Two years ago, we did a two week Anchorage>Denali>Anchorage>Seward>Cruise>Vancouver trip (other than the cruise, we were in a rental car and hotels for the trip). Highlights were seeing moose every day from the car, 9 - 10 brown bears from the Denali bus, and glaciers from the ship. We decided if we come back, we’d focus on the Kenai Peninsula. Well, we just found a cheap flight to Anchorage, so we have 9 full days there in early June. Focus of the trip will be sightseeing (wildlife and scenery), with easy walk/hikes. I might go on fishing one day (catching a salmon on a fly would be a treat). We could rent an RV in Anchorage and stay in campgrounds, but I’m leaning toward getting a rental car and stay in hotels or bed/breakfasts (we’d have more options for sightseeing with a car). I’m just starting to look at maps and plan out a loop and key destinations for the 9 days. Any recommendations for must see spots?

A great central location for a couple of days of fishing and wildlife viewing is Kenai Princess Lodge. It is in Cooper Landing, near Kenai Lake and the Kenai River. While we were there, we saw combat fishing, moose, and bear. It is also not too far from Skilak Road (tons of bears) and the Kenai Wildlife Refuge. If you watch their website, you will find their specials - we lucked into a buy one night get one free a couple of years ago. The rooms are very large and have a great porch to watch the moose and bear wander by.

take a look at the caravan company trips, they usually are pretty good at getting people to the 'neat' sites. don't go with them just look at their outline of activities.adventure caravan http://adventurecaravans.com/destinations/alaska/

Might want to do some math... $700 for a small rental car, $150 (motel 6) to $250 (P Lodge)/night compared to a small Class C for $130/day plus $40 for some FHU campgrounds. There are plenty of free camping spots and even in Seward... on the water for $20. The aquarium there and wildlife cruises are worth doing. Halibut fishing out of Homer but shipping it home can be expensive. I would suggest getting the Tour Saver.* It's not like you are not used to camping.Rough numbers are $2500 for car and motel plus $900+ to eat out...$3400+RV at $1400 plus $200 for camping and $500 to eat....$2100.

We at times like to do the Kenai with a trip that gets us away from there for awhile. From Anchorage, head up to Palmer, east to Glennallen and south to Valdez, two or three days is good.Then take the ferry over to Whittier, some nice boat trips out of there if interested, then drive through the railroad tunnel and turn south to see more of the peninsula. We like to stop at Hope, one of the first gold camps in Alaska, kind of quaint and quirky, but fun. Then on south to Seward or to Soldotna. You, as you know, have to do some back tracking on the Kenai. In Seward, there are also several real nice boat trips to see the wildlife and to view the glaciers in that area, etc. After a couple of days in Seward, head on to the towns of Kenai and Soldotna, both can be crowded during the salmon runs and then wander on down toward Homer, drive out on the spit, out the East End Rd, great views.Then based upon how many days you have remaining in Alaska, start heading back toward Anchorage. The Native Center is very worthwhile, IMHO for a few hours, Earthquake Park has lost much of it's appeal to us since it has grown up since the quake of 1964 did so much damage in that area and was highly visible for many years after the quake. Drive out to Lake Hood and watch the float planes land and take off, we like to take a picnic lunch with us, usually burgers, etc from the Arctic Roadrunner, Drive up some of the roads to the east of town to get a good view of the Anchorage Bowl. Lots of great photo opps in the area. Keep in mind that Anchorage is just a smaller version of Seattle, nothing much Alaskan about either town, IMHO Some good hikes and bike trails in the Anchorage area, bikes can be rented in town if interested. For evening entertainment, Anchorage has something or somewhere for every taste or lack of taste. Stop at the visitor's center in the small towns on the Kenai to pick up brochures and to inquire about local evens going on that they recommend

Help Me Plan Kenai Peninsula Trip | Good Sam Community

24 Replies

fanrgs
Explorer
Dec 10, 2015
Three public campgrounds we enjoyed on the Kenai were Hidden Lake CG at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Deep Creek State Recreation Area at Ninilchik, and Tenderfoot Forest Service CG at Summit Lake (not far from the turnoff for Hope). Of the 3, Deep Creek is the not-to-miss favorite and you can go charter halibut fishing right from the beach. Only problem with Hidden Lake was the young male grizzly that kept following people from the lake to their campsites. It was especially concerning after he raided the site behind ours because the idiots left a bunch of 12 packs of Coke inside a screened canopy over their picnic table. Needless to say, they needed a new canopy after that.

The only one you need reservations for is Deep Creek--very popular!
tonymull
Explorer
Dec 09, 2015
You should be fine without reservations except for weekends. Either reserve or grab a campsite on Friday morning.
Tee_Jay
Explorer
Dec 07, 2015
No reservations no problem. The State and Federal sites have no water at site, no power, and may or may not have a dump site. The rear of Fred Meyer in Soldotna has a dump station and potable water, part of the Kroger chain.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Dec 07, 2015
One campground you won't want to miss which is just south of Anchorage - Williwaw national forest campground at Portage Glacier. Gorgeous sites! There are many sites there and I can't imagine you'd need reservations in June unless you'll be there on the weekend.

Williwaw Campground
bob_nestor
Explorer III
Dec 07, 2015
CVD wrote:
Thanks for the all the suggestions. We’ve decided to rent an RV and “camp” for 8 days. I’m now looking through Milepost for campgrounds. I’m finding dozens across the peninsula, all look interesting (e.g. Tenderfoot Creek, Russian River, Slide Hole, Skilok Lake, Seward Water Front Park, etc.).

I’d like to not make reservations, allowing us to decide where we go or stay, day by day. Given we will be there the first week in June (6 – 14’th), which is slightly before prime time (I think), is going reservationless a good idea?

You should be OK without reservations at that time except for Seward which could be touch and go. There are other campgrounds not far from Seward such as Moose Pass that will most likely have openings that time of the year though.

I did my trip back home to Alaska in 2014 without a single reservation. The only place I couldn't get into was in Seward in June, but I had a spot in Soldotna so it didn't really matter to me.
CVD
Explorer
Dec 07, 2015
Thanks for the all the suggestions. We’ve decided to rent an RV and “camp” for 8 days. I’m now looking through Milepost for campgrounds. I’m finding dozens across the peninsula, all look interesting (e.g. Tenderfoot Creek, Russian River, Slide Hole, Skilok Lake, Seward Water Front Park, etc.).

I’d like to not make reservations, allowing us to decide where we go or stay, day by day. Given we will be there the first week in June (6 – 14’th), which is slightly before prime time (I think), is going reservationless a good idea?
PA12DRVR
Explorer
Dec 01, 2015
As a born-and-raised Alaskan (only temporarily displaced to Houston), I have a fair amount of tolerance for the "Last Frontier"...at least they depict what I'd call "real activities"; situations may be contrived, but the cows still need to be moved, the tide still comes in, etc.

I find some of the other Alaska / People shows downright offensive....and I hope they get jail time.
tonymull
Explorer
Nov 30, 2015
When Jewel was little the Kilcher Family Band used to play at the annual Hope Cottages Christmas party where I worked. She was so cute and man could that little girl yodel! It was hard to believe that much sound could come out of such a tiny girl. She was very friendly and always made it a point to shake hands and smile and play with some of the developmentally disabled children and adults there. Good heart.

Their reality is no more faked than any of those shows, and probably not as much, but fake none the less.
PA12DRVR
Explorer
Nov 30, 2015
"That's Jewel's family, you know. Funny she never does a guest appearance."

Yep. Met Yule a time or two ....again..."back in the day".

(my) No. 1 son works on wildland firefighting and infrequently supervises a crew that has one of the cast members on it. That gentleman is apparently prohibited from discussing anything in too much detail, but generally simply rolls his eyes when asked about "reality" and gets a big grin when asked about $$.
tonymull
Explorer
Nov 30, 2015
PA12DRVR wrote:
Some thoughts:

- All of the suggestions above about possible fishing are valid: Lots of charter options to go out on the Saltwater; quite few options for walking to freshwater beaches/etc for non-salmon fishing;
- If it were me (guess it has been quite a few times), I'd strongly prefer the car/motel/B&B approach over an RV for a variety of reason. That being said, unless you were to rent a monster RV, I'm not sure that RV vs. Car would impact the ability to sightsee....unless you planned on parking at some of the various trailheads: harder to squeeze even a Class C in there vs. a car;....but again, for a variety of reasons, I'd prefer/suggest the car route;
- As others have suggested, if possible, plan a drive from Los Anchorage to Valdez as part of your trip. This takes you on one of the more scenic stretches of Alaska roads (Glennallen to Valdez) and gets you into Valdez and the sightseeing opportunities there.
- Hope is nice..but for some reason, every time I visit Hope, I'm left with the feeling of "what am I missing"..without actually missing anything.
- Homer is an interesting spot and as mentioned, great jumping off spot for fishing or air-sightseeing. The drive out towards the Kilcher venue (might be 20 mins, not 15) is a nice drive...but it does show just how much "reality" is in that TV show. If you can get close enough, you can also see the new vehicles and buildings that are filmed around or edited out f the show footage.
- If you can get over there, Seldovia is a nice day trip from Homer...I haven't taken the water taxi for decades so not sure it's still running.

That's Jewel's family, you know. Funny she never does a guest appearance. Ditto on Seldovia and there's some B&B's over there too.