hindukid

Can it be done cheap if there is no camping. My wife is not going for the camping so i am not sure that it can be done affordably. Every room I look at seems to be abotu 150 in the summer season. We were thinking of doing three weeks and I was figuring renting a car would be the best way to do it. But I would probably need to get my average night down to about $75. It doesn't need to be anywhere spectacular but indoors.

I'm not really sure where I want to go. I guess I was thinking of starting in fairbanks and working my way down to juneau.

jackal

If you can get your average room rate down to $75 (ha!), then note that your average daily rental car rate will exceed your average daily room rate.

This is in the summer.

Alaska can be done cheaply (well, relative to the summer) in the shoulder or off-season--you can find much better deals on rooms and rental cars when you're not competing with 1.2 million other tourists. (Shoulder season would be May or September; off-season would basically be October through April. No one wants to visit Alaska when it's 5 degrees and there's three feet of snow on the ground.) In the summer, demand outstrips supply and consequently the prices go through the roof. Even the Anchorage Motel 6 starts at $139 per night in the summer.

That trip to Juneau will cost you a pretty penny any time of year, too. You can start in Fairbanks and work your way down to Anchorage (and make a side-trip to the Kenai Peninsula south of Anchorage) fairly easily, but to get to Juneau, you'll either need to put your car on a ferry or fly (there are no roads to the state capital)--neither of which are cheap: a $250 round trip airfare from ANC to JNU is a good deal. (You might be able to do it a bit cheaper as a stopover on an ANC-SEA flight.)

You can cut the cost down a bit--Priceline your rental car and stay in hostels in the larger cities and rustic cabins in between--but I'd still say that it's not feasible to expect budget travel in the summer in Alaska...

For more specific itinerary advice, try this search link and look at at least the first page of threads and perhaps a few on the second. There's been a lot of great discussion and advice in the last year or two about what to see or do. Perhaps you'll find some ideas there.

oldpenny16

Don't forget you have to eat as well!

fti

I travel to Alaska several times a year "on the cheap." Granted, I sometimes tent camp but it is not always to save money - Wonder Lake campground in Denali NP is one of the most scenic and serene places in the US.

By far the most important factor for visiting Alaska on the cheap is advance planning. For example, the last two summers and for June 2009 I have had an economy rental car for under $100/week plus taxes ($125 total including all mandatory fees). How? I book 11 to 11-1/2 months in advance and use Enterprise on E. Intl Airport Blvd in Anchorage (15 minute and $15 taxi ride each way from the ANC airport).

I have my itinerary lined up at least 12 months in advance so I can book the car and the flights as soon as possible. Right now I am thinking about my summer 2010 itinerary.

I begin looking for hotel deals as soon as my itinerary is set. Two summers ago I got a hotel in Anchorage through Hotwire for $50/night plus fees. Used that hotel 3 times on various trips through Anchorage. Last summer I got a 2-bedroom suite at the Homewood Suites for $72/night. Next summer I have another Extended Stay for $68/night plus taxes.

I have stayed in hostels before. The hostel near Denali is very nice and has a kitchen so you can make some of your own meals.

As was mentioned, cabins are another great option. I am staying in a cabin near Talkeetna and one near Willow (both between Anchorage and Denali) for something like $50/night.

Look into the two coupon books that are like "entertainment" for Alaska - Toursaver and Northern Lights. Toursaver costs twice as much but it has some coupons like 2-for-1 flightseeing that can easily pay for the extra cost.

Look into B&B's. I have seen B&B's in Anchorage and Seward for under $100 even in the high season.

Don't consider one-way car rentals or seeing too much of Alaska at one time. Your plan to go from Fairbanks to Juneau is not a cost-effective way to do this. Juneau is a long way from Fairbanks, and requires a ferry or an airplane to get there from Fairbanks. Concentrate on one area of Alaska (like south central - Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula, Denali, etc - or southeast Alaska).

Look into using points for hotel stays in the larger cities. Two summers ago I paid $200 for 20K Priority Club points then turned around and used the 20K points for 2 nights at the HI Express in Seward. Rack rate at that hotel in the summer? $250/night. Unfortunately now that hotel requires 25K points/night so the "deal" is no longer available. But next summer I am using points for HI and SpringHill Suites in Fairbanks.

Generally I plan on $100/day for my trips to Alaska. No matter what I do or where I stay, it almost always costs this amount. This is for everything from lodging, rental car, tours, gas, food, etc. Some of the lodging is usually camping, some hotels, cabins, B&B or hostels. So it would definitely cost you more if you have no camping in the itinerary. And I rarely eat out (maybe once on a 7 day trip, a couple of times on a longer trip). And I rarely pay for my flights to Alaska. I use my miles to get there. I often try to maximize my miles by taking advantage of the free domestic stops that DL and AA allow on award tickets. Once I flew to both Anchorage and King Salmon (for Katmai NP) on one ticket. Last summer I flew to both Juneau and Gustavus (for Glacier Bay NP) also on one ticket.

Another very reasonable option can be an Alaskan cruise. I have seen 7-night Alaskan cruises for under $500/person recently. This takes care of your food, lodging and transportation. Then plan your time in the ports wisely. Great inexpensive options in most ports. For example: Ketchikan - hiking or the public bus to Totem Bight totem pole park. Juneau - $14 round trip shuttle bus to Mendenhall Glacier, see visitor center there, hike, museums. Skagway - rent a car for under $100 and drive to Emerald Lake or several activities with the National Park Service there. Sitka - raptor center, National Historic Park and more. Just don't get all wrapped up in the hype of the cruise itself. I am off the ship pretty much from when they dock until they pull the gangplank. If you consider a cruise, your first priority should be the itinerary, then other considerations.

Alaska is by far my favorite destination in the US. I leave next Thursday for 5 nights there. And I am going back again in May, June and maybe in August or October. Each trip has a relatively specific focus - March is Northern Lights, Ice Art Championships, dogsledding and Iditarod with my niece. May is to drive partly into Denali before the shuttle buses start and going to a festival in Homer, June is a fairly whirlwind 2 week trip with my nephew throughout south central AK, October would be Barrow to see polar bears.

Jackal has some great ideas so if you post some more specific questions, I am sure he, I or others could help you further.

John

RustyC

Some of the best suggestions have already been covered, but I'd chime in that it can be done but you have to be flexible.

Am a huge fan of going in September, for example. Really beautiful then. But: Getting in after Labor Day AND hitting Denali might be hard to do. Places like Anchorage or Fairbanks will be fine, though, and will have some great fall colors.

I remember on my first trip in 1997 that hostels were the only afforable option (for me), but more recently I've gotten some good rooms, especially in ANC, for $30s through Priceline, including a suite once at $37! Many more rooms have come on-line in ANC, and deals are much more possible out-of-season than they used to be. Also got the Westmark in Fairbanks at $55 through PL in September. Outside the cities it's still a matter of a few hostels, some overpriced motels, or camping.

Car rents out of ANC out of season have generally been reasonable with some shopping around, though taxes are much higher than they used to be.

So my typical trip will have ANC or FAI bases and mostly daytrips to spots like the Kenai or glaciers or what-not. You could also do a road-based round-robin with someplace like Valdez as a third base. I also splurged a bit on a $99 Marine Highway RT on the Whittier-Cordova route and vv to see the Prince William Sound glaciers as cheaply as I could.

Don't forget that award tickets to Alaska are only 25K points at saver level, which is another plus for shoulder season. You can find several trips' worth of things to do on fly-drives to ANC (or possibly FAI). Getting to non-road-connected parts of the state (the bush), though, can really run up the expense.

Chugach

With the economy being what it is, there should be some dynamite cruise deals available this summer. Also, the Alaska Marine Highway is a great way to see Southeast Alaska.

And don't discount May or September in Alaska. Those are two of my favorite months here; the weather is good (although not nearly as warm as June/July/August), and the crowds are far below the summer highs. You can count on big crowds and high prices basically Memorial Day to Labor Day.

And consider using airline miles and hotel points whenver possible. Even if hotel points will only get you one night, that's money back into your pocket.

How do you think we paid for the new ANC rental car garage...

fti

In all honesty, though the ANC airport fees are pretty high, TX and FL have them beat - usually 50-70% more than the quoted base rate just for taxes, fees, etc. that are mandatory. And in those states, going "off-airport" doesn't help much at all.

jfhscott

I'm as cheap as the day is long, and I have come up with limited ways to mitigate the expense of going to Alaska.

Particularly, get a TOursaver book at www.toursaver.com.

But (1) food and lodging are fundamentally expensive during the "tourist" season, and (2) activities are more.

I have concluded that one is best off saving one's pennies until they can do Alaska "right", which involves some outlays.

fti

Toursaver is a great idea - it is saving me almost $800 on my June 2009 trip.

I have to respectfully disagree - with the proper, and more importantly advanced, planning, Alaska can be very reasonable. My 15 day trip in June for two of us will cost about $2600 total including no less than 7 tours. This does include six nights of tent camping but the other nights are hotels, a B&B or a cabin. My car rental for two full weeks is only costing $225 including all taxes and mandatory fees (booked 11-1/2 months in advance). Most people now are paying $100/day for a car rental for the summer.

My trip to Alaska for which I leave tomorrow will cost $1500 for two of us for 5 days. This is more expensive than most of my Alaska trips since we are doing a dogsled tour which costs $325/person and have no discount coupon.

John

Chugach

On the topic of airport fees, it is said that when DL still flew to JNU, that JNU had the highest airport landing fees of any city in the entire Delta network with the exception of Tokyo.

hindukid

I am looking over all this info. A couple things to add:

I would definitely try and use miles to get there. My wife is taking the bar exam in late july and we were looking for somewhere in august specifically. The chances of getting three weeks or more for her vacation in the near future is very slim so I feel like its August 09 or never.

Really I am going to make a big trip in AUgust the question is where. I had kind of ruled out Europe because it was too expensive but I'm not sure the AK will be any cheaper. Now I am more leaning towards seeing the western US by car. I am thinking of Chicago to yosemite and back over a month. But I will work on AK and see if I can come up with something.

cheapest cars I saw were at FAI for about 300 per week. ANC was more like 450. I would probably need to get our cost down to $200 per day. I'd imagine that we'd spend at least 50 and more likely 100 on food and entertainment. I think entertainment might now be that much because a lot will just be hiking and photography. However flightseeing and rafting adds up fast. But if the car is going to cost 50 a day, then I would need to get lodging down to $75. I would probably cash in points in ANC, but none of the chians really seem to have anything anywhere else.

RustyC

As a September visitor I'll often pull over at scenic spots along roads like the Glenn Hwy. to take a picture of the mountain, glacier or other feature, and the scene will look the best it has the entire year because of all the golden trees and leaf colors. I'll have the view to myself and think of all the people who stopped there during the high season a month or two ago, paid a lot more for the trip, and weren't even as fortunate.

RustyC

A lot depends, too, on the individual and what types of experience would be considered must-do. I've generally been fine with fly-drives to ANC and using either a daytrip or round-robin strategy on the road system. Will do the short hikes (not the epic backcountry ones) and leave camping with the "state bird" to others, and usually pick the low-hanging fruit (Exit, Portage, Matanuska) as far as glaciers go, though I did do the Marine Hwy. trip past Columbia Glacier. The road trip to Whittier on the old single-lane tunnel was memorable.

With enough funding you could be a lot more ambitious about places to see or things to do. If it's your first trip, though, you can do fine by spending 25K miles in shoulder season, renting a car and seeing what's easily road-accessible.

Djlawman

We did two weeks in Alaska a couple of summers ago. Best we were able to do to cut down on costs of the trip for the 4 of us was 4 FF tix on DL, and a few free hotel nights, at beginning and end of trip in ANC. Otherwise, we bit the bullet and stayed in some great places, saw some great sights, and had a great time. Ate those salmon we shipped home for quite a while too!