Okay, I have a draft itinerary - is this doable? Is it worth doing? This would be last week of August/first week of September next year.

- Juneau - 3/4 nights, one of those an overnight in Glacier Bay to look and glaciers and watch whales (?)

- Fly from Juneau to Fairbanks - involves a change in Anchorage but avoids backtracking later.

- Probably a clear day in Fairbanks to see what there is to see, including the Museum.

- Train to Denali to 2 or 3 nights - flexible on this at this stage.

- Train to Talkeetna for an overnight and some flightseeing.

- Train/bus to Anchorage.

- Train down to Seward for 1/2 nights - I'm thinking we're going to need two if we're to do the longer Northwest Fjord trip.

- Bus/train back to Anchorage, then fly home next day.

Does this make sense?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

MissKitty
It sounds like it might work and be fun. In Juneau, there are great whalewatching tours with Orca Enterprises, or combo tours with Coastal Helecoptor for glacier landing. Mendenhall Glacier can be done by city bus for $5 and nice walk and visitor center.
For denali, hope you are considering the park shuttle bus to Wonder Lake for max wildlife viewing. Book in advance for early bus and enjoy. I guess you can get off train in Talkeetna and continue to Anc the next day? Not sure. Summit Flt seeing tour there is great if mtn is out. 2 for 1 toursaver coupons with Talkeetna Aero.
Train trip to Seward is nice. May want to see Exit Glacier there and Seavy Family Dog Kennels and tour. The 6 hr or longer Kenai Fjords NP tour is very good and highlight of Seward. More wildlife than PWS. Have a great trip. Request the free visitor guides for each of these areas for lots of info.

Yes this is a nice routing, but with only one day in Fairbanks, and if a significant cost difference, I would go round trip Anchorage. And yes you can get the train at Talkeetna which is always my recommendation to break up the trip. I would not consider any buses and just stick with the train. There has been the last several years, Princess/Alaska RR 2 for one coupons if would fit into your plans?? This would be round trip Anchorage/Denali Park, then I would rent a car for a few days and see the Kenai Peninsula and even back track north, Hatcher Pass, Talkeetna etc. The problem with the train, is missing everything in between. The least scenic portion is the Denali Park/Anchorage portion- lots of repeative scenery.

Sounds like a nice trip. I don't know that I would include Fairbanks for your first trip. There are lots of beautiful and interesting sites in Alaska, but Fairbanks probably wouldn't fall in my list of top 10 places to see. If you eliminate Fairbanks from your itinerary, I'd consider adding Homer or Valdez instead. I preferred the scenery around Valdez, although Homer is a nicer town, more tourist-friendly and quite beautiful as well.

I'd also consider renting a car rather than taking the train/bus everywhere. You're wanting to stop lots of places, which would make coordination with train or bus schedules more difficult. I'd also want my own transportation to get out and about to restaurants, etc. or even just to do some exploring.

Have a great trip!

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. Looks like we might get a car for at least part of the trip - maybe the Seward portion, rather than being on the train the whole time. The order partly depends on our flight tickets. We'll be on a Skyteam award, which allows a stopover and an open jaw, so we were hoping for a flight into Fairbanks with a stopover in Juneau, then back from Anchorage. I do like the idea of long, linear journeys rather than backtracking, but that's just a thing of mine!

Wonder Lake and Orca Enterprises are definitely on the list.

Oh for an extra day in each location ...

I liked Fairbanks as much as anywhere in Alaska. The musuem at the University was great. The shows that they put on (when we were there it was about the Aurora and eskimo games) were very interesting.

The El Dorado gold mine and the Riverboat DIscovery ride were first rate

I'd consider dumping the trip to and the day-and-a-half in Fairbanks. Museum is fine as fair as it goes, but the city is boring and charmless. The landscape is some of the most underwhelming in the entire state.

On this short of an itinerary, spending a day and a half there is a waste of time. And while I generally avoid backtracking, it's worth it in this instance.

You'd bet better off just flying to Anchorage and getting a car for the period. Unless you ``love trains,'' those trips severely limit your Alaska experience.

I'd consider dumping the trip to and the day-and-a-half in Fairbanks. Museum is fine as fair as it goes, but the city is boring and charmless. The landscape is some of the most underwhelming in the entire state.

On this short of an itinerary, spending a day and a half there is a waste of time. And while I generally avoid backtracking, it's worth it in this instance.

You'd be better off just flying to Anchorage and getting a car for the period. Unless you ``love trains,'' those trips severely limit your Alaska experience.

Repete, I'm intrigued - dump the trip where - was there a word missing? I've heard this sort of thing about Fairbanks before, and I'm trying to minimise "dead time" on the trip as a whole. I might just start a new thread and see if Fairbanks has any fans.

And I don't love trains that much, so I may well mix it up a bit, even if I stick with the general routing.

Thanks for your comments, though, this is all really helpful to me.

misskitty --
Sorry not to be clear. I meant dump the trip to Fairbanks AND the time you'd spend there.

Fairbanks is an OK stop if you have a long itinerary -- a couple of weeks -- or you plan on making multiple trips to Alaska.

But in your short span, I'd recommend concentrating on the best Alaska has to offer . . . and it's not there. I'll fill in a few more details on the other thread later.

That's great, thanks repete.

As for "dumping the train", I would suggest this too since you aren't a rail fan. Taking the train requires time and is very limiting in scheduling. Superior is having your own transportation in my opinion on the Anchorage/Denali Park portion. I too would suggest you consider a round trip Anchorage trip. Pick up a rental there, then on your last or begining portion , take the train back and forth to Seward which is the most scenic portion of the entire rail.