mocha_dolce

:

Need guidance on lodging options in these locations. Please advise if you have any personal knowledge.

1. Anchorage: Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage Marriott, or Sheraton Four Points. Best area to stay to get over jet lag/do trolley tour/visit Anchorage Museum/catch shuttle to Whittier for Princess Cruise.
2. Talkeetna: Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge (seems very $$$); any other suggestions to avail ourselves of flight seeing of Denali from Talkeetna?
3. Denali: some hotels seem dominated by cruise or other tour groups. Suggestion for a place that caters to individual travelers? Prefer location near Denali Park Bus tB and B okay if not too small.
4. Fairbanks: recommendation as to area? New the university, downtown or out of town in case we are very lucky regarding the Northern Lights?

Thanks in advance.

Madam397

The Captain Cook is the venerable hotel. The Marriott is close by. The Sheraton 4 Points if I recall is close to the Anchorage Museum. Also close to the museum is the Sheraton Anchorage. Downtown Anchorage is very small and very walkable although there are sketchy people around. We stayed there for one night as it is now part ot Marriott so we got Marriott points and also we did the Park Connection bus to Talkeetna which picked us up at the museum and dropped us off at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. This was in August of 2021. We were able to check our luggage with the bus beginning at noon allowing us to tour the museum before the 3 PM departure.
The casual restaurant in the bar at the Captain Cook is very good. They do have a very pricey rooftop restaurant.
We really enjoyed our one night stay at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. Room was comfortable although we did not have mountain view. The hotel has a casual restaurant with a nice outdoor terrace that is alongside the incredible viewing platform they provide with views of Denali, if visible and the other mountains in the range. Would have liked to stay for another night to visit the cutesy/hip town but in 2021 the train to Denali only went northbound on certain days and southbound on others so we needed to get the train the next day.
We stayed at Denali Bluffs. With the Dome Car service, we were provided with transportation to the hotel. When we were shuttled to the train platform in Talkeetna, our luggage had been picked up earlier from our room and was on the train platform in Talkeetna. Next time we saw it was when it was delivered to our room at the Denali Bluffs. The hotel has shuttle service to the Bus Depot at Denali and when we left to get the return train to Anchorage, our luggage was picked up in our room and again we next saw it on the train platform in Anchorage.

mlgb

If you want a smaller place that caters to individuals near Denali, will you have a car?I think it's only the bigger places that have shuttles from hotel into the park. There are some places around Cantwell which isn't too far.

mocha_dolce

Yes, our tentative plan is to have a car for this portion of the trip.

mlgb

For Denali, have a look at McKinley Creekside Cabins. There is a restaurant on site (Creekside Cafe & Bakery). We stayed next door at Denali Perch, and saw a moose and two calves (June) along the upper part of the creek where the Denali Perch cabins are located. Next door is the excellent Panorama Pizza Pub. The Perch's fine dining restaurant was not open when we were there due to staffing issues, but the menu looked really good and we enjoyed their breakfasts.

mlgb

Note if the weather and road conditions are good, and you can source the right local car rental, the Denali Highway between Cantwell and Paxson has stunning views of the Alaska range and tundra. (It's a groomed gravel summer road). McLaren River Lodge has some very nice new cabins and is at MP 42 (92 miles from Cantwell). Probably my favorite leg of travel in Alaska (way nicer than any of the Nome legs and in much better condition).

https://www.alaska.org/guide/denali-...0the%20highway.

mocha_dolce

I'd like to book the Hotel Captain Cook; it's in a convenient location for the shuttle to our cruise. Unfortunately, they don't appear to have opened up booking for my window yet, and there is a possibility that it may be overwhelmed by cruise/tour guests. But we'll see. As you alluded to, I've heard about a significant homeless problem in Anchorage, which is concerning.

Likewise, Talkeetna Lodge looks great, if expensive, and they want the entire amount upfront. So I'd want to be sure all the pieces will fit together first.

I'm not sure about Denali Bluffs. We'll have a car there, so the luggage handling isn't as important. We might want a hotel closer to the Denali Bus Depot, but again, not if we're the only non-group travel folks there because we'd likely get marginalized.

mlgb

I think you are going to find limited availability around Denali due to cruises for next year being fully booked. I would hold something at Denali McKinley Creekside Cabins, they have a fairly generous cancel policy as Denali goes. They have good ratings on Expedia and TripAdvisor. They do not cater to large groups (probably because they do not operate a shuttle it would not be popular with those anyways). Note, they are already selling out for some dates in August. I would grab something now. You can book direct on their website or on one of the third party sites, or call them. You may have to schedule the rest of the trip around room availability.

"We cater to independent travelers and small groups looking for clean, reasonably accommodations with comfortable beds that are close to Denali National Park. All of our rooms and cabins are simple yet tastefully decorated. We have cabins that cater to couples only and family friendly units. TRANSPORTATION: Sorry NO Shuttle/taxi service-you must have your own vehicle."

They also have some trip planning links on their website
https://www.mckinleycabins.com/specialized-tours

mocha_dolce

Okay, so I've booked for Denali and Talkeetna, still looking at Fairbanks and Anchorage. For Anchorage, we initially thought we'd stay near the airport the first night (recover from jet lag and save a day's car rental fee), but there have been some pretty negative reviews of the hotels in that area due to homeless people in the public areas (lobby bathroom, ice machine room, and even hallways outside the guest rooms). Should we just pick up the car at the airport while we are there and drive a bit, maybe to Wasilla? Is there anything to see there or any nice accommodations that would be worth a stop?

mlgb

IIRC the cruise is at the end of your trip, could you fly into Fairbanks instead of Anchorage? We met some folks at the Denali Bus Depot who did exactly that, because it was easier to rent a car there than in Anchorage (this was the first summer that was open post-COVID when there were rental car shortages).

Yes there are homeless people all over Anchorage, especially downtown. We stayed at the Coast Inn at Lake Hood near the airport. It was okay, considering the price is like 1/3 of the downtown hotels.
They do have an airport shuttle but they never showed up for me (another shuttle driver took pity and dropped me off). If you are renting a car anyways I probably would just add that extra car rental day.

The pub/restaurant there is actually pretty good other than famously slow service. It is open to the public so there will be nonguests in the lobby and other public spaces. I don't recall anyone obviously homeless but the clientele are not going to be wearing fancy clothing, it seemed that there are people one-nighting on the way to remote places or based there on work assignments (oil platforms, etc.).

christym907

Not to put a crimp in your already made plans-but I don't think anything is carved in stone yet as far as your land portion. Captain Cook is a fine hotel so just stick with that. I'm wondering why, if you're going on a flight seeing tour of Denali from Talkeetna, you're going to Denali at all? A lot of people like Fairbanks, but personally, it's just not my favorite city. Someone else suggested going on the Denali Hwy from Cantrell to Paxson. Then, go south on the Richardson Hwy and go to the Wrangell/St. Elias National Park. The old copper mine at Kennicott and the city of McCarthy are fabulous places and there's lots to do there. You might not be able to take your rental on the road to McCarthy, but some allow it. You can fly from Chitina into McCarthy and a shuttle will take you up to Kennicott if you are staying at Kennicott Glacier Lodge. There's places to stay in McCarthy as well. Not many people go back into McCarthy. I think the views and glaciers are stunning. In Talkeetna there's Denali fireside cabins and another one on the Susitna River. they are close to town and Talkeetna is a fun little town to stay in for a night or two, depending on your flight seeing schedule. I will say that the weather for flight seeing is mercurial so you might not go at all. If you're there for part of one day and the next you'll have a better chance. You didn't say what month in the summer you are traveling. Northern Lights aren't visible until it starts getting totally dark at night, which is very late aug into Sept. You will enjoy yourself no matter where you go. Just wanted to throw another option out there.

mocha_dolce

Thanks everyone! All the lodging is booked for the first part of the trip. I'm waiting for the booking window to open up for Hotel Captain Cook and a couple of Vancouver hotels we are considering, post-cruise. I tried to trim some of the days to keep the cost reasonable, but it's still three weeks with the cruise and post-cruise days in Vancouver. That's the longest trip we've ever taken, but Alaska is huge, and we prefer to take our time.

Madam397

You can check the Vancouver sites for info but when we were there in 2021, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency. It was perfect location for exploring Vancouver prior to boarding our northbound cruise. Easy walk from the hotel down to the port as well as for sites in Vancouver and public bus stops to go to Stanley Park one afternoon and to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia campus (awesome architecturally significant building as well as great views of downtown Vancouver). We learned so much about totems at the museum plus nice walk through the college campus and the residential areas between the campus and downtown. The hotel was quiet as it faces the large Anglican church, our room was very comfortable and if I recall, you can walk underground to a shopping area. Lots of public art in Vancouver. We also did Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Park which were both awesome. Because our cruise was Northbound, while we were in Vancouver we did a tour of the Buchardt Gardens on Vancouver Island and spent some time in Victoria on a tour that the concierge at the Hyatt booked. We left the hotel at 8 AM and arrived back around 8 PM. The ferry itself is about 45 minutes south of Vancouver and the ferry ride is more than an hour.

Madam397

In Vancouver, I can recommend the Hyatt Regency. We stayed there prior to our northbound Alaska cruise. Great location to tour the sites in Vancouver as well as to walk down to the port to board the cruise. The hotel was quiet, faced the Anglican church, and seemed to be connected to an underground shopping area with a Tim Hortons.So much to see and do in/around Vancouver.