We have finalized our expensive flight from Edmonton to Anchorage for early July and have booked a B&B north of Anchorage for five nights. Now we want to get some healthy advice on which bus tour(s) into Denali are the best, keeping in mind a tight budget. What would you recommend?

Also, we want to see some glaciers, what tours would you recommend?

Anything else you could pass my way would be appreciated too.

Thanks

The park's own shuttle is fine. They are driven by locals who know a lot about the park and give a narration. They also stop if there are wildlife sightings. You just arrange it from the visitor's center. I assume you will have a car to get there.

Oh yes, We will have a car. We will be driving up from around the Wasilla/Palmer area. I know that's about 200 miles or so, but I don't mind driving.

How many days would you recommend inside Denali. Would we need to go more than one day? The trick is, though, we only have four days total for Alaska. Sorry, but that's all the schedule and dollars allow.

Any other help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Well, a bus tour will take up most of a day in Denali. You'll want to go as far as Fish Creek in case the mountain is out, and that bus tour is 6-8 hours total.

Take the first bus out as animals are most active early in the morning or late in the day.

If you want to do some hiking as well, you can sign up for a ranger-led hike or just grab a shuttle into the park and hop off wherever you like.

If you only have 4 days total, then you won't have much time. One day to drive up, one day to take the bus, and one day to drive back - that's 3 days. Of course, if you left early enough, you could make it to Denali to catch an afternoon bus tour, and thus save yourselves a day, or vice versa, drive to Anchorage after the bus tour. But that's a lot of time in the saddle, if you will.

In terms of glaciers, what did you have in mind? There's Portage Glacier, not far from Anchorage that's an easy half-day trip, but it's a bit small by Alaskan standards. Or, you can do a full-day trip and go to Seward to catch a cruise into Kenai Fjords or perhaps do a cruise in Prince Williams Sound.

I read on another Alaska thread that there is a glacier you can walk to on mile marker 101 in or around Palmer.
Also, try Restaurant.com for gift certificates for that area..if you google restaurant.com coupon code, you can get the code, get $35 gift certificates for $5.. also, did you consider a Alaska Toursaver coupon book ? they are $99, but they have lots of 2 for 1 coupons for excursions, hotels, car rentals, you can look it up on line to see if it would be to your advantage to get one. We are going June 29th and driving for 9 days then cruising for 7 southbound. I think I have worn out my fingers searching for any coupons available. We are a family of 4, and its amazing how fast excursions add up. I ended up getting 2 Toursavers, booked 2 hotels, booked several excursions, and so far saved $600, subtract the $198 for the books and I am still saving $400...

I thought about the toursaver booklet, but I don't think we will use it enough to pay for itself.

We already have our B&B booked, like I said in an earlier post.

How else would the booklet help? Remember, we have only four days. I know that's not a lot.

I'm a little puzzled by an earlier post, though. It's rougly 200 miles from where we are staying to Denali and he said it would be a day to get there, a day for the tour and a day to drive back. We're not going to be in a horse and buggy. We did spring for a car. Even at 50 MPH, it will only be a 4-hour drive or so. I can do that with no problem, both ways in one day. I will be tired, but that's part of a vacation like this.

Please explain what you meant.

Well, 4 hours of driving sounds like a lot to me. If you're going to drive 4 hours to Denali, take a 6-hour bus ride tour, and then drive back 4 hours to Anchorage, you're tougher than I am.

Also, if I remember correctly, the highway to Denali is mostly only 2 lanes, one lane each way, so it'll probably be 45-50 mph most of the way.

Also, I tend to stop along the way - maybe get lunch in Talkeetna or take a scenic flight if the mountain is out; stop in Denali State Park to shoot some pictures from the overlooks, etc.

I guess I really didn't consider Denali a day-trip out of Anchorage, but if you're willing, go for it.

Not being there before, I will definitely be out of my element. I have driven in some bigger cities as far as population (i.e., Toronto, Dallas at RUSH HOUR, St. Louis, Franfurt, Germany, Los Angeles, etc....) so that kind of driving doesn't bother me at all.

However, this sounds like this will be a moose of a totally different color. I have driven 3 1/2 hours, attended an amusement park all day and most of the night and driven back home before, but that was on an Interstate.

We only have four days, what do you recommend? We want to see as much as we can, but most of our budget has been spent on plane and rental-car fares? I know that limits us, but I'm sure there are suggestions you could make. You sound like you've been there a few times.

Thanks

magnumholmes,

I'd go to the Alaska Forum on tripadvisor.com. The Alaska experts can provide excellent information. Just pst your questions there.

The times generally given for the Anchorage-Denali trip run 4/5 hours.

While there are alpine glaciers close to where you're staying, the marine ones out of Seward and Whittier are more spectacular.

Driving in AK is fairly easy . . . unless you get behind those RVs that ignore the pull-over laws.

Consider a Denali flight out of Talkeenta for good glacier views.