new to alaska

[LeeG]

Hi, I am planning a first trip to alaska with my new wife in july 2004 for 3 weeks. we are from Newcastle in Britain and are in our late twenties. we are looking at cruises and land based tours, what should we spend more time doing?
Alaska is not a big tourist destination from England so we have little info.
All hints welcom

 

[BSeabob]

The cruise of course hits the seaports and different lines do different places. If you are coming all this way I'm guessing that there must be a reason somewhere for you to pick Alaska. If I had of taken my new wife there for three weeks she would now be my "former"
There are lots of things to see and do "History" stuff like gold rush etc if you do the land tours. The big draw of course is just the senic stuff . It's a big country and you can throw in the Yukon to if you want. Enjoy the planning.

 

[PEB]

The longest cruise for Alaska is 7 nights. You do get to see some fabulous views of glaciers and sea life. As for the land Alaska is so big it would take a long time to see everything. There are some people on the community board here that are from Alaska perhaps they will have more information of what to see on land.

 

[ocean.queen]

LeeG

Are you sailing from or to Vancouver, BC? There are soooo many fabulous places to see and visit from there. If you do a cruisetour in Alaska, cruise northbound or southbound and spend some time in Canada...you will have a fabulous 3 week adventure.

 

[KS Sunflower]

A few years ago we did a 10 day bed & breakfast through Alaska and had a great time.
If you go to the website Travel Alaska.com you can fill out an information request form and you will receive a lot of information that will help you plan your vacation. The bed and breakfasts we stayed at were wonderful and the people were so hospitable. I think you will have a totally different experience than if you just took a cruise. We flew into Anchorage and took a train to Fairbanks, stopping for two nights at Denali National Park. We also took a day cruise on the Kenai Peninsula. We have also taken two cruises to Alaska so we have experienced both, land and sea. Hope this information helps.

KS

web site is: travelalaska.com



Post Edited (12-05-03 15:50)

 

[PEB]

Lee I posted your question on the community board. You may want to also ask over there or at least go check over there for responses. Taters is from Alaska and posted the following:

Yes - I am here... I love talking about this great state and sharing it's secrets with people. The first thing that should be done is for our new friend Lee to go out and purchase a copy of "The Milepost". This is a wonderful travel guide that covers each and every mile of roadway in Alaska as well as the Alaska Highway through Canada. It lists every business, attraction, road-side pull out, etc., terraine, park, national park, restaurant - everything! You can find this book at any good book store.

I live in Fairbanks, in Alaska's interior and so am more geared to what things are close by or accessable from my part of the state. Denali national Park is a must see and if you can do some flight seeing out of Talkeetna to the summit of Mt. Mckinley, this is highly recommened. Another trip not to be missed is flightseeing to Anaktuvik Pass... In my opinion, the most beautiful location in Alaska.

Driving from Fairbanks, some of my favorite places are Chatanika Lodge and the gold dredge across the road (29.5 mile Steese Highway) and Chena Hot Springs (about 60 miles from Fairbanks at the end of Chena Hot Springs Road).

Lee - are you planning a cruise or just a land based vacation? If you are planning to just do the land based thing, then there are plenty of wildlife and glacier cruises out of Valdez, Whittier and Seward to choose from. Salmon fishing can be done in Valdez, on the Kenai Peninsula or various other locations throughout this wonderful state. Halibut fishing can be done from Valdez, Seward, Homer or from other locations also on the Kenai Peninsula.

One of my favorite "touristy" type things that I've done is to ride the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Seward. I took this day trip on my birthday (mid June) about six years ago and saw bears and moose and it even snowed in one of the mountain passes!

I could go on and on, but I am at work and am not sure what your likes and dislikes are. Please feel free to post questions here or email me and I'll help answer any questions you might have.

Whatever you do, enjoy!

Taters

 

[HAngel]

Hello Britain - Alaska is so beautiful - you will not be disappointed. Junea, Skagway and Haines are beautiful ports to visit and offer many exciting tours and activities. Skagway is a quaint little town - very busy when the cruise ships come in port. You can access the websites for each as www.Skagway.org and same for the other ports - visitor's information site. When you are in Skagway, Alaska you can take tours out of Alaska into the Yukon. It is a wonderful drive - there is some diverse landscapes to see and beautiful lakes and mountains. I took the Yukon Horseback tour through Southeast Tours and thoroughly enjoyed it. You can check it out on www.Southeasttours.com Hope that helps you out.

 

[bunnyman1958]

Hey Lee
My girlfriend and myself are going on our second Alaska cruise on July 15TH out of san francisco on the Regal Princess.This is a 10 day cruise and i am sure it is going to be just as much fun as the first.I am originally from Cambridge, England and have been here in the states for 12 years now.Hope you find all the info you need,if not give me a shout on this board and i will be glad to try and point you in the right direction. Laters.

 

[chirk]

PEB/Taters:

Please check out my new query: "best Alaskan excursions": So much choices--which is the best? Would most appreciate your insight.

And where is Anaktuvik Pass? Where do you fly out of to reach it?