My husband and I want to visit Alaska and see all of its beauty- so my first question is land or by cruise ship? Or a combo of land and cruise? We are active and like to venture out and see the true culture, we are not big into going in large groups such as on a tour bus� but cruise ships are okay, just not the tours off of the cruise ships. Not sure if that can be avoided in Alaska??
we welcome any advice! Thanks in advance!

On our first visit we went on the Alaska Marine Ferry from Bellingham WA to Skagway. The car came with us and was going to stay in AK. Skagway is a quiet little town except when streets are mobbed with cruise ship passengers. But, they all disappeared late in the day so we didn't have a problem with a restaurant. The much smaller ferry can go up the Inside Passage where it's too narrow for the big cruise ships. Our final destination was the Anchorage area. If you read the local news website you can find out about events locals are attending but cruise passengers never see. On another trip we went to a campy dinner show with a singer I liked. I think we were the only non-locals in the place. One of my favorite experiences was visiting a beach on the river near Kenai/Soldotna and discovering two guys who were net fishing. One was taking a break. The other was bringing in fish, gutting them and tossing guts to the seagulls. They worked on the slope so had full weeks off at a time and a permit to get a lot of salmon. I can't remember how many 100 pounds one of them planned to take home. We were gifted with a freshly caught and cleaned fish and enjoyed chatting. There are farmers markets you can visit. Trails you can explore. I even went on a neighborhood garden tour. The last garden was at a very old log cabin and there was a beer keg for visitors.
I found it best to have lodging reservations for weekends. We weren't fussy about where we stayed so we were able to go a the glacier cruise out of Seward on a beautiful calm water day and just did reservations the day before.

You will get lots of other advice, but if you want to do independent land touring and then tack on a cruise, I like Holland America southbound ( Noordam 7 Day Discovery) which leaves from Seward and includes #1 sight Glacier Bay then stops in small-town Haines. The Northbound direction and other mass-market lines visit Skagway but I like the small-town ambiance of Haines since only one ship can dock there at a time (Ketchikan is horribly crowded but there are places just outside such as Totem Bight that you can visit by bus). From Haines you can walk over the crest of the Chilkat Peninsula (or rent a car) and view Mud Bay. Don't miss the Haines Brewing Company in town. Most cruise lines visit Skagway which becomes just too crowded like Ketchikan.

You could spend several days before around Seward, or do a land tour to Denali (check the Alaska Railroad website for packages if you prefer not to drive). Lots of neat cruises out of Seward also, if you want to spend some time there rather than do a formal cruise (which are really pretty good deals considering the cost of food, lodging and transportation) , I book an inside cabin and just spend time on the deck during Glacier Bay and walk laps or enjoy the public "window cubbies" . Most cruise stop days are nearly full days and you can see a lot.

First, welcome to Fodor's!

The cruise will let you see parts of the state that can't be visited easily on a land tour, and a land tour will let you see parts that can't be visited from the water. Neither will let you visit parts of the state that are off the road system, which is by far the biggest aspect of Alaska.

Yes, of course you can skip expensive shore excursions on the cruises, and doing so makes them pretty decent bargains considering they're inclusive of lodging, transportation and food. In Ketchikan you can take the city bus ($2) to Totem Bight State Park to see numerous totem poles and other Tlingit cultural sights, all in a lovely rain forest setting, or you can take the bus the other way to the Tlingit village of Saxman, also with numerous totem poles and other attractions. In Juneau you can walk around and experience this old gold-rush era state capital, with its Russian church, a cool tramway up to a stunning overlook of the city, or prowl the bars and cafes. In Skagway, book a rental car and drive up into the Yukon, visiting the tiny but fascinating Carcross Desert, and maybe continuing up the Klondike Highway to a fun old ghost town at the side of the road, before turning around and going back to the ship. I'd look for an itinerary between Seward or Whittier and Vancouver (or vice versa) that includes visits to both the Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.

In Southcentral and Interior Alaska the big tourist highlights are Denali National Park, the Kenai Fjords and the Kenai Peninsula in general. It's easy to arrange a self-guided driving trip that includes these places, but you'll need at least an additional week on top of the week-long one-way cruise, and more time is always better.

Timing is important. The interior of Denali National Park (reached by shuttle bus, requiring hours of sitting on the bus) isn't fully accessible until early- to mid-June, and by the last week in August you'll be seeing terrific autumn color on the tundra and the mosquitoes will be gone, versus intense in June and early July. Weather is very unpredictable - half the visitors to Denali never see the mountain due to the clouds that the mountain creates for itself. In June you may see some bears as they emerge from their winter habitat, but if you want to fly someplace to see bears fishing for salmon, that will be later in the summer. In June daylight will be constant, and if you venture north of the arctic circle, for example by flying to an Eskimo community like Kotzebue or Utqiagvik (Barrow) the sun will be up for 24h. By September in the north, on dark, clear nights you might see the aurora.

So the bottom line is to do your research and budgets, and decide soon how much time you could make available and when. Come back with more questions, and again, welcome!

Here is a post from a while ago that another Fodorite posted regarding doing excursions on the cheap:

Alaska Shore excursion on the

I found that most of the excursions could be done quite easily on your own at much less than the cruise line charged.

You can also click my name and see a recent report from the Noordam for June. The people who did the pre-cruise Denali thing saw bears as well as the mountain but there are no guarantees. They commented that the Holland America land schedule was a little tiring so maybe DIY is better if you are comfortable with that.

Along for the ride as I'm also planning a trip to Alaska, but not sure where to start.

So what’s the best month to visit?

Please see my reply above. There is no "best" month, it depends on where you want to visit and what you want to do. Alaska is so big that it's still wintry in some areas while it's summer in others.

If you're just cruising in Southeast Alaska, the weather in June is (slightly) more likely to be decent than in September, but you can have rain at any time. On the other hand, cruise ships might be prevented from getting too close to tidewater glaciers because of ice in the water hampering navigation; that will be less an issue by July and August.

If you're visiting Denali, traveling in June means you'll have lots of mosquitoes, and the animals might still be emerging for the season and not as prevalent as later in the summer. By late August you'll be in autumn conditions, with great color but also a higher risk of rain. If you want to visit the arctic, the season is even shorter.

So we need to go back to your first post. How long do you have? Do you want to cruise, to do a land tour, or both? I'm sorry if it sounds like you're being given a runaround, but these are important questions if you want people to help design an ideal vacation. Ideal, that is, for YOU.

To illustrate, here are three pictures I took on a cruise in early July a few years ago, en route to my god-daughter's wedding in Anchorage.

July 4, Ketchikan, bright sunshine



Two days later, Juneau



Two days after that, Yakutat Bay and Hubbard Glacier



Like I say, changeable.

I've been remarkably lucky with weather going both early (June 10 south bound) and late (a few days before September 1, the day we reached Glacier Bay). Both times, southbound, beautiful along Turnagain Arm, Seward, Glacier Bay, Haines and Ketchikan. Most recently light rain in Juneau. Inside passage was rainy during the June trip. Weather in Vancouver was also good both times! People who went to Denali before my cruise (which would have been early June) saw the mountain.

I was invited once before mid season and from the photos..everyone looked miserable..rainy and overcast the entire time!

Whale/orca and moose sightingsfrom Anchorage through to Seward were great in June, but only saw green bear poop in Juneau (they were just waking up then and eating vegetation). Saw plenty of bald eagles both trips and puffins and sea otters around Seward.

Although you can't predict 100% the weather, if seeing a bear in the wild is your priority, you can time it around salmon runs. The late salmon were running in early September and people on my cruise saw plenty of bear around Haines.

We visited Alaska last year from June 12th to June 26th and the weather was as changeable as Gardyloo warns it can be. Our route took us from Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula, then along the Glen and Richardson highways to Valdez and back to Anchorage via ferry across Prince William Sound. Some days were gorgeous and a few were gloomy and one was downright miserable. It was never very warm but we were expecting that and came prepared. Mosquitoes put a damper on things in Gakona, where the hatch just started the day before we arrived, but otherwise we were never bothered much by them. Like you, we like to avoid crowds and we were pretty successful at doing that on this trip. I don’t know if your schedule would allow it, but we have found that a good way to experience the “true culture” of a place is to stay in a vacation rental for awhile.

Alaska is amazing. Enjoy planning your trip, and listen to Gardyloo. He is a wealth of good information.

Definitely listen to gardyloo as the weather can be a bit of anything. I have only been to the deep interior bush. The first time it was in early September and we had snow the last day. The second time was in August and it rained nonstop. The third time was in June and it was downright hot! On the solstice at 9 pm it was still 90 degrees. We are headed back this September and I know I will pack many layers.

All great great help! Thank you!! We have nothing in mind for sure at this point except that we definitely want to do a cruise combined with a land tour most likely. Is it better to go southbound or northbound? We have not selected a cruise line as of yet ... also, we don’t have a month picked out so I am torn still at which month to select. What I do know is that we don’t want to go off on the typical group cruise tours when it gets to the land portion of the trip, yet I don’t know what all things there are to see and do while there. Like I said, I am just getting started and I know very little about Alaska and about cruising as well. So first I guess we need to nail down a month and a cruise line - so please do co tonite with your wisdom on these things! Thanks in advance!

Knowing you want to do both a cruise and some land time is a good place to start. So let's take that and run a bit.

First, having enough time for both portions of your visit means you're looking at roughly a 2-week minimum time frame. The cruises require a week, and if you want to add on a day before or after the cruise for logistics (airport to ship or v.v. etc.) and assuming you don't already live on the west coast, you need to add some hours/days just to get to or from the departure point. I'll come back to this logistics issue as it's one that deserves some attention.

Northbound or southbound cruise. Assuming you live somewhere besides the west coast (where?) I'm going to suggest a northbound cruise, Vancouver to either Whittier or Seward. The reason for this suggestion has to do with body clocks. Alaska is four hours behind eastern time, and in the summer it's light pretty much 24 hours. Flying from anywhere east of the Mississippi to Anchorage takes a very long time, not to mention time needed at home and getting to the airport in the first place. By the time you land in Anchorage you'll already have had a VERY long day, and jumping into a car that day or the next morning, followed by a full day's activities, is a recipe for exhaustion or worse. On the other hand, flying to Vancouver and getting on the ship is far easier, and the first two days of the cruise are all about relaxation and looking at the passing scenery, with a very comfortable bedroom, no logistics hassles, and plenty of time to adjust your body clocks and get your energy up. That way, by the time the cruise is over and you arrive in southcentral Alaska, you can hit the ground running and not be phased by the day length and not be hampered by fatigue. So that's why I suggest sailing north; it's a "soft landing" way of experiencing your arrival in Alaska.

Which cruise ship/cruise line. On one-way cruises from Vancouver, it's the itinerary that's more important than the cruise line. Variables include which ports and how long in them, and - most importantly - what sights you can see from the ship. For many people, the highlights of a one-way cruise are the glaciers viewed from the ship. Only a couple of cruise lines are allowed access into Glacier Bay National Park, which many regard as a "don't miss" highlight of the cruises. Some ships stop at the Hubbard Glacier (see the photo above) and a few stop at both. In looking at July (just as an experiment) I noted that the NCL Norwegian Jewel calls at Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, and does "drive-bys" at both Glacier Bay and the Hubbard Glacier, before terminating in Seward. NCL is a mid-range cruise line, not as luxurious as some, but perfectly adequate, and will offer a very wide range of accommodation options, umpteen food options, and plenty of shipboard activities. I'd personally pick them, but this requires some research on your part. Consult a big online cruise agency like cruise.com, or Expedia, or sign up for Cruise Critic - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/ - for extensive coverage and commentary on all things cruise.

When. I'll come back to this, because it depends on what you want to do once you're off the ship.

Land tour. Once you're off the ship, you'll be faced with a very wide range of activities and places to visit. There are some "core" destinations that many (I'd guess most) people want to visit, but putting them together in a budget-friendly way, or one that makes for efficient use of time, can become a challenge. Let me cover a few of them here.

Kenai Fjords National Park. This is a region of great natural beauty and remarkable biological diversity - marine mammals, birds, etc. Kenai Fjords NP is accessed by boat from Seward (right where the majority of cruise ships start or end) and tours vary by duration, from around 6 hours to 8. (The cruises cross some open ocean so precautions against seasickness need to be taken.)

Denali National Park. This is an enormous wilderness park reached from Anchorage by road, requiring around 5 hours of driving from the city to the park entrance. The key highlights are views of the mountain itself - tallest in North America, awesome in size and setting - and the prolific wildlife inhabiting the park - moose, caribou, bears. The interior of Denali Park is not accessible to private vehicles; instead visitors use buses (private and run by National Park Service concessionaires) that shuttle in and out of the park using the single road that travels into the depths of the park. Taking the buses is an all day affair; round trips to the main visitor center and "turn around" points take between 8 and 12 hours, and visitors need to bring their own food as well as cameras, etc.)

Kenai Peninsula. This is a large peninsula located south of Anchorage; technically Seward is on "the Kenai," as are the towns of Kenai and Homer, along with smaller settlements that extend south along the peninsula's Cook Inlet side. Homer is a very popular destination, offering wonderful views of Kachemak Bay, incomparable fishing for halibut, and a funky, artsy local scene. Other attractions on the Kenai peninsula include river and lake fishing for salmon, some interesting old villages like Ninilchik and Hope, and ample opportunities for seeing fabulous scenery. However, the Kenai is a big "cul-de-sac," with one road in and out - to Anchorage only.

Fairbanks and the Tanana Valley. Fairbanks is roughly two or three hours north of Denali, and is the center of the enormous Interior region of the state. Fairbanks is very historic and is a jumping off point for visits into many smaller communities located on the various roads - and many not reachable by road - extending into the subarctic north. The Fairbanks area generally represents the northern limit of paved roads on which rental car companies allow their vehicles, while a few specialty agencies will allow vehicles on unpaved roads radiating from Fairbanks such as the Dalton Highway which leads north to the arctic oilfields around Prudhoe Bay.

Matanuska-Susitna Valleys. These two valleys join around an hour north of Anchorage, with the Matanuska Valley extending east and ultimately joining with the Alaska Highway (aka "Alcan") which travels into Canada and ultimately to the lower 48, and with the Sustitna Valley extending to the north toward Denali. Palmer, at the mouth of the Matanuska Valley, is an historic farming town, settled during the Great Depression. Not far from Palmer is the Hatcher Pass/Independence Mine area, a scenic old mining district, and a bit farther east is the Matanuska Glacier, which allows visitors to hike on the glacier itself. Farther east, the Glenn Highway, which follows the Matanuska River for a time, connects with the Richardson Highway (which travels through very scenic landscapes to Valdez) and with the Alcan.

Prince William Sound. This is a vast inland sea with numerous island, most uninhabited, and stunning rocky coast with numerous glaciers entering tidewater. The main settlement facing PWS are Whittier, Valdez and Cordova. This is an incredibly scenic area, but one that is extremely difficult to access, with some communities like Cordova, only reachable by boat or air.
------

Beyond these places one leaves "the road system" behind, with access provided by air - either scheduled or charters or air taxis, or in some cases by the state ferry system. This is by far the largest part of Alaska, but most visitors never see it because access is complicated, time consuming and/or expensive.

So I'll now come back to the "when" question, because this has everything to do with your choice of destinations and activities. For example:

- Do you want to hike in the Denali back country? If so, the mosquitoes will drive you mad until early August. By late August it's getting cooler, but the tundra can be mind-blowing in its autumn color.

- Fish for salmon? King and red salmon have their big runs earlier in the summer (June and July) and silver salmon later (August.) All offer excellent sport, with the Kenai Peninsula being a convenient location.

- Bear viewing? Bear viewing flights from Anchorage or Homer are very expensive, but different viewing sites have different "best" times, due to the timing of salmon runs varying from one place to the next.

- Travel to the arctic? "Midnight sun" lasts from a few days to several months, depending on how far you go.

- Fairs and festivals? The Alaska State Fair is conducted in Palmer around Labor Day weekend, and it's a blast, with famous enormous vegetables (due to long summer daylight) being a highlight.
--------
This is already way, way longer than I intended, so I'll wrap up with a suggested tour and timetable, one of thousands that would be equally valid. Maybe use this as a "template" or a launchpad for your own research.

Here'a a map - https://goo.gl/maps/GouXtSMUvKN2

And an imaginary timetable.

Northbound cruise, Norwegian Jewel, departing Vancouver August 12 (Mon.) arriving Seward August 19 (Mon.)

19 Aug - Arrive in Seward, day trip to Kenai Fjords, overnight Seward

20 Aug - One day rental car, drive to Anchorage via Hope, Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, Girdwood. Overnight Girdwood or Anchorage. (One day rental to avoid horrid one-way surcharges for longer rentals.)

21 Aug - Return rental car, get a new one. Explore Anchorage, overnight Anchorage.

22 Aug - Drive to Denali area, overnight Denali.

23 Aug - Trip into Denali NP interior, overnight Denali.

24 Aug - Drive to Palmer via Hatcher Pass/Independence Mine.

25 Aug - Drive to Anchorage via Eklutna tailrace (silver salmon fishing) and Eklutna Native village (historic and picturesque.) Overnight flight home.
------
Now this is a very ambitious schedule, but one that would show off a wide range of attractions visible from the road system. Obviously more time would be ideal, but even with this limited time you'd see a lot. My suggestion for August is to give you enough daylight to see things, but to be past the bug season, and maybe have some good color in Denali and up in the hills above Palmer. You should also have good viewing conditions at the glaciers on the cruise route.

And with that I'll stop. Remember, this is all imaginary, but hopefully it will give you some idea as to the various possibilities.

Hi- and thank you so much for your vast amount of knowledge and advice... I am definitely taking note!
Travel to the sun- Arctic... can you tell me more about this?
How long are the days in August? How many hours of sun donyou get then?
the imaginary agenda you gave me was not too much for us- sounds about right actually. I like to go off the beaten path and see the beauty that is often missed on the typical “tourist” routes. We like seeing the majesty of nature- the scenery, no doubt we will not be disappointed in Alaska. We live in Indiana.
So you think August would be the better bet versus June? We are not set in any month yet as we just didn’t know enough information as of yet.

Up in the Arctic, you will have 24 hours of sunlight in August. I definitely suggest bringing eye shades for sleeping. I can't help with touristy stuff for the arctic as I go with family that live there, so no other people for many miles.

North of the arctic circle, the sun stays up for 24 hours during the longest days of the summer. In places that are close to the arctic circle, this is for a few days in late June (June 21 is the summer solstice.) Farther north, like in Barrow (now called Utqiagvik in the Inupiat language) it stays up for quite some time - a couple of months. But in most parts of central and northern Alaska, it doesn't get very dark, even if the sun isn't up, sort of like a twilight is about as dark as it gets in Anchorage in late June into July. In August in Anchorage the sun rises around 5:30 AM and sets around 10:30 PM, but twilight lasts much longer on both ends.

I'd prefer August but that's just me. The weather can be good or bad in any month, but by August the animals are very active, the mosquitoes are less of a nuisance, and the silver salmon are biting. But June and July are also fine, and the first half of September is also terrific, as autumn comes early to the north country. Like I say, it depends on where you are.

I'd recommend you pick up a guide book or start researching independently. Folks in your position have a big learning curve, so get on it pronto.

In June in Anchorage, there was twilight until at least 2am (which is when I went to bed).
You can play around on this website, which will show sunrise and sunset, as well as daylight hours. Even on September 4, it's daylight from 7 am to 9pm with twilight adding maybe 40 more minutes on each end.

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/anchorage

As far as which cruise itinerary, if you like off the beaten path, Icy Point Straight is essentially a tourist village, and you can't see much unless on a tour. I've mentioned that I like to stop in Haines rather than Skagway which is realistically only possible on the HAL southbound itineraries.

In June you'll likely see more marine wildlife in Seward, (humpbacks, orca and puffins) if my recent trip is any reflection of that. Fewer bears. We did however see plenty of moose from the train, as well as the Dall Sheep both from the train and at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau (which you can do without a tour).

Whatever direction and cruise ship you chose, be sure to include Glacier Bay. The choices on the major cruise lines are basically Holland America, Princess, and NCL (the latter only northbound). You can do a lot of research on Vacations to Go, including looking at the specific itineraries.

There is no real reason to go northbound vs southbound if the timing or itinerary works out better one way vs the other. I live on the west coast and connected through Seattle going to Anchorage. Returning from Vancouver (which is really easy, I connected via SLC).

If you take a cruise line that uses Seward rather than Whittier, I recommend spending a day or two in Seward and doing one of the cruises, even if it's just a short Major Marine tour of Resurrection Bay (which I did the day of my cruise). HAL uses Seward as does NCL while Princess uses Whittier. I've been on all of these lines as well as Royal Caribbean (although only HAL in Alaska). I recommend Holland America for Alaska without hesitation as best bang for the buck if visiting Glacier Bay is a priority (which it should be). .

If you like to stay active, look at the deck plans and pick one that has a full circuit walking deck that doesn't require you to cut through the ship's interior. (eg AVOID Island Princess). You can read ship comments on Cruise Critic.

Some of these ships are larger than others, which you can find out by clicking the name of the ship on the VTG site for those that interest you.

EG Volendam 1432 Noordam/Westerdam both under 2000; Coral 2000, Island 2200 Jewel 2376.