Am I missing anything by not going to Homer? How are the areas of Cooper Landing and Soldotna to visit? What about the St. Elias Wrangell park area?

We loved Seward but did not go all the way to Homer since we wanted to spend time fishing the Kenai River near Cooper Landing (which is pretty much just a few stores, small motels, and guide service).

We heard several people say they could have done without the long drive over to Homer but I read posts here that liked it.

It probably depends on how much time you have. If you are trying to get a lot in in a short period you might want to forget it.

The scenery around Homer and Kachemak Bay is among the best in Alaska. The town is fun, as is the Homer Spit, a long sandspit into the bay. Halibut fishing out of Homer is extremely good, for what that's worth. The Cook Inlet side of the Kenai Peninsula (Kenai, Homer, etc.) is quite different from the Prince William Sound side (Seward) - different climate, landscape, culture. A trip across the Bay to Seldovia would be a highlight of a stay in Homer.

As Connie says, Cooper Landing is basically a wide spot. Soldotna (sorry, locals) is IMO not much of a tourist destination, but it's reasonably close to good recreational areas along the lower Kenai River, the Moose Range, and so on. Mostly it's just a town with markets, Borough offices, gas stations and the like.

The Wrangell-St. Elias NP area is so vast you'll have to be more specific about what you want to see. Most of the park is off the road system, so if your plan is to go and tour around, think again.

I preferred Homer to Seward because of the spectacular scenery and views in Homer. Also, in Homer we stayed in a wonderful little 2 bedroom cabin at Wild Rose B&B, which was wonderful.

Homes Spit is well worth the ride, especially during the 4th of July festivties.

I like Seward alot with Exit Glacier as my favorite stop.

Homer is Beautiful.If you are there in July when the Hump Back Whales show up; do take a Whale watch tour out to see them. The day we were out we saw 40 plus Whales with a lot of whales breaching around us.VeryNational Geographic.
Rainbow tours offers it.

We also took a trip to Halibut Cove,on the Danny J; a very cool old boat.Halibut Cove is a nice little community to visit for a couple of hours and do eat at the Salty if you go.

Homer is beautiful, as others have said. It also provides easy access to some great bear viewing if you are willing to take a flight trip. Not much in Soldotna itself, although we stayed nearby because we fished for salmon in the Kenai. If you want to fish for Salmon, then that's a great area to be in. But if you're not into fishing then you can skip Soldotna. Cooper Landing is lovely. We did a wonderful float trip down the Upper Kenai from there and caught about 60 rainbow trout. Very scenic trip. Seward is good because of the proximity to the Kenai Fjords and Exit Glacier.

It all depends on time and interests. For halibut fishing, Homer can't be beat. For salmon fishing, try Soldotna area. For bears, try Homer.