AussieFi

Where should we stop between Whitehorse & Anchorage? We are planning to hire a car in June (if we can afford it... also welcome any cheap car hire options... anyone want a car taken to Anchorage???)
Also planning on being at the Midnight baseball match in Fairbanks on June 21st.. any one been before??

Gardyloo

I am not aware of any car rental companies that will allow one-way rentals from Canada into Alaska, nor, for that matter, any that will allow one-way rentals from the lower 48 to Alaska or v.v. Unless someone knows of a company that will do so (and I would expect absolutely astronomical one-way drop charges - probably in the thousands of dollars) then I fear you should consider re-programming your holiday. I would contact car rental companies in Whitehorse ASAP to see if any would allow their vehicles to be taken into Alaska at all, and if so, whether it would be on a return basis or if one-ways were permitted.

starrs

Are you posting under another name? Here's the response to one of the many VERY SIMILAR posts made earlier with another screen name-
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-anchorage.cfm

starrs

If you've figured out how to get a car to drive one-way, then use Google maps to check the distances. Tok, AK is about 1/2way. Use www.milepost.com to plan your trip. Good luck.
http://milepost.com/index.php?option...391&Itemid=451

AussieFi

Hey Starrs thanks for that and no that wasn't me, I obviously just didn't check this site out enough to see that... sorry
Ok well that seems to be a pretty firm answer so we will, as suggested, need to change out plan. We could take a cruise from vancouver up to Anchorage and then hire a car from Anchorage down to Whitehorse and back again. Does anyone know if the drive is worth it? Is there a different way back or to go to Whitehorse are we back tracking over the same roads / places? My partner is really keen to go to Whitehorse because he grew up in a place called Echuca which is a country town in Victoria, Australia (were we are from)and Whitehorse and Echuca are sister cities.

starrs

That's a long drive. I'm not sure I'd do a round trip (from Anchorage to Whitehorse).

I've taken the ferry from Juneau to Haines and then driven to Whitehorse and back. I was lucky enough to do it in November when the largest congregation of bald eagles in the world occur at the Chilkat River.
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/eagleprv.htm
It was one of my very favorite travel memories. So many bald eagles they looked like oranges in a tree. No kidding.

Anyway, the drive from Haines to Whitehorse wasn't bad.

I'm not an AK expert but that's one option. I flew into Juneau with a connection in Seattle. But, you'd still have to check to see if you could take a rental car into the Yukon from AK.

I've been trying to figure out the ferry system to see how you could get on up towards Anchorage. The only option I see is to go back to Juneau on the ferry and then take the Kennicott from Juneau to Whittier (get a cabin for the overnights) and then get transportation up to Anchorage.

Maybe someone can weigh in on the ferry options. I DID love the views from the ferry.

At least we understand the Whitehorse draw now.

Gardyloo

There may be some car hire agency in Anchorage or Fairbanks that would let you take a car into Canada and back, but I frankly doubt it, out of insurance and liability worries on the part of the car rental agency. Most of the Alaska car rental companies are locally owned and are franchisees of the major companies, so they play by their own rules, which tend overwhelmingly to be ultra conservative (e.g. no gravel roads, which in Alaska is very limiting.) There are RV companies who will do one-way rentals (ca. US $1000 for Anchorage > Whitehorse, plus mileage, fuel, etc.) but that's another option. Use the google.

Besides which, IMO the drive from Anchorage or Fairbanks to Whitehorse is scenic in a few places, but not particularly so, and yes, you'd have to retrace your steps, all 800+ km of them.

Now, you can fly from Fairbanks to Whitehorse (via Dawson City, which is a very interesting place - center of the Klondike gold rush, and now a fascinating historic town) and from Whitehorse down to Vancouver (or v.v.) so if you took a one-way cruise from Vancouver to Seward or Whittier (close to Anchorage) you could take the train to Fairbanks via Denali National Park, then fly on Air North from FAI to Dawson and then to Whitehorse. Not cheap, but doable. http://www.flyairnorth.com.

AussieFi

Hmmmm retracing 800+ steps....ok this is looking like a bigger challenge than first thought. Thank you for so much info and feedback it's really just so helpful (hard to organise things and know what we can and can't do from down here) We've just looked at doing a 7 day cruise from Vancouver with stops in Tracy Arm, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay Scenic Cruising, Ketchikan. (is 7 days too long on a cruise.. we are only late 30's....) Then doing some trips from there ending up in Fairbanks for the Baseball on June 21. Hmmmm... still not sure how we are going to figure Whitehorse in to our plans though without a roadtrip that retraces our steps.

starrs

There's really no good way to add in Whitehorse. I googled for tour guides of private drivers out of Haines - with no luck. There are some out of work folks looking for work in the classifieds. Since you probably can't rent a car out of Haines to drive into the Yukon, I thought a private driver may be an option.

The cruise will be wonderful and everyone who has been on one loved it. But, you are cruising SE Alaska. The rest of the state is almost (what feels like) a world away. Juneau, the capital is more like an island than a city on the continent. When I was there it had 22 miles of paved roads and you have to fly or ferry in. You can't just get in the car and drive anywhere.

If you haven't played around with Google maps, give it a try. Type in a city, click on the map and then see how few roads there are in AK - especially in the SE. You're going to have to fly or ferry somewhere in order to get to Whitehorse from the SE. The ferry to Haines and drive to Whitehorse would work IF you had a privately owned car. But, if you are relying on rental cars, you're probably out of luck. The info above about RV rentals may be the only solution for going one way (or even both ways) from Alaska into Canada. I've driven (well, was the passenger) on the Alcan in November on excellent road conditions (deep snow pack) but summer is supposed to be another (slow, potholed) story. There's no way I'd do a roundtrip on it. There are surfaces that will ship a car/RV back "home" so a roundtrip isn't necessary.

Anyway, lots of options for a cruise to see the SE and then land options for Anchorage/Fairbanks. But, to get to Whitehorse? I'm guessing hiring a plane would be your best option - espcially if you have a tight schedule. And, unless it has changed a lot, there's not much to see in Whitehorse once you get there. I loved the drive though.

Gardyloo

Piece of cake -
1. One-way 7 day cruise Vancouver - Seward/Whittier (Anchorage)
2. Car hire 3-5 days Southcentral Alaska. Visit Seward, Homer etc. Pick up/drop car at Anchorage.
3. Train from Anchorage to Mt. McKinley (Denali NP) - 2 nights.
4. Train from Denali to Fairbanks
5. Fly from Fairbanks to Whitehorse
6. Fly from Whitehorse to Vancouver

- or same route in reverse.

explorenorth

You can also fly from Vancouver into Whitehorse, rent a car from Norcan, who does allow their cars on gravel roads, then drive to Anchorage along the Alaska and Glenn Highways and back to Whitehorse through Dawson City via the Parks, Taylor and Klondike Highways - a total of about 30 miles of back-tracking.

starrs

Yay! A solution!

Gardyloo

...You can also fly from Vancouver into Whitehorse, rent a car from Norcan, who does allow their cars on gravel roads...

This is good to know. Presumably they don't mind the vehicles going into Alaska too?

I tried to see if their booking engine (National Rent a Car) would allow one-ways - tried ANC and Inuvik (it would be cool to drive the Dempster) but alas, no to both.

explorenorth

Norcan does allow their cars into Alaska and I believe if you phone them they allow one-ways to Inuvik but with a huge drop fee.