3 days in Anchorage before cruise......????

We will be arriving on the evening of 6/2 in Anchorage for our cruise on 6/6 out of Whittier. We were originally thinking Denali for a couple days before. Is this something you would recommend? Are there other places we could drive to and see that you feel are better than Denali?

Any input you have is great. We would love to see animals and my husband would also be interested in fishing somewhere before our cruise if we don't do Denali.

Thanks!

if fishing is a priority, Seward, Cooper Landing or Homer might be better options for you. Or even Whittier. Depends on what he wants to catch and if he wants shore fishing or at sea. I suggest he does some research to see what's available, and where.

Along the drive to Seward or Homer you could stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, which is a rescue facility for orphaned and injured animals ..... bears, bison, caribou, moose, etc Google to find their web site. And you can often spot moose in and around Homer.

Homer and Seward also offer other sights and activities so you will keep busy while he's fishing, and have things to do together.

As for Denali, it could look like this

6/2 arrive in Anc

6/3 leisurely drive to Denali, maybe stop at Talkeetna for lunch since it's the halfway point. Or for a long day you can detour to Matanuska Glacier or Independence Mine

6/4 shuttle into the park

6/5 leisurely drive back to Anc

6/6 morning in Anc. Afternoon shuttle to Whittler

Really depends on how you want to spend your time. That's what you need to research and determine.

There are a few DIY driving trips in the Trip Reports posted above. i think the one from REWiND is a 3 or 4 day DIY land.

As for driving to Homer or Seward, use this time and distance guide: http://www.alaska.org/advice/mileage-chart

Seward is 125 miles from Anc and about 3 hrs drive. Homer is 175 miles and about 4 hrs. (you would pass thru Cooper Landing on your way to Homer, about 2 hrs). . Homer and Seward would offer activities for you while he fishes.

Look at the Kenai Peninsula web site for fishing info and it will all provide links to the Homer and Seward visitor guides.

.http://www.kenaipeninsula.org/

The Alaska Fish and Game site is also very helpful.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/

He could also fish during the cruise. Ketchikan is a popular spot.

There are many options for you to explore. But you really need to do some research to determine what option is best for YOU.

We spent a couple day in Anchorage before our cruise this past August. We used Anchorage as our home base. We did an afternoon trolley tour on the day we landed with Anchorage Trolley Tours, which was fun and a quick way to see the city.

We did a guided hike on Matanuska Glacier with Salmon Berry Tours. The next day, we rented a car and drove up to Talkeetna, with a detour to Independence Mine, to do a flight seeing tour with a glacier landing in Denali National Park.

We also love animals, and our cruise departed out of Seward, so we booked a transfer that included the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. If you have a car, it's a nice drive down Seward highway. We don't fish, but we saw people fishing in Ship Creek right in Anchorage. There was a small place renting out fishing gear.

I've started a trip report, which has our first couple of days in Anchorage with a bunch of pictures if that helps!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2538372

Happy planning :)

we just got back a couple of weeks ago. We used rust's flying to do a flight to denali. It was amazing the views you get. they have a glacier landing which didn't go on our trip because they were too broken up to land late in the season. I would highly recommend this tour.

We also used great land adventures. They have a nice 3 hr tour private tour of anchorage that goes to beluga point, earthquake park the salmon hatchery and more. We also used them to take us from anchorage to seward (they also go to whittier) You can customize it we went to alayaska, the conservation center multiple photo stops portage lake... ask for bill if you do it - makes a great transfer (7 1/2 hr tour)

I usually recommend getting out of Anchorage although here are a couple of sites that can be helpful with trip planning around the Anchorage area.

36 Hours in Anchorage

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/03/travel/what-to-do-36-hours-in-anchorage-alaska.html

Vist Anchorage

www.anchorage.net

My advice for someone going to spend time in Alaska traveling around on their own, is to get their hands on a copy of the Milepost. If nothing else one can have a lot of fun just planning for a future trip using it.

You really don't need a current issue as things don't change all that rapidly. BQ has pointed out before that many public libraries have copies. One can get the latest version off the Milepost website anyway. Not all enterprises buy advertisement in it, so once you decide on a place or attraction to visit, Goggle it or use Trip Advisor for more ideas.

As soon as the new Milepost is released here in Anchorage COSTCO sells them to locals by the pallet load. I always buy a current one and throw it under the truck seat for reference. Never know when I'm going to want some detail or info about a place, phone number or website, or directions to.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1953185&highlight=Milepost