Anchorage and rental car question

We are renting a car in Anchorage prior to our departure to Seward. We will only have the car for 1 day and plan on leaving that morning and returning that night to Anchorage. I am looking for suggestions as to the best places to try to drive to. We are willing to drive 2-3 hours in each direction if the scenery is worth the drive. Thanks for any suggestions!!

Barbara

We are planning the same thing for next summer. We will be driving south to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (https://www.alaskawildlife.org/). Then we'll take the tram at the Alyeska Hotel (http://www.alaska.org/detail/alyeska-tram)and eat dinner at the top of the mountain.

Thanks for the information, we may check on doing that!

Barbara

You've got a lot of options... You could go south along the Turnagain Arm. Your options that way are the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, the Alyeska Tram, the Portage Glacier Cruise, a Prince William Sound glacier cruise...

If you go north, you can do a guided hike on the Matanusaka Glacier, hike in Hatcher Pass, visit the Musk Ox farm, visit the reindeer farm, visit the Iditarod headquarters...

I was in Anchorage last month for a few days. We had a full day to just drive around town and something we did and really enjoyed was driving north on the Glen Highway to Eagle River. Take Eagle River Road out east of town several miles to Chugach State Park - easy to get to because the [very nice] road dead-ends into their parking lot. There's hiking trails, nice views and lots of mosquitoes. We saw our first moose of the trip on the way out there. You'll pass the best looking Walmart SuperCenter I've ever seen on the way if you need anything. Ha Ha A couple pics:

We also went to the Wildlife Conservation Center south of Anchorage a few days later on our way to Seward - quite a few animal species that you might not see otherwise. If you go that far go on to Whittier (another 10-12 miles, I think) and drive through the three mile long train tunnel - the turn to Whittier is only 1/4 mile on past the Wildlife Center. There's not much in Whittier but there is enough to make it a good spot for lunch and some walking around the boat port. Pics:

Nice Photos, SuperCrewBear!

Great photos . You may have helped me decide what to. Thanks!

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I agree! Great photos. Can't wait to get there.

Barbara

So many choices

Great question. We are doing same very soon so I will be watching this thread. :)

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Since we only have 1 day with the rental car, do we go north of Anchorage or south of Anchorage. Both recommendations look great.

I suggest, more in depth look at THE MILEPOST. Look for a copy at your library. Read the details of 100+ miles on the Seward and Parks and Glenn. Plenty of scenery and opportunities. I personally would never, give the Wildlife Conservatory a priority with a short visit, as it's captive and not that exciting for my "real" priorities. Determine what YOU want out of your short visit?

Hatcher Pass, Independence Mine, Talkeetna, flying, Winner Trail, Hope, Prince William Sound boat tour, Knik Glacier , Mtansuka etc etc etc etc.

Check out the area visitor Guides for Mat Su, Anchorage etc.

More important, If you can even add another day, it's very worthwhile to do so.

Thanks Budget Queen. I will go to the library and check it out.

Barbara