I went to Alaska with my BFF for 10+ days, here is my detailed itinerary, I had a lot of fun. one of the best trips this year.

I didn't rely on the GPS for this trip at all but I had all my maps in place. we took KIND bars and cheese balls, cup noodles, soups etc with us.

ALASKA TRIP

Day 1 – 30th July - Fly to Alaska, 7 am flight and reach Alaska by 2 pm, take your car from the thrifty store at the airport, transfer to hotel in Anchorage - Anchorage grand hotel,. Explore downtown anchorage by car. Goto flattop mountain see glen alps trailhead.(chugach state park)

No lunch, dinner at glacier brewhouse in downtown anchorage - $$$

Day 2 – 31st July - Check out of the hotel
Drive to Whittier from Anchorage (1.5 – 2 hours) The Turnagain Arm Drive
Stop 1 – Potter’s Marsh
Stop 2 – McCugh Creek didn’t do Mccugh creek as it wasn’t interesting.
Stop 3 – Beluga Point
Stop 5 - Whittier

Do the 26 Glacier Tour - 5 Hours - $149, starts at 12 30 (Lunch included)
Ph: 9072768023
Phillipscruises.com

Lunch was fish and chips. Don’t forget to take pics of Surprise glacier in Harriman Fjord.

After the cruise

Explore the area around. Portage Glacier – See the Portage valley here, hike through the jungle to see portage glacier. Sit by the portage lake and absorb the beauty. Skip dinner.


After the cruise, drive to Seward.-1-2 hours
Seward , check into the b&b in Seward- Northern nights B&B ( amazing breakfast)

Day 3 – 1st August - Wake up at your own time, have the amazing breakfast prepared by tom. drive 20 mins to reach the Kenai Fjord’s National park’s Exit Glacier.

Explore time 1-2 hours. Free of cost. Do the 10 am tour with free ranger talk. Hike up to the exit glacier.

Have lunch at woody’s thai - $$

After Exit glacier, explore resurrection bay , go to Lowell point and Tonsina beach. Walk around the beach and absorb the beauty. walk around Seward later and explore the stores, drink at a bar.

Spend the night in Seward.

Day 4 – 2nd August - check out of Seward b&b and drive to Girdwood , 1 hour 45 mins

Check into Girdwood b&b, - bud and carol’s b&b – pay 155 usd cash or 155 +12% tax

take the tram from Hotel Aleyska and go to the top to see Mt Aleyska , hike on mt alyeska. Spend 3-4 hours there, hiking and then lunch at the café at mt alyeska.

Come back to the hotel, relax and change and take the night tram to 7 Glacier restaurant for dinner.- make sure u have a reservation.

Spend the night in Girdwood.

Day 5 – 3rd August - Check out of b&b after breakfast. and drive to Talkeetna 2 hours and 45 Minutes

Drive through Hatcher pass, see independence mine and summit lake (short hike to see the lake).

Reach Talkeetna around 4-5 ish

Do a flightseeing tour of Mt. Mickenly

Flightseeing Tour with Glacier landing (McKinley Experience) - $295 – departures all day.
Ph: 8007642291
Flyk2.com

After flightseeing have lunch at wildflower café.($) decent place for salad.

Not Staying the night in Talkeetna , drive to Denali, 2 hours

Check in to your hotel - denali log cabin (through air bnb)

Day 6 – 4th August – take the shuttle from the park and do the denali national park preserve tour,$45, absolutely gorgeous and perfect example of value for money – 7-8 hour tour.

Come back , dinner at salmon bake restaurant (didn’t like the place)

Day 7 – 5th August – leave Denali and drive straight to talkeetna for lunch (fav town in Alaska), have lunch at roadhouse café ($) amazing place. (instead of 2 nights in denali, can spend one night here too, very cheap and clean lodging).

Explore the area and drive back to anchorage. On the way, stop at eklutna lake, relax and absorb the beauty, then drive a little to thunderbird falls, hike to the falls , relax and absorb the beauty.



Reach Anchorage and check into the b&b- Alaska European b&b

Have cup noodles for dinner.

Day 8 – 6th August - check out and go to the airport, return the car
Fly to Juneau.

12 20 pm – 2 pm

check in to your hotel – goldbelt hotel ( didn’t like the hotel even though it was in downtown, expensive and not modern, look for a b&b).

have late lunch at saffron indian restaurant – worst place ever. Sleep early


Day 9 – 7th August – have breakfast at the only bagel place in downtown Juneau.

Take the city+mendenhall glacier + whale watching tour from juneautours.com

$135

totally worth it, explore city by bus. Bus drops you at steep creek, see king salmon floating and hope for a black bear to come eat them. Next hike to the mendenhall glacier and nugget falls. Take pics and absorb the beauty. Bus drops you back to downtown Juneau

dinner at Hangar restaurant ($$$) amazing fish.



Day 10 – 8th August – wake up at your own time, have brunch at sandpiper café ($$) nice place. Explore downtown Juneau, shop for bath salts, glacier soaps and souvenirs, late lunch at crepe escape ($) best savory crepes ever.

Day 11 – 9Th August – Morning fly from Juneau to JFK – 6 am to 7 45 pm.

Good travel itinerary. I would suggest adding the lower peninsula on a future trip. Homer is spectacular, and has been compared to Norway for the glaciers and water location.

Also, Anchorage has plenty of good hotel choices, both near the airport, midtown, and downtown. Always check Trip Advisor for reviews. I have lived up here most of my life, and never heard of the Goldbelt.

@jetset1 We didn't go to homer as I didn't feel I could do any there thy I wouldn't be able to do anywhere else in Alaska ... Which is why we decided to skip it.

Goldbelt hotel is in downtown Juneau , in anchorage we stayed in a hotel ( anchorage grand ) for the first night and a bnb for the second night a week later.

That is a great itinerary. I would love to go to Alaska again, the last time I was there in August, it rained every day and every place we were at, of course nothing you can do about the weather. Sure is beautiful even in the rain though.

Thanks for the informative trip report! We're planning a 10-12 day trip to AK for June/July 2016.

@harrisonf luckily, it didnt rain a drop while we were there. all 10 days were beautiful. Temparatures randing from 65-75. Just Perfect.

@ccipups I loved AK, hope you have fun too and hope you can take excerpts out of my itenary.

Very succinct report. Sounds like you covered a lot of ground--and my guess is you must be far under the age of 50. Hope you weren't trying to starve yourselves--of course breakfast was good after no dinner.

Anchorage does have some good hotels (in varying price ranges) and I'm not sure I've heard of the Grand. It is also a prolific restaurant city.

Sounds like a good trip. Thanks for the report.

@hopingtotravel yes , we did cover a lot of ground and sill felt it was a very relaxed trip .... me and my friend were both 29 years old when we went .... and we had a lot of munchies in our car , so we ended up not having dinner sometimes .. Alaska was a lot fun ... one of my best trips ever ,,,, @amalloy .. thanks

Thanks for the report. Did a last minute cruise in September, and would like to go back and do with a car from Anchorage to Denali.

Stayed at GuestHouse in Anchorage which really was just fine for one night considering it was one of the lowest prices I could find on line for a night pre-cruise (and pre-Obama!).