Just booked flights for Alaska, any tips?

Nawty

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3 weeks at the start of June, v excited :woot:

Plan is:

5 days or so around Juneau doing whale watching / glacier boats etc.
Then off to Anchorage to rent a car and travel around for 10 days or so camping, hiking, photography - Seward, Denali etc.
We will then have almost a week to do something else, was thinking maybe Kodiac or further west? I was wondering about flightseeing?

Does anyone have any suggestions/tips?

Thanks :runaway:
 
Jealous!!
I've always wanted to visit...with an odd hankering to go to Nome, which I understand tourists must either fly or use a boat to get to.
I'm sure you'll have an amazing time!
 
Pack plenty of industrial strength insect repellent. The mosquitoes at that time of the year will eat you alive
 
Jealous!!
I've always wanted to visit...with an odd hankering to go to Nome, which I understand tourists must either fly or use a boat to get to.
I'm sure you'll have an amazing time!

Why Nome?

Pack plenty of industrial strength insect repellent. The mosquitoes at that time of the year will eat you alive

I've done Scotland in midge season, hopefully that's good training. More concerned about the bears tbh!
 
I did 3 trips with work to Alaska in 2012 around the same time of year with the longest being 3 weeks.

I didn't find the mosquitos a problem, but then I was mostly in the town centres or in a car and not hiking through the wilderness.

The summer tourist season only lasts a few months, so many of the businesses are geared towards making enough money during this period to cover the whole year, so be prepared for high prices! My first trip at the end of April, the hire car was about $30/day and the hotel room was about $100/night (Marriott in Anchorage). However in June/July, the hire car price jumped to over $150/day and one of the few hotel rooms available in Anchorage city centre was over $300/night (Captain Cook). If hiring a car, then most hotels have valet parking, but it's possible to park a few blocks away for free. Parkling in the city centre can be tricky at peak times, but if you are prepared to walk 10 - 15 minutes into the city centre, then it's generally not a problem as many tourists are pensioners who don't want to walk more than 100m. Lots of coach tours stay at the city centre hotels, so expect breakfast to be busy between about 7:30am and 9am

Working during the week, we only had the weekends to explore. Seward was a one day trip there and back from Anchorage. Some great scenery en-route, but not as impressive as heading north where we went up to view a Glacier. However, after you have been there a few weeks, driving for hours with epic snow covered mountain vistas does become a bit tedious.

Eating out can be pricy (many things are imported) so budget around $30 - $50 per person for dinner with a beer or two. The menus will be dominated by salmon and steak, with few chicken dishes for some reason. There are plenty of local beers available which are mostly excellent.

There was one Indian curry house in Anchorage when I was there (you need a break from salmon and steak after a few weeks), but avoid it despite the temptation - it was the worst Indian meal ever. Best steak in town was at Club Paris. Decor is a bit dated, but food was superb. Alaska is also famous for other seafood such as crabs, but these are generally sold by the lb, and again are very expesnive during tourist season. Simon and Seafort's overlooking the inlet was a great restaurant with great service, but you do have to book a day or two in advance. Their halibut dishes were superb! Best breakfast (and much cheaper than the hotel breakfasts) was the Snow City Cafe just around the corner. They often have queues of people waiting outside before opening time in the morning (7am), and even then you might have to wait 20 - 30 minutes for a table. The Crow's Nest on the top floor of the Captain Cook hotel is excellent, but expensive. Great views though, and ideal for a special occasion meal. Having said that, there is a lively pub downstairs (Fletchers I think it was called) in the hotel which serves decent pub style food. You don't need to be a resident to eat there.

If you forget anything photography wise, or need a new filter etc, then there was a good camera shop (Stewart's) in downtown Anchorage that I visited a few times. They have a reasonable selection of DSLRs and lenses, but lots of other accessories like tripods, filters, bags etc. They even did a sensor clean for me ($50) after I got a few dust spots having changed lenses on a windy day.

I was lucky and got a trip on a chartered flight up north to Deadhorse (nothing to see there and it's dead flat!), which meant flying over the Denali mountain range. There are plenty of local air tours available that fly over the mountains and glaciers, and many are in sea boats so you can land on the water. Would highly recommend taking one of these trips. Even if it is expensive, you are likely to be there for a once in a lifetime trip, and won't get the chance once you are on the plane home!

If you don't fancy the long journey to get there via London to Seattle to Anchorage, then there are a few direct flights on Condor airways who fly from Frankfurt: https://www.condor.com/us/flights/germany/frankfurt-int/from-anchorage/index.jsp

If you are taking your camera equipment in your hold baggage, then make sure you get one with TSL approved locks, otherwise customs have a tendency to force open your case if you leave it locked. When departing Anchorage, I was advised each time to leave my case unlocked, despite having 2 connecting flights back to Scotland... I did, and everything was fine, but I did have the works insurance covering my stuff. My case was opened once on the way there (the one time I put the camera into the hold baggage).

The aviation museum on the outskirts of Anchorage (where the sea planes arrive and depart) was interesting and was a good way to spend an afternoon and wasn't too expensive either.

Never got the chance to head down to Juneau as it was just a bit too far for a day trip there and back from Anchorage.
 
Pack plenty of industrial strength insect repellent. The mosquitoes at that time of the year will eat you alive


Add an afterbite stick...Boots Afterbite stick for that Aaarrrrr feeling when you have multiple bites...works very well.
 
I did 3 trips with work to Alaska in 2012 around the same time of year with the longest being 3 weeks.

I didn't find the mosquitos a problem, but then I was mostly in the town centres or in a car and not hiking through the wilderness.

The summer tourist season only lasts a few months, so many of the businesses are geared towards making enough money during this period to cover the whole year, so be prepared for high prices! My first trip at the end of April, the hire car was about $30/day and the hotel room was about $100/night (Marriott in Anchorage). However in June/July, the hire car price jumped to over $150/day and one of the few hotel rooms available in Anchorage city centre was over $300/night (Captain Cook). If hiring a car, then most hotels have valet parking, but it's possible to park a few blocks away for free. Parkling in the city centre can be tricky at peak times, but if you are prepared to walk 10 - 15 minutes into the city centre, then it's generally not a problem as many tourists are pensioners who don't want to walk more than 100m. Lots of coach tours stay at the city centre hotels, so expect breakfast to be busy between about 7:30am and 9am

Working during the week, we only had the weekends to explore. Seward was a one day trip there and back from Anchorage. Some great scenery en-route, but not as impressive as heading north where we went up to view a Glacier. However, after you have been there a few weeks, driving for hours with epic snow covered mountain vistas does become a bit tedious.

Eating out can be pricy (many things are imported) so budget around $30 - $50 per person for dinner with a beer or two. The menus will be dominated by salmon and steak, with few chicken dishes for some reason. There are plenty of local beers available which are mostly excellent.

There was one Indian curry house in Anchorage when I was there (you need a break from salmon and steak after a few weeks), but avoid it despite the temptation - it was the worst Indian meal ever. Best steak in town was at Club Paris. Decor is a bit dated, but food was superb. Alaska is also famous for other seafood such as crabs, but these are generally sold by the lb, and again are very expesnive during tourist season. Simon and Seafort's overlooking the inlet was a great restaurant with great service, but you do have to book a day or two in advance. Their halibut dishes were superb! Best breakfast (and much cheaper than the hotel breakfasts) was the Snow City Cafe just around the corner. They often have queues of people waiting outside before opening time in the morning (7am), and even then you might have to wait 20 - 30 minutes for a table. The Crow's Nest on the top floor of the Captain Cook hotel is excellent, but expensive. Great views though, and ideal for a special occasion meal. Having said that, there is a lively pub downstairs (Fletchers I think it was called) in the hotel which serves decent pub style food. You don't need to be a resident to eat there.

If you forget anything photography wise, or need a new filter etc, then there was a good camera shop (Stewart's) in downtown Anchorage that I visited a few times. They have a reasonable selection of DSLRs and lenses, but lots of other accessories like tripods, filters, bags etc. They even did a sensor clean for me ($50) after I got a few dust spots having changed lenses on a windy day.

I was lucky and got a trip on a chartered flight up north to Deadhorse (nothing to see there and it's dead flat!), which meant flying over the Denali mountain range. There are plenty of local air tours available that fly over the mountains and glaciers, and many are in sea boats so you can land on the water. Would highly recommend taking one of these trips. Even if it is expensive, you are likely to be there for a once in a lifetime trip, and won't get the chance once you are on the plane home!

If you don't fancy the long journey to get there via London to Seattle to Anchorage, then there are a few direct flights on Condor airways who fly from Frankfurt: https://www.condor.com/us/flights/germany/frankfurt-int/from-anchorage/index.jsp

If you are taking your camera equipment in your hold baggage, then make sure you get one with TSL approved locks, otherwise customs have a tendency to force open your case if you leave it locked. When departing Anchorage, I was advised each time to leave my case unlocked, despite having 2 connecting flights back to Scotland... I did, and everything was fine, but I did have the works insurance covering my stuff. My case was opened once on the way there (the one time I put the camera into the hold baggage).

The aviation museum on the outskirts of Anchorage (where the sea planes arrive and depart) was interesting and was a good way to spend an afternoon and wasn't too expensive either.

Never got the chance to head down to Juneau as it was just a bit too far for a day trip there and back from Anchorage.


Thanks for the long reply :)

I've been investigating accommodation and actually airbnb looks to have some great options at around £50 per night for the two of us and I guess camping will be cheaper - the advice I've had so far is to book pretty much everything in advance because as you say the tourist season is short and it can get very busy - one of the reasons for hiring a car and going camping is to escape this a bit. So at the moment I'm even getting excited about booking accommodation :lol:

Hadn't realised Condor flew direct but BA to Seattle seems to work well as Juneau is quite close and en-route to Anchorage. Also, the return flight was actually cheaper to fly premium economy that cattle so that will be a slightly nicer way to return.

Definitely going to do some 'flightseeing', probably over Denali as that seems to be a highlight for a lot of people and I can't imagine we'll be going back. ALso, I'd heard the Seward trip was meant to be amazing but good to hear your views about Denali, should we be forced to make a decision it definitely feels like heading north would be the thing to do (we'll have done glaciers etc in Juneau).

Camera equipment will be in cabin - one of the benefits of m4/3 - and we never lock our baggage, in all the years of flying to random parts of the world we've never had a problem :)

Fingers crossed work actually give us a bonus this year!
 
Thanks for the long reply :)

Also, the return flight was actually cheaper to fly premium economy that cattle so that will be a slightly nicer way to return.!

The company I was working for wanted me to stay an extra few days on the first trip, but there was no availability on the BA flights in Premium Economy or Business on the way back so they upgraded me to First :) - Still got the free pyjamas they give you!

The Air Alaska flights are a bit like Easyjet, in that they like you to be at the gate early and boarding early. The flights were always very busy (no spare seats) and people queued at the gate for a long time before the flight boarded as overhead space for hand luggage is at a premium. You also have to pay for food, drink and in-flight entertainment unless you are sitting in their "first" class seats (first 4 to 6 rows) in which case they are complimentary. We always ate at Seattle airport, as the food was good and reasonably priced.
 
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