Alaska Itinerary
 

First time to Alaska in July here is our proposed Itinerary—any comments? We are in and out of Anchorage and will rent a car.
Day 1 Fly into Anchorage-arrive early afternoon—drive to Takkeetna for overnight stay
Day 2-3—Denali—we have reservations at Back Country Lodge for 2 nights
Day 4—Out of Denali about mid-day drive to Glenmalen
Day 5-6—Drive to Valdez for ferry To Cordova—2 nights in Cordova
Day 7-8 –Ferry to Whitttier. Then the question arises—Seward or Homer or both
Day 9—9 pm flight home. Day in Anchorage?

Would welcome suggestions on places to stay ($100=$150 a night would be good but could splurge once in a while) and things not to miss. We are in our 50’s—like moderate outdoor activities. Like to hike but not die hard. Can Kayak, but used to MN lakes vs open ocean. Want to see Glaciers and love to see wildlife.

You are covering a lot of ground on this AK trip. I think it's too much for a 9 day trip.

- What route do you intend to take going from Denali to Valdez? It's not likely your rental car contract allows the vehicle on the Denali Hwy if you are considering that route.

- There's not much worthwhile in Glennallen (other then gas), I'd head a few miles south to the stay at the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge (see: http://www.princesslodges.com/copper-river-lodge.cfm )

- Seward vs. Homer. I like Homer better (I think I'm in the minority there); but Seward is a lot closer.

- $100-$150, unless you stay in hostels you will be at the $150+ price range

- rental car, If you haven't booked your car rental do so now. Prices typically just get higher.

If asked what to change, I'd drop Cordova and Valdez, maybe add Homer and at least a full day's stay in the Girdwood/Portage/Whittier area.

Thanks for the feed back. We did determine we bit off too much. Despite all my best intentions this happens every time I plan a trip!

Denali to Glennallen is still under discussion. Stopping there is only a place to stay for the night that was reasonably attainable after coming out of the park.

We have dropped Cordova--too much travel time.

So now we have
Valdez 2 nites
Seward 2 nites and Homer 1 night

Open on suggestions for allocating these last 5 nights.
Will we be in trouble if we don't book hotels in advance?

With 3 nights, I would pick Seward or Homer and not both. One nightingale homer is a long drive, with not enough time to do anything. You will want one full day in Seward to do the Kenai Fjords tour, and it would be good to see Exit Glacier as we'll. We spent 3 full days in Homer and didn't do everything we wanted to do...one full day for a fishing trip, one full day out on the water, and one day exploring homer and surrounds. We didn't even go on a bear trip, which I dearly wanted to do but couldn't,t fit in.

There are so many great things to do in Alaska, it's really a shame to miss it all by driving place to place. If you want to hike, take a helicopter landing on a glacier, get out on the water to see whales and glaciers calving, or get up early in the morning to catch sight of moose, you need to be in the place, not arriving or leaving. I've only done one trip to Alaska but more than anyplace I've travelled, I feel like Alaska wants a slower pace. You don't need to see at lot of different places to have a lot of different experiences.

That was supposed to be "one night in Homer." Damn autocorrect, leave out a space and it totally messes you up.