As a means of researching a trip, many travelers seem to rely on destination reviews more than ever these days. While this can be a good idea in some cases, not all ratings are honorable. There are companies who hire online shills to post paid reviews, and then there are first-time visitors to a destination who rate a place as “best of the best” without having a comparative standard.
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Visitors may know Ketchikan for its totem poles, but there is plenty more to explore. // (C) 2010 Kristopher Volkman |
After 34 years of reviewing the good, the bad and the ugly of Alaska’s tours and adventures, I’ve found that there are certain destinations, tours and attractions that consistently stand out above the norm. The reasons can be many: superb customer service or a high-thrill factor or sensory impact that boggles the senses and humbles the soul with indescribable beauty.
Below you’ll find a sampling of my favorite destinations, locations and tours that I have enjoyed in my Alaska travels. These places are where I send family and friends and what I recommend to people who contact me when they have limited time to enjoy the best of what the 49th state has to offer. Each time, they come back with glowing reports, and I’m sure your clients will do likewise.
Southeast Alaska
Ketchikan has a unique charm and ample shopping and sightseeing along the Creek Street boardwalk.
I never miss an opportunity to enjoy the award-winning Alaska Rainforest Canopy zipline. Recommend the longer of the two runs, and your clients will feel like kids on a rope swing.
No aquarium can match the Snorkel Alaska day tour in the plant- and fish-filled marine waters along the Inside Passage coastline. Be sure to tell your clients they won’t get cold in the wetsuits because of all the swimming they’ll be doing.
If your clients like dodgeball, they will love spending the afternoon kayaking the local waters through hundreds of pink salmon jumping out of the water on an incoming tide.
The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is the best spectator show you’ll find in town. Front-row seats will have your clients combing wood chips out of their hair.
Out of Juneau, I have several all-time favorites. Northstar Trekking offers a helicopter fly-out and glacier hike-about on massive Mendenhall Glacier that is essential Alaskana. My favorite is the Level 3, five-hour extended glacier trek.
When weather keeps the flightseeing tours grounded, take in the Alaska State Museum, a treasure trove of educational entertainment and knowledge.
Even for the non-fisher, a tour of the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery highlights the importance and magnitude of Alaska’s salmon fisheries. And although whale watching is good all along Alaska’s coast, Gustavus is the king of the whale-watching destinations. The isolation and charm of this small town is second to none along the Alaska coastline.
Visitors will find these tours, along with exceptional five-star service, at Glacier Bay Country Inn, my favorite for all things fishing, flightseeing, touring and exploring in this part of Southeast Alaska.
For those looking to escape to Alaska for a helping of solitude with a garnish of blue-ribbon scenery, Southeast Aviation can arrange a few nights in U.S. Forest Service cabins in Misty Fjords National Monument. I’ve enjoyed this retreat for more than 20 years, and it’s still a favorite.
Southwest Alaska
Kodiak Island is all inclusive when it comes to having a one-stop tour of Alaska’s coastal riches. Salmon and char fishing opportunities are plentiful along the Chiniak and Pasagshak highways from July through September; however, for clients who are museum buffs, I recommend they stop at the Baranov, Alutiiq, Kodiak Military History and Kodiak Maritime museums. Another favorite is a walking tour of the Fisheries Industrial Technology Center and Fisheries Research Center, with its fish-filled aquariums and exhibits.
Kodiak’s remote wilderness lodges can’t be beat as well, but don’t expect attractions such as ziplines and jeep excursions here. Kodiak lodges offer remote settings, ample wildlife viewing, kayaking, sport-fishing, hiking and beachcombing. Roland Ruoss of Seahawk Air offers experience and inside information on getting clients to where they need to go. I’ve trusted him for years to offer good service at a good price. Ask about his floating cabin rentals that come with a skiff that clients can use for exploring protected bays, wildlife viewing or bear watching.
Van Hartley of Branch River Air Service offers remote adventures in Alaska’s Bristol Bay country as well as flightseeing to some of the best bear-viewing opportunities Alaska has to offer. Some highlighted tours to consider include Brooks River and Katmai National Park and flightseeing tours to see active volcanoes and glaciers, including those of Aniakchak National Monument, one of the most impressive and remote pieces of wilderness I’ve experienced.
One of my favorite fishing hot spots is Wood-Tikchik State Park, the largest in the nation at 1.6 million acres. Fishing Bear Lodge offers full exploration, fishing and accommodations at the mouth of the Peace River in the heart of the park.
Southcentral Alaska
The Kenai Peninsula is home to one of my favorite day hikes to Harding Ice Field — an area almost the size of Rhode Island — and to Exit Glacier near Seward. Exit Glacier Guides offers a full range of hiking and climbing tours for beginners to advanced climbers.
For connoisseurs of extreme whitewater, the town of Hope is the jumping-off point for Six-Mile Creek, which offers Class IV and V whitewater rapids that I consider among the best in Alaska. Novalaska offers experienced guides and quality rafting. The three-canyon tour for $139 provides the most bang for the buck.
The Kenai River is home to the largest king salmon in the world, with 80- to 90-pound fish caught each year. Rod and Randy Berg, at Rod ‘n’ Real Charters, have more than 30 years of experience as guides, and they offer accommodations and fishing for halibut, salmon and trout.
Another one of my favorite weekend escapes is to Homer with an overnight at Land’s End. Here, I enjoy chatting it up with the local “spit rats,” people who camp out on the open beach for the entire summer. Visitors can find even more Alaska personalities at the nearby Salty Dawg Saloon.
The next day, clients can take a short water taxi ride with Bay Excursions to Kachemak Bay State Park for its 40 miles of hiking trails, glaciers and tide pools teeming with marine and animal life. Kayaking its many protected coves and crystal-clear waters makes this an especially memorable trip. Agents should also check out the guided tours and programs offered by the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies.
Stan Stephens Cruises offers the best tour for the dollar out of Valdez. Wildlife, glaciers and scenery are always on display despite the often inclement weather, and service is top-notch because it is owned and skippered by veteran Alaskans with more than 40 years experience. After the tour, suggest your clients grab some paddles and try a Pangaea Adventures’ kayaking tour to several tidewater glaciers.
Anchorage provides the ideal base for touring Alaska via the Alaska Railroad. The tracks stretch out for 500 miles between Seward and Fairbanks, and the train’s Goldstar service includes quality narration and premium service that is well worth every penny.
After a stay at my favorite Southcentral hotel, Alyeska Resort, with its fabulous views and hiking trails outside Anchorage, get a taste of Alaska’s latest reality television sensation with the new Ice Road Trucker Tour from Salmon Berry Tours. Clients begin by exploring the Anchorage port, then stop by Carlisle Transportation — as seen on the television show “Ice Road Truckers” — and tour a heavy haul, sleeper truck. Your clients then get behind the wheel in the truck-driving simulator and see if they can handle a big rig on the legendary ice road. Additional expeditions include late-night Northern Lights viewing, dog-sledding and snowmobile tours.
Interior Alaska
The reason I live in Alaska’s Interior is the same reason why thousands of tourists visit Alaska each year: the opportunity to see Denali, or “The Great One.” The tallest mountain in North America has its own personality, and one of the best ways to view it is aboard a flightseeing trip with Denali Air. The twin-engine aircraft they use is safe, pressurized and flies smoothly in the often turbulent air. Seeing the glaciers and amphitheaters up close and personal, along with mountain climbers and their camps, well, it doesn’t get much better than that.
When it comes to Denali accommodations, my pick is Camp Denali, located far within the park, away from Denali’s “Glitter Gulch” highway strip. When weather allows, clients can expect to see Denali in the front window of their cabin every morning. For clients with limited time, steer them toward the Tundra Wilderness Tour, and take in the National Park Service displays and visitor center.
Denali offers enough variety — from horseback tours to whitewater rafting, to ranger-lead hikes and wildlife viewing — to easily fill an entire week. I give high marks to the Era Helicopter flight/trek, where clients get out on a remote meadow or glacier and experience the wilderness, smell the tundra and get a true feel for the wilderness.
Grayline Tours offers a superb way of viewing the Interior, with visits to my favorite Interior tours, including Eldorado Gold Mine, Gold Dredge Number 8 (with the best miner’s stew in Alaska) and Riverboat Discovery. For the do-it-yourselfer, I recommend taking a driving tour of the White Mountains, north of Fairbanks, with the village of Circle as the final destination. The views along the way, especially in early September, are fabulous.
Don’t forget the many wonders of the Richardson Highway. Tours should include options to stay at Kennicott Lodge and explore the adjacent Kennicott Copper Mine, as well as an overnighter in the town of McCarthy. All are quaint Alaska sights.
You can also try fishing with Copper River Salmon Charters and, if the action is good, overnight at the rustic, but comfortable, Gakona River Cabins.
Fairbanks is the Golden Heart of Alaska, and your clients here will strike it rich in whatever direction they take. Independent travelers should take in the new Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center with its museum-quality panoramas, which have received rave reviews from locals and visitors.
The University of Alaska Museum of the North, as well as the Georgeson Botanical Gardens, offers something for every visitor. And at the end of a long day that can last more than 21 hours, the Westmark Hotel is without question my favorite full-service hotel, while my favorite bed-and-breakfasts include the Aurora Express and Alaska Heritage House.
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