I'm planning a week long trip to Alaska, not a cruise. Any suggestions on the best travel book? I'm not really in need of hotel/restaurant stuff. More actvities, city info, tours, etc. Thanks for any recommendations!

Hi Sara,

You didn't mention what part of Alaska that you will be visiting, but I will assume that it will be in the vicinity of Anchorage.

If you have time, I recommend that you send for the visitor guides for both Anchorage and the area north of Anchorage, known as the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

Here are their web sites. You'll be able send for a free visitors guide. Those guides have all kinds of great info in them about tours and city info, etc.

http://www.alaskavisit.com/
http://www.anchorage.net/454.cfm

As for tours, there are many to choose from but a 4 hour glacier cruise, out of Whittier (just south of Anchorage), is a great idea. My wife and I went on one last summer and it was great. Here is info on our trip:

http://www.great-vacation-in-alaska....er-cruise.html

The Alaska Native Heritage Center is another place that I
would highly recommend. It is located in Anchorage and was much more interesting than I had imagined.

http://www.great-vacation-in-alaska....ge-center.html

Hope this information helps. Enjoy your trip. You are going to love it.

Fodor's has a very nice, full-color guide to Alaska. Although there are a lot of hotel and restaurant recommendations, you'll also find a comprehensive list of activity outfitters and suggestions for the having the best experience in Alaska.

Whether you decide to buy our guidebook or someone else's, I'd strongly suggest that you buy some sort of guidebook to make the most of your trip. While information handed out at tourist information centers can be very helpful (particularly if there are good maps), it's also helpful to have a more objective view of the best things to see and do. And a trip to Alaska does require a little more thought and planning than the typical U.S. vacation.

Thanks for the help. I got the Frommers for all the basics (since I felt like I'd already read the Fodor's online here). And I'm definitely going to request the visitor's guides- good suggestion!

Moon also has a good guide book. Very honest . Tells you whether to skip something or not. Good maps.

Jenkins "Looking For Alaska" is not a guide book but it's about the Alaska visitors don't usually see. If you are a fan of the Iditarod, there are many books written about Alaska's famous race. I don't think Joe Reddington's biography is well written but it has interesting information about settling in AK and why he decided to start the race.

If you're driving the Alaska roads, _The Milepost_ is necessary and sufficient for information. It's always useful to know that the next motel is fifty miles away!