Denali to Seward

[In-the-Glade]

You guys are the greatest for helping to figure out itineraries so here goes:

 

Question #1

We are driving from Anchorage to Denali and from Denali we would like to go to Seward. Can we do this in one day?

 

Question #2

And can we drive from Seward to Anchorage (stopping along the way to sightsee), spend the night in Anchorage, turn in the rental car and catch the train back to Whittier to pick up the ship or is there a better way?

 

 

Thanks for any insight you can give me.

 

Angie

[Kerry&LuAnn]

We are driving from Anchorage to Denali and from Denali we would like to go to Seward. Can we do this in one day?

 

We will defer to those who are experienced in Alaska travel, but from looking at a map it seems that it would take about 10 hours to drive from Denali down to Seward. That much time behind the wheel in one day would take the joy out of the trip for us. Would it be better to spend a night in Talkeetna or Anchorage before continuing on to Seward?

[AkSusan]

It would be a long day but you could do it. It's about 5 1/2 to 6 hours from Denali to Anchorage (about 250 miles) and then another 2 1/2 (about 118 miles) to Seward. Now that's assuming you're not doing any major stops for sightseeing on the way, there are no major construction projects going on (just checked the AK DOT web site and it doesn't look like anything major is planned this summer) and no wrecks that close the highway down.

 

In regards to Question 2 you'd have no problem doing that. Though if you're planning to stay here in town or rent a car and haven't booked anything yet, I'd be doing it very soon. Things are filling up fast or the places/cars still available the prices are :eek:.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[fti]

You guys are the greatest for helping to figure out itineraries so here goes:

 

Question #1

We are driving from Anchorage to Denali and from Denali we would like to go to Seward. Can we do this in one day?

 

Question #2

And can we drive from Seward to Anchorage (stopping along the way to sightsee), spend the night in Anchorage, turn in the rental car and catch the train back to Whittier to pick up the ship or is there a better way?

 

 

Thanks for any insight you can give me.

 

Angie

 

As has already been mentioned, Denali to Seward would be a very long day.

 

Not sure when the train arrives into Whittier but if later in the day, you might consider another option - a transfer of some sort to Whittier (Alaska Leopard for example) arriving early enough to take a 1-1.30pm Prince William Sound glacier tour before boarding your boat.

 

John

[AkSusan]

The train leaves Anchorage at 10:00 a.m. and is due in Whittier at 12:20 p.m., so if they do want to make a Prince William Sound cruise, they could still do it by using the train.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[cjnky]

Although it is possible to drive from Denali to Seward in a day, you are going to miss SOOOO much!! It took us a day to drive from Anchorage to Seward - and I must say that was definitely one of our favorite days of our 2 weeks in the interior! But may be you can see these things on your way back to Anchorage.:confused:

[johninwpa]

We drove from Fairbanks to Seward in 13 hours with several brief stops in early September. It was tiring but we were trying to get in as much sightseeing as possibe. We had little traffic except around Anchorage, and no construction. Our reward was that Denali was out the better part of the day, and we were able to get pictures from all different views from the road. We had a cooler and went to the deli at Fred Meyers the day before we left and had ourselves a "picnic lunch" along the way. Wouldn't want to do this type of trip too often, but the following 2 days in Seward, we were in the car less than 2 hours.

[In-the-Glade]

I just read on another thread that it is possible to drop off an Avis car in Whittier which I didn't know I could do. If we do that instead of spending so much time taking the car back to Anchorage we would have extra time in Seward and we would be able to take two days to get to Seward instead of one. I have been all day reading info and planning the trip that I am not sure if I am thinking clearly. Does this plan make any sense?

[curry767]

Angie,

 

My response in another thread for you.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=662258

 

Cheers

 

Curry