R_U

Hi,

We're a group of 8 doing Alaska for 6 days this July. We've come up with an itinerary and wanted input/advice from you guys. Any info is appreciated as this is our first trip to AK.

Day 1: Anchorage to Denali, with stops along the way and at Talkeetna for Glacier landing near Mt McKinley

Day 2 & 3: Denali National Park; Hikes, wildlife and Denali Wonder lake

Day 4: Drive Denali to Anchorage, spend evening and night in Anchorage

Day 5 & 6: Drive to Seward and back to Anchorage. Kenai Fjord cruise, Sea kayaking, Fishing and Exit glacier.

Is this doable? Are we missing anything thats a must see/do in Alaska? Is Seward better or Valdez for glaciers and kayaking?

Thanks!

spirobulldog

We did the Kenai Fjord Cruise and sea kayaking in Seward. If it were to do over again I would combine the two into one and actually kayak near the glaciers. Even better, spend one night near one.

Connie

We have RV'd Alaska twice.

You can get to Seward and back in a day but you won't have time for much of a cruise. To get the most out of cruises, you should take as long of one as you can to see the most glaciers and wildlife. Otherwise you are just floating around inside the bay.

The town of Seward has a huge parking lot right on the water's edge with great views of the mountains and boats coming and going just for RV's. It's one of our favorite places in Alaska to "camp".

it will take you a day up to Denali, a day to do the bus ride in (take the national park bus--cheaper and all tours take you on a school bus) and a day to get back down to Anchorage. We didn't stop in Anchorage--we just drove all the way down to Seward. Then we had the whole next day to do our cruise.

Distances are much farther than they look on the map and RV driving is slow.

There aren't many places to park your RV IN Anchorage anymore. They used to let you use the Wal Mart and other parking lots but most put a stop to that. It's just a regular city--not what we went to Alaska to see so we didn't spend much time there--especially when you have a short time like you do.

We LOVED our Talkeetna flight. We did land on a glacier but that wasn't the best part. The flight was one of the best things we have ever done. We bought an Alaskan Toursaver Coupon book and got two tickets for the price of one but you had to do the late afternoon flight so we had to time it just right getting there. The time of day was fine for the flight with their long days of sunlight. We just did it on our way up to Denali.

Connie

How many RV's are you renting? We had four in the largest RV Great Alaskan Holidays rents and it was just right. It had a bed in a bedroom and a pullout couch. There was a bed above the cab too--we used it for luggage storage. More people than that would have been crowded.

I'm sure the dinette table made a bed too which would be okay for kids.

vincenzo32951

If you take a daylong bus tour at Denali, bring your own food. The box lunch they hand out is barely edible.

bigtyke

Like Connie, we rented from Great Alaskan Holidays (twice) and have had nothing but a great experience.

Connie

Some bus trips don't have any lunch--be sure and check. Along with food and drinks, I recommend some sort of container for all your things that will keep the dust out--duffel bag, etc. The road can be very dusty and the windows will be open. The second time we did it I took along a wet wash cloth in a baggy to freshen up ever so often. Be SURE to bring good binoculars and of course a camera.

Ditto bigtyke's recommendation of GAH.

R_U

Thanks a lot guys. This is all very helpful. I think we'll tweak parts of the plan based on your suggestions.

Anything about Valdez?

Gordon_R

Another vote for great Alaskan Holidays - we've just returned from our first RV adventure in Alaska and spent a week touring the Kenai peninsula which was just enough time to see the highlights at a sensible pace and clock up about 600 miles driving. We did consider trying to fit Denali in as well, but there was nowhere near enough time in the 1 week we had. Go north to Denali or south to Kenai, but not both.

Cheshirecatt

As others have said, the Kenai Fjords Cruise takes a full day, so you would need to either arrive at Seward before 9.30am at latest or add another night to Seward.

The Kenai Fjords National Park Tour (full day cruise) is amazing and I could do it two days in a row. There is the option of a smaller boat that only takes up to about 16 people two (called Captain's Choice Tours) for a more personalised experience.

If you cannot add another day to your trip you could take one night off Denali (which would mean cutting off half a day) and then you could do it all, but there is a bit of driving involved in this.

I wrote about a similiar one week Alaskan trip and two other alternatives if you want to do less driving on another Alaska forum query at:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...a-432635-2.cfm

I have pictures and travel articles of my own trip to Denali, Palmer and the Kenai Peninsula at:
www.dreamhorsemedia.com/travel/

I didn't get to Valdez so can't comment on that unfortunately. But if you decided to skip the Kenai Peninsula, you could also do the Glenn Highway and Matanuska Glacier and Independence State Park plus Gold Mint Trail).

Denali and the Kenai Peninsula are both unforgettable, so you can't go wrong with either of them. Have a fantastic trip!