anchorage to Denali

[labguides]

What is the best way to get from Anchorage to Denali.. car or train? Motorcoach doesn't interest us.
What is the best way to get from Denali to Fairbanks? car or train?

[beejaybeeohio]

If you like the freedom that driving offers you to be able to stop for a Kodak moment or have a meal at a local cafe then go that route. The roads shouldn't be a problem if you go in the summer.

But if you would rather sit back and relinquish the driving responsibility then take the train.

I really don't think your question will result in a "best" choice because there are pros and cons to each means of transportation.

[labguides]

Thanks for the quick reply. I love trains! The cost of the train is high, so we will probably rent a car for the drive from Anchorage to Denali to Fairbanks.
I like the idea of being able to stay a little out of Denali and less expensive accomodations.

Next question: How far in advance do we need to make our reservations for shuttle into Denali? Is it a royal pain to find parking near the shuttle?

[Nancy]

We stayed at the Nord Haven motel in Healy which is north of Denali. Nothing fancy, but certainly okay. Friends stayed at another motel in Healy (Healy something). The only problem with Healy is lack of restaurants. There are 2 that are diner type and one nice restaurant.

Nancy

[arlene22]

Haven't been there in 20+ years, so I can't offer any current information. Just want to say that you will LOVE it! Denali is breathtakingly beautiful.

And I thoroughly enjoyed the glass topped train (I don't remember what they call it, but it the views are spectactular).

My cousin is manager of a lodge right outside of Denali Park. Love to get back there someday soon... but it will be quite a few years, I'm sure.

[hvsteve1]

Alaska Railroad is more of a tour than just transportation. There are some spectacular views that you can't enjoy as much if you're the one driving the car. The train has tour guides onboard. You can also book a package through ARR which might work out. There's plenty of parking at the new Park Service welcome center as most people taking the tours come by rail or bus tour. If you stay at one of the hotels at the park, they have a free shuttle running around for most of the day which can take you to the other lodges and welcome center. The park service bus tours (the only way to get into the park, itself,) also make pickups at the hotels if they know they have a tour booked there. Because we did our Anchorage-Denali-Fairbanks-Talkeetna-Seward tour by bus and train, the constant tour guide comments and scenery kept us from realizing what long distances we were traveling. The commentary on everything we saw was much more anjoyable that just looking and ooohing an ahhhing.

[JudyH]

Can you give me some more details on your bus/train tour that you did. I am looking to book something like this so I don't have to be the one driving.

[Dollie]

You might want to consider spending a few nights "at the end of the road" in Kantishna. We stayed at the Kantishna Roadhouse and it was quite an experience. You can not drive there yourself but there is a bus that is part of the lodge. There are other lodges there also.

[Laurie]

We once traveled to Alaska in October, many years ago. We were in snow-less Fairbanks and needed to get back to Anchorage to fly home, so bought train tickets to Anchorage, as I recall. (We were debating between driving and train, if my memory serves me correctly, since we wanted to see the scenery of Denali at least passing through.) Then it snowed mega-bigtime, I believe the train route was actually cancelled that day, roads were temporarily closed too, and we had to fly to get there in time.

This is just anecdotal, I can't imagine snow could shut down transportation that often.

[hvsteve1]

JudyH, we did the tour with Premier http://www.premieralaskatours.com/index.cfm
who we got through the travel agent who booked our cruise. Premier also does tours for some of the cruise lines and the cruise companies run tours themselves. You can also check out the Alaska Railroad site www.akrr.com where you can download their new summer tour brochure. I would also recommend checking out the forums on www.cruisecritic.com where they have a forum on Alaska travel. You could probably google up a ton of Alaska travel sites. I do know there is a coupon book you can buy which gets you some substantial discounts, especially if you're doing Alaska on your own. If you've never been there, Alaska lives up to the hype.

[JudyH]

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I've saved those sites, I knew about Cruise Critic. I actually just cancelled my NCL cruise that I impulsively made, cause after I started the research, I realized how much I would miss with that cruise, so now I am really exploring my choices. Way too many choices. Thanks.

[dero]

We did a few extra days after an Alaska cruise 2 years ago and rented a car and drove to Denali. The drive took about 4 hours and was beautiful. The main road there is pretty good. We stayed at a B&B called Touch of Wilderness in Healy. It was absolutely beautiful and I can recommend it as the nicest place to stay. If you want to see the park, the shuttle is the best way to go. You can order tickets online but get the earlier shuttle if you can. The B&B owners made us a lunch for the shuttle also. It only runs about $35 for the shuttle all the way to Wonder Lake which is an all day trip. The shuttles are like school buses, not real comfortable but the drivers stop for wildlife and let you take lots of pictures. We saw 10 wolves, lots of grizzlies, one chasing a full grown moose and lots and lots of caribou. It was the trip of a lifetime.