Suggestions on Seward to Denali 5+ days

[kscaf1]

Original thoughts are in black/purple - new ideas based on research and suggestions are in red.

 

 

Seward July 15

KenaiFjords National Park tour

https://www.alaskacollection.com/activities/kenai-fjords-tours/kenai-fjords-national-park-tour/

6 hours -$162

If time - Exit Glacier – free https://www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/ranger-programs.htm or

http://www.alaskacollection.com/anchorage-southcentral/destinations/seward/activities/exit-glacierhike/

 

Gold Dome train – Sewardto Anchorage 6:00-10:15 $212

http://www.alaskatravel.com/alaska-railroad/seward-anchorage-dome.html

If we take the train that night, we will not have time to go to Exit Glacier. We can visit Exit Glacier and then rent a car one way. If we rent a car, we can take our time driving to Anchorage or chose a hotel in Whittier, Girdwood or a stop along the way. I can check to see if we can pick up rental car later.

Big decision - train or car!

7/16 pick up rental car 7:30AM scenic drive to MatanuskaGlacier

http://matanuskaglacieradventures.us/ guided $100

 

http://www.novalaska.com/tour-list/matanuska-glacier-float 10:30 am $89 ??

 

https://www.homesteadcabinsak.com/

 

Instead of Matanuska glacier float, can stop at Knit Glacier on the way to Homestead Cabins. Matanuska Glacier Hike can be done later in the day or early the next morning

 

 

7/17 Scenic route through Talkeetna to Denali

 

House rented through VRBO – 3 nights

 

Depending on arrival time, drive Denali beginning car route

 

7/18 Denali Park green bus to Wonder Lake non narrated https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm $47

 

7/19 Denali– free dog sled demo, bus at 9:15 https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/sled-dog-demonstrations.htm

Zip line https://www.denalizipline.com/tour 3 hour tour, need to decide what time to book for!

7/20 - drive to Fairbanks for flight home

 

Edited November 28, 2017 by kscaf1

[Budget Queen]

Compare 2 rental car options, have to be Hertz from Seward. Seward/Anchorage, plus one way car you already have, and Seward/Fairbanks.

 

Frankly, I'd cut one day in Denali- you easily can do what you list in 2 days. Take a look and see if any interest in Fairbanks? I find plenty to see and do there. Otherwise, maybe rethink your itinerary, and make better use of time, if sightseeing and activities are of interest.

[donaldsc]

This is a copy of something that I posted in another thread when the issue of train versus car came up -

 

There are people who love train trips and people who hate them. Count me in the hate them group. Since everyone who loves trains will tell you how wonderful they are, I will tell you how awful they are.

 

1) You are in the train and you go past a great scenic vista. You have about 2 seconds to see it as they do not stop for scenic vistas but only at train stations.

 

2) You are in the train and a mother bear w cubs is at the side of the track. They would make a wonderful picture. Does the train stop so that you can take your picture or stop and watch them for a while. Again - no. Even worse, your spouse is looking at something at the other side of the car or is in the rest room as the train whizzes past the mother bear w cubs. You sort of get to see them. She does not. Even worse, since your camera was sitting next to you, you did not have the time to get it ready to shoot the photo before the bear was behind you and oput of sight.

 

3) You are ticketed to get on the train at say 10 AM in the morning. However, you are having a great time at the place you staying at and would like to stay longer. You can't. You have to be on the train at 10 AM.

 

4) You are going past a place that looks like it has a neat festival or parade going on. Can you stop and enjoy something that you did not know even existed until you whizzed past it at 40 MPH on the train - No.

 

5) I like to take pictures and I may take 5 or 10 minutes to set up and compose a great picture. You can't do that on a train.

 

I have taken only 2 train trips in my life. One was from Anchorage to Denali and the train trip was awful. I said that I would never do a train trip again. The only other train trip was on the Ghan in Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. We did that because my wife said that she did not want to drive the 1800 miles from Darwin to Adelaide. I sort of have to agree w her on that one but the drive would have been a lot more interesting than the train trip.

 

The problem with train trips is that you have a total loss of flexibility. You can not change your travel plans because once you buy that train ticket you are stuck. As far as I am concerned, the only way to get from point A to point B is by car.

 

One additional thing. As far as I am concerned, unless you are planning to do a Denali flightseeing flight, skip Talkeetna. It is much overrated and not worth the time regardless of how much time you spend there.

 

DON

[marx]

Your itinerary is very similar to mine - including staying at Homestead and doing a zipline while in the Deanli area. For what it's worth, we decided on driving from Seward to the Matanuska Glacier area with a stop in Anchorage to switch cars. We plan on making many stops along the way.

 

We also are taking a guided tour on the Matanuska Glacier, but that is the only activity we plan for the area. I see you are doing a glacier float - instead, we are rafting the same day of the zipline tour.

 

We've removed Exit Glacier and the Dog Sled Demo from our plans, but can fit them in if we have the energy.

[kscaf1]

Thank you for your responses!

I have checked out rental cars of all options. Seward to Anchorage is approximately $400 where the Gold Dome train for 4 of us will be closer to $900. Gold Dome does include dinner and rental car will need gas. Rental is cheaper but what I like is the flexibility. If we rent a car, we can stay longer in Seward to visit Exit Glacier and take our time, stopping and sightseeing along the drive. My sister-in-law wants to do the train but will do the car if I want so I am just weighing options. I am leaning towards the one way rental car.

 

A car from Seward to Fairbanks is around $2400 where I have one from Anchorage to Fairbanks (the next morning) for under $800. It appears that I hit a bargain that I can't change or let go so no matter how we are getting to Anchorage, we will plan to pick up the car from there in the morning. We have looked more into Knik Glacier and think we will stop there instead of doing the Matanuska Float. We will do the Matanuska Glacier hike later in the day.

 

We are also changing our zip-lining to Skagway. That leaves Denali a bit more open and since we have the vrbo for 3 nights are looking into the Denali rafting.

 

I love hearing everyone's suggestions and then researching them to see what works for us. BudgetQueen - you first brought Knik Glacier to my attention and it looks great. Don - I have not done a scenic train yet but without experiencing it, I share your views! Max - you gave me the rafting at Denali idea and it looks like it will work great for us!

This is still a work in progress but I am having fun with all of the research and planning. Thank you all!