We are from Australia too, and are embarking on our bucket list trip in June 2024.
like you, we love scenery, wildlife, history and food.
we opted for a Cruisetour with Holland America.
this will be a one and done trip to this part of the world. Unless we win lotto we won’t be back again so have splurged a bit.
we chose 18 day Yukon/Alaska trip with Holland land first.
why land first?? We will be touring the Rockies and doing the Rocky Mountaineer after this tour so it gives us land, cruise then land. Seemed to make sense at the time….lol
also gives us a Southbound cruise.more on that later.
we start off in Vancouver, fly to Whitehorse in the Yukon and overnight there.
next morning we have a tour to Caribou Crossing where they have a great museum with lots of displays. We get to see plenty of scenery as well along the way.
then fly to Dawson City for 2 nights. Lots of gold rush history here.
then fly to Fairbanks, 2 nights. We will go on a riverboat tour, see sled dogs, learn about how the First Nations people lived and survived here.
then off to Denali National park. This time a Road trip. 3 nights.
hopefully on our tour of Denali the weather will be kind and we get to see the lovely mountain.
on a free day here we are taking a flight into the Arctic Circle where we will meet some of the residents we stay all year round, even when it gets to 80 below!!!
then board a lovely domed roof train for the scenic trip to Anchorage 2 nights.
our first whole free day here will see us helicopter up a glacier and go dog sledding. This can also be done while on the cruise. We chose to do it out of Fairbanks as Fairbanks receives less rain, therefore less cancellations due to the weather.
then another canonic train trip to Whittier where we board our ship for 7 nights back to Vancouver.
we have scenic cruising of Hubbard Glacier, we booked the catamaran excursion here to get a close up view of the glacier.
scenic cruising in Glacier bay.
followed by a day each in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.
last day on cruise scenic cruising through the inside passage.
back in Vancouver we have 1 night then hit the road again, visiting Vancouver Island 2 nights, Whistler 2 nights, Sun Peaks, Jasper 2 nights Banff 2 nights the board the Rocky Mountaineer back to Vancouver.
this an escorted tour with Globus for us as hubby didn’t want to drive over there but just as easy to do it yourself.
we then have 4 nights in Vancouver before heading home. A busy, busy time for us but ticking off those bucket list items.
hoping to see lots of wildlife during our travels, top of the list for hubby is bears, although we might be a little early but fingers crossed. For me, it’s Moose and Caribou.
i hope you find something suitable for yourselves.
any questions, ask away….
cheers
Belinda