Best Hotels

[Dakster]

I've RV'd before and I don't see the savings. I have done the math several times on renting one and I never come out ahead. So if saving money on your trip is the goal, that might not be it. But do your own math as everyone's situation is different. It may come out closer now that fuel prices (everywhere but IN AK) are going down, but usually what you save on being able to make all your meals and the cheaper 'per night' camping fees you eat up on fuel. I try to stay in hotels with kitchenettes and places with 'free breakfasts' to help with the food costs. FWIW, a buddy of mine let me use his RV for free since I let him store it at my house. He was introducing me to RVing and he had bought a new larger one. We went on some trips with it and even with no rental fees, just the fuel costs, I think I could have done the trip cheaper by driving my truck that only gets 18mpg and staying at a hotel. Now, the RV experience itself was priceless as we Rved with a bunch of friends. You wouldn't get that kind of experience at a Hotel.

Traveling around AK you will burn a bunch of fuel, not to mention the high rental fees. Even if you own one already, you have to factor in the getting it to AK cost...

I use and like Trip Advisor too.

[hogfamily]

Sorry Dak I have to disagree about the RV.

If you book soon you can get decent rates for an RV for next summer. With Great Alaska Holidays if you book before Dec 31 they offer a "Best Rates Available". Great Alaskan Holidays Best Rates Available

In the summer most lodging in Alaska is very expensive.

If you add up the cost of lodging, rental car, and eating in restaurants an RV is generally less expensive. The convenience of not having to be on a strict time table, worrying about making reservations, and for not feeling rushed to make it to your reservation on time an RV is a good choice. And there is the convenience of having your "home", including bathroom, with you.

You can pull off the road just about anywhere and sleep for the night, no reservations needed, for free. There are many great campgrounds to stay in also and several commercial RV parks. There are only a few campgrounds, Denali for example, that you will need reservations for.

Depending on how many miles you drive paying a little more for unlimited miles may be worth it.

Definitely check out tripadvisor: Alaska Forum, Travel Discussion for Alaska, United States

[Dakster]

Hog - right, but you HAVE your RV... Have you checked out the rates to rent one lately? I did the fly-in and rent one math and for us it didn't work out. (Mainly because I could rent a truck and pay for the fuel to drive from Florida to AK for just the cost of the airfare - and I wanted to see a bunch of other areas on the way up)

I will agree it is a better experience and nice to have your bed and bathroom with you at all times. It is considered a more luxurious way to travel. I loved RVing it when I had the use of one (for free) -- but I don't think I could have afforded to drive the 13k miles in one to AK and back - not even including the rental cost. It was spendy at 20mpg, I'd have goen broke at 6mph. FWIW, we did most of our own meals and didn't eat out all that often.

Like I said, if saving money is the goal. Do the math for how you travel. And what you are trying to accomplish on your vacation in AK. In may work out, it may not. We travel pretty decent in my truck and we bring a lot of food/drinks/supplies with us. The trip we took to AK actually got a little weird for us, as we were running low on things that normally we don't worry about- until we stocked up in Tok on the way up and the wal-mart in Whitehouse on the way back. (Of course we then knew what there was and wasn't for the trip back thru Canada to the lower-48.)

And I know they would be flying in, renting an RV, and going from there. So that definetly changes things. There are rental car costs that can be used towards the RV Rental...

[hogfamily]

Dak,

I meant that renting an RV in Alaska is generally less expensive. There are not a lot of roads to drive on so your fuel prices would not be that much. Most people that rent probably drive around 1,500 - 2000 miles in two weeks or so.

Driving from the lower 48 I could see that fuel would be expensive, (especially in Canada). The 28-32 foot RVs get about 6-10MPG.


With our crew even if we had to rent an RV to travel around Alaska it is cheaper for us than hotels and meals out. Yeah, you should see our four eating machines at work! Even at Mc Donald's to fill them all up it costs over $60.

[Dakster]

It's all good Hog... And to think I complain when I spend $30 at McD's for the 4 of us.

Your math definetly works out to the better.

[hogfamily]

The good thing for us is our kids do not really like McDs very much. About once every three to four months they forget what it was like the last time and want McDs.

They prefer Subway.

Given the choice they would rather burn , er cook, something over a campfire. I have to agree with them!

[Dakster]

Fast food is the neccessary evil at times. I haven't had any in along time now. I do like Subway... You'll still spend $60+ there though. Although if you make everyone stick to the $5 or $6 footlong special and NOT get a combo you can do OK. I remember eating subway at the one in Denali in AK. The $5 footlong was $12 there.

[lellenn]

GO TO THE DIMOND CENTER HOTEL!!! My husband works for the company that owns it, and I have stayed there. It is wonderful, has GREAT rooms, good full breakfast (not continental) and the rates are not THAT outrageous (well for AK in the summer at any rate). They have awesome soaker tubs in the bathrooms. We got married last year and for my family that flew up we arranged for them to have a good rate at that hotel and they ALL raved about it. Seriously, it's a good place with good rooms, good staff. (They just got a new chef who transferred from the Alyeska Hotel and he makes some AWESOME FOOD). We love him. Cannot recommend it enough.

[JasonAndJulie]

You guys have some great input! We are going to buy an RV but not until 2015 or 2016. The trip next year is to look around and enjoy the experience but also to make sure it is still on our list as one of the places we would like to live. We have five children but three will be with grandparents. We are hoping to pawn the other two off on the other set of grandparents but they may just be too young yet to handle it that long. So, we may have two kids with us which changes things but since we are outdoorsy people hopefully it doesn't change anything too much. We are getting excited about the trip. I am definitely going to look into all of the ideas posted. This has been a dream of ours to get up there for a couple years.

[TKO]

The Spring Hill Suites on the UAA campus is the best hotel in Anchorage at the best price. Not cheap but wonderful location and cheaper than the fancy ones downtown. The dog park was awesome and me and my brittany went there a dozen times over the course of last summer. The rest of the summer was spent in travel trailer all over the place. Favorite spots were the Beluga RV park in Kenai (real nice beaches on the Kenai - Clam Gulch being my favorite), Johnson Lake State Park in Kasilof and Blueberry Lake State Park near Valdez. The campground at Denali was pretty nice too. Lots of skanky rv parks amongst a few that are decent, so be careful there.