Lorenky1

Has anyone taken the train from Anchorage to Whittier, and do you recommend it as opposed to driving? We are still working on our itinerary for July 2011 and trying to work out the Prince William Sound portion. We would be arriving back from Valdez the night before, either driving or taking the ferry, and the day after the 26 Glacier PWS cruise will be on our way to Cooper Landing and Seward. If we take the train, we were wondering if it would be better to take it from Girdwood instead of Anchorage, since it returns at 7:30 PM instead of 9:15 PM, but does this cut out the most scenic part of the trip? We can just as easily drive to Whittier, we just thought the train would be different and fun and DH liked the idea of taking a train. Is this a bad idea? Also, we will be in Valdez for two days and may either take the Columbia Glacier tour from there(probably not the very long one to Meares Glacier) or the ferry to Whittier. Do you recommend that we take the Whittier PWS cruise as well or is this too much of the same? I believe we will be skipping any cruises of Kenai Fjords due to sea sickness concerns, so we want to get a good taste of PWS. Lastly, we have seen some interesting flightseeing opportunities of PWS and also of Kenai Fjords. Any thoughts on flightseeing those areas instead of or in addition to a cruise?
The full itinerary is still a work in progress and changing some so I'm not posting a new one yet, but if it helps, here is the last post with my itinerary on it. Thanks.
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...this-sound.cfm

Patriot_Express

Lorenky1,

I work in Whittier during the summer months. You will get more from driving than taking the train. The railroad tracks follow the highway all the way to Whittier, although in car you have the option to pullover at one of the many scenic rest area's along the way. While driving you also have a greater chance of viewing mountain goats along the roadway, however, the train will not stop for pictures of the goats or any whales that may be in the waterway alongside the Seward Highway.

Both Valdez and Whittier are ports on Prince William Sound, and they both have glacier cruises and depending on which cruise you choose, they may even share the same glaciers to tour.

Sapphire

We took the train from Whittier to Anchorage after our cruise, drove to Denali and then drove back to the Kenai peninsula. The weather can be a big factor, and we had lovely evening sun for our train ride but windy, rainy weather for our drive. No way to predict what the weather will do....

I enjoyed taking the train and sitting in the upper level, seeing moose in the meadow nearby, etc. It gave me a different perspective on the area. But being an optimist, if I could only choose one mode of transportation, I would probably choose driving and hope that the weather would cooperate! My one word of advice if you drive, is to do some research ahead of time and pick out a few specific places you might like to stop. The pullouts come up quickly, and it is helpful to be prepared.

Hope you have a great trip!

BudgetQueen

I would not make a "priority" of the train Whittier/Anchorage. This segment, totally parallels the Seward Highway the entire distance. The signficant scenery loaded train is Anchorage/Seward. All the boat tours in Alaska certainly are different and worthwhile. Only you can decide how much time you want on the water?? I highly recommend the Whittier/Valdez ferry, not only does it do a great loop with no backtracking, it gives a great look at Prince William Sound. BUT, I never take the fast ferry, which is far more "transportation" based, compared to the slower regular ferry, which has a natualist on board and sometimes makes scenic detours.

I have mentioned before, but if you have sea sickness concerns, there is no guarantee of any location not triggering it. You are on water, and unless you have a crystal ball, you can read all the glowing PAST trip reports of all the people saying, it's smooth as glass, didn't get sick etc etc etc. But, none of is going to make any impact on your particular day or trip.

Flightseeing in Alaska is ALL GOOD. There is nothing that conveys the vastness like an expansive view from above.

Lorenky1

Thanks for the replies. I think we won't plan around taking the train but we can always decide when we are there if it seems fun at the time. DH and I are going to take a whale watching trip for humpbacks here in California that is very seasickness prone, he hasn't been out on that kind of ocean while taking seasickness meds so this will be a sort of test to see how they work. A trial run for Alaska. We'll see how it goes.