3-4 weeks in Alaska on a shoestring budget – suggestions?
I have an opportunity to get award tickets to Alaska for 3-4 weeks (mid June - mid July), flying into Fairbanks and leaving from Anchorage.
The problem is everything seems extremely expensive in Alaska, but we'd like to stay within $30-40 daily budget (for both of us).
Currently we plan to spend some days in Fairbanks, then go to Denali and hike / camp for a couple of weeks and spend the rest of the trip in Anchorage.
Regarding accommodation the idea is to stay the first and the last night in each town on points (we barely have enough for that) and the rest at some campground in a tent. 2 weeks in Denali in a tent obviously.
Food - shopping at supermarkets and cooking it ourselves. Should be fine in FAI and ANC, the logistics could get very tricky in Denali, haven't thought it out yet.
Transportation isn't cheap but there seems no way around it (is there?). We prefer train or bus to renting a car. Getting around and out of Fairbanks and Anchorage to sightseeing places – I thought of renting a bike, but even that is $30-40 per person per day... Any way to get this down?
Do you think this plan could work? Have we overlooked anything? Any suggestions how to minimize the accommodation, transportation, food costs further?
Anything else we could/should add to the itinerary (without breaking the bank) to not miss major sights, since most likely we won't return to Alaska anytime soon?
Thanks in advance for any input!