Denali, one or two nights?
 

Thanks all for the great advice, being a newbie to all this planning, I appreciate it :) Anyway, we are planning our Alaska trip for about 7 days total during the first week of September, renting a car. Plan on staying at B&Bs in Homer and Seward. Plan on driving to Denali most likely before the Kenai Peninsula. To see the park, is 2 nights staying there really necessary? Or is 1 adequate? I am just unsure of the whole time frame we need to allow. And does it matter if we do that portion before or after Kenai Peninsula?
Thanks!!

I guess it depends on what you want to do. We stayed 2 nights. We arrived fairly late (stayed at the Perch-awesome food), spent the next day in the park and then back to the Perch. We easily could have hit the road and started driving somewhere, but we were leaving the next night from Anchorage. So in the morning we got up early and drove to Anchorage and spent the day at the market and wandering. If I were to do the trip again, I would spend more time in other areas and less in Denali. It was great, but I enjoyed the Kenai Peninsuala more!

2 nights is best. It generally can take 6 hours with stops in each direction from Anchorage. Then you have the full day bus shuttle into the park. At most I would only recommend one of the nights in Talkeetna. But if you are going all the way to Wonder Lake- you are adding on a three hour drive that is less than ideal. If your 7 days includes your travel days, this is a tight timeframe to include these three areas.

also consider that weather conditions could make you see almost nothing on one day. As Denali Park is the attraction no. 1 in Alaska I would spend there at least 3 nights !!

Two nights is best length of time for Denali. Do you have already reservations in Seward and Homer? If not, I would stay 1 night in Anchorage, 2 nights in Denali, 2 nights in Seward and at least 2 nights in Homer. Because you are going in September I think you should plan on visiting Denali before Seward and Homer.