Renting a car & driving from Anchorage to Fairbanks

[SabrinaNP]

My husband & I are booked on the Princess Diamond's 13 day Heart of Alaska Cruisetour for August 2008. We are considering arriving a few days early into Anchorage & then driving up to Fairbanks to start the land portion of the tour.

 

Any suggestions about a car rental company? How long of a drive is this? How are the highways? Any advice? Thanks.

[Budget Queen]

It will involve a large drop fee, and few agencies that I know of. In the Past Avis and Thrifty had one way Fairbanks/Anchorage cars but verify current information. It's 350 miles, only one road, Parks Highway, no way to get lost. Well maintained 2 lane highway most of the way, just like anywhere else.

 

But frankly, if you are considering this, you are going to be driving right by most of your cruisetour attractions, which you are paying a premium for.

 

If you are taking the train- sorry but litte advantage, it's a lot slower, but just about parallels the road. Superior in Denali park is the shuttle bus for getting you farther than the triple priced Tundra Wilderness tour, farther is always better for more scenery and more wildlife viewing opportunties. With a car you can drive and book your Fairbanks inclusions, and maybe with a toursaver, if offered, get 2 for 1 coupons.

 

Just another idea to perhaps consider, people mostly go on cruisetours, because they do not want to drive, but point to point group travel has some disadvantages in Alaska in my opinion.

[SabrinaNP]

Thanks for the info. We are still going to do 2 nights in Fairbanks, 2 nights in Denali & 1 night at the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge and then the 7 day cruise. I just wanted to fly into Anchorage instead of Fairbanks and explore Anchorage before the land tour started.

I would rather take the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks but the price was $299.00 per person & takes approx. 12 hours. I think it would be cheaper to rent a car for a few days then drive to Fairbanks to satrt the land tour. I will definitely check out AVIS & THRIFTY.

[wallingf]

Another possible option is to fly into Anchorage, rent a car at the airport, explore the Anchorage area as you wish, return the car to the Anchorage airport a few days later and fly up to Fairbanks to start your land tour. It is a very quick flight and is about $100-$120/pp, I believe.

[johninwpa]

Just spent 10 days on independent land tour. We originally booked with Alamo, mid-size car for the 2 of us at 495.00. A month before we left found a car from Enterprise, same size for 410.00, plus they honored a coupon that we had, for another 25.00. If you decide to rent a car keep checking rates from others.

[pilotdane]

My wife and I just did a similar (but in reverse) trip. We flew into Fairbanks and did a one way rental to Anchorage for our cruise.

 

Yes the one way car rental was expensive.

 

We drove the route to the east via the Richardson Hwy & Glenn Hwy instead of going by Denali like everyone else. We planned it because of family in Delta Junction but it turns out we saw more animals on our quick drive on the Richardson Hwy than those on our cruise that did the Denali excursions.

[mytime53]

 

We drove the route to the east via the Richardson Hwy & Glenn Hwy instead of going by Denali like everyone else. We planned it because of family in Delta Junction but it turns out we saw more animals on our quick drive on the Richardson Hwy than those on our cruise that did the Denali excursions.

 

I was just going to suggest taking the alternate route. Might as well not backtrack if not necessary. It is farther, but still doable in a day.

[lalawgirl]

We had a one way rental from Hertz (Anch to Fairbanks) following our cruise this July.

 

IMHO, the drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks was surprisingly un-senic! But very easy -- the freeway is well maintained and flat.

[Hoyaheel]

My wife and I just did a similar (but in reverse) trip. We flew into Fairbanks and did a one way rental to Anchorage for our cruise.

 

Yes the one way car rental was expensive..

 

I'm "the wife":p We rented from Hertz because it was the cheapest (I think Avis and Hertz were the only ones with availability for one-way rentals for our dates) I booked with coupons through Costco and the rental ended up being ~$730 (including all the taxes) for a 5 1/2 day rental from FAI to ANC. But they did give us a bit of an upgrade--I reserved a Toyota Corolla size and we got a Ford Escape.