Looking for an expert to converse with, June 07, Alaska

We are going to visit Alaska in June or July 07. We would like to talk with a Trip Advisor Expert about some of the things we want to do.

An example....

We are going to take some kind of flight that includes a Glacier Walk. I have found lots of places that offer this. Are they all alike or are there some to avoid?

We want to take a 1 or 2 day cruise of the inner passage, same question.

A trip to Denali, where should we stay so we can spend 1 or 2 days in the park and not spend all the time driving to the park from Anchorage. I%26#39;ve allready found a couple of places NOT to stay near Denali.

Thanks in advance for any reply.

James

Looking for an expert to converse with, June 07, Alaska

You can help yourself quite a bit by reading past threads on this forum to see what appeals to you.

You can help us quite a bit by telling us how long you hope to stay, what your interests are, and if you are on a fat or a skinny budget, like hiking or other sports and activities or just want to be show around in between driving places.

What glaciers have you heard about that interest you? There are different possibilities and we can%26#39;t guess what you have in mind. By nature each glacier is different, and then the tour guide will make a difference, but it is rare to find a stinker.

Are you interested in the Inside Passage in SE Alaska or in a tour of the coast in South Central Alaska, closer to Anchorage? There are hundreds of miles, hundreds of dollars and days difference in them.

Post your information right here and a whole group of experts will offer opinions and advice. Some of us don%26#39;t have the official ';Expert'; Tag, but know the place quite well.

71

Looking for an expert to converse with, June 07, Alaska

Thank you for answering.

The 4 things we want to do are:

Walk on a glacier... Where is negotiable, price may enter here.

See Denali... Don%26#39;t know anything about tours verses driving yourself.

Go whale watching... Where is negotiable, price may enter here.

Take a 1 or 2 day cruise thru one of the %26#39;Sounds%26#39; or %26#39;Passages%26#39;. Which one would be negotable since we have never visited Alaska and we really don%26#39;t know. A balance between seeing wildlife and scenery would be perfect.

We see taking 2 weeks, some time in June 07.

We are flying and renting a car. Where we fly to is optional, probably Anchorage.

We will be watching the money but intend to do these 4 things. If we splurge, it will be on these things.

Hotels/motels/B%26amp;B would be negotiable since they all seen to be in the $150 price range. This is one area we might watch the pennies. The lower the better BUT we%26#39;ll spend the money before we stay in a %26#39;Dive%26#39;.

We also want to do some scenery driving. We like to %26#39;do it yourself%26#39; but we do not want to be caught 400 miles from our hotel and have to sleep in the car or take a hiking trail and get lost.

I have been reading the Alaska posts and will continue to do so but an %26#39;Expert%26#39;s%26#39; opinion carries a lot of weight with us. If someone tells us to avoid xxx%26#39;s B%26amp;B because the owner is drunk all the time, we would avoid them. You do not have to have the tag, %26#39;Expert%26#39;, this is just a term for me, for someone that knows the area.

We have made no reservations as yet but I read some of the posts saying some stuff is booked allready for July! So there is a bit of a sense of urgency here.

Thank you again for responding. I%26#39;ll be happy to anser any questions.

Jim.

Ok, some scattered starters: walking on a glacier, Matanuska Glacier is about 100 miles NE of Anchorage %26amp; for a small fee you can get on the glacier. Google them (and all of these) for details. If you drive to Valdez, then stop at the Worthington Glacier, which has retreated to about a mile from the road. You should be able to get in for the price of a public park pass ($5 usually, but when I was there last it was open land and free, with a few hundred feet from road to glacier). Then when you are in Seward, go to Exit Glacier. You get magnificent views from the road and can walk up to the tip of the glacier, or hike up the mountain as far as your legs will take you for a view from the top .

Consider the ferry from Valdez to Whittier, it will take you past a lot of glaciers in the distance. The local tour operators got the State Ferry to stop pulling in for closer looks at the glaciers, but it is still a spectacular trip. At Whittier when you come out of the tunnel pull into the very first parking lot on the left for another great view, then go to the Visitors Center at Portage (another half mile) for a great %26amp; informative visit.

I like the boat trips out of Seward much more than the ones out of Whittier, as you see much more wildlife / sea life and get up close to the Hobart glacier on the 6 or 8 hour boat. Skip the 4 hour, it misses a lot!!

My new favorite for staying around McKinley Park (Denali) is at Healy. They have a great variety of hotels and facilities. They all sound alike, so I%26#39;ll have to look up the ones I have been at.

Now for flying experience, it is hard to beat the Denali flight seeing tours out of Talkeetna. They generally offer the standard 1 hour flight, an extended flight to see the mountain climber鈥檚 base camp, and then an additional chance to land on the glacier. I have flown all over the state, and these flights are spectacular.

Well, that is enough to start on!

Now Fairbanks tends to get shortchanged on this forum, and it is well worth visiting, so investigate that as well, with the gold mines, the university and museum, and the hot springs being top draws.

71

WoW! Thanks. I%26#39;m looking at all the stuff.

My Wife and I seem to be gravitating toward staying in Anchorage.

How easy is it to find a hotel/motel if we just jump in a rental car and go somewhere else? Say, Seward?

I have a connected question... I have found a couple of travel companies on the net (Goingtoalaska.com and Alaska Tour and Travel.com) and they both say they are the best and watch the other guys... I don%26#39;t know what for. This raises the question, which tour company can I trust? Can you just walk up to the dock and book a boat tour for the next day or are they all filled up by then? (June)

I guess I%26#39;m kind-a paranoid about booking something over the net without knowing from %26#39;experts%26#39; if it%26#39;s good or not.

Here is what we have so far:

Arrive in Anchorage, get hotel/car.

Take one of the many cruises, some of them provide rail transportation to Sweard... An all day thing.

Drive up to Denali and stay 3 nights.

Come back to Anchorage for at least 1 night.

Drive to Seward and get a hotel.

Take a cruise or flight if we didn%26#39;t find the right one out of Anchorage.

During all this, do some sightseeing driving.

I guess I%26#39;m rambling... so I%26#39;ll quit now.

Thanks...

Jim.

Hi Jim,

You already got a number of great ideas and here are my suggestions although I%26#39;m not an expert. I just travel to Alaska every year.

Reserve your car very soon and book all accommodations asap. You really do not need any company to do it for you. Read posts and ask more questions right here on this forum. Many real Alaskan experts are very generous with their help so take advantage by reading their recommendations and asking more questions.

Skip going to Seward twice. Instead of going with a tour from Anchorage try to book your day cruise directly and from Seward. I recommend 9.5 hours cruise from Seward to Kenai Fjords National Park. While in Seward do not miss visiting Exit Glacier.

After that drive from Seward to Whittier and take the ferry from there to Valdez. Stay in Valdez overnight or longer. From there drive to Palmer or Sheep Mountain Lodge. This way you have a chance to stop at Worthington Glacier already recommended by 71. Btw, we stop at the glacier and hike every time we drive to/from Valdez and never paid $5.00 fee. Also I%26#39;m eager to find out when Worthington Glacier came all the way to the road? During our first visit in 1994 it was almost as far as now from the road.

Continue to Sheep Mountain Lodge recommended here very often. From there take a guided hike on Matanuska Glacier and make certain it includes hiking on the glacier with crampons.

The next day visit Hatcher Pass then drive to Takeetna. Stay there overnight and take a flightseeing tour. Then continue to Denali NP and plan on spending there at least three nights.

Anchorage has a lot to offer as well and that includes wildlife and amazing scenery.

You do not need to plan on taking any special drive to see scenery . It will be there all around you during your whole trip. Bring lots of film or memory cards. You can see whales on your day cruise from Seward. You may also get lucky and see them from the ferry to Valdez. The ferry needs to be reserved in advance.

Check Nordhaven Hotel in Healy near Denali. Coalminer, who posts on this forum, is a local expert and if he sees your post you will get more suggestions regarding lodging and all things about visiting Denali NP and the area. Meanwhile check these websites

www.nps.gov/dena

www.motelnordhaven.com

www.sheepmountain.com

We just went to Alaska for the first time this August, driving around for 2 weeks. I did not start planning our trip until end of May and was able to get all the reservations fine, so you have plenty of time. I did a lot of research and came up with the itinerary posted at members.virtualtourist.com/m/ba7e8/4f9/ You might find it helpful, as a sample. Please let me know if you have any questions about it. Just remember, everyone is going to recommend something amazing to you, just because so much of Alaska is simply amazing, but it%26#39;s really upto you to figure out what you are most interested in and what your itinerary will look like. Reading a guidebook will help you find out about all the choices out there. Looking at a map will help you figure out how much driving you are willing to do between the different places.

For accomodations I was also looking for ';The lower the better BUT we%26#39;ll spend the money before we stay in a %26#39;Dive%26#39;.'; - clean, comfortable, and quiet. I found all our accomodations fit this description and were between $75 and $100 per night (for 2 people), and many included breakfast. So, you don%26#39;t need to spend $150. I would suggest you come up with an itinerary first, then search the web for the chamber of commerce for each town you want to stay overnight, and choose what accomodations suit you best based on their website and reviews posted on Tripadvisor.

You can fly in and out of Anchorage or into Anchorage and out of Fairbanks or into Fairbanks and out of Anchorage, but from what I have seen in and out of Anchorage is cheapest. We usually watch the airfare prices at matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/prego, where you can view for 30 days at a time. Then, you can buy it directly from the airline%26#39;s website or check hotwire.com and bet lower than lowest on priceline.com.

I would highly recommend the guided hike with crampons on Matanuska Glacier. Two companies do it - Mica and Nova. It%26#39;s totally worth the extra money. You can go unguided for $12.50 but you will only be able to get to the white ice, not much farther. With a guide you will be able to really experience the glacier and see the beautiful crevasses, holes, etc.

You don%26#39;t need a tour to Denali. See the park%26#39;s website for all the info you need. You can drive a car only the first 14 miles into the park, and you should. On another day you should take the park%26#39;s shuttle bus.

Whales can be seen from the boat tours from Seward, the 6 hour or longer ones. I asked the park ranger whether whales are seen daily in the summer and she said no, the whales follow the food source and travel in and out of the area. So you might see them or you might not. Other animals, birds, beautiful scenery of the fjords, and a glacier calving are normally seen on these tours.

Outstanding information! Thank you.

My Wife and I are going to decide on when we%26#39;ll go shortly. In the mean time I%26#39;ve just been crusing the posts.

One thing that scared the heck out of us though... I was on Priceline.com looking at hotels in Anchorage and EVERY one had bad reviews! Drunks staggering thru the parking lots, used sheets on the beds, paper thin walls, etc. And nothing was cheaper than $150. Where are the good places to stay that are suggested here that cost a lot less??? I cannot find them.

All these suggestions given here (and future suggestions) will be explored. We really appreciate the return posts and none will be ignored.

After deciding when we%26#39;ll go, I%26#39;ll post it then we (You-all and I) can get specific.

I know allready it%26#39;s going to include Seward, and Denali.

Thank you.

Jim.

Forget looking at hotel reviews until you figure out your itinerary.

Once you decide what you want to do in Anchorage you can decide where in Anchorage you want to stay - downtown, midtown, closer to the airport, or in the southern or southeastern part, which is more like suburbs than city. Driving time between these is only within 20 minutes, so don%26#39;t think Anchorage is that big or impressive. Most of hotels in Anchorage that have good reviews here on Tripadvisor do cost more money. There are a lot of B%26amp;B%26#39;s that cost less. Many of those are not downtown, but some are. Again, where you stay depends on what you want to do.

By the way, renting a car is usually cheaper not at the airport.

What a great post Travel1000. I will read your report on members.virtualtours as well. I was especially glad to read your comments on Matanuska Glacier, because I was beginning to think we could do it on our own. We definitely will go with a guide.

I%26#39;ve also checked out some of the places you stayed and have found some better, less expensive alternatives.

I agree about Matanuska Glacier besu. If you read my posts and the one above right in this trhread this is what I wrote:

';Continue to Sheep Mountain Lodge recommended here very often. From there take a guided hike on Matanuska Glacier and make certain it includes hiking on the glacier with crampons.';