Hello,
I've just booked my first trip to Alaska for 12 days in June/July 2006. We fly into Anchorage and are looking for information on where to stay. I assume downtown is where we want to stay, but I just want to make sure. Also any suggestions on excursion/places to go would be greatly appreciated. My husband and I are avid hikers/climbers and would be interested in any day trips people suggest.

So, are you staying in Anchorage the whole time? If so, why? Anchorage is great, but there's so much else to see.

Around Anchorage, I would HIGHLY recommend the Eagle River Nature Center. They have great walks right by the river, it's so beautiful and not many people around. We saw our one & only male moose on the road to it.

Lots of options for lodging in Anchorage. Downtown has all your gift shops & better restaurants & the older (fancier?) hotels. The Millenium by the airport also has some ambiance - it's right on one of the float plane lakes, kind of neat. Lots of the chain hotels in midtown - they're newer, maybe less expensive, but it just looks like 'any suburban area USA' and is surrounded by chain restaurants (I'm talking of the Tudor/C area). Other option would be a B&B - save money & get some personal attention & advice on the area. Check out B&Bs at:

http://www.anchorage-bnb.com/grid.htm

There is a ton of stuff to do based in the Anchorage area - either for a few days or your whole trip. Here are just a few ideas off the top of my head...

Check out this website for hiking close to Anchorage:

http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/index.htm

Also good hiking books for Alaska are '55 Ways to the Wilderness in SouthCentral Alaska', and there is also a book on 'Hikes in Chugach State Park' (not sure of the exact title). The Chugach Mountains are the ones that border Anchorage & they are awesome...Chugach State Park would be a national park anyplace else. Tons of great hikes. I personally recommend the Flattop Hike - doesn't take too long & has some fun scrambling to get to the top. Also like Wolverine Peak, that takes a bit longer. (Neither is technical, I'm a hiker & I like to scramble, but I'm not a real climber.) Powerline Pass you have a very good chance of seeing moose....also Kincaid Park on the southwest side of town is crawling with moose, we almost always see them there, take a drive through the park some morning or evening.

Heading out of town, to the north I'd recommend hitting Hatcher's Pass and Independence Mine State Historical Park. Neat mine buildings, fun hiking in the area as well. You can do this as a day trip, or on your way to maybe Denali.

Also north (and then east) of town is the Matanuska Glacier - you can get glacier hiking tours that are a lot of fun...see the glacier up close & personal. Nova provides good tours & provides crampons & instruction.

Denali is great for hiking - take the shuttle bus in, then get off & blaze your own trail for a few hours and catch another bus back. Take a map & compass or GPS, but usually you can see the road easily as the hiking is above treeline (try not to startle the caribou!). If you have an extra afternoon at Denali & drive up to the Savage River, it is fun to scramble up the mountains before you cross the river...we got real close to some sheep and lots of ptarmigans this way.

South of Anchorage, check out Girdwood. Take the tram up for some great scenery, or take the Crow Pass trail up to the pass - stunning scenery, that's the best part of the trail.

Portage Valley is also neat...stop at the visitor's center there, maybe continue onto Whittier & take the 26 Glaciers boat tour out of Whittier.

I also recommend Seward highly. Take the hike at Exit Glacier to the Harding Icefield. Great views of the glacier. Also saw a lot of marmots on this hike. Oh, yeah, and this area has a ton of black bears, I think we saw 6 including 2 cubs. Check out the SeaLife Center in Seward as well - very well done. You could take a boat tour out of here also, if you wanted, or even a charter to fish for halibut or silver salmon.

Lots and lots of great options. Have fun!

Print out the above, an excellent comprehensive list. Post your routing for more specifics. Request Anchorage's visitor guide www.anchorage.net there is also Flattop to hike right in town. Several trails along Turnagain Arm. Endless opportunities.

If you want to consider biking the Coastal Trail, I stay at the Alaska Walkabout B&B, just wonderful B&B and free bikes.

Flattop is a great (and very popular) hike as is Bird Ridge, which doesn't get as much notice, but is excellent.

In Seward, climb the Mount Marathon trail. It's the track used for the big Fourth of July race and the views of Resurrection Bay and the icefields are incredible. It's 2,500 feet of vertical.

With 12 days, however, I'd echo the recs for adding some two or three day excursions.

As they say, ``the best thing about Anchorage is that it's only 15 minutes from Alaska.'' That's a little extreme, but in many ways true.

The ER Nature Center is also a good rec.