Planning an 8-day Trip to Alaska (Anchorage, Kenai: rental car, rental, taxi)

[nasridian]

Hi All,

3 of us guys are planning a trip to your beautiful state for the first-time. We have 8 full days to spend and are looking at Anchorage, Denali and Seward. We're at a loss as to how many days we should spend in each, but are looking to minimize travel time as much as possible (we've already excluded going to other cities/towns such as Valdez). Mainly, we're mostly activity-bound (e.g. ATV riding, horseback, Whitewater rafting, kayaking, etc.) with a few leisurely pursuits (e.g. fishing, Yukon railroad).

What we were thinking was to spend our first 2 days in Anchorage hanging around and getting to know the town, maybe do some hiking and stuff. Then go straight up to Denali for 3 days and then to Seward for 3 days to kayak the Kenai fjords and take in the beauty of the greater peninsula. Hopefully, along the way, we can find time to do some fishing, but this is not mainly a fishing vacation for us.

Any suggestion on this tempo?

Anchorage - 2 days
Denali - 3 days
Seward - 3 days

Also - would you recommend staying in Seward on the Kenai Peninsula or is there a better town? We're not looking to party it up, but at the same time, civilization would be nice.

Thanks.

[tigre79]

For what you're wanting to do, I wouldn't spend more time in Anchorage than necessary. Get out and see the state. Seward sounds good for your itinerary, too. Exit Glacier is really accessible, and there are guided hikes on it. Also, hike up past it to the Harding Icefield. Takes about half a day and it's absolutely amazing. Seward is just as civilized as anywhere else on the Kenai. Homer might have better restaurants, but it doesn't have mountains. Personally, I'd do hiking and ocean kayaking down there, and then go to Denali for everything else. Keep in mind travel times. You'll spend most of a day just driving from Seward to Denali.

[AKStafford]

The Trip Advisor forums for Alaska is a great resource for trip planning: Alaska Forum, Travel Discussion for Alaska - TripAdvisor

You'll find trip reports there from previous travelers that will help you put your trip together.

If you haven't already reserved your rental car, do so now. Prices go up as we get closer to summer.

[heathen]

Sounds like a pretty good itinerary to me. And good on you for not trying to see too much. Lots of visitors spend way too much time in the car.

When do you plan to be up? Generally not recommended to come before Memorial Day, or after mid-September.

It's true there's nothing particularly special about Anchorage itself, and I'd only spend time in the city if it's raining. Hard. Still though, some of the best hiking trails in the state are right near town.

Depending on what you want to see, you might be able to get away with not going all the way to Denali National Park. The town of Talkeetna is about half as far and offers many of the activities you can find further north (flightseeing, ATV rides, jet boat tours). Great hiking in Denali State Park, nearby as well. The views of the mountain are at least as good as what you'll find from the road in the national park. The one thing the national park offers is superior wildlife viewing. The national park has whitewater rafting, but you can also find that at Sixmile Creek on the way to Seward.

[Chilkoot]

I agree with tigre79 & heathen that you shouldn’t spend much time in Anchorage. There is some good hiking and Turnagain Arm is a gem for the scenery and many times wildlife although Anchorage itself is just another medium size city and not very reflective of Alaska in general. Two nights in Denali would be a minimum as it allows one full day to take a shuttle back into the park as well as time to do some hiking. Mt. Healy is a fantastic hike if you’re up to some elevation gain. Talkeetna is a nice stop and a good place to see Denali, actually better from there than the park entrance on a good day. Photo from Talkeetna here: http://smu.gs/14VWglD

The hike tigre mentions in Seward, the Harding Icefield trail is amazing. Even if you didn’t do the length of it, even going just over a mile to Marmot Meadows affords wonderful views from above Exit Glacier and down the valley. Another consideration for Seward would be the forest service cabins. We’re headed down to the Derby Cove cabin for the second year in a row. You can take a water taxi, hike at low tide or kayak to get there. Neat experience.

Another option you should consider is going up to Matanuska Glacier that’s about 2 hours from Anchorage. It is the most easily accessible glacier in the state as you can drive to it and then it’s only about a 15 minute walk and you’re on the glacier.

[hogfamily]

Matanuska Glacier

http://tinyurl.com/3rphqvm

We like Hope and Talkeetna too.

http://tinyurl.com/3eegthu

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by nasridian

What we were thinking was to spend our first 2 days in Anchorage hanging around and getting to know the town, maybe do some hiking and stuff. Then go straight up to Denali for 3 days and then to Seward for 3 days to kayak the Kenai fjords and take in the beauty of the greater peninsula. Hopefully, along the way, we can find time to do some fishing, but this is not mainly a fishing vacation for us.

Anchorage - 2 days
Denali - 3 days
Seward - 3 days

I'd say that sounds pretty good. Use this for the first two days in the ANC area for planning some really good, short hikes:

50 Hikes in Alaska's Chugach State Park: Shane Shepherd: 9780898867657: Amazon.com: Books

And this for the Penn:

Explorer's Guide 50 Hikes in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula (Explorer's 50 Hikes): Taz Tally: 9780881507553: Amazon.com: Books

[AKStafford]

Here's the photos we took late last summer in Denali:
AKStafford: Denali National Park ~ The Bears
AKStafford: Denali National Park ~ The Moose
AKStafford: Denali National Park ~ The Views

[nasridian]

Thank you all for your recommendations. So we've decided to rent an RV in order to minimize cost and be more flexible as to when to arrive/leave a place. Also, we think it'd just be plain cool.

Now, we're probably going to go straight from the airport to Denali and then spend our last day in Anchorage. We all live in big cities - your typical city-slickers looking for that "one thing", so we thought it best to just go straight into the wilderness.

Anyways, we want to be conscious of the local folks and not hog the highway with our slow moving RV so we're figuring out how to travel at the least congested time of the day - which looks like it'll be late at night or early morning...it'll be a 30 footer - so pretty big (4 of us going now).

[justwrestle]

While driving North from Anchorage, the Mat-Su Glacier is worth a stop. They have a zip line over the glacier now that is pretty cool. Talkeetna has one too, but no glacier. Going North involves a lot of driving.

Personally, all of my favorite places in Alaska are South of Anchorage...Girdwood is my absolute favorite, 45 min South of Anchorage, paraglide off the mountain or mountain bike down taking the chair lift back up, just like skiing, fish in the river, camp, fun little bars, great hiking, plus it is just a really cool hippie Alaska town. Keep going South and you can swing by Portage Glacier, take the tunnel to Whittier (a really crazy experience). Keep going South and swing by Hope, for some class 4 and 5 rapids on the Six Mile River. Then at the junction you can either go to Seward or Homer...two fantastic places. I love Seward because of access to Exit Glacier, but Homer has the "spit" and the kayaking and fishing there are just so much more affordable.