Kenai Wilderness Lodge, Alaska

[Britboys]

We are currently planning an Alaska Cruisetour for next year. One possible choice includes 2 nights at Kenai. I have checked out the sort of activities and trips available through Princess but wondered if you can do anything independently here. Is the lodge anywhere near a local small town and if so, is there any shuttle-type transport laid on. I have seen lots about getting to Talkeetna from the McKinley Lodge but haven't seen anything about Kenai Lodge.

 

All thoughts and experiences will be really welcome. Thanks in advance,

[trvlcrzy]

DH and I traveled to Alaska with independent plans this summer. It was a delightful trip! We were unable to book the Kenai Princess Lodge due to a lack of availability during our scheduled visit. We did, however, drive up to see it.

 

Cooper Landing is not what I would consider a town. There are a couple of convenient stores, a bar/restaurant, and several fishing outfitters offering trips on the river. I would not expect any type of transportation from the lodge to anything local. We stayed at a B & B in Cooper Landing for 3 nights while we explored the area by rental car (from Anchorage): a little less than an hour's drive to Seward, a little more than a hour's drive to Soldotna/Kenai, and a longer drive of about 2 1/2 hours to Homer.

 

It's a great place for quiet reflection with beautiful views of the river! I was surprised that the Kenai Princess Lodge also has an RV park.

 

I tried to upload a photo, but apparently the file size is too large.

[katisdale]

Copper Landing is no where near Kenai. Kenai is on the peninsula south of Anchorage. Copper River is near the St. Elias/Wrangel area.

[mytime53]

Copper Landing is no where near Kenai. Kenai is on the peninsula south of Anchorage. Copper River is near the St. Elias/Wrangel area.

 

You're right about the Copper River. But they're discussing Cooper Landing, which is on the Kenai Peninsula.

[mytime53]

A further note to travelers to southcentral Alaska.

Kenai is a small city, a peninsula, a river, and in conjunction with the word Fjords, a national park.

Many visitors use the single word "Kenai" to refer to all 4; that is not a great idea. Locals can do it because the context of the verbs and prepositional phrases in the conversation clue us in to what is being referred to, but we frequently need to be more specific. "I'll be on the Kenai this weekend" might mean floating/fishing on the Kenai River, or it might mean driving down to the Kenai Peninsula to follow the local sports team around from town to town.

[bjonthego]

we stayed at the Princess Kanai Lodge on our cruisetour 2 years ago . Loved the cabins built up on a hill....lovely and quiet. We enjoyed the peace and views, but not a lot of action about...other than bears!

[gertz]

We have stayed at the PKL. It is a delightful quiet and peaceful lodge. The food was very good and having a drink on the back patio is overlooking the river a lot of fun.

Unless you have a rental car it is somewhat cumbersome to get places. However, you can do the tours right from the lodge which we did the Kenai Nat Park 6 hr cruise and many including us think it is one of the must sees in Alaska. Enjoy Alaska is a wonderful experience.

[spatsmcd]

We enjoyed the Kenai Lodge the most out of the 3 Princess lodges that we stayed in, loved our little cabin and wood burning potbellied fireplace. We enjoyed everything we did at the lodge with thier (you can pre-book on the Princess Lodge site) excersions.

[Britboys]

Thanks for all your thoughts. Sounds like a great place to relax and that we need to book through Princess if we want to do a tour or activity anywhere.

[spatsmcd]

You can also book when you get to the Lodge, but you may find what you want is full. You can change excursions when you are at the Lodge if you change you mind on what you would like to do, as long as it is not closed(full).

[Budget Queen]

There is not much at the lodge, but a very beautiful setting. Fishing is the main attraction, some raft trips. It is NO place I would ever be without a car. A shuttle bus to Seward is an hour each way. You have NO option for any side trips to Homer/Soldotna/Kenai (city, I also post the "city" usage).

 

Overall, I suggest you look at the overall itinerary. Hopefully it is a long cruisetour, with at least 2 nights at Denali park- which is far more "necessary", in my opinion, since there is more to do. Denali Park can be way more time consuming with activities. IF you are considering a Kenai Fjords boat tour, it is an excellent use of time out of this lodge.

[Britboys]

I guess this pretty much confirms what I had thought from my research. Yes BQ - we are looking at 6 or 7 nights and I haven't considered anything without 2 nights at Denali. This forum has been so useful in planning.

[Chenega]

You might consider booking closer to Seward which is where the boats depart for the Kenai Fjords National Park tours. There are several nice places to stay; I particularly like the places near the small boat harbor like the Holiday Inn Express (can be pricey) and the Breeze Inn since you can walk right to the boat. For more on Seward, check out http://www.seward.com The Kenai Princess Lodge is really nice but it's out there pretty much by itself.

[greatam]

I guess this pretty much confirms what I had thought from my research. Yes BQ - we are looking at 6 or 7 nights and I haven't considered anything without 2 nights at Denali. This forum has been so useful in planning.

 

Just curious why you are not looking at doing this trip independently? A little more work with the planning (booking hotels and a rental car) but you can get out and about in the Kenai, easily get to Seward, go to Seven Glaciers for a spectacular dinner and still easily spend your two nights in Denali without getting out of bed and having your luggage outside your door every morning at 0 dark thirty. Just curious.

[Britboys]

Thanks Chenega and Greatam. We have decided to book a cruisetour for a whole mixture of reasons really. It is much harder to fully research Alaska from the UK - books on Alaska etc are not readily available here as they are in the US. Also, a cruisetour will be much easier as we will not have to worry about how long it takes to get anywhere, carrying around all our luggage for 2 weeks, driving on the 'wrong' side of the road ;). The 2 weeks will be really busy and like most, we will be going straight back to work when we return to the UK. Neither of us are in the first flush of youth, so we want to make it all a bit easier on ourselves.

 

Thanks for the thoughts though. We do arrange holidays (vacations) ourselves in Europe but will be much happier being 'looked after' in Alaska.

 

I think we have decided to take a 6 day cruisetour with Princess that has 2 nights each in Fairbanks, Denali and Talkeetna. I think this probably is the best fit for our needs and circumstances.