Must dos for Alaska...

tcufrog

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 18, 2012
I'm planning a trip to Alaska for next summer. I plan to do a cruise and then land. It will be dh and by then our sons will be 9 and 13. I'm interested in history and culture and we all love nature. We aren't into fishing or hunting. I also like to pick up souvenirs that are locally made such as jewelry, purses, home decor items. Basically, we like to do things, eat food, and stay at places that are different from what we have at home. We avoid national chain hotels and national chain restaurants when possible. What places do y'all recommend we visit and what are the must dos?
 
I was only at the airport a couple times in Anchorage , I would love to see Alaska. I wonder if we have any Disers who live their
 
We spent 2 weeks in Alaska a few years ago. Nature was the main focus of our trip. We rented a car and drove around, staying in cabins or B&Bs overnight. We took a whale watching boat trip in Seward-loved it. We also really enjoyed the bus trip in Denali that went out about 10 miles along the dirt road.
 
If you are in Juneau I highly recommend Adventure Bounds full day excursion to Tracy Arm Fjord. We saw so much wildlife and scenery, ending with an amazing glacier.
 


I've never done a land trip in Alaska, but have cruised there twice. On those cruises, I've taken 11 excursions. If we take another Alaskan cruise, I will make sure to do the helicopter/dog sledding excursion again. It was by far the highlight. I would be okay with skipping the others, if that was all we could afford. If you're able to do that and other excursions, I can recommend a few more.

To me, the biggest thing for an Alaskan cruise is the itinerary. You want to make sure your ship goes to Hubbard Glacier or Glacier Bay. My second cruise to Alaska was with my sisters. One of my sisters chose the cruise line. We ended up going to a glacier that was little more than a frozen river. I was so disappointed for my sisters, because I had seen Hubbard Glacier on my previous cruise. There's no comparison. Hubbard Glacier was spectacular. If possible, I would choose a one-way cruise that went to more ports than the big 3. My first cruise went to Icy Strait Point & Sitka, as well as Juneau, Skagway & Ketchikan. We saw way more whales from the beach in ISP than we saw on the $200+/person whale watching excursion we took.
 
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We’re leaving on our first trip to Alaska this Saturday. We’re spending about two weeks driving the central part of the state—Anchorage, Seward, Talkeetna, and Fairbanks. We’re doing a wildlife cruise in the Kenai Fjords, a Mount Denali flight with glacier landing, a full day in Denali National Park, rafting, dog sledding, and an excursion to Utqiagvik (Barrow). We will be visiting other cultural and wildlife sites and hopefully a couple festivals, plus I also plan to sample the many micro pub brews!
 
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Whale watching and eating salmon were our favorite things to do in Alaska.
 


DH reminded me of a couple other neat nature-oriented places we went.
1. Exit Glacier in Seward, where we went hiking.
2. Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Soldatna. Caution-when we went, the mosquitos were really bad! That was June.
 
We just got off the first DCL Alaska cruise a few weeks ago. Our youngest was 2 so that limited some of what we could do. I would absolutely drive up to the Yukon in a rented green Jeep again, take the glacier explorer excursion on a small boat into Endicott arm again, and float plane to Misty Fjord in Ketchikan again. I was underwhelmed by the whale watching in Juneau, we saw a lot of whales but unless they breach you’re just looking at fins and maybe tails if you’re lucky. Others on our cruise saw a whale breach though. Did most of my gift shopping on Creek Street in Ketchikan: glacial silt soap, salmon spice, and a leather purse made by a Tlinglit craftsman. A store called Fish Creek there features exclusively Made in Alaska items including lots of jewelry and carved wooden puzzles. If I go to Alaska again, I hope to see Hubbard glacier, attempt a glacier dog sledding hello tour again as ours got canceled, and see the Mendenhall Ice Caves if it’s the right time of year.
 
We just got off the first DCL Alaska cruise a few weeks ago. Our youngest was 2 so that limited some of what we could do. I would absolutely drive up to the Yukon in a rented green Jeep again, take the glacier explorer excursion on a small boat into Endicott arm again, and float plane to Misty Fjord in Ketchikan again. I was underwhelmed by the whale watching in Juneau, we saw a lot of whales but unless they breach you’re just looking at fins and maybe tails if you’re lucky. Others on our cruise saw a whale breach though. Did most of my gift shopping on Creek Street in Ketchikan: glacial silt soap, salmon spice, and a leather purse made by a Tlinglit craftsman. A store called Fish Creek there features exclusively Made in Alaska items including lots of jewelry and carved wooden puzzles. If I go to Alaska again, I hope to see Hubbard glacier, attempt a glacier dog sledding hello tour again as ours got canceled, and see the Mendenhall Ice Caves if it’s the right time of year.
Sorry, your helicopter/dog sledding tour was canceled. We booked our tour for the first flight of the day, because there is supposed to be a better chance of it not being canceled. When we returned, the second flight was canceled, due to fog. We were told all flights are canceled often. You did our 2nd favorite tour. We booked a private tour on a float plane to Misty Fjord. It was an excellent excursion. I agree the whale watching tour wasn't worth the money. We didn't see any whales breaching on the tour, then saw many from the beach at Icy Strait Point. Oh well, lesson learned. Definitely return for Hubbard Glacier. Words can't do the experience justice.
 
The drive (or train) from Anchorage to Whittier along Turnagain Arm is gorgeous on a clear day, and I highly recommend the day cruises they have in Whittier or Seward. I used to live in Palmer, AK, and I spent my leisure time out on the Kenai Penninsula. Homer is great for halibut fishing. They used to have overnight tours where you could get 2 day's worth of limits. I took some visiting family and came home with 12 fresh fish. :D
 
We went a few years ago, cruised one-way to Seward and then spent a little over a month wandering through the state. Everyone has given great advice so far. I'd like to add three main things:

1. If you go to Ketchikan, take the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman Tour. If you don't already watch Deadliest Catch, watch a few eps before you go. They use a real crab boat that was on season 2 of the show (the Aleutian Ballard, famous for taking a rogue wave and rolling on its side during filming), and one of the guides, Derek, was on the show off and on. Anyway, they take you out into a protected bay and show you how the boat operates. Really interesting even if you're not a fan of the show.

2. I'm sure the helicopter/dog sledding adventure is amazing, but it's also $$$. We opted instead to do Mitch Seavey's Ididaride in Seward. He's a former Iditarod champ, and this is his summer training ground. You go out on a short course replica of the Iditarod in a wheeled cart pulled by the dogs, and then spend some time socializing this year's crop of puppies. It's a lot of fun, and significantly less pricey.

3. Whatever you want to do, buy the Great Alaskan Toursaver (book or app). It's $99 full price, often on sale for $59, and it's packed with BOGOs for major activities, everything from the crab tour I mentioned through excursions above the Arctic Circle. In the month we were there, we easily saved $3k. Make sure you get it before you plan shore excursions for your cruise, because we were able to independently book several of the same tours at the BOGO price.
 
This may sound a little silly, but one of the things that struck us as being quintessentially Alaskan was the lumberjack show in Ketchikan. The venue is within easy walking distance of the pier and the performers are actually college students from all over the US that compete on their school's Logging Sports teams. (Who even knew that was a thing?) The athleticism involved is quite impressive and overall, the show was a real hoot! You won't see anything like it elsewhere and I bet your kids would enjoy it. :wave2:
 
I highly recommend the Alpine Air dogsledding. Yes, it’s pricey, but totally worth it. You are flown out onto a glacier via helicopter. (I am terrified of flying in small aircraft, but managed to do it since I really wanted to to the dogsled.) I think we had about a 2 mile run on the dogsled. When we were done we got to play with the puppies. I would totally do this again.
 
I haven't yet been to Alaska, but when I do go, my must-dos would be:
  • Northern Lights
  • Denali National Park
  • riverboat cruise (day excursion)
  • day cruise to see at least one glacier
Does anyone know of a guided tour that includes all four of these? (Not looking for an overnight cruise).
 
This may sound a little silly, but one of the things that struck us as being quintessentially Alaskan was the lumberjack show in Ketchikan. The venue is within easy walking distance of the pier and the performers are actually college students from all over the US that compete on their school's Logging Sports teams. (Who even knew that was a thing?) The athleticism involved is quite impressive and overall, the show was a real hoot! You won't see anything like it elsewhere and I bet your kids would enjoy it. :wave2:
DH, DS & I spent 3 days in Vancouver, after our cruise. We saw a lumberjack show on Grouse Mountain. It was a fun show. The best thing about that experience was eating in their restaurant & having the best dessert I've ever had in my life. That was several years ago. I'm sure the menu has changed many times since then.
 

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