Alaska - Fairbanks or Anchorage?

[Eileen G]

2 hours ago, kennicott said:

Good observation--Below are the links I used for the "as the crow flies"  158 versus 133 mileage. However, when I used a map in "The Milepost" I got about 140 from Anchorage and about 180 from Fairbanks. Remember, we are talking the top of the big mountain itself, so these measurements are from the peak to about the middle of the cities. Take a look at the map and you will see why. Fairbanks is north of and east of the peak while Anchorage is pretty much directly south of the peak. 

 

With respect to the highway measurements.  The Milepost gives 237 from Anchorage and 125 from Fairbanks but these are road measurements to "Denali". What do they mean by "Denali", certainly not the top of the mountain since you can't drive there. So they must be measuring to the Denali National Park, right? But the George Parks Highway doesn't enter the Denali National Park until way north of the Range, so perhaps they are measuring to the entrance of the Park where the Denali Park Road reaches the Parks Highway?  Go back and look at the map again. Most of the Park is located north of the Alaska Range, meaning closer to Fairbanks. When driving from Anchorage you don't enter the boundary of the NP until you are north of the Range, although the eastern Park boundary isn't all that far to the west of the George Parks Highway once you pass Cantwell going north.     

 

 

Thanks for the explanation. I understand what you are talking about now. We will be getting off the Coral in Whitter and then flying from Anchorage to Fairbanks where we will rent a car and drive to Denali National Park. We have been to Alaska 7 times and since it is cheaper to fly home from Fairbanks we decided to visit Denali from there. 

 

 

[kennicott]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 9:32 AM, zogrand said:

Here's our picture of Denali this past July.  This was taken at the far end of the Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali National Park.  

Great shot.---I'm glad you got a good view during your tour on the north side of the Alaska Range. What you are looking at is the North Peak or North Summit as well as most of the South Summit that is partially obscured with clouds at the very top. The North Peak was long thought to be the highest point, however it was later discovered that the South Peak was 20,310 feet while the North was 19,470. In this shot you can see the mountain climber's famous Wickersham Wall and the Pioneer Ridge leading up along its east side, Wickersham Wall comprises most of the North Face of Denali.

 

We only had one opportunity to drive all the way into Wonder Lake, which is directly north of the North Peak, unfortunately the peak was obscured with clouds that day and Wonder Lake had so many mosquitoes around no one wanted to wait there until the clouds cleared.     

[Grburkart]

3 minutes ago, kennicott said:

Great shot.---I'm glad you got a good view during your tour on the north side of the Alaska Range. What you are looking at is the North Peak or North Summit as well as most of the South Summit that is partially obscured with clouds at the very top. The North Peak was long thought to be the highest point, however it was later discovered that the South Peak was 20,310 feet while the North was 19,470. In this shot you can see the mountain climber's famous Wickersham Wall and the Pioneer Ridge leading up along its east side, Wickersham Wall comprises most of the North Face of Denali.

 

We only had one opportunity to drive all the way into Wonder Lake, which is directly north of the North Peak, unfortunately the peak was obscured with clouds that day and Wonder Lake had so many mosquitoes around no one wanted to wait there until the clouds cleared.     

If I remember right, 90% of the visitors don’t get to see the mountain because of cloud issues. I was one of the fortunate ones. 

 

Glenn

[USCcruisecrazy]

Personally, I'd choose Anchorage over Fairbanks.  You can do a number of day trips out of Anchorage to places like Turnagin Arm (about a 30 minute drive), Portage Glacier, or Talkeetna (Talkeetna turnout is often one of the best spots to see McKinley).  Anchorage also has some very interesting places to eat like Simon and Seiferts (overlooks the water...beautiful spot), Moose's Tooth (awesome pizza and their own brews), and Humpy's with their "to die for" Halibut Tacos.  Anchorage also has a nice zoo, if you have the time for a more relaxing adventure.  Just my humble opinion.

[Grburkart]

On 2/11/2019 at 8:54 PM, Eileen G said:

 

Moose’s Tooth is great! As are many other places in Anchorage. I’m partial to the City Diner. Lol

With no intention to compare the two cities, and this is more of a useless trivia thing, the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” did a show in Fairbanks. I want to return to Fairbanks just for that reason. 

If I was to compare the two cities, Anchorage, by far, outranks Fairbanks.

Don’t forget Whittier! A great day trip to visit the glaciers (tour). 

 

Glenn

[USCcruisecrazy]

25 minutes ago, Grburkart said:

Moose’s Tooth is great! As are many other places in Anchorage. I’m partial to the City Diner. Lol

With no intention to compare the two cities, and this is more of a useless trivia thing, the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” did a show in Fairbanks. I want to return to Fairbanks just for that reason. 

If I was to compare the two cities, Anchorage, by far, outranks Fairbanks.

Don’t forget Whittier! A great day trip to visit the glaciers (tour). 

 

Glenn

Glenn,

 

Yeah, Whittier is a pretty good trip, too.  Just so much to see and do.  One of my favorite restaurants in Anchorage is The Greek Corner on C Street.  It's a little hole in the wall with awesome food.  I also like going to Carr's on Muldoon and getting the Chinese Food...it was crazy good.  There was a place in North Pole that had the best wings I've ever eaten, but for the life of me can't remember the name.  It may have been on Triple D. 

[Grburkart]

1 minute ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Glenn,

 

Yeah, Whittier is a pretty good trip, too.  Just so much to see and do.  One of my favorite restaurants in Anchorage is The Greek Corner on C Street.  It's a little hole in the wall with awesome food.  I also like going to Carr's on Muldoon and getting the Chinese Food...it was crazy good.  There was a place in North Pole that had the best wings I've ever eaten, but for the life of me can't remember the name.  It may have been on Triple D. 

My lord! Thank you for reminding me about Carr’s on Muldoon. My all time favourite dish from there is Pad Thai. Spicy hot but so so good. 

 

Glenn 

[John99]

We (retirees) booked an Alaska Cruise/Tour for June 2019 on the Royal Princess.  Tour IB5.  Land then cruise out of Whittier (Anchorage).  This would be for our 50^th wedding anniversary gift.  We have 2 nights at the Denali Princess Lodge which should give us the option of taking the Tundra Wilderness Tour.  I looked over the tour package from Princess and could find that specific tour.  Do you book this at the Princess tour desk in Denali?  We are not interested in the Natural History Tour.

Thanks, John

[Thrak]

We saw Denali from the Princess McKinley Wilderness Lodge.  We were lucky. We were part of a connoisseur cruise tour and there was a couple in our group who were there for the 5th time. This was the first time they had ever actually seen the mountain as it's almost always hidden by clouds. The pic below isn't a good one as it was taken with my phone but it was pretty amazing to have the mountain come out from behind the clouds on the last day we were there.

 

 

I agree with others that the land portion should be done first so you have a relaxing trip back to Vancouver. I know it's not for everyone but I highly recommend the Connoisseur Cruise Tours. Our first cruise ever was the 10 day round trip from San Francisco to Alaska and we loved it. We went back later for a 13 day Connoisseur Cruise Tour with 2 days at the Denali lodge and 2 days at the McKinley lodge. It was great. We're going back again in May for a 15 day Connoisseur Cruise Tour that hits Denali lodge, Copper River lodge, and Kenai lodge. Alaska is fantastic. In 2017 we did a 7 week camping trip from Northern California all the way up to Fairbanks. It was a great way to see a lot of amazing country and we saw the Fairbanks area in a different way than when on a cruise tour. BTW... The riverboat excursion in Fairbanks sounded pretty dorky but, as it was included in our cruise tour, we did it anyway. It turned out to be quite good and we were very pleased.

 

[kennicott]

2 hours ago, John99 said:

 We have 2 nights at the Denali Princess Lodge which should give us the option of taking the Tundra Wilderness Tour.  I looked over the tour package from Princess and could find that specific tour.  Do you book this at the Princess tour desk in Denali?  We are not interested in the Natural History Tour.

Thanks, John

 

I have a copy of the 2018 Princess Tours "Alaska" brochure. The Tundra Wilderness Tour It is on page 22, "Tour EE"  

[zogrand]

5 hours ago, John99 said:

We (retirees) booked an Alaska Cruise/Tour for June 2019 on the Royal Princess.  Tour IB5.  Land then cruise out of Whittier (Anchorage).  This would be for our 50^th wedding anniversary gift.  We have 2 nights at the Denali Princess Lodge which should give us the option of taking the Tundra Wilderness Tour.  I looked over the tour package from Princess and could find that specific tour.  Do you book this at the Princess tour desk in Denali?  We are not interested in the Natural History Tour.

Thanks, John

 

I would contact your TA or Princess (whoever you booked with) and have them credit your Natural History Tour (which comes with your land tour) and add the Tundra Wilderness Tour.  It will add a few dollars to the cost of your trip.  It's better to change now since the TWT gets booked up and you may not get on if you wait until you get to Denali.  Happy Anniversary.  We did our trip for our 50th also, along with our children and grandchildren!

[pamwigs]

We live in Anchorage (walkable to downtown) and love it. We moved here last March. Great place to retire. I work PT in the summer and do volunteer work at ARH the rest of the year.

[Grburkart]

5 minutes ago, pamwigs said:

We live in Anchorage (walkable to downtown) and love it. We moved here last March. Great place to retire. I work PT in the summer and do volunteer work at ARH the rest of the year.

Every time I’m in Anchorage I go to the weekend market downtown. I always have a halibut taco and I buy a hat from The Hat Lady. I must have 20 hats. Lol

 

Glenn

 

[blazer58]

On 2/13/2019 at 8:15 PM, zogrand said:

I would contact your TA or Princess (whoever you booked with) and have them credit your Natural History Tour (which comes with your land tour) and add the Tundra Wilderness Tour.  It will add a few dollars to the cost of your trip.  It's better to change now since the TWT gets booked up and you may not get on if you wait until you get to Denali.  Happy Anniversary.  We did our trip for our 50th also, along with our children and grandchildren!

We upgraded thru our TA, it was 60 or 70 more per person

[KatieMac67]

In regards to all comments everyone is probably right in what they saw and enjoyed. All I can say is it sounds like you will have to take 2 trips, one where you go to Anchorage (my home town) and one where you can go to Fairbanks. There is plenty to do in both places. Because of the road system in Alaska I would just do my own tour and rent a car and stay in B&B's. You can't get lost. Any way what ever you decide will be prefect for you.