guides) glacier hike/climb while parents were on cruise. Exit Glacier tour included rappelling into/climbing out of crevasses with harness, crampons, ice ax.
Day 6 - Drove to Homer, took boat (Mako's Water Taxi) to Kachemak Bay State Park. Easy hike to Grewingk Glacier Lake then back to beach to catch return boat.
Day 7 - Easy hike along Russian River to Lower Russian Lake. Saw hundreds of sockeye salmon in river and jumping up the falls.
Day 8 - Drove to Anchorage and flew home.

My favorite excursions were the ice climb and salmon fishing. This was a group trip with 8 people of varying ages (mid-20's to mid-60's) and interests. If it had been a younger/more adventurous group, I would've liked to camp in the Denali backcountry for a night or two and devote more time to fishing (maybe 2 days salmon fishing the Talkeetna and/or Kenai Rivers plus 1 day halibut fishing out of Homer). Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and fully plan to return.

 

[Nick Muche]

1 day is plenty for Denali, all the tourists will drive a guy crazy. The bus tour into Denali is long and can be quite boring but some find joy in it. You'll likely see bears, sheep, moose and caribou.

The Kenai is an incredible place.

I'd certainly go to a few breweries if you like good craft beer.

Booking a salmon or halibut charter is sure to be a fun way of spending a day.

There are some pretty neat white water rafting opportunities, if you are into that.

A lot of good hiking within short distance to Anchorage.

Taking the train from Anc to Denali and back would be pretty nice.

A flight seeing trip with glacier landing would be money well spent. Of find one of the many hikes where you can walk on a glacier for a much cheaper option.

So much to do, a week is not enough, but 10-12 days would be about right.

All of Alaska is beautiful but pray for good weather so that you can truly enjoy the landscape.

 

[Nick Muche]

Mighty Mouse's trip was legit... They did more in a week than many of the folks that live up here do in several years of living here. Nice!

 

[Dexter Grayson]

Jwatts and Mighty Mouse are spot on. Would highly suggest all of those activities. My bet is Mighty Mouse didn't sleep much on the trip.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Mighty Mouse's trip was legit... They did more in a week than many of the folks that live up here do in several years of living here. Nice!

My bet is Mighty Mouse didn't sleep much on the trip.

It was exhausting but awesome. We put in 1200 miles of driving with very little R&R time. I think my trip planning privileges may have been revoked...at least by those family members who were expecting a relaxing vacation.

 

[Nick Muche]

Don't worry about sleeping when you come up here in the summer. The trips are usually short and there is so much to do. My family comes up each summer and I run them ragged by the time they leave! It's the only way to really get out and see Alaska, long drives but mostly beautiful scenery along the way. My parents get here this weekend and I have 11 days of non stop stuff for us planned to do. We will sleep a bit, but not much! Their first trip up here, we packed up and they asked where we were headed and I told them "just down the road" (Valdez from Fairbanks!) I wasn't lying... ha They don't ask anymore and just enjoy the entire trip.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

Don't worry about sleeping when you come up here in the summer. The trips are usually short and there is so much to do. My family comes up each summer and I run them ragged by the time they leave! It's the only way to really get out and see Alaska, long drives but mostly beautiful scenery along the way. My parents get here this weekend and I have 11 days of non stop stuff for us planned to do. We will sleep a bit, but not much! Their first trip up here, we packed up and they asked where we were headed and I told them "just down the road" (Valdez from Fairbanks!) I wasn't lying... ha They don't ask anymore and just enjoy the entire trip.

Nick, you headed my way next week?

 

[Lariat]

Thank you guys very much for the info. It is exactly what I'm looking for. As for time, I'm hoping to get 10 days, but we will see. Please keep the ideas coming.

 

[michihunt]

Some great advice here. Try to squeeze as much in as possible, can’t go wrong with Seward, Valdez, and Talkeetna in my opinion. An ocean cruise and flight see out to Denali are well worth the money. What month are you thinking? I know the allure of Kings in June is strong but all my old stomping grounds haven’t had great fishing recently or have even been closed sporadically. I would say try to time for Silvers if you are hoping for quantity.


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[jwatts]

If you're gonna be there for 10 days I strongly suggest getting up to Denali. It's well worth the drive or train ride. We spent a few days up there on our first trip.

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

My first AK trip was 2 yrs ago as a vacation package, 3 day cruise inside passage, bus and train to Dawson city, flight to Fairbanks, a couple days in Denali and flight home out of Anchorage. all in a week, lots of sightseeing and a great way to get your toes wet. Now I can go back and concentrate on fishing and hunting.

My parents took us and my grandparents on almost this exact trip when I was 10. We went on a smaller, 30 cabin cruise ship up the inner passage. The smaller ship was able to get in closer to glaciers and make Port in places the big cruise ships can't. More native and local culture/history, a little less touristy.

My Dad, grandpa, and I went on a halibut charter one day. I caught the biggest fish of my life, 45 lbs, and had to throw it back because it was too small compared to the other ones they were pulling in.

Anchorage was forgettable. We took the train up to Denali and back.

 

[mweller]

My family and I are planning to do an Alaskan vacation next summer. With limited time, and all that the state has to offer I would like some advice/ideas on some places and things to see. We would like to possibly slip in a fishing trip of some sort as well. Thanks in advance for any help.

We've made this a family vacation 4 times. We fly into Anchorage and rent a motor home from GAH and then hit FM for our groceries. Motor home is about 200 a day and then we head to Denali and then head south to the peninsula for halibut and salmon fishing. We've done a 7 day trip and we've done a 11 day trip. It's really nice having everything with you and stopping and making lunch and not have to be eating out all the time. It's awesome country we leave August 15th this year.

 

[2rsquared]

We drove to Homer from Anchorage one year. Worth the trip. Fished the rivers along the way. Awesome Halibut and rock fish opportunities once in Homer.

 

[Akwoodchuck]

We're taking a trip at the end of the month...starting in Homer, we're headed to Crow Creek Mine in Girdwood, then Talkeetna (via Hatcher Pass), Kesugi Ridge, Denali Hwy./ Tangle Lakes, along the Gulkana River down to Lake Louise, then probably hit Seward on the way home....one week. Will have the canoe and camper, be paddling/fishing/ hiking every day...only thing that might derail us is if a wildfire pops up along the route...

 

[timekiller13]

We've made this a family vacation 4 times. We fly into Anchorage and rent a motor home from GAH and then hit FM for our groceries. Motor home is about 200 a day and then we head to Denali and then head south to the peninsula for halibut and salmon fishing. We've done a 7 day trip and we've done a 11 day trip. It's really nice having everything with you and stopping and making lunch and not have to be eating out all the time. It's awesome country we leave August 15th this year.

Wife and i did something similar last year. Flew into anchorage, rented RV from GAH. Did walmart pick up for groceries in anchorage. We then drove straight to Denali. We spent a couple days there. We did the bus tour so,we could get deep into the park. After that, took the RV and cruised back down. Hit up Talkeetna. Fished every creek and lake we came to. Stopped at whatever spot we wanted since we were in the RV. Camped along the side of the road, beside rivers. We hit Chugach state park and then drove to st. Elias wrangell. After that, headed back to anchorage dropped off RV and jumped on train and road to Spencer glacier. It was action packed several days but freaking worth it.

Denali was awesome and I want to go back and explore more. Same with st.elias. Whittier was one of our favorite stops on the train ride. Wife and I just really thought that was a cool little place. Talkeetna was my wifes favorite spot and its cool too.

Next time I go back for vacation, I will rent an RV and head south towards Homer and hit up all those places.

 

[KSLPresidente]

We rented an RV last time and it was the family’s favorite trip. You can’t go wrong with fishing everywhere but be prepared for full on combat fishing at certain times and places. Renting a boat and going out for some halibut is a lot of fun especially if your guide uses a 410 for the really big ones. Shipping fish home to the lower 48 is easy and actually pretty reasonable. If you can I also really recommend taking a cruise either coming or going it’s a great experience.