kalpana

hi ,
we are a family of 5 travelling to alaska for a week and want to take the scenic railway to seward and denali keeping anchorage as base.i can book hotels and the rail tickets online but how about the kenai fjords trip and park tours?can this be done after we land in alaska?also is their any kind of railpass or do we just book individual trips?also want your suggestion if its worth taking all by rail or combine it with the bus.
considering my plan is it worth buying the northernlights coupon book as people have said that only limited nos on trips are given to coupon holders.
your advice on all of the above will be much appreciated!

gail

Not sure what you mean by "keeping Anchorage as a base". Neither Seward nor Denali are day trips from Anchorage.

This is what we did - with about a week. Flew into Anchorage - spent one night there and then drove to Denali. Spent 3 nights there. Then drove to Seward, spending another 3 nights, and back to Anchorage for a night.

We were glad we had a car - it opened up the opportunity to explore locally, eat where we wanted, etc. We booked Kenaifjords.com prior to leaving Boston - as we did Park Tour. Glad we booked boat - it was sold out when we arrived. Not so sure about Park Tour availability - depends on time of summer you go.

Drive from Denali to Seward is very long - but since we had limited time, 2 drivers, 21 hours of daylight in June and did not want to spend more time in Anchorage, it worked for us.

dfrostnh

With only a week, you might do better renting a car. I know the rail trip to Seward is scenic but there are other things to do between Anchorage and Seward that you would miss. Your schedule will also be tight due to the number of miles you want to cover. If the weather is bad (age of your children?) you might not want to take a boat trip. We were lucky in mid-June to call the day before when we knew the weather was going to be great. It was mid-week and the boat was half empty. This is a gamble. DH was afraid of sea sickness after a bad fishing trip at home but we went on a calm day and it was great.
I agree, a trip to Seward should probably include an overnight. We took the longest boat trip to see glaciers.

The road to Denali is not nearly as scenic as the Seward Hwy. It will also require an overnight. How old are your children? The long bus trip into the park might not be good for young children.

gail

dfrost brings up a good point (again) about the trip into Denali with little kids. We took the 13 hour trip - and while we saw quite a few animals, the number of animals/hour was small. Scenery only goes so far with kids, and since most are used to seeing Animal Planet or zoos with close-up frequent animals, the trip might be a disappointment for them.

We did Kenai Fjords on a nice calm day as well - or so it seemed at first. So I skipped the seasickness medicine - until I was seeing more of the bathroom than the sea and took some - lucky enough that it worked even though I took it too late. Great sea and land animal viewing from the boat plus lots of glaciers - and just being on a boat is usually more fun for kids than a 13 hour school bus ride. (Note - they provide a lunch - it is really quite minimal - a bad sandwich, granola bar, apple and a drink - bring some alternate food).

Dianejk

Do cars have access to all parts of Denali or do only tour buses have full access. I really want to have a car to have flexibility. We will be there June 4th - 7th. Help? Thanks!

gail

One can only go a very short way into Denali by car - and there is not much to see in that part. After that you are limited to school bus tours or school bus shuttle

gail

Also - some years the road into Deanli for does not open that early. Two years ago when we visited mid-June road had just opened 3 days earlier

bbag

Gail - I didn't quite understand your last post. Does the road (car) not open until mid June (normally,) or are you talking about the buses?
Is everything open driving to Seward and Kenai Fjords that time of year?
Could a 7 day trip be squeezed in with a trip to Seward and Kenai Fjords with a flight out of Anchorage to Juneau or Sitka to explore the SE for a few days and return flight to the lower 48 from Juneau?

If so, how would you recommend seeing the SE (ferry boats?)

Thanks for your help!!!

gail

The road in Denali is paved for the first 6 milies or so - that is the part cars are allowed on and was open - there is a Visitors Center at this 6 mile point. After that the road is unpaved and no private vehicles are allowed on that part of the roadway and it is this part of the roadway that did not open until about 6/15 the year we were there.

Roads between Anchorage, Denali, Seward/Kenai are regular highways and open.

We combined our 8 land days with a cruise that took us to more southern Alaska and then Vancouver - so can't answer that part of your question.

bbag

Thanks

kalpana

we have no children in the group ,in fact 2 are above 70.abt anchorage,i meant that we do 2 nights to seward and come back to anc for a night to then go to denali.
1.is the kenai fjords trip offered by private operators in which case which will is your reco?
2.is denali worth it cos in the posts above i see that its a very long bouncy bus trip thru the park
3.any other suggestions in place of denali.we fly into anc on sun12 and fly out of anc on sun 19 noon.my plan was to spend the night we arrive in anc,2 nights in seward,back to anc 1 night,then denali...is katmai for bears n salmon possible?is it season for that?

kalpana

also want to add we do not drive in the US so have to use public transportation