Alaska - Help Me Plan A Alaska Highway/Marine Highway Trip

Hi all Want to take a trip in 2012 which would be flying into YVR, taking the Alaska highway to Fairbanks. Then travel down to Anchorage, perhaps Whittier or Seward make our way back to Haines junction, drive down to Haines and then take the Alaska Ferries to either Prince Rupert or Bellingham.

So, my wife and I will have three weeks to take this trip. I figure 5 days to get to Fairbanks and 5-7 days to get back to YVR so we'd have 7-9 days in Alaska. Does this sound doable?

How is the Alaska highway? Any really neat places to spend the night on the way?

Do I have to rent a 4wd vehicle or is FWD ok on the road in the summer months?

When is the best time to do this trip? For me that means when the roads are still safe (no snow or little snow) but the places we visit won't be overcrowded with cruisers.

How would you break up the trip?

I wouldn't mind doing a one-way rental with pickup or drop-off in Anchorage and take the bus to/from the nearest ferry point and I hoped a company would allow one-way rentals into Alaska in the beginning of summer or one-ways out at the end but looking at this year I can't find any companies that offer something like that.

Any and all tips accepted.

Thanks!

We covered a small part of the Highway this year & loved it- particularly the sectors on the older ferries eg Taku as distinct from say the Faiweather (nothing wrong with it either!). We travelled without our own transport & found it can be done. Your planning will need to allow for not being able to just go whatever day you want. We particularly enjoyed Haines. The towns away from the cruising hordes were the highlights for us.
We found our road & air travel from Skagway to Fairbanks to also be fascinating with fantastic aerial viewing from Whitehorse to Fairbanks.
I posted a trip report on Australian Frequent Flyer at http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/trip-reports-and-trip-photos/zig-zag-around-the-us-23908.html. This might give you some ideas.

If anything I believe you are a bit ambitious only planning on 5 days to Fairbanks & you won't have time to appreciate things.

I don't think three weeks is really anywhere near enough time for this, unless you only want to be driving most of the time. I too think 5 days is way too short from Vancouver to Fairbanks. And 7-9 nights between Fairbanks and Haines? Hardly enough. Heck, I have spent that long just between Seward, Anchorage and Denali!

Five days from Haines to Vancouver? The main reason for taking the Marine Highway would be to stop along the way in at least a couple of the towns. But just from Haines to Bellingham will take you at least 4 days. That basically give you no time to stop anywhere. What a shame!

I suggest you check the Marine Highway schedules - ferryalaska.com. Also look at car rental prices from Seattle - probably cheaper than from Vancouver.

In any case, I suggest scaling down your plans. You don't know what you will be missing with trying to do that much in 3 weeks.

>>When is the best time to do this trip? For me that means when the roads are still safe (no snow or little snow) but the places we visit won't be overcrowded with cruisers.

Unfortunately the time to be in Alaska for most of the good tourist activities is when cruisers are also there. But depending on what your priorities and interests are, you can easily avoid 98% of the cruisers...unless you or your wife like shopping. Just stay away from the downtown areas from 8am until 8pm (or slightly different times - you can check cruise ship schedules easily enough).

>>I wouldn't mind doing a one-way rental with pickup or drop-off in Anchorage and take the bus to/from the nearest ferry point and I hoped a company would allow one-way rentals into Alaska in the beginning of summer or one-ways out at the end but looking at this year I can't find any companies that offer something like that.

Almost impossible to do a one-way car rental between Alaska and Seattle.

You have plenty of time to plot this out. Look for a copy of The Milepost (http://milepost.com/) (a used one is okay) for all the info you'd ever need on where to stop etc.

Having driven the Alcan I'll just offer a personal opinion: Considering the size and diversity of Alaska, and the fact that you'll be on a timetable, frankly I'd skip it. I suppose Vancouver to Fairbanks can be done in 5 days, but those would probably be 8 or 9 hours behind the wheel each. IMO those five days could be spent more productively in Alaska rather than following a bunch of RVs up the highway. While there certainly plenty of scenic stretches along the highway (and more on the Cassiar) there are an equal number - more, actually - of scenic stretches in Alaska - ones that could be visited rather than just driven past, in the same period of time.

If you want to include SE Alaska in your trip, you can still take the ferry in one direction, e.g. Bellingham to Skagway; just backtrack a few hours to Juneau then fly to Anchorage to resume your vacation in the Southcentral and Interior parts of the state. (Or do that in reverse - same idea.)

You have plenty of time to plot this out. Look for a copy of The Milepost (http://milepost.com/) (a used one is okay) for all the info you'd ever need on where to stop etc.

Having driven the Alcan I'll just offer a personal opinion: Considering the size and diversity of Alaska, and the fact that you'll be on a timetable, frankly I'd skip it. I suppose Vancouver to Fairbanks can be done in 5 days, but those would probably be 8 or 9 hours behind the wheel each. IMO those five days could be spent more productively in Alaska rather than following a bunch of RVs up the highway. While there certainly plenty of scenic stretches along the highway (and more on the Cassiar) there are an equal number - more, actually - of scenic stretches in Alaska - ones that could be visited rather than just driven past, in the same period of time.

Agree wholeheartedly. The Alaska Highway is something to make a destination in and of itself. I've done it three times, and all three times I took three weeks to just get from the Canadian border to the opposite Canadian border, and I still haven't seen everything.

As for one-way rental cars: most of the rental agencies in Alaska are franchised, which means they own their own cars and can't really deal with moving cars in or out of state. Only two companies are corporate locally: Hertz and Enterprise. Hertz will accept a one-wayed vehicle from another location, but for some reason you don't see them taking reservations for one-ways. Might be worth calling Hertz here, though (907-243-4118 x0). Enterprise's business model doesn't really work for one-ways, but they have made some recent changes to their internal car ownership model to make it logistically possible, so calling and asking them may not hurt (907-563-5050). The rest of the bunch are franchised and won't even talk to you about one-ways, though I have seen Avis do one-ways to Seattle at the end of the season (to facilitate dumping their cars on auction lots there), but they don't do anything other than that (southbound in September), and even then, availability is limited (see http://www.avisalaska.com for further information on that).

...though I have seen Avis do one-ways to Seattle at the end of the season (to facilitate dumping their cars on auction lots there), but they don't do anything other than that (southbound in September), and even then, availability is limited (see http://www.avisalaska.com for further information on that).Actually, the Avis person in Skagway told me a couple of weeks ago that they do one-ways to Anchorage, and have a special deal ($50 a day, no drop charge) for Skagway > ANC rentals from late August onward, in order to reposition cars for the winter. She also said they'll do one-ways in the high summer too, but for pretty high daily rates (around $130-$150) and a $300 drop fee. I asked if Avis in Haines would do the same and she said she thought so.

Actually, the Avis person in Skagway told me a couple of weeks ago that they do one-ways to Anchorage, and have a special deal ($50 a day, no drop charge) for Skagway > ANC rentals from late August onward, in order to reposition cars for the winter.

That info is also on avisalaska.com that jackal referenced above.

Actually, the Avis person in Skagway told me a couple of weeks ago that they do one-ways to Anchorage, and have a special deal ($50 a day, no drop charge) for Skagway > ANC rentals from late August onward, in order to reposition cars for the winter. She also said they'll do one-ways in the high summer too, but for pretty high daily rates (around $130-$150) and a $300 drop fee. I asked if Avis in Haines would do the same and she said she thought so.

That's because all of the Avises in Alaska are owned by Alaska Rent A Car, Inc., owned by Robert Halcro and run by son Andrew Halcro (a former State House representative and one-time gubernatorial candidate against Sarah Palin). One-ways are allowed between their own locations. However, it is not possible to one-way a car from a location owned by Alaska Rent A Car to one owned and operated by Avis Budget Group or an agency thereof, since the car would have to in effect be sold to Avis Budget Group. The sole exception to this is the end-of-season driveout, which enables Alaska Rent A Car to position its vehicles not within Avis Budget Group's fleet but rather in Pacific Northwest-area vehicle auctions for sale, where they may fetch a higher price than in local Alaska vehicle auctions, which are usually flooded with cars at the end of the local operating season.