A blog about all things adventure travel, photography, wildlife, and hiking

The Best Alaskan Vacation in 12 Days

An itinerary that covers interior and coastal Alaska with visits to Denali National Park, Seward, and Kenai Fjords National Park.

My Alaskan vacation was one of my all-time favorites because of my passion for the great outdoors, wildlife, and photography. Since I visited in 2021, I’ve been dreaming of when I’ll be able to go back.

After spending about two weeks there, I have a lot of advice for those planning the trek out to the last frontier. This post is going to detail my recommended itinerary, what I wish I would have done differently, and what I wouldn’t change for the world! Click here to skip directly to the recommended itinerary.

A moose seen on my Alaskan Vacation.
One of many moose encounters we experienced
(I took this picture with a 210mm zoom lens, NEVER approach wildlife for a photo opportunity)

Firstly, there are a few tweaks I would make if I could redo this vacation:

  • Travel in June instead of May
    • I love traveling in May because it’s usually shoulder season for a destination, meaning fewer crowds and less expensive lodging. That was true in this case; however, there were certain hikes and areas of the national parks not yet accessible to visitors due to unmelted snow. If I were to travel again, I would choose June.
  • Skip Anchorage and spend more time in nature
    • Anchorage was just a city like any other city I’ve been to before. We spent two days in Anchorage while we were on our trip and I wish we had spent more time in Denali National Park instead.
  • Book our Kenai Fjords boat excursion with a local tour operator instead of a large chain
    • The day we took this tour, waves were quite large. Due to this, we were given the option to choose a refund/reschedule or to proceed with the tour. We mistakenly proceeded with the tour! I cannot stress enough that we should have taken the refund. The waves were quite large and scary and multiple people got violently ill. I later heard from some of the locals that the local companies outright cancelled their tours that day due to conditions. I believe our tour only went out because it was a larger corporation trying to prevent monetary losses.

General Tips for an Alaskan Vacation

  • Book things well in advance because Alaska is an extremely popular tourist destination with a short summer season. Activities, accommodations, and rental cars will sell out.
  • During summer, you can only drive your personal car so far into Denali National Park. There is a bus system that runs deeper into the park that requires tickets. Pre-booking is highly, highly recommended for these tickets.
    • For more tips on how to prepare for visiting a national park, check out this blog post.
  • We visited Alaska after COVID and decided to truly ball out on this vacation; therefore, the recommended itinerary contains a lot of excursions. One or more of these excursions could easily be replaced with a more affordable or free activity, such as a hike or walking around downtown Seward.
  • Most of the recommended tours are out in nature, where bathrooms aren’t always available. Make sure to pack baby wipes, hand sanitizer, and Ziploc bags to pack your trash out! At Floral and Fauna, we leave no trace!
  • If you’re looking to bring home photos that you can print on a larger scale or if you’re looking for photos of the wildlife you encounter, consider purchasing a DSLR or a mirrorless camera. Smartphone cameras are incredible now, but they still won’t have the zoom you want to capture wildlife from a safe distance. Additionally, blowing up photos to 16×20, for example, require higher resolution. I have the Sony A6000 mirrorless camera.

In the next section, I will be recommending specific tour operators and accommodations. I have no affiliation with these companies but I had a great experience with them.

Tours

The view from an AirBnb on my Alaskan Vacation
Still dreaming of the view from the Harbor House porch

Accommodations

  • Day 1: Arrive in Anchorage
    • Pick up your rental car
    • Overnight stay at a hotel near the airport
  • Day 2: Talkeetna Plane Tour with Glacier Landing; Denali National Park
    • The Talkeetna Plane Tour will break up the 4-hour drive from Anchorage
    • Check in to your Denali AirBNB; my recommendation is Harbor House
  • Day 3: Denali National Park bus tour
  • Day 4: Denali National Park hiking
    • Consider booking a guided hike with Traverse Alaska! We did this and it was one of our favorite days. We also felt very comfortable being in the backcountry with an expert.
  • Day 5: Denali National Park; Anchorage
    • Say goodbye to interior Alaska! I recommend getting on the road by lunchtime.
    • Tomorrow’s ATV adventure is about an hour outside of Anchorage, so staying in Anchorage will be a good location as you move southward to Seward!
  • Day 6: Knik Glacier ATV Adventure
    • One of the most adventurous items on this itinerary, I would consider skipping this if you aren’t a fan of ATVs.
  • Day 7: Drive to Seward
    • There are several beautiful viewpoints to stop at such as Turnagin Arm and Beluga Point Lookout.
    • Check into your Seward accommodations; my recommendation is one of the Salted Roots Cabins.
  • Day 8: Kenai Fjords Boat Tour
  • Day 9: Harding Ice Field Trail
    • This is a pretty strenuous hike, but there is an option to do a smaller portion of it just to Exit Glacier. I would recommend even traveling this shorter trail, as the glacier was breathtaking.
    • Sadly, I wasn’t able to complete this trail because of the heavy snow that remained from the winter. I was able to do the Exit Glacier trail and enjoyed it immensely.
  • Day 10: Resurrection Bay Kayaking
  • Day 11: Cooper’s Landing River Rafting
  • Day 12: Return to Anchorage for flight home

Whether you follow this itinerary to a T or just get a few good ideas from it, you cannot go wrong with an Alaskan vacation. Happy travels!

XOXO, Mackenzie

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Eagle Flying on Alaskan Vacation
An eagle mid flight over Resurrection Bay
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Mackenzie Moug