We are planning on a 3 night cruise in Prince William Sound in June. Because of time we must make a choice between a trip to Denali or to the Kenai Peninsula. We could possibly do the train to Denali & the day bus trip into the park and also go to the Kenai peninsula. Are we planning too much? The cruise is a definite. I love this forum and travelers have helped me plan so many different trips. Thanks in advance!

I've been to both Denali and the Kenai, and would recommend the latter UNLESS seeing bears is an absolute must. The scenery and variety in the Kenai is superior to Denali (which, if it's cloudy, has almost no scenery at all), and the Kenai does have a good deal of wildlife. But the odds of seeing bears and moose are FAR higher in Denali.

Here's another vote for Kenai. It's a spectacular drive from Anchorage to Seward or Soldotna/Kenai and down to Homer. I'd skip Denali. If you want to see bears, you might just get lucky by driving 5 mi. outside Seward to Bear Lake Drive. See my trip report from July. Have a wonderful trip! Claire

Kenai - having just been to both in June.

Kenai, but I did like Denali. Kenai is one of the most beautiful places on earth IMO.

Thanks so much for all your opinions. Looks like kenai is the sure winner! Now, any suggestions on where to stay? We are not fishermen so scenery is the biggie. Probably would like to book one place for 3 nights or 4 & do day trips. We like cabins or a place where we have even a small kitchen as restaurants 3 x a day get so tiresome. We might skip seward since we will be on the Prince William Sound trip, Homer is a must from what I hear. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks

Also agree with the Kenai, which had been the suggestion made to us by folks on the Forum before we went to Alaska.

I was searching for a site we used to find cabins in Homer, but it's among the missing, However, just doing a search for "Homer AK cabins" will give you lots of choices. Then perhaps when you find some places you like, you could ask here for comments.

The site below did have several places listed all in one spot, so you may want to look at it.

http://homerbedbreakfast.com/homer_cabins.htm

Thanks for the info, Clousie!

I agree, Kenai would be preferable.

We had kitchens in Seward (http://www.alaskasaltwaterlodge.com/) and in Homer (http://homeroceanhouse.com/). Both come with great views! I'm sure you'll get more ideas from tripadvisor.com. Seward has a bit more to offer, IMHO, than Homer. Seward has the boat trips for wildlife and/or fishing, Exit Glacier, the museum, and the town itself. Homer has great fishing trips and a tremendous but expensive bear trip (http://www.emeraldairservice.com/rate.htm).

Homer hands down- we were in Homer, Seward,and Denali in June, and Homer stole our hearts!
We stayed with Rose at Wild Rose BNB- had a sweet cabin with a kitchen, bathroom, nice and cozy. The scenery is spectacular- one of these days I will post pics!
Enjoy!

I vote for Kenai of the two for June also. As someone else said, on dreary days there is not much of a view in Denali.

The views in Homer on the Kenai are stunning just about everywhere. We stayed at Alaskan Suites with an incredible view the last few days of May, but price shoots up in June for the summer season.

We didn't stay in Seward, we chose the Kenai Princess Lodge, but we were kind of early for the season so traffic was not an issue for us.

I have to disagree on some of the Denali Park comments, it most certainly is very very scenic and quite different from the Kenai Peninsula. I have been to both numerous times.

You do not mention how much time you have?? Certainly 2 nights in each of Homer and Seward is an excellent option. For me a must is the longest Kenai Fjords boat tours. ALWAYS be well prepared for motion sickness, if prone. I've seen sick passengers on EVERY trip I have been on, (over 15). Exit Glacier is worthwhile.

We did not visit Denali on our trip this month so I cannot compare but I can't imagine that much could be more beautiful than Kenai P. We saw 3 moose and 3 bears before we went on the bear viewing trip. We rented a house in HOmer (Homer Guest Cottage) and loved everything about it. If you don't need that much space (3 BR) you might ask Eileen, the manager, what other properties she has that are smaller. We kayaked with True NOrth (loved it), went bear viewing with Emerald Air (loved it), bicyled and spent time roaming the town and spit. The guys went with a guide to salmon fish in the river and caught our dinner.

Lynnalan,

Doing some research for a trip we may be making to Alaska next summer. We are also interested in renting a house in the Homer area and appreciate your lead on the Homer Guest Cottage. Seems like a very nice place! Just in the initial planning stages and unsure whether we should base ourselves in one place and sightsee from there, or will we have to move around from one place to another? Will probably be looking at around 10-12 days for this trip. With that much time do you recommend setting some time aside to visit Denali also? Any help would be much appreciated....thanks!

Alaska isn't the place to base yourself out of one place, and day trip. Distances are vast and you see and do far more, if you move and stay in the areas you are visiting.

BudgetQueen,

When my husband and I visited the Zion/Bryce area in May we naively thought we would be staying in one place and doing the daytrip thing, too. Thanks to wisdom and experience of fellow Fodorites like yourself, we changed our itinerary and moved from area to area to avoid long daily drives, so I totally understand the point you are making.

Can you suggest areas where we should stay and for how long in each area? From what I've read so far, it would seem that besides the obvious choice of visiting Denali National Park, everyone raves about the Kenai peninsula and the beauty that lies there. Where are the best sights on the Kenai peninsula and which towns would put us closer to them? We will be flying in and out of Anchorage so any proposed itinerary would be much appreciated!

What we would look for in an Alaskan vacation would be majestic mountains, wildlife like we've never seen before (bears, moose, whales) and some day cruises to view glaciers, waterfalls and again---whales!!! Are we on the right track for where we want to go? I haven't as yet purchased a tour book and wondered if anyone has suggestions for a really good one?

The Milepost is THE guide to Alaska. It is published each year.

padams,

Thanks for the tip! Just ordered my copy from Amazon. Can't wait to get busy reading.....it's the only kind of "homework" I ever enjoyed doing!!!

I had hoped to get a trip report up by now but here is a quick itinerary which was largely shaped by Fodorites input and worked great for us. My original plan was to headquarter and day trip but so glad we changed our plans based on the feedback I received. If we had another day I would have added it in Seward to hike Exit Glacier and see the Sea Life center . . . I know we missed out there but time was short. The float trip was a little lame but otherwise the trip was an absolute home run.
Day 1: late arrival, stay in Anchorage
Day 2: AM and lunch in Anchorage, drive to Girdwood (app 45 min), stay at Alyeska resort
Day 3: Dogsled ride on glacier via Alpine Air helicopter in am, hike Winner Creek Trail in pm - lodging Alyeska
Day 4: Bicyle am, Turnagain Pass float trip in Sunrise/Hope in the pm (we had a 10 year old so could not do the more challenging and probably fun Six Mile Creek) - Hope is a charming little town; lodging Alyeska
Day 5: Drive to Seward - Renown 6 hour Kenai Fjords glacier cruise - stay Seward (Bear Lake lodgings B&B)
Day 6: hike and kayak at Bear Lake (outside Seward) in the am, travel to Homer in the pm
Day 7: All day kayak in Homer
Day 8: Guided river fishing for guys in the am, bicycle, shop and visit Bear Creek winery in Homer
Day 9: Emeral Air bear viewing trip
Day 10: Brunch in HOmer then drive to Anchorage and depart
We did not see Denali so of course I cannot compare but we were a bit deterred by the idea of having to travel through the park on busses and the time required to drive there. I felt our trip to be complete and we are still riding the euphoria of the beauty we experienced and fun we had.

Wasn't the dogsled at Girdwood a unique experience. We didn't allow enough time at Girdwood. We just used it as a place to spend our first night. what did you think of Winner creek trail?