itinerary help for family
 

At the last minute, we have decided to go to Alaska for a family trip at the end of August. We have kids ages 12, 9 and 6. We are fairly active.

Looking for suggestions for a suggested itinerary for 7 (maybe 8) days of traveling, assuming flying in and out of Anchorage. Budget conscious but need some basic comforts and willing to spend when necessary to maximize the trip experience.

Would appreciate any thoughts & suggestions as I need to pull this together as soon as possible.

Thanks

Would appreciate any thoughts & suggestions as I need to pull this together as soon as possible.

Sure. Click on Destinations above and read what Fodors editors have to say.

Then, type certain keywords in the search box above and read away.

Since this is your first ever post ono this board, you must be a newbie. You will be amazed at how much information and help is already on this board - literally at your fingertips.

Happy planning.

BTW, come back with any specific questions you might have.

As Starrsville said, you would be best advised to begin by doing some quick research and you can start here. Type in place names, etc, into the search box. The search feature will bring up applicable threads on the left side of the screen.

Consider purchasing The Milepost and at least one good guidebook ASAP. Good luck with the planning--tons of great info here on Fodor's! :)

Do you have airline tickets yet? Summer is busy in Alaska, so better get busy on flight arrangements. Lodging fills up fast so start making those reservations NOW. It can be quite difficult to find rental cars this close to your travel dates, so that's something else you need to get cracking on.

I just topped two trip reports that you may find helpful. www.tripadvisor.com is a good place to go to read reviews on specific hotels.

Good luck with flights, car rental and lodging. As BayouGal said, August is just around the corner and prime tourist season in Alaska. Book as soon as you can!

Ferries are great way to transport car and people AND see great scenery as well.

You got great suggestions from Star and BayouGal. Type Alaska in the topic search and start reading right now. First get your tickets.
Tell us what does "fairly active" mean to your family? What type of activities your family usually enjoys?

What does "budget conscious" mean to you? You have to have some numbers in mind, don't you?. It means different things to different people. For us it could be around $5,000 for two people. For BayouGal and Star it may be $15,000. How about you? Does your conscious budget include flights to/from Anchorage?

Where are you flying from? With three kids it makes a big difference what you are able to do on the evening or afternoon of your arrival.

There so many things to be considered. Be prepared for almost insane car rental prices at the last moment.

With one child so young you probably need to split some activities. I don't think I would take 6 year old on a long Kenai Fjord cruise, for instance.

Just an idea
Anchorage 2 nights
Seward 2 nights
Homer 3 nights
Girdwood 1 night

Many wonderful posters such as BudgetQuuen, Jetset1, Star, BayouGal are always willing to help but first we need your help with doing some initial search and please get your tickets today. As BayouGal already stated this is a very busy season in Alaska so expect most accommodations to be already fully booked. Don't get frustrated about choices of activities, they are endless but that's what so great about planning trip to Alaska. Have fun doing research

Our family (with kids then ages 17, 14 and 11)had a wonderful trip to Alaska several years ago. We rented an RV and drove to Denali and then down to Seward. It was much more economical to rent the RV than to use hotels. (And we are definitely not campers -- we had never done this type of thing before.)

You and your kids would enjoy Denali. There are two kinds of bus tours through Denali -- the cheaper one is the one we took (old school busses) and we loved it. On the less expensive tour, you need to bring your own snacks/lunch/water. You need to get reservations online before you arrive.

We also loved Seward. We took a half-day cruise out of Seward, and it was great. You can get the buffet lunch onboard (which my husband and I did), and before we boarded we stopped at Subway to get the kids sandwiches for lunch (which is what they preferred.)

Definitely get the latest Milepost book. Have fun planning!

I wish, Pat!!! ;-) Our budget was $5000 for 3 people for 2 weeks last summer, and we did it! :)

Our was $5,000 for 16 days for two of us but included the expensive bear watching trip ($1,000)

Hopefully we'll get to do the bear watching next summer - we haven't done that yet. We'll be empty nesters soon, so we'll really be living it up! . . . Yeah, right, with 2 in college I'm sure our budget will be minimal! LoL

Maybe you could start posting some budget suggestions, Pat, since you seem to know how to do it all on the cheap. :)

With some good research on events starting with the Anchorage Daily News you might find some family activities that will be a little out of the ordinary tourist route. We just missed seeing a Hobo Jim concert at the Kenai Visitors Center one year. The staff was still raving about it the next day. Your children may have heard his Iditarod Trail song in school. My husband the old tractor fanatic had to miss plow day in favor of another local activity. Just north of Anchorage in Wasilla you can visit Iditarod Headquarters. There might be some sled dog puppies to visit and a young musher for your kids to talk with. They gave short wheeled gig rides when we were there, can't remember the price. Independence Mine is fascinating. We saw some children panning for gold. Great views and a little hiking necessary. We visited from the Palmer side since Hatcher Pass wasn't open that early in the year (before July 4). There wasn't a charge when we visited although there might be one for a guided tour of the buildings. The Pratt Museum in Homer is small enough for a good visit and your whole family should find interesting. Take a look at other activities in Homer, I seem to recall some tidal pool explorations for kids. You might want to do cereal in your hotel room for some breakfasts. Keep in mind that there are great supermarkets in Anchorage, Soldotna, Kenai, Homer, Wasilla but they start to get smaller in Seward and almost non-existent once you get north of Wasilla on the way to Denali. We routinely carried a case of water in the car. The grocery in Talkeetna is very small. Hope you have a great time!

We are going to spend a couple of days end of August with kids after cruise.
If you spend a few days near Palmer/Wasilla you can do:
Alaska State Fair
Independence Mine
Matanuska Glacier
Iditarod Museum
Musk Ox Farm
Reindeer Farm
And even do a little evening golfing!
Good luck...look for hotels on Trip Advisor in Palmer or Wasilla and rent a car in Anchorage (we're using Affordable Beaters for a minivan in Anchorage but you are probably better renting at airport since you are flying in.)
Also spend a couple days in Anchorage.
HAVE A GREAT TIME!

I would not suggest Denali Park, it's not a trip for a 6 year old in my opinion. So the above itinerary for Girdwood, Seward and Homer, offers a great option. The Kenai Peninsula is loaded with adventures. Request their visitor guide, www.kenaipeninsula.com

What I suggest you do first, is get your car, then hotels/lodging. Look at Thrifty, Payless, Dollar, Alamo, as well as the majors. Look at Priceline. This will be a significant cost booking this late.

We found very good rates thru Orbitz, one of many usual suspects to try.