2009 trip plans - comments from the experts?
 

Apologies for the double post - I mistakenly posted this in the general US forum, I think.

Author: kitty1000
Date: 06/17/2008, 07:51 am
I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to Alaska for next summer and I'd be grateful if the AK experts on here could take a look at my tentative itinerary. Our big priorities are bear viewing (absolute top priority) and scenery. Whale-watching would be a bonus but I don't know how many whales we'd see on the proposed trip, which goes like this:

s - fly London to Anchorage
s - in Anchorage
m - fly Anchorage to Homer
t - in Homer
w - in Homer
t/f/s - fly Homer to Hallo Bay for 3 nights
sun - fly Hallo Bay to Homer
m - bus Homer to Seward
t - in Seward
w - in Seward
t - train Seward to Anchorage
f - in Anchorage
s - fly Anchorage to London

What do you think? I've tried to build in some relaxation time and enough time for connecting transport. I realise there's a lot of travelling involved, but we've done trips of this type before and enjoyed the travelling days. I also realise we're missing out on a lot, but I'm open to suggestions.

I have a couple of more specific questions:

1. Is there enough to do in Homer and Seward to fill two full days in each? I'm thinking of the longer Kenai Fjords tour for one of the Seward days.

2. Should I be banking on being able to get road transportation from Homer to Seward? I understand there's no longer a boat between the two.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi I just got back a week ago and visited both Homer and Seward. In Homer we did Hallibut fishing one full day and then bear viewing for one full day. Stayed at a wonderful B and B called A Room With A View. Great people great meals and very friendly . The views are awesome. I drove from Homer to Seward about 2.5 hrs. and its a wonderful scenic drive u can stop along the way at many stops. The Kenai river is awesome. I highly recommend that u do this instead of flying all over. In Seward we went fishing one full day and also went glaciew/wildlife trip small boat 14 people run by Alaska Saltwater lodge. Do the small boat all day one beccause it gets u to see everything. This was a awesome adventure. So two days in each is very easily done I stayed 4 days in Seward and we hiked one day at LOst LAke a really good hike

Every Fodor's post goes into the general forum, so don't worry about that.

Lee Ann

Rongolf, I've read your trip report posts with interest - sounds like you had a great time and did a lot of the things we'd like to do. I will definitely consider renting a car for part of the time.

Lee Ann, thanks for the reassurance - my original post took a while to show up so I reposted thinking it hadn't gone through.

If you fly to Homer, the flight will not be very scenic. See if your airline will check your bags all the way thru to Homer. Ours did on the flight to Kenai even though the airline is a small commuter plane. You have enough time to drive and you are going to miss some interesting things to do on the way although scenery from the train is supposed to be fantastic. In Homer you will need a car to do some exploring esp the lovely Skyline Drive for the view overlooking the Spit (view is slightly different from the approach to town). We watched an eagle soaring around. From Homer you can take a short boat trip to Seldovia or Halibut Cove. Seldovia is tiny. The boat ride won't be as exciting as the Kenai Fjords trip from Seward. We always seem to travel the Seward Hwy when the tide is low but when the tide is in you might see whales from the road. See Beluga Point info. Since you have two full days in Anchorage, it would be nice to rent a car to visit Independence Mine. Looks like a great trip!

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Having done some more research I'm wondering whether it would be worth taking a couple of daytrips out of Homer with Emerald Air rather than staying at Hallo Bay. I've read that the level of guiding is inconsistent at HB, and I've also realised that apart from the guided walks, which presumably take up only part of the day, we will be restricted to camp. Does anyone have experience of one or both which would help me make a comparison?

Thanks.

i used to work at hallo bay. i wouldn't suggest going there b/c mgmt is weird! I would look up Brad Josephs in Homer and find out who he is working for and get a bear tour booked with him. he is an expert and VERY good in the field! Hallo bay has too much turnover - not great confidence for a bear viewing trip.

You want to make sure your Kenai Tour goes all the way to the glaciers. A lot of the half day are in in res. bay only. I also suggest fishing. We did a flyout/salmon/bear viewing trip in Soldotna. I imagine you can do them from several locations. We saw 15-20 bears and caught a lot of sockeye salmon. The train back from Seward is the way to go. We enjoyed it. We did a midnight sun kayak tour in Seward, that was good. We also enjoyed dogsledding/helicopter/glacier landing in Girdwood. Enjoyed riding the tram and eating at the top of the Alyeska Resort. Lots to do in Girdwood.

Kitty1000,

Being the end of Nov., I figure you've gone and returned from AK, if you did indeed go.

What did you end up doing and how was it?

the title says 2009

Oops, so let me rephrase. Did you decide something for this summer yet?

Kitty1000-

I went to Hallo Bay last summer and although I agree the place is not run all that well, I enjoyed every minute there with the bears. We did have a great guide (he left HB a few weeks after we did) but would still consider it as the location is stunning and the bears are plentiful.

Monica

Rongof - We are four people staying at Saltwater Lodge for three at the end of our Alaska trip. Did you like their small group tour? Would you say it is worth it to squeeze in Homer as well? We only have 7 full nights, not including fly nights. We're thinking 3 in Denali area, one in Talkeetna, and three in Seward. What do you think?

We didn't really like Talkeetna - the flightsee was great but the town felt more like a re-creation of a town. I would spend the night in the Palmer/Wasilla area to break up your drive more.