Alaska Package Tour or Self Organized Trip

Our party of 4 is in the process of planning a trip to Alaska, no inland cruisse, we want to see the land, in August next year. We have been considering a package tour; however, having read some of the feedback in this forum we are now considering putting somethng together ourselves. We liked the idea of a packaged tour in that it insures we hit the high points; however, the thought of being herded around and time schedules is a bit concerning. Does anyone have an intinerary from a trip they did to Alaska or know of anyone who could hlep us plan our trip? We are looking at a 9 day visit. We enjoy getting off the beaten path and are not into staying at overpriced accomodations. Our only requirements for accomodations is that they be clean. We are experienced RV%26#39;rs if the RV makes sense. We would like having access to someone during our vacation who can give us a little insight and information on the area and things we are visiting.

Alaska Package Tour or Self Organized Trip

I disagree that ';the packaged tour insures we hit the high points';. Everyone has different ';high points';. If you design your own itinerary and make your own arrangements you will be able to choose sights and activities that interest you most, not what the tour company thought would interest most people in your group. I would suggest you simply get a guidebook and read it. Figure out what you want to see / do and what you don%26#39;t. Then come back and post detailed questions about your itinerary. If you want to rent an RV then do it. If you don%26#39;t want to then don%26#39;t. The plus is that with an RV you can stop anywhere for the night rather than having to be in a certain town for the night.

Alaska Package Tour or Self Organized Trip

I would agree that coming to this forum is a great step toward putting together the tour YOU want, rather than buy a packaged tour. I also go along with RV%26#39;ing. That way you can stop where you want to, when you want to and not have to by pass a magnificent area simply because you are locked into a hotel reservation at some distant settlement. There is a LOT of Alaska between settlements!

Review some of the earlier threads and find points that do interest you. Discuss your ideas and questions with us and work up a list of priorities and what you really want to see, as well as alternatives. Keep you flexibility of the RV and if you plan two days in several directions, you can head toward the sunshine if one is rainy, and hope the rain is past when you head to the second place. Some places like Denali will require reservations, and in fact an RV fits well into booking Teklanika Campground and saving an hour on the bus each way. Do consider the interior of Alaska as well. This forum concentrates mostly on the South Central area, which is also great, but that misses a very large part of the state!

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Thanks for taking the time to respond. Do you have a good source for information on points of interest?

Get a guidebook of your choice at your local library.

www.alaska.org has a lot of info, but is missing info on Valdez which is very worth considering visiting.

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