We have just decided to see Alaska. Someone said September was a great month. What kind of weather should we expect. We live in Florida, so are not used to cold!! Would early September be good - more reasonable hotel rates, etc. Thinking of flying into Anchorage and spending two weeks (is that enough?) Thanks for any suggestions.

Sept is great interior Alaska, but look at the first two weeks, not much later, as it seems to "close up" after mid Sept.

Denali park to Wonder Lake is a must. I would route yourself to Seward/Homer first. Get on a Kenai Fjords boat trip. Then head north for Denali Park, before the shuttle buses close by mid month.
Continue to Fairbanks, if of interest, be on the look out for Aurora.

We usually visit Denali and Katmai (for bears), starting in Denali in late August and early Sept and then going to Katmai for a week or so, usually leaving no later than mid-September. This is pretty much the ideal time for these two places and the main tourist areas are basically shuttered by the third week in Sept.

Other spots you may wish to visit (Homer, SE, etc) might be open longer, but the weather becomes chippy pretty fast.

Sounds like a great trip. 2 weeks would be perfect for seeing the highlights without feeling rushed.

We were there last year for 10 days from Aug 21-Sept 1 and visited Homer, Seward, Talkeetna and Denali. It was a great time of year. After Labor Day, a lot of the neat tourist things to do stop operating and the weather can be chilly.

Do a search here and you'll find some helpful trip reports and itinerary suggestions. One of these days I might get around to posting mine. If only they didn't take so long to write!! We flew in and out of Anchorage and rented a car (you won't need an SUV). We spent the first night in Anchorage to get settled in after the long flight, then drove to Homer and spent 3 nights there, drove to Seward and spent 3 nights there, drove to Talkeetna to go flightseeing over Denali (way up there on the Wow factor) and spent one night there, drove to Healy just outside of Denali and spent 2 nights there. That worked out to be just the right amount of time for us to hit the highlights of each area.

With an extra 3 days, we would have taken in another area of Alaska.

Happy planning!!

Many thanks for the replies. Will we need very heavy coats for late August/September. Do we need to book the shuttle bus into Denali? Also the flightseeing - in fact, do we need to book everything, or can we maybe find motels when we get to a town?
Thanks Jean

You shouldn't need real heavy coats but do bring several layers with the outer jacket being medium weight and rainproof.

I always like to book hotels ahead of time so I can get the best bang for the buck. Plus it means more time sightseeing and less time trying to find a nice/decent place. Alaska will be less crowded then but still busy. I wouldn't want to "wing it" there. Tripadvisor is a great resource for figuring out where to stay: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g2...ka-Hotels.html

The flightseeing tours also can get booked altho at that time of year they are less busy. They are weather dependent so even if you pick a date and time, they may not go. I planned the trip to give us 2 shots at making that tour in case one got cancelled. In other words, we arrived in Talkeenta mid afternoon with a pre-booked late afernoon tour (which went) but if it had been cancelled, we were hoping they'd have seats on the first flight out the next morning before we headed out to Denali.

The early Denali shuttle buses were almost full when we went in very late August so I'd book that ahead of time, too. Plus by booking early, you'll be sure to get the time slot you want (earlier is generally considered best for wildlife viewing). We saw lots of wildlife from our 7:15am departure.

We also live in Florida and spent the last two weeks of September on the Kenai Peninsula a few years ago. The weather was much warmer than I expected. We dressed in layers but rarely needed more than a sweater in the daytime. We did not go to Denali. A few things were closed after Sept. 15, but the hotels were all half price after that date so we saved a lot of money going then.

Good advice. We have now decided to rent an RV instead of car/motel. I really like to be a free spirit on vacation and not book much. Seems that we shall not need to book every campground, but should book the Denali shuttle and a flightseeing. What is the best flightseeing and from which town?
Actually got f.f. tickets!!
Jean