Fairbanks or Seward

[In-the-Glade]

We are planning a July 28 Cruise on the Coral Princess out of Whittier. We plan to fly into Anchorage a week before and would like to rent a car and go to Denali for a few days but we can't decide if we want to then proceed on up to Fairbanks or double back down to the Seward area and then to Whittier. Any suggestions? I would be interested in your opinions of the pros and cons of Fairbanks and the Seward area.

 

Thanks for any suggestions. You guys are the greatest.

[cjnky]

Personally, I enjoyed Seward more than Fairbanks, but that doesn't mean everyone would. I'd suggest getting a copy of Frommers Alaska and reading what each has to offer so you can decide which you'd enjoy the most.

[hvsteve1]

We did Fairbanks on our cruise and were bussed to Seward only to get the ship. The upside of Fairbanks is it is interior Alaska and is more of the subarctic area than most of the other places, which tend to be inland passage which pretty much translates to Pacific Northwest. However, the things most people in Fairbanks do is very touristy. We took the riverboat ride which is the closest thing we found to an Alaskan amusement park attraction. We visited the pipeline, which is nice if you want to look at a giant pipe. We passed on the gold rush deal which we imagined to be pretty hokey. Don't get me wrong, we had a good time. But we really feel we missed out on the more nature-oriented adventures at Seward. When we go back, we plan on doing the ground tour with Alaska Railroad rather than the ship's tour. They can take us to Denali and Seward without the almost manditory bus trip to Fairbanks.

[In-the-Glade]

Thanks for the input. I have several travel books about Alaska and have read through them and we are leaning toward Seward/Homer but I thought I would ask for opinions from you.

[SEPyle]

We did Fairbanks on our cruise and were bussed to Seward only to get the ship. The upside of Fairbanks is it is interior Alaska and is more of the subarctic area than most of the other places, which tend to be inland passage which pretty much translates to Pacific Northwest. However, the things most people in Fairbanks do is very touristy. We took the riverboat ride which is the closest thing we found to an Alaskan amusement park attraction. We visited the pipeline, which is nice if you want to look at a giant pipe. We passed on the gold rush deal which we imagined to be pretty hokey. Don't get me wrong, we had a good time. But we really feel we missed out on the more nature-oriented adventures at Seward. When we go back, we plan on doing the ground tour with Alaska Railroad rather than the ship's tour. They can take us to Denali and Seward without the almost manditory bus trip to Fairbanks.

 

I have to say I agree. We've visited Fairbanks twice. I do have to say, I enjoyed our visit. We visited the Museum of the North which was quite interesting. My favorite part: Since we were there the end of May, sunset was just about midnight. OK, the official was 11:57PM. That was alone and I'm glad I experienced the land of the midnight sun! The second time we took an arctic circle flightseeing tour. It ended up changing from Antuvik (sp?) Pass which is supposed to be a very scenic flight to the actual town to a flightseeing tour to Beaver, AK. We flew above the Arctic Circle then came back to Beaver. We had a really neat tour by a local who lives a substance lifestyle. My daughters (late 20's/early 30's) said they loved our day and felt like it was the highlight of their trip. My take: I feel people who go on the sternwheeler (riverboat ride) see demos of substance living. I felt like we experienced the real thing. For that I'm really glad we went back for the 2nd time to Fairbanks! Would I go again? Probably not because I feel the Seward area offers so much and a better use of precious time.

[pilotdane]

Yep. It's one of my hot buttons. I guess everyone does Denali because it is easy and popular. Almost everyone on our cruise did the packaged cruisetours to Denali and saw very little. They were all amazed to hear of our drive down from Fairbanks along the Richardson Highway. Yes, the other road out of Fairbanks.

 

No, I would not go to Fairbanks to see fairbanks. There are the cruisetour excursions but I certainly would not go all the way to Fairbanks just for another excursion. Fairbanks is not much different than many other American cities, so I would not go out of my way unless you are willing to do some exploring. If you have a car there are some very cool things to see but you see them on a packaged tour.

 

If you do make your way up to Fairbanks and are driving a car, consider heading south on 2 and spend the night in Delta Junction. There is almost nothing there but it's the last place to get a hotel room. If you leave Delta at 7am you can easily be in Anchorage by 3pm and see a lot along the way. The drive has amazing scenery and animals from Donnley Dome to Paxton. It was a tense drive. Slamming on the brakes to avoid moose, lynx, eagles... The scenery gets very interesting again half way from Glennallen towards Anchorage but there is too much traffic to see many animals.

[Budget Queen]

Fairbanks and Seward are both excellent touring choices. I do suggest however, you look at your time and routing. Generally, for me, it takes more time to add Fairbanks into an itinerary compared to Seward. You also can go directly Seward/Whittier which can save significant time and allow more touring of Seward.

 

There are highlights for both, but with only one week, I would add Seward over Fairbanks.

[dbh62ark]

We've visited Seward and Fairbanks too but have not spent a lot of time in either place. Fairbanks was nice, and I'm glad we stayed there, but I would definitely go back to Seward to spend more time in that area.

 

Have a great cruise,

Donna

[Helabama]

I agree with BQ and Donna. We really enjoyed Fairbanks but if I had to choose, it would be Seward over Fairbanks. There is a lot more to do in Seward. We drove out to Exit Glacier and hiked right up to the glacier. We also went to Seavey's Ididaride where we rode a cart pulled by sled dogs--great fun. And we went to the Sealife Center. Our wildlife/scenic cruise out of Seward was cancelled due to rough seas :(, but we still had a great time there.

[johninwpa]

We liked both places for different reasons. In Fairbanks we spent time at the University and several of their open educational programs; while in Seward the Renown tour, Exit Glacier, the salmon running, were great activities. Our next Fairbanks visit will be the base of making it past the Arctic Circle. The Renown tour, we could take several times, as it varies from day-to-day. Decide what is important to you and enjoy.