Planning a trip to Alaska

Hello everyone, I am planning a trip to Alaska with my wife. We didn’t get to travel for our 30th anniversary because of a death, so I’m planning one this year. Where would you go? What are the “ must see” spots? Any help is appreciated. I’m looking to spend a couple of weeks. Our second grandchild is due in late May , so we can’t go then.

Are you flying in or driving up?

How log do you plan to stay? Takes a months to see most of it. Lots to see and do in Anchorage area. Take the train to Denali, then up to Fairbanks.

Skagway is great also. Take your passport as you might enter Canada.

Plan to eat lots of seafood.

I will give you the same advice I give anyone heading up there. Go out and buy yourself the most recent edition of "The Milepost" that is put out by Alaska magazine. It will give you information about every mile of road, etc. including where to stop and eat, fish, camp, whatever. I have been up there 3 times since 1981 and I have had The Milepost with me every time.

Good luck, have fun, and take more time than have planned!

Moosetrot

I have traveled to Alaska 5 times since 2016 and my 2023 trip will be my sixth. My trips are to trout and salmon fish with some incidental sight seeing. I’ve been as far north as Talkeetna and south west in the Kenai Peninsula to Homer. I still have ALOT to see in the state of Alaska. I second obtaining a copy of the Milepost. We have rented an RV for all of our trips to Alaska. Hoping to go for 2-3 weeks in a few years. Once Alaska gets in your blood it’s hard not to go back. My first trip in 2016 was what I figured would be a once in a lifetime trip, but after spending time there it keeps drawing me back.

I came up in ‘85 and just stayed, way easier to see it that way.

I manage a lodge on the kenai. We have nice cabins right on the river with great bank fishing. Also it's not far to great halibut fishing. We are one hour from Homer and an hour and half to Seward for day trips. Check us out on Facebook or King salmondeaux lodge. Com

If you want to see the real Alaska get out of the city.

X2

Thank you everyone for your input. I will be flying up and then renting a car or RV.I’d love to fish a little and see everything that we can.

We rented an RV for a couple weeks when we flew up there. Thought about renting a car and motelling it but it was really tough trying to put together a decent trip so my wife could experience the Alaska I had enjoyed. Found that renting an RV was the most efficient and actually the cheaper way to go. Fill up the fridge with food and plan on eating a lot of fish while up there.

Moosetrot

Make sure you get your rental car asap or you may be out of luck

X2

Moosetrot

Look into The Alaska tour saver coupon book. They have different regions you might be visiting. But some of the coupons for activities like fishing trip etc have pay regular price for one and other person free or discounted. Some activities that you might be interested in can pay for the coupon book. It can save you a ton of money if you find the items you might be doing. I would definitely recommend taking the Seward Highway to Seward or Homer from Anchorage the views are breathtaking.

We took the train from Anchorage to fairbanks last year. It was pretty cool.

X3 reserve your rental ASAP

I just reserved our RV for late July 2023 and caught a decent deal on plane tickets as well.

The RV has proven to be our most economical route. We split between 5 guys. Stock up on food and other necessities in Anchorage, because the further you get away from the bigger cities the price of simple goods goes up.

Seems like since COVID the car rental prices in Alaska have gotten crazy if you can even find one if you wait too long.

The train from Anchorage to Denali is great. The bus coming back is not.
Fishing out of Seward is good if you go with the guy called Woody.
My favorite trip was actually the saltwater safari where you go on a vessel and see the sea otters, birds, etc.

Find a beater car on Craigslist when you get there, drive the heck out of it for a couple of weeks, leave it at the airport with the keys in it when you leave. Post in "free stuff" on CL with cryptic instructions on how to find a free car
You'll make someone's day, and you'll save a lot of money too; car rental in Anchorage is crazy expensive during the tourist season.

"Happiness is Anchorage in the rear view mirror" I read that in someone's book and couldn't agree more. No offense to anyone but I've always felt that the peninsula was touristy and crowded besides that everywhere I've been is pretty fricken awesome. No real destination needed just drive and look at it, stop on occasion and fish. Late July, early August.

What do RVs rent for ? Anyone been lately?

Drive Cantwell to Paxson.

Your first born


rv quote

Plus, Plus, Plus

The RV rental process was fairly painless for my family. Just watch a video that tells you not to destroy the RV and pay a big chunk of money. Almost everything seems to be expensive in Alaska.

May is still Winter there

Late June to Early August would be better

Go after Labor Day (peak tourist season) and rent a car on the Turo app. We started our road trip on Labor Day weekend through the following weekend, after Labor Day the traffic was non-existent. I better we maybe passed 10 cars from Healy to Cantwell. We paid 45 a day for a Tacoma and drove almost 1500 miles around the state in September 2021. The only annoying part about Turo was we had to take a cab across town to pick the truck up at the owners home. Other than that though the experience was great.

I just went down to Seward not all the way out to Homer. Seward didn’t do much for me. Valdez was worth the long drive out there, neat little town and not so crowded. The drive there was great as well. Glennallen to Delta was a nice drive, it was just a little stressful since we drove that on Labor Day and everyone was rushing back to Fairbanks with campers and boats. Nice scenic drive though. People think I am nuts but I thought Delta Junction was the best place we visited. We liked the farmland and the views of Alaska Range. Fairbanks was okay, better than Anchorage. Healy was pretty but nothing was open after Labor Day. The whole town was moth balled for winter. All in all, the interior was our favorite part. We plan to go back this September. Driving this time and going out to some of the smaller towns on road system like McCarthy, Eagle, Circle etc.

My RV reservation for 2023 with GAH will be in the neighborhood of $3800 for 8 nights out the door including one tank of fuel and propane. 32' RV. Its Much easier to swallow splitting between 5-6 guys vs a couple. This is my sixth time organizing a trip to Alaska and the average door to door from WV costs per person is right at $2K. I was worried about plane tickets prices this year as they have been trending higher. I booked at $964 a person with flights that fit our itenerary very well.