Train to Alaska
 

I'm from the Boston area. I've been to Alaska before, on a cruise, and I remember two of the guys at our dinner table discussing a train ride through Canada that they took to get to Alaska. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I would love to go back and see some of the places I didn't get to enjoy the last time (McKinley/Denali, etc), but my boyfriend is afraid to fly and I thought a train might be a better option. Thanks!

You could possibly take the train into Prince Rupert in British Columbia and make your way into Alaska from there by another means. There really is no direct rail service beyond Prince Rupert.

Perhaps they took the scenic and historic White Pass & Yukon Railway? It won't get younTO Alaska, but it is a fun thing to do on the way, exploring the Klondike Gold Rush route and history. Nthe train goes from Skagway to Carcross in the Yukon. You can continue by coach to Whitehorse, and fly to Fairbanks from there. Then train from Fairbsnks to Denali if you wish.

If you could drive or train to Toronto, the cross Canada train would get you to Vancouver and there are several cruises that take you to Seward where you could take the train to Denali.

Check this web site

/www.canadiantrainvacations.com/trip/across-canada-train

No trains to Alaska, at least until the Interhemispheric Bering Strait Railway and Tunnel project is built. ;)

http://www.interbering.com/

(Mid-morning at St. Pancras: "The train now departing from Platform 2 is the <i>Aurora Borealis</i>, calling at Calais, Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Magadan, Nome, Galena, Fairbanks, Prince George, Spokane, Fargo, Minneapolis, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington DC. All aboard, please.")

although there are many options for getting to Alaska from the Lower 48 aside from flying, there is no train service to Alaska. a simple google search would have shown you that.

Gonzo - Thank you for your unkind response. I did use Google, but I could have sworn that these men said they took a train there and they were from my area, hence why I came here. No need to be rude about it.

Emalloy - Thank you so much, that's extremely helpful!

I should have provided a link to the White pass & Yukon Railway:

http://www.wpyr.com/

Since you have already done a cruise to Alaska, I thought this, plus the train from Fairbanks to Denali, might be of more interest than the cross-Canada train to Vancouver, with cruise from there. But the Canadian train is supposed to be very nice (and spectacular through th erockies) and yo ucoul dalways fly from Vancouver to Anchorage or Fairbanks instead of a cruise.

The Canadian train IS very nice and if the OP could just pay a bit more attention...

there are two ways to do it...you take the Canadian from Toronto all the way to Vancouver and take the ferry system from there.

Or you take the Canadian as far as Jasper and change there for the two-day trip over to Prince Rupert and take the ferry from there.

That is the ONLY way somebody "took the train across Canada" and went all the way to Alaska.

True.

Also, taking the train from Seward to Denali is a long proposition---the train departs Seward in the evening, around 6 pm, and only goes as far as Anchorage. One would have to overnight in Anchorage and catch the train the following morning for the trip to Denali. It arrives there around 4 pm and one must overnight at the park entrance before taking a shuttle or other bus into the park the following day.

If one instead flies to Fairbanks, you can overnight there and catch the southbound train to Denali, arriving there around noon, in time to catch a shuttle into the park, or a private bus to one of the wilderness lodges deep in the park near Kantishna (highly redommended).

Great advice. I live up here, and have a close pal who arrived in Whittier from Vancouver, then did the Anchorage overnight, after getting there by train, then Denali, etc.

She could not say enough good things about the experience. The fall foliage, and colors along her train trip to Denali,(two nights in a lodge with the tour) and then continuing to Fairbanks, were outstanding.

She is a picky blonde too, who travels internationally. :>

The OP's SO does not want to fly. Of course they could also rent a car in Vancouver or Seward, depending on what they decide from Vancouver . They would have to reverse the whole process to get back home.

Sorry---somehow I did not notice the "afraid to fly" part in the last sentence.

In that case,the simplest and most seamless way to Denali would be train across Canada to Vancouver, the one-week cruise to Seward from there, then rent a car in Seward to drive to Denali. This would give them the most flexibility. Or train to Anchorage and rent to car there if it is significantly less expensive.( We just spent 2 weeks in Alaska in a rental car we got for $300 by reserving well in advance).

Then reverse for the return. It would take at least a month for this trip.

Thanks for the all the help everyone! He'd be okay to fly a short distance, but Boston to Anchorage (which is what I did for the cruise) would be too much for him I think. I'm going to do more research on everything you've listed. Yes, I realize it'd be a long trip.

And Dukey, I do pay attention and I do a lot of research. I come here for help from people who know the area. Makes it a little easier than just randomly trolling the Internet for a mass of information I don't necessarily need.

Trains a nice way to get to Denali, but its slow and it limits you once you get there. I would rent a car in anchorage and drive. the trip will be 4 hours instead of 9, and once you get there you have more freedom.