theatrelover

My husband and I are doing a trip with National Geographic/Lindblad in 2014. We meet the group on June 22 in Fairbanks for a week in Denali. We end that part of our trip in Anchorage and then we need to fly to Sitka and pick up the cruise part of our trip which ends in Juneau. I wanted to visit the Kenai Penninsula and first thought of going after the cruise but that involves flying from Juneau back to Anchorage to pick up a car. Now I'm thinking of flying from NY to Anchorage and, before the Denali trip, pick up a car, drive to Whittier to take a cruise on Prince William Sound and then drive to Seward and spend a few days and then Homer and spend a few days and then drive to Fairbanks to meet for the Denali part of the trip. This way we could fly home from Juneau after the cruise. This plan would mean fewer in-Alaska flights, only one car rental. Is there a negative to doing the Kenai Penninsula earlier in June (I assume we would need a week to do that portion of the trip)?

Thanks for any suggestions.

LindainOhio

This trip will be fabulous. I have only read great things about the Lindblad cruise.

The negative of your Plan B is that the drop off rate for your rental car will be huge but if you want to do the Kenai Peninsula, it would be a nice to fly into Anchorage. I would price out the cost of your flight from Juneau to Anchorage and see how it compares to the rental car rates.

From Anchorage, I would first drive to Homer--we loved Homer, then head over to Seward, from there I would stay in Girdwood to do the Whittier cruise--there are some nice hikes in Girdwood, also the Alyeska ski resort. Drive to Talkeetna if you are interested in doing a flightseeing and then to Fairbanks.

June is usually the least rainy month of the summer but has the most mosquitoes. We took headnets and bugspray that I picked up at Walmart for $2, but never used them when we visited in July.

We visited last summer and didn't get over to Glacier Bay and the whole eastern part of the state. We hope to someday but Alaska is just a huge state. We spent 2 weeks driving the Kenai Peninsula and Denali. We would love to return and do a cruise someday.

theatrelover

Thank you so much for the information and suggestions. I'm actually thinking that the best thing would be to rent the car in Anchorage and then return it to Anchorage and fly to Fairbanks. The airfare doesn't seem ridiculous and it would save a lot of time. And, from my research, I read that the drive north is long and, at large parts, boring. Thanks also for the suggestion of headnets. I have bug spray but I'll check for the nets just to be prepared.

emalloy

You might do the Kenai loop from Anchorage then return the car and take the train to Fairbanks. I would at least check on costs compared to the cost of drop off and gas and/or the flight from Anchorage.

Sounds like a great trip

theatrelover

Thanks so much for the suggestion. I'll definitely look into the train also.

Gardyloo

I'm actually thinking that the best thing would be to rent the car in Anchorage and then return it to Anchorage and fly to Fairbanks. The airfare doesn't seem ridiculous and it would save a lot of time. And, from my research, I read that the drive north is long and, at large parts, boring.

That's the right choice, for the right reasons.

theatrelover

Thank you all so much for you suggestions. They've been a lot of help.