Alaska costs

Three trips, counting cost to and from Alaska, and 3 months in Alaska each time, using the TourSaver Coupon Book each time, our cost for all money spent averaged:

2005 - $110.00 per day
2009 - $125.00 per day
2013 - $150.00 per day

You can see our trip logs in the website listed in signature. The logs only lists fuel usage, camping site cost, and attractions cost.

I am close to Lonnie, and budget about $165 a day per driving day. Days we are parked cost much less. For a round trip, Florida to Fairbanks and back I budget $10,000 for everything, about $7,000 over staying home.

Fuel: $50/day
Camping Site: $50/day
Food: $50/day
Utilities $15/day

...experiencing the Great Land; Priceless.

Our trip in 2009 was 13,201 miles during six months from Florida and averaged 113.39 per day, also using the Tour Saver coupons when possible. Details are here.

For our 2013 trip I took Joe's advice and budgeted $10,000 for our 90 day, 15,000 miles trip from Florida to Alaska and return to North Carolina. I do not include food in trip expenses since we have to eat wherever we are. We spent about $500 less than expected but we did not drive the Dempster Highway, as planned. Otherwise, we didn't pass up anything that we wanted to see or do. lizzie

lizzie wrote:
For our 2013 trip I took Joe's advice and budgeted $10,000 for our 90 day . . . I do not include food in trip expenses since we have to eat wherever we are.

In 2013, we budgeted exactly the same as lizzie and also do not include food costs, for the same reason. We cooked all our meals in our trailer except on my wife's birthday and our anniversary, plus a few lunches at McDonald's (the only reliable place for WiFi in many towns) and a breakfast at Denny's in Fairbanks. We eat out more than that at home, so that was no more expensive than being in Denver. But groceries in Canada are definitely more expensive than in the Lower 48.

Our campground costs included some free nights of boondocking, parking lot dry camping, a Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge campground, and a casino with 20A electric in Coeur d'Alene. It also included low-cost national park, monument, and Forest Service campgrounds in the US. Our most expensive campground was two nights in Kasilof for $45/night the same week that the combat fishing season for reds began on the Kenai.

The most expensive gas we bought was on the Alaska Highway at Muncho Lake. It was nearly $8.00/gallon there, so we only got enough to get to Toad River, where it was under $7.00/gallon. And, when we got into Alberta, the price was "only" slightly over $5.00/gallon.

Our costs averaged $123/day total, $27.41/night for campgrounds, and $49.43/day for gas.

Zero Alaska experience here, but I consistently see $10,000 tossed out as the cost of a trip up there. From the time you leave home to getting back home it's typically three months - with two actually being spent in Alaska.

I'd be interested in a response, though, from one of those really frugal RV'ers that specialize in budget travel. Just how much could be shaved off that $10,000 with lots of effort?

Just a couple of additional comments. The actual costs for us, tends to be about $7,000, if we knock off about $3,000 that we would spend even if we stayed home, for food, utilities, etc.

You can calculate your fixed costs and then look at your variable costs. From here in south Florida, the distance to Fairbanks is roughly 4,500 miles or 9,000 for the round trip if we went the way a bird flies. But we don't, as we swing over here and there to see places or people, run round in Alaska, etc.

An average trip, if there is such a thing, I budget for a trip of between 13,000 and 14,000 miles. Some trips are less, some are more, depending on our route. Fuel is the largest fixed expense we have and it is not hard to figure the approximate cost of that. With my previous truck, a Dodge Cummins with 235HP, it would be close to 1,000 gallons of diesel for the trip. Now with my Chevy truck, larger, heavier and more power (397HP) I will have to budget for about 1,100 to 1,200 gallons of diesel. So with an average of $5usd per gallon, my fuel costs will be between $5,500 and $6,000. Not much I can do about those costs, other than to make the trip as straight line as possible, etc.

Fuel costs are the same for a traveler regardless of the number of days it takes to get to your destination. If a person takes 10 days of driving to get to Alaska, like I tend to do, the camping costs are reduced but not the fuel costs. Boondocking is probably the best way to save some on the trip, and it gets much easier to find impromptu places to spend the night as you get farther north, beside a lake, stream, a roadside pull off, etc. Our food costs don't vary a great deal whether we are traveling or staying home. If we had to, we could reduce the food cost for both, I am sure.

There is no getting around the fact that a trip to Alaska or any trip of an equal distance, is going to be expensive. Most of us drive self contained RVs, so a mix of campgrounds and pull off spots works for most. The weather is also a factor, if it is a hot summer, you can anticipate many forest fires and resulting smoke, making running the AC important at times. (for us anyways) On the average in a 7 night week, we will stay about 3 nights in a campground and the other 4 boon docking for free. We may spend a week at a commercial campground in Fairbanks, then spend a week for free camping in the Tangle Lakes area west of Paxson Alaska.

Before my wife and I got married in 1973, I had made 4 or 5 car trips to/from Alaska and Oklahoma where my parents lived. Several of those trips I had to stop and find work to be able to afford to continue the trip. The Canadian authorities at that time required you to have $300 with you which you had to show, at least I did. My camping gear consisted of an Army surplus tent, sleeping bag and a tarp, a plate and a skillet and coffee pot and cup. Fuel and some food were my only expenses. A couple of those trips I made and never spent a dime for lodging the entire trip. Sleeping in the car, sleeping beside the car wrapped up in the tarp, or setting up the tent beside the car. Great memories and I sure had fun, met a lot of interesting people. In the 1960s, many of the abandoned construction buildings used by the Alaska Hwy builders were still standing near the road, so these became impromptu "motels" for many travelers. A different age, a safer age, etc. Those old building have all disappeared now days.

If, I was traveling with a car that got 30 mpg, fuel costs would drop to about $1,500 for the trip if I could hold the mileage to about 10,000 miles. Sleep in a tent or tarp again, eat frugally and I would guess I could do the trip for under $2,500 but my wife wouldn't go with me. LOL Her idea of roughing it is slow room service in a 5 star hotel. That is what happens when you marry a city girl I guess.

The easiest way to shave $$$ is to use a more gas efficient vehicle as it seems the most expensive aspect of traveling to Alaska is the fuel. For example, a huge class A DP gets about 8 mpg. Our tt and truck combo gets 12. Just in fuel alone, we would be spending 33% less.

Some people require hook-ups every where they go. They can spend $30+ per night for the entire 90 nights. Other people boondock a lot or use public campgrounds. They can average $10 per night for the 90 nights, or about 66% less.

Some people prefer to eat out. They can spend $60+ per day on food. Other people only eat at 'home.' They can spend about $15 per day for a savings of about 75%.

I can't offer any advice on RV costs in Alaska...but no matter how you slice it, it's expensive.

If you want a cheap trip to Alaska without going to Joe's 1960's extremes, invest in the best tent and backpack you can find and fly up. Lots of places to camp during May - September, you can mix in a variety of B&B's and you can get a variety of scheduled/unscheduled transporation options and with the money you save from fuel and other travel costs, you can eat out quite a bit.

In all seriousness, there's many ways to shave a penny or two here & there that adds up to some noticable $$, but an RV trip to AK will be near $10,000.

While not going back quite as early as Joe, I remember at least one trip where my entire trip was circa $500; fuel, eating "out" at all times, the rotating stash of cash to keep $300 visible for the Canadian authorities, sleeping in the Jeep, AND a motel in Northway and Seattle....the fact that there was motel in Northway and the fact that the Seattle motel was $19.99 should date the trip.