Dear Fodor community I am in desperate need for an advice. We finally narrowed down on Alaska As our 2017 family vacation for the next year. We have 2 weeks in June of 2017. Planning on flying to Alaska. I Was thinking of renting the RV and driving through. I have two teenagers.

Please please help me with planning!

What city should we fly into?
Which route to choice?
Which RV company would you recommend?
What places should we visit?
What activities should we not miss?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

Your second, fourth and fifth questions are answerable only upon knowing you - why are you going, what attracts you to Alaska, what do you want out of the trip, are you chasing wildlife or going fishing or climbing glaciers, etc. And you can take other options than renting an RV - like a cruise to Alaska and then renting a car or similar.

Unless you're set on Fairbanks, the only real flight option is to go to Anchorage. Alaska has one legitimate city, the rest are towns of various size.

Alaska topics are comparatively rare on Fodor's compared to lots of action over at TripAdvisor - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...49-Alaska.html

It's an enormous state, distances are great, and RVs can be very expensive once you add everything up, plus they reduce your mobility somewhat.

Two weeks is enough time for a cruise + drive; the cruise would allow you to see beautiful and historic Southeast Alaska and the Inside Passage, which a driving tour based out of Anchorage won't. One way cruises to/from Alaska depart and arrive at Seward or Whittier depending on the cruise line (both connected by road and rail to Anchorage) and from Vancouver BC at the south end. You could cruise up (7 nights) then drive around - Denali, Kenai Fjords etc. - then fly back, or vice-versa. Cruises can be quite affordable if you shun overpriced excursions in the ports (plenty to do that doesn't cost an arm and a leg) and if you manage alcohol and gambling on board.

If you use the pull down View by State menu above and click on Alaska you will find lots of Trip Reports that might help you with your plans.

Thanks for the replies.
The cruise is out of question - never ever! We very much dislike these kind of mass activities. Prefer exploring on our own.
Planning on doing lots of hiking/ wild life . Not interested in hunting or fishing.
thanks

We had a great two week trip with our boys several years ago, I don't like cruises either:
- Arrive in Anchorage around noon drove to Girdwood stayed at Alyeska resort two nights. Nice hike to Winner Creek with cool pull tram over river and took gondola to top of mountain for dinner and some hiking up top. Boys liked panning for gold at nearby creek.
- Drive to Denali stopping in Wasilla for supplies on the way. Stayed one night just outside entrance.
- Spent four nights in a cabin called Hawks Nest inside the park near Wonder Lake. It is no longer available (I believe parks service took it over), but Camp Denali Lodge that owned/ran it is still there though pricey. Saw bears, mountain goats, fox, and moose while there and during ride in and out of Kantishna. Lot of great hiking here as well along with the biggest/meanest mosquitoes I’ve ever experienced.
- Drove to Anchorage for an overnight at a Microtel, did laundry.
- Drove to Homer, flew to Hallo Bay resort for three nights. Literally lived with bears the entire time, sometimes within 20 feet or so. Stay in tents, good food and guides. They gave us a sizable (half price) discount for the kids. The flight alone over Katmai is worth the trip.
- Returned to Homer, drove to Seward, Saltwater Lodge for three night’s right on the water. Hiked Exit Glacier to Harding icefield, took 6 hour cruise (saw lot’s of sea life including a whale on the way back in).
- Drive to Anchorage for evening red eye flight back to Newark.

We thought this gave us a good overview with mountains, sea, good hiking, and lots of wildlife. The basics are a common itinerary you see from others in the Fodors forum.

Okay, so no cruise, fine.

Without knowing your budget or how long you like to stay in one place vs. being on the move, it's difficult to come up with a specific list. If your budget extends to flightseeing or bear viewing, which can easily cost $700-$800 per person (one day trips) then that becomes an attractive option. Or take Denali or Seward, two important tourist destinations and justifiably so: accommodations are limited, tourist infrastructure limited, and with thousands of tourists daily, many of them on package tours or cruise excursions, you will hardly ever be alone.

For example, there are no cars allowed into the interior of Denali Park; everyone rides shuttle buses along the one road through the park. Wonder Lake, effectively at the end of the road from the main visitor areas, is an 11-hour round trip bus ride, not counting time actually at Wonder Lake (where in June you'll be eaten alive by mosquitoes anyway.) Yes or no?

So anyway, here's an imaginary route that would hit some highlights. https://goo.gl/maps/61JdearA99T2 As you can see, it's basically a big loop with a couple of short spurs - one to Seward and another to Denali Park. What it features that most routes don't is the use of a ferry across Prince William Sound from Whittier to Valdez, and the use of the partly-gravel Denali Highway from Paxson to Cantwell. This is recommended because the crossing of Prince William Sound is extremely scenic, the Richardson Highway between Valdez and Copper Center is one of the most gorgeous roads in North America, and the Denali Highway will put you in glorious empty country, with a decent chance of seeing some wildlife.

However, the major rental car companies don't allow their vehicles on unpaved roads like the Denali Hwy, and some restrict taking their vehicles on the ferries. There are a couple of Alaska-based rental firms that DO allow this, so my first recommendation - if that appeals - is to book a vehicle using one of them.

Highlights -

Glacier cruise from Whittier and Kenai Fjords cruise from Seward;
Ferry to Valdez and Richardson Hwy through Thompson Pass
Denali Highway
Denali NP
Eklutna Historical Park near Anchorage.

Depending on where you're coming from, I'd spend the first and last days in Anchorage to get your bearings and overcome jetlag if there is any (4 hours behind east coast time.)

Then I'd spend two days in Seward, using one to hike nearby Exit Glacier and the other for a Kenai Fjords boat tour (lots of marine wildlife).

Then I'd head back to Whittier, maybe go on a half-day glacier cruise, then take the state ferry to Valdez. Spend a day in Valdez, then head up the road through Thompson Pass (more glacier viewing en route) to Glennallen or Paxson (very limited accommodation in Paxson.)

Then spend a day driving the Denali Hwy and end up close to Denali Park. Spend the next two or three days in Denali before heading back to Anchorage, with a stop at the Eklutna Historical Park, a fascinating glimpse into Native Alaskan and Russian Orthodox heritage. Google it and you'll see.

By my count that comes to 9 or 10 days of your 14. Then it gets interesting. Two choices:

1. For around $300 per person you can fly (nonstop jet) to Nome, the historic gold rush town on the Bering Sea. This is off the road system; you can't drive there from Anchorage or anywhere else. However, there are a couple hundred miles of gravel roads radiating from Nome (and local vehicle rentals) that will take you into serious bush - treeless tundra, moose, bear, reindeer, muskoxen... You'll get a real feel for what a huge percentage of Alaska - the bush - is all about. There's adequate accommodation in Nome; it will cost about the same or less than Anchorage, but you'll see a face of Alaska few visitors ever experience.

2. For around the same airfare (maybe a few bucks more) you can fly to Kotzebue, an Inupiat Eskimo village on the Arctic Ocean just above the arctic circle. You'll have 24 hour sun (not just almost 24 hours of light, which you'll have everywhere) and can learn about village life in the arctic, maybe visit a fish camp or stick a toe in the Arctic Ocean. And experience the human geography of the place. Alaska is a lot more than moose and mountains.

Two or three days in one of these places, then back to Anchorage and off you go. You'll have seen a lot, more than most visitors.

Just one scenario; there are dozens and dozens more.