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Alaska Trip Help
We have researched here, but it is so confusing and we would appreciate advise on our first trip to Alaska - 13 nights, Mid-late August. Two adults, no kids. We are early risers, energetic, we want to see bears, wildlife, beautiful scenery, do boat tours, dog sledding, photography, etc. Not into fishing. Please advise any changes you would recommend or things we must do in each area. We chose budget accomodations, so we can do more excursions:
Arrive Anchorage at 2:00 PM pick up rental car drive to Girdwood 1 night in Girdwood Alpina B & B 3 nights Homer Ocean Shores Motel Emerald Air Bear Tour 2 nights Seward Stoney Creek Inn? Kenai Fjords Tour 1 night Talkeetna (is 1 night enough?) Hotels? 3 nights Denali Denali Lakeview Inn? What activities do you recommend with 3 nights Denali? (is 3 nights too long in Denali?) 1 or 2 nights somewhere between Denali and Anchorage (any suggestions) or we could add a night somewhere else?? 11:30 AM flight home from Anchorage on day 14. Thank You! |
Talkeetna is a very small town. I think one night should be enough unless you have a special activity planned such as a flight seeing trip.
We enjoyed Independence Mine and stayed in Palmer visiting the Mine from the Wasilla side before heading up to Talkeetna. We also toured the Transportation Museum (small but a lot devoted to early bush pilots) and on previous visits had visited the Idiatarod Museum etc. There are things to do in and around Anchorage so perhaps that could be your final one or two nights. Even the trolley tour is an interesting quick trip around town. |
1 night in Talkeetna is enough, flightseeing is excellent here. If you are purchasing a coupon book, you will be able to use one for flightseeing as well as Kenai Fjords boat trips.
Denali Park is excellent for 3 nights- BUT determine what your time will be occupied with? Are you looking at multidays into the park, activities??? In your timeframe, I would definately get to Wonder Lake via shuttle bus. Otherwise, you may want to consider a day detour for Matanuska Glacier Trekking, Anchorage, Girdwood etc etc etc. Another option, do you have any interest in Fairbanks?? Plenty to see and do there too. :) www.explorefairbanks.com |
We traveled to Alaska in July 2006 and
had the following Itinerary: Arrive day 1 Anchorage. Be sure to stop at the Grocery store if you plan to carry any food. Stores are few and far between as you approach Denali. Day 2: Stopped in Talkeetna for lunch then on to Denali Day 3 - 5 Denali Lakeview Inn. Just the right amount of time. We did the 8 hour bus tour. We hadn't stocked up on food so had to buy a sandwich at Subway. We learned! Day 6 Drive from Denali to Sheep Mountain Lodge (Really in the middle of nowhere!) in route to Valdez with a stop for lunch at the Independence Mine. Day 7-8 Valdez stayed at Wild Roses-Best place we stayed in Ak. Went on a wonderful boat tour. Day 8- Early sailing on ferry to Whittier. Stayed a couple of nights in Seward at Box Canyon Cabins, don't reccommend. We loved the Sea Life Center and the boat tour we took here, but hated Seward in general. Days ??-Homer We loved Homer. Husband and Teenage daughter caught 50 pounds of halibut After our time in Homer, 2 or 3 days we returned to Anchorage for over night before returning to civilization. We drove about 1600 miles in 2 weeks and had a trip of a lifetime. It made me realize that Alaska is the American Fronteer. Sorry about my lack of memory on the number of days toward the end! |
Thank you everyone for your advise! I appreciate it!
BQ - where do I find the coupon book? Do you have contact information for the tours in Denali, Kenai, or Talkeetna? Any recommendations on specific tour companies? Thanks again! |
twotravelnuts, my husband and I did ten days in Alaska, late August-early September.
We went to Denali, Seward and Homer, did two day cruises and the bear watching trip with Emerald Air. We stayed at the Denali Park Hotel, the Stoney Creek Inn and the Ocean Shores, and recommend them all. Here's my trip report where I describe the trip and the lodgings. http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1 |
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Your itinerary is very similar to our trip which will be in July 08. In Talkeetna, we are staying at the Talkeetna Chalet B&B http://www.talkeetnachalet.com/index.htm which looks beautiful. It is not exactly budget but their room with shared bath isn't too bad.
For a stop between Denali and Anchorage, we are staying in Palmer, so that we can do Hatcher Pass. We are staying at Alaska's Harvest B&B. We are also two adults interested in just the things you mention, with the addition of being avid birdwatchers. Our itinerary: 1 night Anchorage on arrival 2 nights Seward (for Kenai Fjords all-day trip) 4 nights Homer (Emerald Air bear trip and Seldovia) 2 nights Girdwood 1 night Palmer 3 nights Denali 1 night Talkeetna back to Anc for flight home |
There are 2 coupon books, Northern Lights and Toursaver.
For Denali Park, you don't need a "tour". Book a shuttle bus for yourself to at least Fish Creek/Eielson. www.nps.gov/dena For clairfication the last grocery stop, is Wasilla, heading north. This is sometimes better than Anchorage since Fred Meyer, Safeway and Walmart are right on the Parks Highway. There is nothing until Fairbanks. There are 2 major boat operator's out of Seward, Alaska Heritage and Renown. Both have 2 for 1 coupons. My clear preference is with Alaska Heritage and their Northwestern Fjords tour. What are you looking for in Talkeetna??? |
We've been to Alaska twice now (in 05 and 07. We stayed in Anchorage, Seward, Homer, and Denali (DNP). I would make all hotel and airline reservations and car rental asap, if you havent done so already. Of course, everything is expensive, so you have to save money when you can. I would not stay in Talkeetna (not enough to warrant staying overnight; I'd rather spend the time in Denali). It is definitely worth visiting, but you can do that on your drive from Anchorage to Denali or back. I loved Denali so much I would recommend staying four nights. I would recommend taking the bus trip into the center of DNP, get the 5 am bus ride (it's the first trip of the day and you are more likely to see the wildlife that time of day, I was told). It sounds like a long trip, but it goes fast and is well worth the price. We stayed at McKinley Creekside Cabins both times, which worked out well. I recommend getting an individual cabin. They have a restaraunt onsite which makes decent food at relatively affordable prices. Before you go to Denali, stop at a grocery store in Anchorage or Wasilla and pick up breakfast, fresh fruit, and snack items and bottled water/drinks. You can possibly save on breakfast that way. There are no grocery stores in Denali other than a very small convenience type store. DNP has lots of free ranger programs including a dog sledding thing (so you don't have to pay to see the Iditarod sled dogs. We've done both; you there's not much difference between the DNP sled dogs and the privately run sled dogs. they are all so cool), but limited hiking trails (we climbed Mt. Healy - that was good.)Most of the hiking you would have to go on your own at your own risk. That's an option if you are up to it. At Homer, we stayed at Island Watch B&B. That was excellent, maybe a little pricey?. We tried to get breakfast included wherever we stayed when possible. There are a few really good restaurants in Homer. The highlight of that trip for me was going on the tidal pool excursion with the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. Go when the tide is scheduled to be out. That was so worth the money. I still think about that trip... In Seward we stayed at Teddy's inn the woods B&B. Again, really great, highly recommended. We climbed Mt. Marathon (okay, not me, but my husband. he loved it). It's very strenuous. We went on a Kenai Fjords 6 hour boat trip. That was great, 6 hours was enough for us. Take dramamine non-drowsy. Even though it is a calm ride, people got sick on our boat. Lots of puffins and eagles and dolphins and glaciers. Exit glacier is something to see. Lots of hiking. The Museum on ocean wildlife (I forget the name, it's big and new) is worth going to. I would not recommend changing hotels more than 3-4 times for your stay. It gets to be exhausting. Anchorage has a Native American Natural History museum, definitely worth going if you aren't familiar with Native American history. Other notes: Our best view of Denali was from some road near the airport in Anchorage. We hardly saw Denali when we were at the park; it is almost always surrounded by clouds. If you are able to see it, consider yourself lucky. Bring a really good camera, you will have tons of unique photo opportunities. If you don't belong to AAA, consider joining for the discount on rental cars and hotels up there. The road trip from Anchorage to Denali is 5 hours. The road trip from Anchorage to Seward is 2-3 hours. All beautiful and scenic, anjoy and stop along the way. You don't need to stay overnight between Anchorage and Denali. Bring CD's or whatever for the road because the radio stations die out going to Denali. And elsewhere sometimes the reception is not great due to the mountains. Have a great time!
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I'll just comment on a couple of things that I am familiar with.
I'd agree with doing the bear tour and Kenai Fjords. Denali is definitely worth 3 nights or more. I've stayed at Kintashna Roadhouse, well inside the park. We took the school bus wildlife viewing bus all the way in to Kintashna. I've done daytrips on the bus too from outside the park and those were good. |
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