Hello All,

We are planning on taking North bound cruise from Vancouver to Seaward in July'16. After the cruise we want to do a land tour. Here is the possible itinerary for land only portion. Help me to fine tune to add or remove locations.

Day 1: Arrive in Seaward morning via Cruise. Do Kenai Fjords tour and take train to Anchorage.
Night-1 in Anchorage
Day 2: Get rental car and do city attractions of Anchorage. Night-2 in Anchorage
Day 3: Drive morning to Whittier for PWS cruise. Leave Whittier and drive to Matanuska Glacier. I need help here. Whittier or Matanusak is long drive as mentioned by "indiancouple". Not sure if I want to do 4hr drive after PWS. One option is stay in Palmer or Wasilla. What you suggest? Do I have to add a extra day here? (Night 3 in Matanusaka or Palmer)
Day 5,6,7: Drive to Matanuska and then to Denali 3 nights. Not staying at Talkeetana. Do I miss anything here not staying.
Day 8- Drive to Anchorage for the return flight

Can I cut Denali to 2 nights and add extra night in Palmer?

Thanks you all.

Do you really want to do a long bumpy-water (albeit scenic) boat ride right after getting off a cruise ship that you've been on for a week?

What would I do? Reverse things. Get off the ship and go to Anchorage, then Denali, then back to Anchorage. Then down to Whittier for the glacier cruise, and after that drive to Seward for the night. Next day do the Kenai Fjords trip, then back to Anchorage and fly away.

I would skip both Palmer and the Matanuska Glacier and consider substituting a walk to Exit Glacier near Seward instead. It's more on your way and eliminates some zigzagging.

Be careful with Seward on the 4th of July if that happens to be the case: the town is packed to the gills with participants and lookers-on for the Mt. Marathon race on the 4th.

Thanks Gardyloo, The cruise ends in Seaward on July 15 (July 8-July 5 cruise). We really wanted to do the train to Anchorage as I heard the train ride is very scenic. The ship arrives at 5am in Seaward and the train does not leave until 6pm so wanted to do the kenai fjords during the stay.

Help me out.

Is it possible to do Whitter (PWS) and Exit Glacier the same day from Seaward.

Here's the problem with Seward (only one "a" - it's named for William Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State, who negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia.)

There's only one rental car agency (Hertz) in Seward, and Hertz charges way more for a one-way rental if you pick up the car there and leave it in Anchorage. It's a real racket. (The same goes for Whittier, except there it's Avis.)

So coming off a cruise ship (or going to one) in Seward means you either rent a very expensive car there and do your local exploring, or else take the train or bus (i.e. cruise transfer) to Anchorage to pick up a car. Returning the car to where you rented it in Anchorage is much cheaper than the one-way costs from Seward to Anchorage.

However that means that if you want to do your car-based touring of the Seward area or the Kenai Peninsula as a whole, you have to backtrack in the car to do so.

Now that's not a terrible thing; the 120 miles or so between Anchorage and Seward are some of the most beautiful road miles in North America, and the two hours or so are anything but boring.

Here's what I might suggest, even though it sounds like a pain. Get off the ship, do your Kenai Fjords cruise if you want (note there are several lengths to the Fjords tours; some of the short ones don't see nearly as much as the longer ones.) Then pick up a car at Hertz and drive to Girdwood, around 45 minutes short of Anchorage (and therefore an hour and a bit from Seward.) Spend the night in Girdwood (a very pretty little valley with the Alyeska ski resort at the head, complete with gondola up the mountain to a great restaurant.) The next morning drive to Whittier (around 45 min from Girdwood depending on the timing of the one-way tunnel) and do the glacier cruise.

Then drive to Anchorage and drop off the car. You will be charged a high one-day one-way rental, but the cost will probably be pretty close to what a transfer on the train would have been for two people. Then pick up a second car that you'll return eventually when you leave. That way you get the benefit of the flexibility of having the car around Seward and Whittier, but not the high cost of keeping it for a week or more at the very high one-way rates. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for your response. My daughter and wife wanted to do a train ride in Alaska, so thought it was a good one way option to enjoy the scenery. How this looks


Day 1eaward - Anchorage -> Kenai Fjords (7.5 hrs) -> Anchorage overnight
Day 2:Anchorage - Matanuska Glacier - Hatcher Pass - Palmer-> Glacier Hike, Hatcher Pass -> Palmer overnight
Day 3almer- Talkeetna - Denali -> city tour/lunch-> Denali overnight
Day 4enali - Park Shuttle -> Denali overnight
Day 5enali - Girdwood ->Gondola ride -> Girdwood overnight
Day 6:Girdwood - Whittier - Anchorage -> PWS Cruise, Wildlife Center -> Anchorage overnight
Day 7:Anchorage - Back home -> Anchorage City tour

It's fine. Make sure your rental car company will allow you on gravel roads, or else Hatcher Pass is going to be a problem.

Thanks for your help