Princess Copper River lodge and tours

Has anyone stayed at the Copper River Princess lodge? If so, how did you like it? What tours did you do from there? We will be spending 2 nights there in May as part of our land tour after the cruise.

Lp56

You can check out the hotel at http://www.princesslodges.com

Beautiful location on a hill overlooking the Kenai River. It's technically in Cooper Landing, one of the prime fishing areas on the Kenai Peninsula and easy access from the Sterling Highway is available.

When we stayed there, our room had a small fireplace and jetted bathtub but accommodations are varied. This hotel is best know for location filming of the "Bachelorettes In Alaska" television program a few years ago. Got a kick out of how the producers made it look "more wilderness" than it is but, hey, that's part of the Alaska mystique.

Chenega just described the Kenai Princess Lodge which is in the opposite direction of where the Copper River Princess Lodge is.

The Copper River Lodge is as nice as the Kenai Princess (I've stayed at both). The Copper River lodge over looks the river and you also have a great view of the TransAlaskan pipeline. The rooms there are different than the Kenai Princess as they are just a standard hotel room with bath, versus the little cabins that the Kenai has.

Though be warned the lodge sits out there by itself. So when it comes to food you will only have the lodge to eat at. We did enjoy appetizers and drinks in the lounge and had lunch one day in the restaurant. I enjoyed the food while other friends have stayed there and weren't impressed.

Can't help on tours as that was a one night stop before we drove to Chitina and caught a plane to McCarthy to stay at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge. Didn't want to drive my car on the 60 miles of gravel road, which is the old railroad bed for the old Kennicott Copper mine.

Susan in Anchorage :)

AkSusan is right. I sent you in the wrong direction toward Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula vs. the Copper River near Glennallen.

Copper River Princess is the newest of the Princess "wilderness lodges". Another scenic location facing the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains but it sits pretty much by itself and about 10-15 minutes south of Glennallen, the nearest community.

Like AkSusan mentioned, they do have the tours to the Kennicott region and I did see a brochure once on Stan Stephans day cruises from Valdez. A day drive from the hotel to Valdez via Thompson Pass is really spectacular in good weather. However, the place is isolated and your visit is likely to be based on whatever the place offers for activities.

The http://www.princesslodges.com website will provide you with information.

In addition to the previous posts on the Wilderness/Copper River Land Tour thread (believe it up on page three by now) let me add the following comments regarding the lodge itself:

Princess chose that location since it had an excellent view of the main peaks in the western Wrangells. Better view than where the Park Headquarters are located even. The best view is just a few miles further south at an area where the Richardson passes by Willow Lake.

For a wilderness area, the Princess rooms are excellent. But actually, they are not much more than a decent motel room in the lower 48. My wife and I like to stay there just for fun even though we have considerable holdings about 60 miles east. The lodge itself has a very large main room with massive fireplace facing the mountains. The dining room is quite large and so is the bar. Its theme is the copper mining era from the first half of the 20th century. During the summer you can eat out on the patio. Providing you have your own wheels, it is not true that the lodge is the only place to eat in the area. It may be that the lodge shuttle will take you to some of these other locations as well. The historic Copper Center Road house has excellent meals and it is directly east of the Princess. A few miles south, down on the Edgerton Highway, is the Golden Spruce, which is a fine restaurant, run by long time Alaskans and an area wide local favorite. In addition, north, in the Glennallen area are a number of decent places to eat.

As I mentioned in the other posts I spend a considerable amount of time in the Wrangells. When I travel to and from Anchorage I look forward to stopping at one of these places to eat. The best is the Princess Lodge. But I almost have to flip a coin each time , as to which one I’m going to do, the Golden Spruce, the Princess or the Eureka Lodge restaurant on the Glenn about two hours east of Anchorage.

Thank you all for your comments about this lodge.

Lp56