First timers and need advice!
Im from the UK and travelling to Alaska in August for 2 weeks travelling in an RV - very excited. We are driving from anchorage up to Faribanks and then onto Tangle Lakes, Glenallen, Valdez and bac...
Forum Discussion
As you already must know, two weeks is a very short time in Alaska! We have spent six summers there and still haven’t seen it all BUT we have done quite a bit. We have had family and friends come visit us for 2 weeks at a time. Both flew in and out of Anchorage so I made plans as follows:
Day 1: Fly to Anchorage
Day 2: Tour Anchorage
Day 3: Drive to Denali (235 miles)
Day 4: Tour Denali National Park in bus to Eilson Center
Day 5: Drive to Fairbanks (122 miles)
Day 6: Discovery River boat tour
Day 7: Fly/Drive Coldfoot Arctic Circle or tour Fairbanks on your own
Day 8: Drive to Wasilla (313 miles)
Day 9: Drive to Seward (168 miles)
Day 10: Boat tour to Kenai Fjords National Park
Day 11: Drive to Homer (170 miles)
Day 12: Tour Homer
Day 13: Drive to Anchorage (226 miles)
Day 14: Fly home
Worked out pretty well and can be adjusted based on your priorities, etc. Strongly consider buying the Alaska TourSavers Book which consists of two-for-one tickets to many attractions. Example: If you go on whale watching/glacier tour to Kenai Fjords NP, tickets cost $100 up/pp. Book costs $99 so one trip pays for the book. Can be ordered on-line ahead of time so you can study and decide which coupons are worth while for your trip.
Denali NP is a must as far as we are concerned (even if you don’t see the mountain); they have an excellent sled dog show where you can meet the dogs and see demo on dirt. Fairbanks also has numerous attractions including the Discovery Boat trip (coupon in the book). Highly recommend this trip for a number of reasons and it does include a brief boat visit to Susan Butcher (famous musher) kennels. The Kenai Peninsula is one of our favorite places in Alaska. A boat tour to the glaciers is a must (coupon in book); this is done out of Seward which has a really great city campground looking out on Resurrection Bay. We also really like Homer; the Spit is a site to behold.
I have probably given you way more information than you wanted but I would like to add one last thing. A flight tour out of Fairbanks to Coldfoot or even Prudhoe Bay are also high on my list of must do’s. They don’t come cheap BUT they give you an entirely different perspective of this huge state.
We too love Valdez but it is a little ‘out of the way’ requiring more driving. When our friends came in 2006 we followed the above and then when they came again in 2012, we skipped Fairbanks drove to Valdez and then took ferry to Kenai. We also did Lake Clark NP (you can do it for the day or overnight) and got to see lots of brown bears grazing on grass!
Hope your trip is wonderful but be forewarned you may fall in love with the place (like us) and return again and again. PM me if you have specific questions. Will be happy to try and help.
Diann
Day 1: Fly to Anchorage
Day 2: Tour Anchorage
Day 3: Drive to Denali (235 miles)
Day 4: Tour Denali National Park in bus to Eilson Center
Day 5: Drive to Fairbanks (122 miles)
Day 6: Discovery River boat tour
Day 7: Fly/Drive Coldfoot Arctic Circle or tour Fairbanks on your own
Day 8: Drive to Wasilla (313 miles)
Day 9: Drive to Seward (168 miles)
Day 10: Boat tour to Kenai Fjords National Park
Day 11: Drive to Homer (170 miles)
Day 12: Tour Homer
Day 13: Drive to Anchorage (226 miles)
Day 14: Fly home
Worked out pretty well and can be adjusted based on your priorities, etc. Strongly consider buying the Alaska TourSavers Book which consists of two-for-one tickets to many attractions. Example: If you go on whale watching/glacier tour to Kenai Fjords NP, tickets cost $100 up/pp. Book costs $99 so one trip pays for the book. Can be ordered on-line ahead of time so you can study and decide which coupons are worth while for your trip.
Denali NP is a must as far as we are concerned (even if you don’t see the mountain); they have an excellent sled dog show where you can meet the dogs and see demo on dirt. Fairbanks also has numerous attractions including the Discovery Boat trip (coupon in the book). Highly recommend this trip for a number of reasons and it does include a brief boat visit to Susan Butcher (famous musher) kennels. The Kenai Peninsula is one of our favorite places in Alaska. A boat tour to the glaciers is a must (coupon in book); this is done out of Seward which has a really great city campground looking out on Resurrection Bay. We also really like Homer; the Spit is a site to behold.
I have probably given you way more information than you wanted but I would like to add one last thing. A flight tour out of Fairbanks to Coldfoot or even Prudhoe Bay are also high on my list of must do’s. They don’t come cheap BUT they give you an entirely different perspective of this huge state.
We too love Valdez but it is a little ‘out of the way’ requiring more driving. When our friends came in 2006 we followed the above and then when they came again in 2012, we skipped Fairbanks drove to Valdez and then took ferry to Kenai. We also did Lake Clark NP (you can do it for the day or overnight) and got to see lots of brown bears grazing on grass!
Hope your trip is wonderful but be forewarned you may fall in love with the place (like us) and return again and again. PM me if you have specific questions. Will be happy to try and help.
Diann
