Kenai Peninsula, Denali itinerary?
 

I'm feeling overwhelmed - just booked a week to/from Anchorage (and renting a car) for 2nd week of June, and am scrambling to decide on an itinerary before things fill up. We'd love to see Seward, Homer, AND Denali but it sounds like they're too far apart to really make that work in a week. Any thoughts? Thank you

I haven't been to Denali, so I can't comment. But plan a trip to take in Seward, Homer, the Kenai and finish up with a few days in Anchorage.

Topping this for you.

MY

You can't do both in a week, at least not with ANY comfort level. Concentrate on the Kenai (Seward would be my choice), but perhaps add a flightseeing trip or a day trip to Talkeetna (flightseeing) on one end.

You can totally do both in a week. I did it three years ago. Forget the car and take the Alaskan Railroad. I flew into Anchorage, took the train up to denali, spent three days in denali, and took the train back to Anchorage, spent a night there, took the train down to seward and spent 3 days there. Dont miss either, because they are so beautiful and so different and so worth it. THe train ride itself is fabulous - it goes 40 miles and hour or so, and is narrated by local highschool kids who go through a very rigorous application process. It goes through roadless areas, and you will see wild life that you cant see from the car...

In Denali - check out Sourdough cabins - right outside the park. Cute and rustic and easy access to the park (three years ago, they had a van that would take you in.) On the Kenai http://www.rivervalleycabins.com/

Good Luck!

We did exactly what you are talking about in Sept of 2006. You CAN absolutely see both the Kenai Peninsula and Denali. You just have to be willing to drive. We landed in Anchorage after midnight on a Sat going into Sunday and started off at 9AM the next morning (Sunday). We got to Homer by late afternoon, on Sunday about 4PM. We ended up spending two nights in Homer and then moved north to Cooper Landing and stayed at the Kenai Princess Lodge for 2 nights. We had time to river raft, drive the forest service dirt roads in search of wildlife, hike Exit Glacier and spend a day in Seward including dinner and the SeaLife center.

After 4 days (Sun - Wed) on the Peninsula we headed north to Denali on Thursday. We took our time on the drive, stopped for pictures often and still got to Denali in time to drive the paved road into the park and see a wolf on our first day there. We spent 2 nights in Denali. I would have liked another night there, but I did not feel like I was rushed. We did a lot in those two days!

Our final night was spent just north of Talkeetna at the Princess McKinley Lodge. We drove there from Denali on Saturday AM and got to Talkeetna with plenty of time to stroll the main street, go into the shops and have dinner. The next morning, Sunday, we ate a lesisurely breakfast, watched the Mountain reveal itself and then drove back to Anchorage and had enough time to visit the Native Heritage Center, go to the Sunday Market, souvenier shop and have a great dinner at Orso's before our 9PM flight back to Chicago.

Yeah you've got to be willing to drive and get up early, but you don't go to Alaska to sleep in late now do ya?

Go, do it all.

If you do a search on the forum under my ID you'll find my posting of a fairly detailed trip report and pictures.

Have fun!!

Thanks so much for all the info! Your trip report and the photos are amazing. I hope we have as great an anniversary trip as you had. (did i see that right?)

C smith, we had a blast.

I'd be happy to share with you the websites I used in planning the trip. Just send me an e-mail and I can forward you the info.

My opinion, you have time for Denali park and Seward or Homer. It's unlikely you have full days available at the begining and end??? Do you have a full day with an overnight flight? perhaps- does give an "extra" day. :)


Pretty simple to figure out your routing and time necessary for transit. Consider time for all the "small stuff" along the way. :)

Flight times are such that we actually only have 6 days in AK. I've been doing sample itineraries and 4 of our 6 days would be at least 4 hours of driving (plus the side stops). We've already booked a bear-viewing trip - very excited about that! - so we're working around that. The only way I can think to squeeze Denali in would be driving there Wednesday, then back to Anchorage on Thursday. Is it worth it to spend less than 24 hours there? Or should we skip the glaciers at Seward and just go directly to Denali from Homer? I hate to miss something truly spectacular, but I've seen mountains. I've never seen glaciers.

Thanks for all your input!

Interesting that azhiker uses "totally" and then misses a key part of the question, which was Denali, Seward AND Homer. AZHiker missed Homer and jfmkem actually had close to eight days on the ground.

If you've want glaciers, then you need to get either a glacier trip out of Whittier or a Kenai Fjords excursion. Homer's fabulous but you don't go there or Denali for the glaciers.

If you want to try a whirlwind six-day trip, here goes.

Day 1 -- drive to Denali stopping in Talkeetna for flight seeing en route .

Day 2 -- Denali Park visit.

Day 3 -- Long drive to Seward, just burn it as a travel day.

Day 4 -- Kenai Fjords trip. Exit Glacier on the way out of town. Drive to Homer

Day 5 -- Homer (bear viewing or trip to Halibut Cove?).

Day 6 -- Make your way back to ANC with a stop in Girdwood for Alyeska tram and, if time, Portage Glacier.

It's a road-warrior kind of trip but if you don't mind the miles, it's possible.

BTW, I wouldn't recommend the train for time-pinched travelers. It's not that fast and the schedules allow very little room for flexibility. Plus, you miss so much by not having the option to stop along the way.

You can see several glaciers from the top of Mt Alyeska after you go up via tram but the incredible view is on one of the boat trips when you get close, the engines are shut off and you can hear the creaking and groaning as the ice is moving. It's an amazing experience. We took the longest boat trip out of Seward. Keep in mind that the scenery south of Anchorage as you head to Seward is incredible. North of Anchorage it's wonderful but not as spectacular. If you can't see Denali/Mt McKinley, it gets kind of boring. It's a long drive. But you might fit in a visit to Independence Mine about an hour 1/2 north of Anchorage. Scenery is great. They're doing a great job restoring some of the buildings of what used to be a busy mining town.

I love it that people are actually taking the time to answer my questions - thank you!

Repete - I appreciate the 6 day itinerary, but wow that's a lot of driving. I think we've decided to go with your original recommendation to concentrate on the Kenai so we don't "waste" so much of our 6 days in the car. Better to see less but do more, if that makes sense. Staying in the Kenai we'll have time for rafting, kayaking, lots of hiking, and relaxing as well the glacier day cruise and bear viewing.

And who knows - hopefully when the kids get older (they're 5 and 3 and staying home with Grandma this time) we'll be able to take them to AK and see some different things.

c smith

just curious who you decided to go with for the bear viewing?

My Mom and I spent a week in Alaska, several years ago. We decided with a week, Anchorage/ Seward and Kenai was enough. I personally would try to have at least 9 days, to add Denali in as well.

smart choice.. hoping we have a nice warm dry summer after our prolonged winter..I was going to suggest ERA aviation as a quick way to Homer and back, but seems you decided..

book a bear trip now if you are wanting one.. good luck, J.

I wish we had longer. At first, a week's vacation seemed long considering my husband and I haven't been on any vacations without the kids (oldest is 5). But now I see we'll barely have enought time to scratch the surface.

Centralpa, we're going with Silver Salmon Creek Lodge for the bear viewing. Reasonable rates (considering it's a really expensive side trip), and I liked the owner from the emails and phone call.