I'd like to post my itinerary for a 10 day trip May 31,2009 - June 9, 2009. Any advice/recommendations are welcome - especially for day 6 (June 5th).

5/31 - Fly from Indiana to Anchorage. Night at The Voyager in Anchorage.

6/1 - Day in Anchorage. Bike T. Knowles trail, Hike Flattop Mtn, maybe zoo. Night at The Voyager again.

6/2 - Head to Denali NP. Any ideas for Talkeetna welcomed??? Stay at Earthsong Lodge in Healy.

6/3 - Day in DNP - hiking. Stay at Earthsong again.

6/4 - Another day in DNP - more hiking. Stay at Earthsong again.

6/5 - Head south. Definitely want to stop in Girdwood for Winner Creek Trail, Tram ride and hopefully dinner at Double Musky. Problem is - can't (or don't want to) pay for Alyeska Resort stay. Not crazy about a homey B&B - prefer cabins or more private accomodations. Can't seem to find anywhere else to stay in Girdwood. Is it too much to drive from DNP - stop in Girdwood - and make it to Seward by bedtime? Is there some other town we should be considering a night's stay at?

6/6 -Head to Seward. Staying at Bear Paw Lodge.

6/7 - Kayak Resurrection Bay 1/2 day. Hike Exit Glacier, Harding Ice

6/8 - Finish previous day's hiking, maybe SeaLife Center.

6/9 - Head up to Anchorage for 8:45pm flight back to IN.

Thanks for any help! We've never been to Alaska. Hiked a bunch in southern Utah (Zion and Bryce) - but understand that hiking in DNP is a lot different.

There are vacation rentals ( condos) in Girdwood, but getting one for just one night might be difficult. Google Girdwood. There is also a small motel ( Birdridge Motel) just outside of Girdwood but it's very basic. I believe their website is www.birdridgemotel.com

Just checked and it's www.birdridge.com

In Seward I would go on a Bay/Glacier/Wildlife cruise -- 6-9hrs. Very worthwhile. Exit Glacier is nice however the views of other glaciers from the water are beautiful plus you might experience calving. Have fun!

For what it's worth and not having much background info on you or your family, I'll offer a few comments.

First, Anchorage is so-so. We also spent 10 days in Alaska and spent the first nite there and that was enough for us. There were too many other places and things to do that better captured Alaska for us.

Second, Denali is neat but I think you'd have to be very passionate and experienced hikers to want to spend 2 full days hiking there. Perhaps you are. As you know, there are Ranger Day hikes and independent hiking for those who want to spend the better porion of the day hiking.

Third, Talkeetna isn't much of a town. We went there to do flightseeing which was an incredible experience.

Fourth, I don't recommend driving from DNP to Seward unless you get a very, very early start and enjoy long car rides. I'm sure you've checked out the driving times. You won't have time to stop in Girdwood and enjoy any activities there. Once you get south of Anchorage on the Seward Highway, the scenery becomes gorgeous, especially if you have nice weather, and you'll want to stop often for photos and gawking. Not a stretch of road I'd want to rush through.

dcd -

Wow! Thanks for all the info. Are there other towns that you'd spend time in - other than two days at Denali? Our kids will be 14 & 16. We all like hiking -but I guess Denali isn't exactly the Grand Canyon. From speaking to a former ranger - I guess the only trails are within the first 15 miles of the park. Out west, we spent an entire day doing a 6 hour hike and thought that we'd do the same here. That's why I didn't think two days of hiking would be too much.

As for Anchorage, we get there so late on our arrival day that we're really only spending one day there.

Most posters seem to really favor Seward, so I'm trying to spend most of our time there.

Thanks for all the advice. I'm really getting excited about this trip - even thought it's 6-7 months away.

moezbud, I think a lot depends on how much you're willing to spend. We didn't travel with teenagers and I suspect that affects the itinerary quite a bit.

I'll give you our itinerary. We're from St Lous, BTW. We arrived in Anchorage late afternoon and spent the first night there.

On Day 2, we drove south to Homer (about 5 hours if I'm remembering right) which included some of the scenic parts of the Seward Highway. But it was pretty fogged in, unfortunately. Spent the next 3 nights in Homer. The views from there are gorgeous. We did an Emerald Air bear watching tour, which is a full day, that was one of our highlights. I think everyone in your group would love it. But it's not cheap. Not much in Alaska is. http://www.emeraldairservice.com/index.html The second day day we went out to Halibut Cove which was so so but the boat ride was neat. Your family could certainly go fishing in Homer on day 2. It's reknown for that (especially halibut) but expensive.

We then drove to Seward (3 hours?) and did a moderate hike about 30 miles outside of Seward. We spent 3 nights there. On the first day, we did the Saltwater Combo wildlife and fishing tour. The other day we did Exit Glacier, a modest hike near the glacier, and some shopping.

We then drove from Seward to Talkeetna and this time the sun was out as we drove along the gorgeous Seward highway (yay!!). That was a long drive -- I think around 8 hours. We arrived in time to do the 5:00pm Flightseeing tour with Talkeetna Aero (http://www.talkeetnaaero.com/). That was a blast and another highlight. See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34842453. We spent the night there.

The next morning, we headed to DNP (about 3 hours). Our backup plan was to do the flightseeing tour that morning if we hadn't been able to get out the day before. I planned the trip to give us 2 chances at the fun stuff (bear trip, Fjord tour, and flightseeing)becuz the weather is unpredictable. We spent 2 nights in Denali. We did some modest hiking the first day and went to the sled dog meet and greet and played with the puppies at the end of that demonstation.

The next morning we did the school bus tour to Wonder Lake. You'll get mixed reviews here on whether your kids would enjoy that. But I'd urge you to do it. It's the ONLY way to see most of the Park, that is, the part that's accessible.

What I didn't fully understand until I went there is that there is just one road for the entire park. That's it. There's also just one entrance. It's nothing like the National Parks in the lower 48 where there are multiple entrances, multiple roads, multiple public trails, etc. As you noted, the first 15 miles of this one road can be driven by the public. The next 90 miles cannot be. So getting on the bus is the only way to see as much of DNP as one is allowed to see. And believe me, you only get to see a tiny fraction of the entire park. For such a ginormous park, 99.9% of it is off limits.

For us the school bus ride (8 hours in all) went by quickly and we saw lots of wildlife, fortunately. The scenery is constantly changing, too. To go all the way to DNP and not take the bus tour would, IMHO, be a mistake. I'd be inclined to skip DNP if you didn't venture well into the park via the bus. The first 15 miles just aren't that great.

We then drove from DNP to Anchorage (about 5 hours) and caught our late night flight home.

Hope this helps. We loved Alaska. We even stopped in Wasilla........ Before it was "famous".

Some other trip reports and info:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35155710

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35149796

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35149463

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35144502

The Bible: http://www.outdoorsdirectory.com/sto...products_id=89

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35036427

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34989262

http://www.denali.national-park.com/

http://www.nps.gov/dena/

Probably way more than you were bargaining for!

You'll need warm clothes in June, including hats and gloves. If you do the bear trip, bring waterproof gear (tops and bottoms). It will be cheaper if you buy that gear at home.

Happy planning.

I highly recommend a visit to Independence Mine on your way north to Talkeetna. We did not hike there, just visited the buildings and enjoyed the views. It will give you a nice look at Alaska's mining history. Hard to imagine a thriving town so far from everything else. We got to Talkeetna by mid-afternoon and ran into the problem of some restaurants closed in the middle of the afternoon. It's a unique little town.
You would have time on your last day to do some hiking in Girdwood. Have dinner at the Double Musky on your way thru to Seward though. We have stayed in Whittier when we wanted to be in Girdwood the next day but that was before the new hotel was open so we stayed at a b&b in the old officers barracks. It's a strange town since it's a former secret military base and you must go thru a toll tunnel to get there. We would not visit again.

Thanks again! I appreciate all the info.

We had a great trip (with kids) to Alaska this summer. The trip report is here
http://www.tripadvisor.com/GoListDet...gust_2008.html

I think you've picked some great things to do. On the winner creek trail - we hiked in from the Independence Mine side. It's a shorter hike to the tram. If it had not been raining, we might have gone a little past the tram but decided to head back. We didn't really like Talkeetna town but thought flightseeing was fun. I assume you are doing a shuttle bus in Denali. I would make this the 2nd day. You are going to want to relax a bit. Denali to Seward is a really long trip. We broke our day in Palmer (and Wasilla!) The independence mine hike was a real treat. We also saw the dogs at the Iditarod HQ. Bear Paw Lodge was a treat. There is a hot tub so bring suits. You could fit in the Girdwood stop on the way back to Anchorage. Did you check the dates for opening of things in Denali? You may want to do this trip in reverse direction.