My husband and I have decided to take a 3 week vacation to Alaska this coming summer. Do you think 3 weeks is to long or not long enough. We are planning on going to Denali, Kenai, Fairbanks, Anchorage, any other ideas. We are interested in dog sledding, zip lines, kayaking, and white water rafting.

Your length depends on how long you want to spend in each place. Some destinations would be tiresome after a day or two. I would think two weeks would be a good amount of time. If you can, while down in Kenai, I would definatly add on Homer and Seward.
You can take a variety of wonderful day cruises out of Seward.

With 3 weeks you might consider some time off the road system - flights into the bush, extended kayaking in Prince William Sound, fly-in camps, ferry to Kodiak, things like that. Or else 2 weeks in Southcentral then fly to Juneau and spend a week in Southeast - day trip to Glacier Bay, or out to Sitka, plenty more to see. To some degree it will be budget-dependent.

Use www.alaska.com for a good intro to the various regions, logistics, all that. Happy planning.

Three weeks is a good amount of time. Don't forget you are covering hundreds of miles so some days will be spent getting there (and making stops along the way). I also agree on adding Seward and Homer to your list. We only took a short flight over a glacier near Homer and enjoyed it immensely. I would go on a longer flight next time.

I agree with Gardyloo. With 3 weeks, you can spend one week in southast Alaska (Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway). It is very different from the main/interior part of Alaska. A day trip to Glacier Bay is worthwhile.

Spending one week in the SE will certainly increase the cost of the trip. The ferry system, the least expensive option, really isn't adequate to do justice to the SE with only a week; you'll spend far too much time getting from place to place. The other alternative is to fly, but that is expensive. We did 3 weeks in Alaska a few years ago with one week in the SE. We flew into Ketchikan (thru Seattle) and then used one-way tickets from Ketchikan to Sitka, Sitka to Juneau, and Juneau to Anchorage. Our return was from Anchorage. We also sandwiched a roundtrip Juneau to Skagway in there on Wings of Alaska. If I remember correctly, the one-way fare total to get us from Ketchikan to Anchorage (excluding Skagway) was around $400, not bad actually. We used American Airlines miles instead which can be used on Alaska Air.

Thanks everyone for your replys. We are now thinking of taking a 1 week cruise and then staying on in Alaska for another 2 weeks. We have taken the cruise several years ago and it was wonderful. It sounds like we can see anchorage, denali and kenai in 2 weeks. What to you all think?

Anita, do research here under Arctic Circle ad all places you want to visit. Buy Milepost today (there must be a bookstore in San Diego) and start reading. Finalize your itinerary asap. Why zip lines? Zip lines in Alaska? Hmm!

NO, DO NOT BUY a MILEPOST now- wait for the new edition after 3-05. In the meantime get an older copy at your library. I would definately recommend a one way cruise with a SEWARD port, not Whittier. Then you can start/end there a day or two before and make better use of time not backtracking. Request EACH area's visitor guide. At your library also take out Frommer's Alaska and Fodor's Alaska. Good concise planning references. White water in Alaska is only so so, perhaps look into Alaska fortes- like glaicer trekking? Any dog sledding will require a helicopter- look into going out of Seward, Juneau, Skagway. (I'll assume you want snow sledding?) 3 weeks is great- not too much time- and excellent with a one way 7 day cruise.