Alaska trip possibility?
 

Thinking about flying into Anchorage, renting a vrbo for a week and doing some activities from that home base. 5 adults, 2 in 70's, 2 in 60's, 1 in 80's. Want to see Alaska but don't have to "do it all". Thoughts?

There is a huge amount of Alaska that is beyond day trip range. If no one wants to drive a rental car, You could all ride the Alaska Railroad to Healey and take a tour bus into Denali.
If none of you can drive a full size car or SUV, you could take a tour bus and see a lot more than renting a single location for a week.

testing
 

third attempt to answer this post

Anchorage as a home base is a possibility. Seward is about 3 hours away so if you want to do a boat trip to see glaciers and wildlife, you would have to get on the road very early (we did longest trip). On our last trip we based in Kenai. Seward was 2 hours away so we opted to go the night before and then stay a second night to avoid a long drive when we were tired. Homer is 2 hours in a different direction and one of my favorite places to visit. We did this as a day trip but I don't think we spent enough time. Homer is 5 hours from Anchorage. Get the Milepost and see what kind of activities you would like to do. You can easily spend a day driving from Anchorage to Seward because it is so beautiful and there are other things you can do like the Alyeska tram. If you could split between two places, that might work a lot better.

Thank you. The two places could be Anchorage and Kenai. Is that right?

Thank you.

Alaska is not an easy 'day trip' sort of place. Distances are more than VAST.

Actually it may not be what you are looking for but a 7 day cruise out of Vancouver would be much easier and you'd see more - not Denali etc but some great wildlife, native villages, scenic train, Glaciers, unbelievable scenery, interesting ports of call . . .

You could do the cruise and then spend 2 or 3 days in Anchorage or elsewhere and fly home.

Last September 5 adults landed in Anchorage, rented a Ford Explorer, a full size car would be OK too, and spent 10 days travelling up to Denali , down to Seward and back to Anchorage for the flight out. I am 68 and I split the driving with my 35 year old son in law, but the driving in Alaska is easy so you can do it. Denali is spectacular as are Portage Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park boat tour, Exit Glacier, Seward, Talketna and Boggs visitor center. We spent 3 nights in Healey, 3 in Girdwood and 4 in Seward. I don't think you can see much by taking day trips from Anchorage, it's a big region, but if you split it up into smaller chunks no problem.

>>Last September 5 adults landed in Anchorage, rented a Ford Explorer, a full size car would be OK too, and spent 10 days travelling up to Denali<<

You drove a rented car to Denali? . . . driving on unpaved roads isn't usually allowed and voids the insurance.

possibly. It depends on what you want to see. List the places and their mileages from potential bases. According to google maps its about 3 hr 15 min from Anchorage to Talkeetna so that would be a long but do-able day trip with a possible stop in Wasilla if you want to go to the Iditarod museum. On another day you could also head north but to Independence Mine and Palmer. If you aren't going to explore Homer, maybe Seward instead of Kenai would be a better location.

Look into a land only tour that includes transportation, tours, meals, and key activities... we did Trafalgar... alaska is physically tough on the older crowd so travel in comfort and let them coordinate everything...

you get motorcoach, riverboat tours, Denali, Alaska Railroad, Glacier tours, cultural experiences, food experiences and side trips that you could never plan on your own...

I would agree with the idea of getting out of Anchorage. It is a fine city but there are much more scenic areas. There is so much to see but distances are far. We were in AK several years ago and really loved the Seward Peninsula. Took a nature boat trip out of Homer that was great. We loved Denali but had great weather. Unfortunately these two locations are in opposite directions. I did a trip report under MCHS so you can see what else we liked. Good luck.