Wildlife vacation for a beginner? (Anchorage, Fairbanks: rent, hotel, bus)

[Johnbiggs]

Where are the best places in Alaska where someone who isn't an experienced outdoorsman could visit and see interesting wild animals?

[warptman]

Education, Conservation & Quality Animal Care | Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

[stiffnecked]

home | The Alaska Zoo


Take a bus tour to Denali National Park.

http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/bus-tours.htm

[JoDan]

Or take a boat tour to see some of the amazing marine wildlife!

[AKStafford]

TripAdvisor is a great place for researching a visit to Alaska:
Alaska Forum, Travel Discussion for Alaska, United States

[bortstc37]

The SeaLife center in Seward is also great. Even the beach south of Seward is a good place to see some otters/sea lions. And there is never any shortage of Eagles...

[Dakster]

Vacationing in AK 2 years, similar skill level for AK and with two young kids. Just driving around we saw more animals than I have seen anywhere else before. And I have driven around in almost every state in the US. (Basically I need the PAC NW and Hawaii).

All of the above suggestions are good.

Don't go to the damn bus... In fact, I would be happy if you didn't even know what I was referring to. And it isn't for novices anyways.

[RayinAK]

If you have the time and money, rent an RV in Anchorage and travel the following roads, where you will see plenty of wildlife (mostly moose and caribou, and a bear in between) at dusk and dawn:

-From Anchorage to Homer or Seward
-From Anchorage to Cantwell, then across on the Denali Highway to the Richardson Highway, and South on the Richardson toward Valdez
-From Valdez, North on the Richardson toward Fairbanks, then Delta Junction. Continue on the Richardson through Delta Junction toward Summit Lake, and then to Glennallen. Then travel the Glenn Highway from Glennallen to Anchorage

And yes, take the Denali bus tour early in the morning as others have suggested

[starlite9]

Don't know what your timeline is, or budget, but if you really want a great trip and are headed back south, then fly to Fairbanks, go to Chena Hot Springs and soak in the hot springs, take the train to Denali National Park, take the bus back into the park, get back on the southbound train, stop in Anchorage and spend a day or two there, go to the Alaska Children's zoo, catch the train to Seward. Go see the Sea Life Museum there, catch the state ferry down to Seattle down the inside passage, where you will see glaciers, whales and towns, have a great adventure seeing just about all the animals here, have to go a bit farther North to see the Polar bears in the wild though.

Short version.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by starlite9

Don't know what your timeline is, or budget, but if you really want a great trip and are headed back south, then fly to Fairbanks, go to Chena Hot Springs and soak in the hot springs, take the train to Denali National Park, take the bus back into the park, get back on the southbound train, stop in Anchorage and spend a day or two there, go to the Alaska Children's zoo, catch the train to Seward. Go see the Sea Life Museum there, catch the state ferry down to Seattle down the inside passage, where you will see glaciers, whales and towns, have a great adventure seeing just about all the animals here, have to go a bit farther North to see the Polar bears in the wild though.

Short version.

Good advise, Starlite9

My niece and her boyfriend did something like that last year, although not as extensive since she only had a little over a week to look around. They flew to Fairbanks and spend a couple of days with us. I took them for a photo-up toward Summit Lake, and took photos of moose and caribou off the road. Then my wife and I took them on the Boat Discovery, which by the way is not what we would do for ourselves since it's more like a tourist thing. While in Fairbanks we also took them to the Silver Gulch where they had a taste of their beer, and food. Anyway, they had a great time on the boat. Then I drove them to Healy where they had reservations at a hotel near the Denali Park.

From there they took the Denali Bus tour and had a great time, then took the Gold Denali trip on the train to Anchorage, where they were picked up at the train station by a hotel shuttle they had made reservations at. Then rented a car and took a couple of trips toward the Kenai Peninsula, and left for NY a couple of days after.