Hello,
My wife and I are travelling to Alaska for 10 days in July. Can you give me some recommendations for the following? Thanks in advance for your help.

Denali:
Where to stay (we're staying outside the park-looking for good, reasonably priced hotel/motel/b&B)?
What to do outside of the park (if we don't want to go into Denali one day)?
How long to stay (we're flexible on how long to stay with a max of 5 days-during that time we want to do the Denali highlights)?

Kenai:
What town to stay in (what towns are fun and/or interesting)?
Where to stay looking for a good, reasonably priced hotel/motel/b&B)?
What to do-we're decently outdoorsy people-what activities should we look to do

Rental Car: Our plan was to rent a car to travel between Denali, Kenai and Anchorage as I thought this would give us maximum flexibility. Is this a good way to go? I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks in advance for your recommendations.
Adam

On the Kenai Peninsula, most people will recommend Seward and Homer. We enjoyed both. I can't comment on lodging, as we rented an RV (have you considered that?) Take the Northwestern Fjord cruise out of Seward, the highlight of our trip. Also we hiked to Russian River Falls, about 3 miles one way, but a nice path. We saw Momma Bear and 2 cubs at the river, catching salmon, we were there end of August. You will love Alaska, this time last year I was planning our trip, and I can't believe it's over!

I'm in Kenai, so I know the peninsula well. Homer has a nice place at the top of the hill before you descend into Homer proper. It's called the Alaskan Suites, five individual, first class cabins, with small kitchens stcoked with basics, a nice bathroon, tv/dvd and a large hottub outside. On the end of the Homer spit(the long stretch of land surounded by Kachemak Bay, Land's End resort is at the end, and gets favorable reviews. They have a nice restaurant lounge too, and are close to the ferry terminal and it's a ten minte walk to all the beachfront shops and restaurants, plus the Homer boat harbor, with charter halibut fishing, or sightseeing across the bay to Seldovia, Halibut Cove and a few nature type tours.
Soldotna has the Kenai river as it's main draw, right along the highway as you pass through.. many hotels, but only the Aspen has an indoor pool. It's the newest.(salmon fishing makes the river very popular).
I've yet to get to Denali, so I can't help you there, but so many others on this board have, so I'm sure you'll get some good advice. Enjoy your trip!
Renting a car will be a must, unless you want to get a small r.v. and stop where you like for the evening.

ttt

Because of the distance between the Seward and Homer, you will probably want to stay one night in Seward so you can take a Kenai Fjords trip. Sorry, I wouldn't recommend where we stayed. The Pratt Museum in Homer is great. If you don't do a flight seeing trip in Talkeetna, you can take a short flight over a glacier from Homer. We used Smokey Bay. On your drive back, aim to have lunch in the Kenai/Soldotna area then take your time returning to Anchorage, stopping along the way at Portage Glacier Visitors Center, Mt Alyeska tram, etc. On your way back from Denali stop at Independence Mine in Hatchers Pass. The pass doesn't open until after July 4 at which time you can get to the mine from the Wasilla side. Otherwise, from Palmer.

Yes definately a round trip Anchorage rental car is a must. I would plan on 2 days in each of Seward and Homer, and as mentioned the Northwestern Fjords boat trip. Request each city's visitor guide. Loaded with all your needed information. There are listings of the B&B's of which I prefer. Just try one, only had one bad experience with an Alaskan B&B so I never would recommend Ocean Front in Seward. As for Denali Park - you need to do your homework, plenty of activities- www.nps.gov/dena has listings, same for lodging- plenty too choose from in a wide range of prices. I stayed at the Denali Park hotel and it was very nice for the bargain rate but I mostly stay at Touch of Wilderness B&B just consistantly excellent.

Also I didn't find anything special about Soldotna dining instead hold out and eat at Gwins in Cooper Landing, just excellent.