I am planning a 5-day trip to Alaska in June'03. I intend to stay in Seward and do these trips:
1. SeaLife Center
2. Kenai Fiord Cruise w/Fox island
3. Exit Glacier
4. 1 or 2 hikes trails in area around Seward.
I enjoy beautiful scenery, hiking, wildlife viewing. Leave museums for Europe...
My question is, what am I missing by not splitting my 5 days between Seward & Homer ?

You will miss everything that Homer has to offer but for such a short trip you made a right decission of staying in one area.

Have fun

We loved Seward--it was our favorite place and we stayed longer than previously planned.

Kenai Fjord trip will take all day (and is worth it). Exit Glacier will only take an hour or so unless you do the very strenuous all day hike up to the ice fields. Sea Life Center will only take a couple of hours. So, it seems like you would have time to do a day trip to Homer to see it. It's not a very scenic trip most of the way so we gave up and turned back. I still wish I had seen Homer.

If you decide just to do Seward you can do a dog sled excursion on a glacier that I have read is pretty awesome. Or I saw helicopters and small planes taking flightseeing trips.

Lots of people were taking guided fishing trips--salmon and halibut. People were catching their limits in half day trips.

If you would like to do some river salmon fishing, the locals fish on the Kenai River not far after you turn off the Seward Highway toward Homer.

I would also suggest staying in Seward the whole time based on the length of your stay. All-day Kenai Fjords trip is a must (make sure that seas are not too crazy before you set out, because they will turn back and give you only a bay cruise if they are).

One thing you may want to do is to venture out to Cooper Landing, which is only a relatively short distance from Seward and is where the Kenai and Russian Rivers meet. Since you will be there in June, you would be able to hike the Russian River Trail up to the Russian River Falls and see the salmon jumping the falls. We did this at 1 a.m., as it was still light out and not very crowded.

Another highlight of our Seward time was Godwin Glacier dogsledding, which leaves from Seward via helicopter and takes you sledding on a glacier. As for the SeaLife center, call ahead and schedule a "behind the scenes" tour ($5 extra) and you will be able to see some of their creatures up close and personal.

Good luck and have fun!

Homer was also quite a bit of fun. We were there during an ultra-low tide (-4 or 30+ foot swing between high and low), so we hiked from Bishop's Beach out to coal point where much of the intertidal zone is exposed. There are some pretty strange creatures out there for sure.

Except for the Kenai Fords Tour, I much prefer Homer to Seward. Not to say Seward isn't great fun and very scenic - it is. It's to say I think Homer is better. I'd drive to Seward, take the Kenai Fords tour that afternoon or the next morning, stop at Exit Glacier on the way in or out, and then head down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer. I think the drive between Seward and Homer is wonderful and among the most scenic I have seen anywhere in the world. In Homer, you can take the AMH Ferry to Seldovia, a water taxi across the bay, drive the backroads to the Russian villages with their pituresque chapels, and just admire the gorgeous views of Katchemak (sp?) Bay with the lower peninsula's mountains in the background. Be sure to have at least one meal at the Land's End Hotel at the very end of Homer Spit and watch (or participate) in the salmon fishing at the fishing hole on the Spit. Have a wonderful trip.