Killing time in Anchorage

Hi,

We end our Alaska/Yukon cruise tour in Anchorage end of August. We don’t fly out until 8pm or so.

We are thinking about renting a car and sightseeing until we have to drive to airport.

I’m open to ideas concerning the car rental itself and places we could visit.

Thank you for any ideas.

Hi,

We end our Alaska/Yukon cruise tour in Anchorage end of August. We don’t fly out until 8pm or so.

We are thinking about renting a car and sightseeing until we have to drive to airport.

I’m open to ideas concerning the car rental itself and places we could visit.

Thank you for any ideas.

We rented from Enterprise several years ago. Price was right.

How much time do you have? There is a also a great museum.

Second the Anchorage museum, with halibut fish and chips lunch at f street station pub. CHeck out ship creek to see if the salmon are running. And Moose’s tooth pizza!

The float plane lake near the airport -- fun to watch them take off, and it's a glimpse into a totally different lifestyle from that which most of us have.

The Alaska zoo is a nice place to spend a few hours -- lots of animals native to Alaska.

This may sound strange, but we also like to check out the local Costco if we can spare the time. Walking around the store gives another glimpse into the different and very rugged lifestyle that many Alaskans live. Good place to pick up some Alaskan souveneirs (sp?)

Moose's Tooth Pizza... if you can get there early. A line forms quickly by the locals... but it IS really good.

If you get a chance during your trip to try reindeer sausage and haven't had it before... go for it. It is similar to smoked sausage but less greasy.

We rented a car while in Anchorage once during a cruise. We had to get to the public library (reliable Internet access) for my husband to submit a paper for college work.

We flew into Anchorage twice and rented a car to begin our journey on our own.

We walked (younger days) to Earthquake Park from our hotel once, but we were violently consumed by mosquitoes and couldn't enjoy it (but if you are doing a tour, you'll probably already have protection from the little monsters). Since we were walking (several miles from the Millenium Hotel, we didn't have any bug protection with us.

We also enjoyed walking downtown (4th Avenue and 5th Avenue). We parked on the roof of the mall on 5th (paid parking, if I remember correctly).

There is also a zoo in Anchorage (but we've never been). That might be a let down if you seen animals in the wild, but I think they still have a polar bear!

We usually use Anchorage as our supply stop, so we end up at stores to buy food, etc. for our car journey... but you won't need any of that info.

We are also geocachers (free entertainment after the initial investment of the hiker's GPS... but now you can do it on a smart phone), so we've spent a lot of time doing that in Anchorage, too.

There's a free shuttle to the zoo that meets near the 4th and G visitor center. We went to the zoo in May and were very impressed. It's been about 15 years since the last time we were there and it has improved greatly. The enclosures are much larger than before and look quite natural. There is quite a bit of signage about the animals in general and also about a life history of each animal.

The museum is another place that is quite special. It's about a half-mile walk from the Egan Center.

Alaska Wild Animal Reserve (a drive around game reserve) is out of town a little past Alyeska resort turn off - lovely views of Turnagain Sound on the way down there.

Alaska Wild Animal Reserve (a drive around game reserve) is out of town a little past Alyeska resort turn off - lovely views of Turnagain Sound on the way down there.

Agree. The Alaskan Wild Refuge on on the beautiful highway near the Portage glaciers. If you continue driving South, you can visit the tourist center, which is excellent. We also drove thru the tunnel to Whittier. An interesting ride because trains also use this tunnel.

We had the best ever seafood chowder in the hotel in Whittier.

You would have plenty of time to do and see everything.

This excursion might be the highlight of your trip.

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If check out from hotel is around 1000 we will have around 6 hours before we need to be at airport.

Thanks for the great ideas.

Another vote for the Anchorage Museum. Karen got really excited by being there and spent lots of money in their shop.

Then, it was reindeer sausage pizza. Yum!

Jim

There's a free shuttle to the zoo that meets near the 4th and G visitor center. We went to the zoo in May and were very impressed. It's been about 15 years since the last time we were there and it has improved greatly. The enclosures are much larger than before and look quite natural. There is quite a bit of signage about the animals in general and also about a life history of each animal.

 

The museum is another place that is quite special. It's about a half-mile walk from the Egan Center.

We took the free shuttle last summer and had a great time at the zoo. Lots of fun for several hours.

harry

Thank you to OP for this thread and for all the responses. We are doing a land and private boat charter in September and these suggestions for Anchorage are great. Costco is on our schedule as we will be camping a few nights, and what about bug spray? trvlcrzy mentions the mosquitos. Will the Repel eucalyptus spray be good enough or do we need something with Deet? I'm hoping that by the first week of September the problem may not be too bad. Again, thank you to all who have responded with such good suggestions. Moose's Pizza is also on the schedule now. Cherie

I don't know what the deal was... but we made a real effort to go to Mooses Tooth for pizza, and what we got was just awful !!!!

Def. a great beer joint with a ton of Alaska naturalist types. Saw many who looked like they had been hiking the Alaskan back-country for two weeks, and hadn't stopped to shower before showing up to order that beer and pizza!!!!

Oh dear...maybe Mooses Pizza will have to be rethought. Thank you for posting your experience. Cherie

We ate at moose’s tooth pizza twice, great pizza and loved the grapefruit salad. I wouldn’t miss it, but even better is the halibut and chips at the F street station pub!

We really enjoyed Snow City Cafe for brunch, and so did lots of locals. There was a huge line outside the door when we left. We will definitely go there again.

We also thought the trolley tour through town was fun. We had a driver last year, a woman, who was a real comedian.

Thanks for other ideas, like the zoo and the museum.

We were in a similar situation with an evening flight out of Anchorage. We visited the Glacier Brewhouse Restaurant.

http://www.glacierbrewhouse.com/menu/#Lunch

The food and drinks were good and they have a very relaxed atmosphere.

Thank you all for the ideas. Looked online at car rental agencies and some of the big names had none available.

May use Dollar or Thrifty by using AAA.

Thank you all for the ideas. Looked online at car rental agencies and some of the big names had none available.

May use Dollar or Thrifty by using AAA.

Try Costco Travel Car Rentals, if you are Costco members. m--

You could also just use taxis. We stayed at embassy suites and they had free transport downtown and to the airport. A five minute walk to moose’s tooth pizza.

We just drove to Palmer to visit the Reindeer Farm yesterday; I highly recommend it! You get to feed reindeer, moose, and elk and pet the reindeer! It’s about an hour drive each way.

Also, Glacier Brewhouse, F Street, Simon and Seaforts, and Tia’s Hot Dog Stand all offer wonderful local food at a variety of price points. The trolley tour is fun. The Alaska Native Heritage Center is interesting. The Alaska Zoo offers a free shuttle from downtown and has tons of cool, Alaskan animals.

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