Driving from Denali to Anchorage

[JAN1]

We are leaving on June 2 on the Star Princess from Anchorage to Vancouver. We are flying into Anchorage on May 29th and renting a car. Planning on staying the first night in Anchorage and wanting to drive to Denali National Park for either 2 or 3 nights. The question I have is should we leave to come back to Anchorage on June 1st or 2nd? Our ship leaves on June 2nd at 8:30pm and dont want to miss the ship. There are many conflicting reports and some say we can do that drive and catch the ship on June 2nd. Some say we should drive back to Anchorage on June 1st. And some people say we should skip Denali and do other things around Anchorage. Would like some other ideas please.

 

Janice

[AKStafford]

I personally would want to be back in Anchorage on the 1st. That way if anything goes wrong, I don't miss my ship.

On the morning of the 2nd, I would use the Alaska Railroad or a 1 way car rental to get to Whittier and do a Prince William Sound glacier cruise.

But ultimately it's your trip. Do what you want.

[ollienbertsmum]

We are leaving on June 2 on the Star Princess from Anchorage to Vancouver. We are flying into Anchorage on May 29th and renting a car. Planning on staying the first night in Anchorage and wanting to drive to Denali National Park for either 2 or 3 nights. The question I have is should we leave to come back to Anchorage on June 1st or 2nd? Our ship leaves on June 2nd at 8:30pm and dont want to miss the ship. There are many conflicting reports and some say we can do that drive and catch the ship on June 2nd. Some say we should drive back to Anchorage on June 1st. And some people say we should skip Denali and do other things around Anchorage. Would like some other ideas please.

 

Janice

 

I am still only in the planning stage so cannot comment from first hand experience, but I still think that it would be unwise to travel on 2nd - too many "what ifs" and you certainly don't want to miss the ship.

 

Saying that, you have plenty of time to get to Denali and have time to schedule something into the journey up (?a flightseeing tour from Talkeetna), you have a full day in the park on 31st May and you have time for an early morning Nenana river trip or just another short trip back into the park on 1st June (we are thinking about going to see the Sled dog demonstration before we leave) before you set off back down to Anchorage. If you set off early on your return journey, there are lots of stop offs to keep you busy on the Glenn Highway.

 

If you rent your car from downtown Anchorage you may well have to return it early in the morning (I selected my hotel for its proximity to the car-hire offices). I found a company who do shuttles that include photo ops and a visit to the wildlife rescue centre for the journey along the Seward Highway. If you Google Anchorage Whittier shuttle I am sure that you will find them. They also do shuttle pick-ups from the airport if that is where you hired your car.

 

The shuttle works out cheaper than the Princess Shuttle or the train although it does not offer the opportunity to do the PWS tour which might suit some. I know that by the morning of our cruise, my family will be just desperate to get on board and start to explore our ship.

[cruiseguy1016]

We are leaving on June 2 on the Star Princess from Anchorage to Vancouver. We are flying into Anchorage on May 29th and renting a car. Planning on staying the first night in Anchorage and wanting to drive to Denali National Park for either 2 or 3 nights. The question I have is should we leave to come back to Anchorage on June 1st or 2nd? Our ship leaves on June 2nd at 8:30pm and dont want to miss the ship. There are many conflicting reports and some say we can do that drive and catch the ship on June 2nd. Some say we should drive back to Anchorage on June 1st. And some people say we should skip Denali and do other things around Anchorage. Would like some other ideas please.

 

Janice

 

Your ship does not leave from Anchorage. It leaves from Whittier which is (at least) 1-1/2 hours from Anchorage. It sounds like you have to return your rental car in Anchorage. Now you will have to find transportation from Anchorage to Whittier. There are several options but it takes time to make it all happen. I would not take the chance on getting from Denali to Whittier on the day of departure. Can it be done? Of course. But, with that long of a trip and all of the other variables (traffic and road work to name two), there are too many chances for something to go wrong.