Affordable Car rental
 

Hi,

My Alaska trips starts on 29th June
29th June 2.00am . Reach ANC. Rent the car and then drive to Whittier. Take the cruise 51/4 Price William sound and ten stay near Whittier(or Cooper Landing ?).
30th June(Sunday) Drive from Whittier to Talkeetna. Stay at Talkeetna.
1st July- Drive from Talkeetna to Denali.
2,3rd July Denali.
4th July - Denali to Paxson via Denali Highway
5th July Drive from Paxson to Valdez . Stay in Valdez
6th July- Drive from Valdez to MICA Guides.Do the MICA guides tour. Stay nearby.
7th July: Drive from MICA guides to ANC . Catc the flight at night 11.30pm.

Questions:
Please advice if this itinerary is good,or if I am missing anything?
2) Any advice for affordable car rental, as car have booked currently is really costly.?
3) On day 1 ,shoudl I stay at Girdwood. Whittier, Cooper Landing or Seward. I mean does the drive from whittier to Seward , really worth the time spent?

Thank you so much in advance

We are also travelling to Alaska this summer. Here are somethings that I have discovered as I researched.

For your car rental, rent downtown and then return to the airport. There is no additional charge for the airport return. You may want to call directly. Use AAA discount, Entertainment coupons, make sure you receive the last minute email specials from the car rental agencies. I get an email about once a week. Right now specials are being posted for cars rented before June 30th. Most car rental agencies do not let you drive the Denali Highway--you would have to rent from one of the smaller local agencies.

Day 1: I would stay on Girdwood. Lots to do near Girdwood. Have you checked the Bore Tide Schedule? I think Seward has a lot to offer but you would probably need to spend a couple nights there. Seward is crazy busy over the Fourth of July weekend so I think it would be difficult to find lodging now

On July 2nd and 3rd book the shuttle to Wonder Lake

Thanks LindainOhio.

For Denali National Park, do we have to book the shuttle , or can we take any shuttle any time?

> do we have to book the shuttle ,
> or can we take any shuttle any time?

Each shuttle bus is given a certain number of permitted passengers, and this number can NOT be exceeded. If all permitted spaces are taken up by passengers who booked in advance, then NO further riders are permitted. You can show up at a designated departure time and HOPE there is space, but there is no guarantee.

The concessionaire who runs these buses
http://www.reservedenali.com/shuttles.aspx
strongly recommends advance bookings.

The owner of Earth Song Lodge where we are staying, recommended that we book the shuttle in advance. If you call and book 2 shuttle trips, the third day is free. I don't think you have time for a third day in Denali but thought I would mention it.

Hi Maggi, I would definitely take Lindain's tip to rent away from airport, especially if you can do an airport return at no extra charge. I just returned from New Mexico, and had no real alternative to an airport pick up. The airports seem to have a lot of taxes and charges, sometimes almost equal to the total daily rental cost.

Book the rental as far in advance as possible for the best rate. Some online options have no-penalty cancellations, so you can continue to shop around. Have a great trip!

Well you're not going to find any downtown car rental agencies open at 2am. And most are closed on Sunday.
However, if you want to get some sleep at 2am, renting the car at 8am seems to save $100 (budget.com) so that pays for the hotel. In fact, there are a few more car agencies open at 8am so that opens up better pricing. Dollar.com is $528 for a midsize car