I'm due to travel to Alaska for the first time next summer (July 21st-August 4th).
I've booked an room hotel in Anchorage for a couple of nights, I've already rented a car.
Any advice would be most welcome: what I shoudn't miss ? how should I get there ? and where should I stay ?
Thanks !

Just stay a few nights in ANC near the downtown and try to stay there on a Saturday when they are having the market. There is an excellent museum near downtown which warrants a day long visit IMO but I don't recall the name. We enjoyed the Tony Knowles trail and watching the float planes take off and land at the lake near the airport. Also, the earthquake museum was worthwhile.

We found an RV to be our preferred way of seeing the state and it was about the same as a hotel at around $100/night. We saw a moose 2 blocks after we picked up the RV, right in ANC. We went late May and the weather was horrible but the wildlife seemed to enjoy it as we saw lots of moose, bear, elk etc.

The glaciers are amazing so try to see everyone you can and get a window seat on the plane so you can see them from above. It's so beautiful. We enjoyed a day out of Seward on a sea life boat with lunch cruise. Of course, the natural beauty of Alaska hits you over the head but there are also lots of tourist traps and we got caught in our share. Kind of a disappointment that everyone up there wants their piece of the tourist action and it shows.

Recommend a day trip to Seward for a Kenai Fjiords cruise. Buy a delicious scone at the bakery across from the boat terminal. On the return, stop at Portage Glacier, take the Alyeska ski lift to the top for a cocktail and glacier view from Seven Glaciers, and dine on fine Cajun food at Double Muskey in the Girdwood townsite. You'll drive back to Anchorage in the evening with happy memories and a happy tummy.

I'm planning a trip around Memorial Day. Could you recommend a cruise operator? Also, any idea how good the half-day cruise is vs. the full-day (or what would I miss)?
Thanks

The largest operator out of Seward is Kenai Fjords tours. They've been in the business for years. Renown Charters is using a new catamaran this year from Seward and Major Marine also does a fine job (they're known for the special buffet meals on board). Mariah charters focuses on a smaller boat with a more personal experience. All do an excellent job

The half-day trip focuses on Resurrection Bay and never really explores Kenai Fjords National Park. They often hug the shore looking for wildlife (eagles, puffins, otters, sometimes orca and whales). Kenai Fjords Tours has some half-day trips that take you to Fox Island for a meal.

If you really want the true experience, go for the longer trips that go to Holgate or Aialik Glacier and the Chiswell Islands. Spectacular scenery and
usually plenty of wildlife (never any guarantees up here). Word of warning - the journey into the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska is often known for rolling waves and boat motion. It's really exciting for some but stomach churning for other. Motion sickness pills taken one hour before your cruise departs is highly recommended. If you wait and take it after the cruise has departed, you are often too late.

Also remember the weather - layered clothing and rain gear can come in handy on these cruises.

There are also several cruise operators out of Whittier which is (A) closer to Anchorage and (B) run through the calmer, protected waters of western Prince William Sound. These can include trips to Blackstone Bay (shorter tour), College Fjord, Esther Passage, and Barry Arm. I think you see more glaciers on the Prince William Sound tours although the Seward trips tend to have more wildlife.

As an extra bonus, the Alaska Railroad provides rail service to both Whittier and Seward that connects with the cruises. The route along Turnagain Arm is really scenic (beluga whales and sheep are often spotted). You can also drive to both if you wish but the train saves dealing with traffic.

Both Seward and Whittier are highly recommended and we usually do both during the summer. For what it is worth, the temperatures the past few days in Anchorage have been in the 60s and 70s with long hours of daylight.
Enjoy your visit!

I am planning a week-long trip to Alaska for this upcoming Memorial Day. The goal is to maximize photography opportunities for wildlife, glaciers and mountain scenes.

We plan on taking at least one Kenai Fjords Tour - and have a definite interest in the Mariah option, but the boat looks abit on the smallish side and one of our party gets seasick looking at a pitcher of water - and getting them on a boat is going to be hard unless the area being cruised is relatively calm, flat and the boat is mostly stable.

Any advise on this particular option? We are looking to combine this tour with another day cruise option on a larger boat, unless this tour is comprehensive enough that we only need the one trip....or combine it with a cruise through Prince William Sound.

Also - do any tour operators offer sea kayaking with the whales, where you can get up close?

On land, we're looking for the best self-guided opportunities and locations to see any bears, caribou, moose, rare birds and other interesting mammals.

Exit Glacier down by Seward will give you a chance to see a lot. Moose are likely to be anywhere is that general area of Alaska. I hope that you don't see bears! You will be well out of the area for caribou.

Take your sweet time when driving along Turnagain Arm from Anchorage down toward the Kenai. Most tourists drive way to fast and miss many photo ops and animal sightings. If you see a group of cars pulled over, you can bet someone has spotted something interesting.

The size of the boats you are considering won't make much difference if someone gets sea sick. They will get sick. You might be better off finding something else for them to do for the day.

Get yourself a MILEPOST for the best possible information on Alaska. www.milepost.com

Thanks for the information! How far do we need to go to see caribou or elk...or are they deep in the interior?

Now about the bears - actually we do want to see bears (safely, of course). At this point, we're looking at an air/land tour with a private outfitter there that runs about $500pp for 5-6 hours, including 2-3 hours of time with the bears feasting on salmon. I understand the timing is perfect for late May, as most of the bears will be females teaching their cubs how to get the salmon, which should make for some great photo ops.

I've been looking for a place to do either a self-guided or ranger-led tour to see the bears within a day's drive of Anchorage (or even driving to another city, staying over to see the bears, then driving back) - but my web search has turned up empty so far, as all the bear viewing river sites are only reachable by air or don't have bears present until July. Do you have any advise on drivable alternatives with bears viewable during late May?

Here is the first draft of the itinerary so far - it probably needs alot of work

Day 1 Saturday - Fly to Anchorage, arrive late afternoon, dinner in town, overnight Anchorage
Day 2 Sunday - Explore Anchorage and surrounding area (need a better plan for this day). Overnight Anchorage
Day 3 Monday - Early morning drive to Denali Park, explore the Park, overnight at Denali Bluffs Hotel with Mountain view room
Day 4 Tuesday - Continue exploring Denali Park, late afternoon departure to return to Anchorage, overnight Anchorage
Day 5 Wednesday - Drive to Seward, Kenai Fjords Mariah Tour (includes sightseeing while driving), overnight Alyeska Resort
Day 6 Thursday - Prince William Sound Tour (includes sightseeing while driving), overnight Alyeska Resort
Day 7 Friday - Bear Viewing trip to Katmai via floatplane, return to Anchorage, overnight
Day 8 Saturday - local sightseeing around Anchorage, shopping, late evening flight home

Is there anything you recommend swapping out - for example, would it be worthwhile to skip the Prince William Sound tour and do a drive to another park or nature preserve? We would like to see glaciers, but if the Kenai Fjords tour combines everything we want (fjords, glaciers, mountain views, animals) into one day trip, then perhaps we can assign Day 6 for something else, unless PWS is well worth seeing.

I think we're going to go the Scopalmine route for the sea-sickness - there is too much to see from the boat to cancel. It's not like this opportunity comes up every day.

Thanks again for the advise!

I took a fantastic trip to Alaska last fall. I suggest you spent as little time in Anchorage as possible. If you feel the need, do some sight seeing in the city on your last day before you leave. The lake where the float planes take off and land is neat. Their is so much else to see in Alaska.

In Seward I would suggest spending 2 nights. You can hike up a short trail to Exit Glacier. I took the all day Saltwater Lodge whale/wildlife/glacier cruise. They do cruises and also have lodging. I myself chose to stay at a motel near the marina. Their cruise is on a smaller boat and is limited to 15 people. We had only 4 people on our cruise. It was wonderful. Highly recommended. As a precaution take some dramimine 1 hour before the cruise. Alaskasaltwaterlodge.com

Denali National Park is fantastic. It deserves as much time as you can allow. I spent 1 night at the entrance and 3 nights inside the park at the Skyline Lodge. It's the lodge where the Kantishana Air Taxi pilots stay. They only have a few rooms (no bathrooms in the room). It's price is much lower than all of the other in the park lodges. You can ride the bus in or have Kat Air pick you up at the entrance. They also do all the scenic flights in the park. Also well worth the price. You ride the park bus to get around.
Their website is www.katair.com.

Make sure that they are going to let you go up to the Brooks Falls platform. Because of "bear jams" it's possible to get stuck on the wrong side of the river, so a daytrip may limit your exploration options.

You might check into staying overnight at Katmai. There is an electric-fenced campground that only costs 8 bucks a night per person.

Thanks all...I guess the first revision is getting to Denali on Sunday and skipping the extra day in Anchorage. I checked out the Saltwater Lodge, but it appears bed-and-breakfasy, which is not our thing. Expedia had a decent looking hotel called the Harborview Inn - although there were some other, cheaper options.

The boats at the SWL look pretty small, but in their photos, the water appears flat calm - my traveling companion will freak out if on a smaller boat in rough waters, and even Bonine pills don't work, so I hope a Scopalmine patch will do the trick - for both of us. How was their boat tour, and what did you see?

Is there any particular bear tour you can recommend? Right now, we're looking at the 5hr tour offered by Hallo Bay.

so...first revision...

Day 1 Saturday - Fly to Anchorage, arrive late afternoon, dinner in town, overnight Anchorage
Day 2 Sunday - Early morning drive to Denali Park, explore the Park, overnight at Denali Bluffs Hotel with Mountain view room
Day 3 Monday - Continue exploring Denali Park, late afternoon departure to return to Anchorage, overnight Anchorage
Day 4 Tuesday - Drive to Seward, explore photo ops on the way, overnight Seward
Day 5 Wednesday - Kenai Fjords Mariah Tour (includes sightseeing while driving), or Saltwater Lodge small group tour, overnight Seward
Day 6 Thursday - Prince William Sound Tour (includes sightseeing while driving), drive to Homer
Day 7 Friday - Bear Viewing trip to Katmai via floatplane, return to Anchorage, overnight Anchorage
Day 8 Saturday - local sightseeing around Anchorage, shopping, late evening flight home

I think I need more to add on Day 4 - sights to see on the way to, or around Seward

We stayed at the Marina Motel in Seward. Located just a few blocks from the marina on the main road into Seward. You could walk from the motel to the harbor if you want. It's not located directly on the harbor as the Harborview and is a bit less expensive. If you don't mind the cost of the room then I would say the Harborview would be the place to stay. If not staying at the Harborview and you drive to the harbor there is a fee for parking in the lot. In the afternoon when all the fishing charters come in you can watch them cleaning fish on the dock. Also, check out the Alaska Sealife Center in Downtown Seward. You can view and photograph Puffins up close above and below the water.

The Saltwater Lodge has 2 boats they use depending how many people are taking the cruise. Their tour was very good. I myself prefer a more intimate experience than the larger tour boats, easier to get better photos because your not competing with so many other people to get the shot. On the cruise we saw 3 whales, many birds, lots of puffins, tons of scenery and wonderful glaciers. If you tell the captain what you are interested in seeing he will do his best to accomodate you. They supply a sandwich lunch that is quite good. The captain stops in front of a glacier to eat. In my opinion I would say 1 cruise would be enough.

Don't know if you are aware it takes about 4-5 hours to drive to Denali from Anchorage. You can only drive your car a short distance into the park. You must take the park bus to see most and in my opinion the best part of the park. You can reserve bus seats on the Denali nps website. If you don't reserve in advance you risk they will be sold out for that day. Looking at your itinerary it seems you don't have enough time allotted to see much of the park because you will also be driving to or from anchorage.

I did a bunch of research on bear trips but decided to save it for my next Alaska trip. I did think that Katmai was the place to go for a bear trip. In a day trip to Katmai you take a risk that the weather won't cooperate and you won't be able to go or you may get stuck there.

It seems a lot of people (including myself) try to fit in to much stuff in their trip. That's why I trimmed mine down to visit Seward and Denali and I'm glad I did. Keep in mind driving distances are farther than they seem.

You may be able to get some info about bear viewing on photo.net. Search the alaska forums there or post a question.

I would recommend working in a trip on the Richardson Highway between Fairbanks and Valdez. It takes about 8 hours to drive the whole thing, and the mountian scenery from Delta Junction to Valdez is absolutely spectacular. I cannot emphasize it enough. Then you can take the ferry from Valdez to Whittier and Seward is only an hour or so drive from Whittier.

We went last May and did the following itinerary in a week:

Day 1 Land in ANC
Day 2 Drive to Denali, explore Denali
Day 3 Explore Denali, drive to Fairbanks
Day 4 Drive to Valdez, explore area
Day 5 Ferry to Whittier, drive to Seward
Day 6 Kenai Fjords Tours glacier and wildlife tour, explore Exit Glacier
Day 7 return to ANC, explore area
Day 8 fly home

You can definitely add some padding in between many of the days to flesh out your extra time, there is plenty to see. But this is, IMHO, a great selection fo what Alaska has to offer.

Thanks...actually SRQ Guy's itinerary looks very good if I can get away from doing the bear watch - which would also save us 1,100. I really wanted to get some shots of them catching salmon and teaching the cubs, but if the weather could add alot of risk to the trip, and there are spectacular mountain scenes to see and photograph elsewhere, perhaps we can leave it for another time.

We did get fairly close (accidentally) to a brown bear mother and cubs at Yosemite last year, and it was a pretty thrilling experience to be out in the wild with such an incredible animal...seeing them in Alaska would be a thrill - but not if we miss out on alot of other important things to see.

I would suggest that you seriously consider adding a leg on the Alaska Railroad into your trip if the timing would work.

Last September we spent a week in Alaska, half in Denali and half in Anchorage and points further south. The relevant portion of our trip for you would be the following:

Drive from Anchorage to Talkeetna, do the jet boat tour with Mahay's Jet Boats. Drive from Talkeetna to Denali State Park, overnight at Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge ($99/night, great views). Depart SOUTH the next morning to Talkeetna, catch the train from Talkeetna to Denali National Park (3 hours and $60 per person each way, and some of the most amazing views anywhere). http://www.alaskarailroad.com/arrc18.html#6 and http://www.princesslodges.com/mckinley_lodge.cfm

Another really fun thing to do is snowmachining, which is offered in the summer via a helicopter flightseeing/snowmachining trip. I always use Glacier City located in Girdwood, AK, about thirty miles southeast of Anchorage on the Seward Highway. http://www.snowtours.net/

If you want to watch the floatplanes, drive on the road to the airport (International Airport Road) and watch for the Alaska Department of Transportation building - they have a big parking lot that abuts the "runway" for the seaplanes, and I'm fairly certain it's open to the public or that they look the other way (I've been there many times and there are always a bunch of random people hanging out watchcing the seaplanes).

The Anchorage Museum of History and Art is smaller but very nice and can be combined with a visit to the Alaska Native Heritage Center for about $20 per person.

The drive from Anchorage/Girdwood to Seward is amongst the most beautiful in the country, definitely plan on stopping frequently for photo opps if the weather is nice.

If you want to try and get some bear (and other animal) viewing in quickly and easily, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center might be an option (I've never stopped, but photos from there always look nice). http://www.alaskawildlife.org/

And probably completely irrelevant, but my two favorite stops in the Anchorage Mall are the Iditarod Store (near the C street entrance) and the Fruitland smoothie place on the food court level - their tea smoothies are very good...

Final piece of advice regarding Alaska - you'll never see it all no matter how much time you spend up there, so plan on coming back frequently and you'll never be disappointed with what you "missed" on a previous trip. It's a truly amazing, beautiful and rugged state.

Have a great trip!

Sean