mail4hemanthr

Hi,

I am travelling from Wisconsin & visiting Alaska for a honeymoon on August 29 and will be staying until Sept 4. Below is my draft plan. Flight will arrive 00:30AM (Aug 30) and will stay in a hotel in Achorage and then proceed with below activites from August 30, 9AM onwards.

Request you to please review and suggest some changes which will become a perfect honeymoon trip. I am fine to drop some places here or add some. Also, please recommend good affordable hotels at . Would greatly appreciate the help.

1. any suggestions on good affordable hotels at Anchorage, Seward, Talkeetna & Denali
2. Please update below itinerary with places or activities which can be done for each day.
3. Any other tips?

Aug 29 - Arrive Anchorage airport , take a rental car and check in at hotel.

Aug 30 - head to Whittier for 26glaciers cruise tour (PWS) and drive to Seward. Night stay in seward

Aug 31 -- Kenai Fjords tour and night stay in Seward again.

Sept 1 -- Drive to Talkeetna or Trapper Creek. On the way visit Girdwoods. Night Stay in Talkeetna.

Sept 2 -- drive to Denali, visitor center, sleddog demo, drive first 15 miles of park road, etc. Night Stay in Denali

Sept 3 -- shuttle bus booked to Wonder Lake. Decide day-of how far you will actually go ( Should i consider Wonder lake. Read a lot about mosquito problem in this area). Night Stay in Denali

Sept 4-- drive to Anchorage, with stop at Matanuska Glacier for hike if interested. Be at airport by 6pm for an 8pm flight.

Miss0033

You might want to sift through my post about an Alaska Honeymoon 10 threads or so below yours, and roughly 1 month before you (Aug 3rd - 12th) We have very similar goals.

Affordable places I found in some of the locations:
Denali Fireside (Talkeetna)
McKinley Creekside Cabins (Denali)
I am also staying at Alyeska and Captian Cook, but those arent affordable catagory.

I really wanted to see glaciers, but 26 glaciers seemed excessive to me. We also really wanted to do the Kenai Fjords. I opted for the Kenai Fjords trip due to the wildlife with the addition of 1-2 glaciers. Being on the water for 5-6 hours on back to back days would get to me. Just something to consider. FTI and others conviced me to lose a day and add it to Denali because 1 day does not do it justice. After talking to numerous people who only did 1-2 days on a cruise-tour in denali, I am glad I added days up there.

In my thread the consensus seemed to be if the Mountian is not out, there really isnt much fun in going past Eielson visitor center. Get off the bus and enjoy the park. Rain or shine we are planning on doing 2 days of quite a bit of hiking in the park, and 1 day of hiking near the entrance.

I cannot comment on most of this as I havent gone yet. But I plan on doing a trip report and can give you any feedback when I get back from mine.

Miss0033

The Comfort Suites was very close to the airport and had pretty good rates we found.

You might consider driving to Girdwood, since you plan to visit anyway, after your boat cruise. The drive from Seward to Talkeetna will be a longer one. I imagine the sea life center will be closed by the time your cruise is done, but it is worth checking out if you have the time. The wildlife conservation center in girdwood was a cool stop for us. Not a whole lot it girdwood though... Double Musky, Alyeska, etc. If you are just driving through there wont be much other than the wildlife conservation center.

If you are doing the shuttle bus one day, I probably wouldnt go all the way to wonder lake regardless if the mountain is out. Get off the bus and enjoy the park. The area near Eielson has some great hikes. When we went, there wasnt much beyond Eielson. So unless you REALLY have to have a reflection pond photo, I wouldnt go all the way to Wonder Lake if that was my only day on the buses.

Your last day, it might be worth going back in for at least part fo the first 15 miles on your own again. It was worth it for us and we had even spent the previous 3 days in the park. If you are returning a rental car you might want to be to the airport even before 6:00, the check-in and bag check process at ANC was very confusing for us.

fti

I missed this post last month. Your itinerary sounds great. I assume you have some discount coupons for the PWS and Kenai Fjords tours. If not, you should.

I actually really like the shuttle bus to Wonder Lake, especially that time of year. The fall colors will be magnificent. The area from Toklat to Eielson to Wonder Lake is pretty much all tundra so the colors will be ablaze. No mosquito problem at Wonder Lake that time of year (usually only June and July).

I am tent camping at Wonder Lake the week after you are there and am looking forward to it, even though the fall colors will probably be past peak.

Miss0033

Good point FTI, I forgot about fall colors. It had just barely started there the 10th and 11th. There were 2-3 spots we found where colors had started turning.

mail4hemanthr

Thanks a lot for both your comments. I guess bus tour would be worth considering the Fall colors. And, i do have the coupons for kenai and whittier cruise tour. Saved few hundred bucks :-).

Thanks again for your tips.

fti

Just to clarify, you really want the SHUTTLE bus in Denali NP. The "tour" bus is the Tundra Wilderness Tour, the Natural History Tour or the Kantishna Experience Tour, all of which travel various distances along the same road into the park as the shuttle bus, but the shuttle bus goes further than the TWT or the NHT at a fraction of the cost.

Also, IMHO you want to get into Denali NP whether or not you see fall colors. The scenery is still stunning, great hiking and an excellent chance to see wildlife.