I would for sure make a long ferry trip part of any non-cruise Alaska journey:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/travel/uncruising-to-alaska-short-on-frills-long-on-thrills.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AU0.OxYL.h6jiwJf-Zi_K&smid=url-share

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the small plane site seeing flight that goes to the summit of Denali and then lands the mountain side glacier on the way back down.
I got for my wife and our teen son.
You literally have to wear an oxygen mask during the flight.

You literally do NOT have to wear an oxygen mask to fly around Denali.
If you did, I bet the pilot cheated you and chaged you extra for the totally unnessesary oxygen.

See denalisummitflight.com for pictures of the oxygen masks used.

As I said...charging you extra unnesessarily. You neither need oxygen to climb Denali, nor fly around it.

The masks were provided at no extra charge and it was more of an additional safety feature.
Some need/ want, some do not need or want.

Anonymous wrote:Before you do the glacier landing flights, just understand it can go wrong. We did our glacier landing flight earlier in the day - with the same company. Later in the day, this happened

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2_Aviation_de_Havilland_Beaver_(DHC-2)_crash

I still think about this all the time and how close we were to this being us.

There is some risk involved, but its like going on the helicopter ride in Hawaii.
You can get into a fatal car accident driving in DC too.

Before you do the glacier landing flights, just understand it can go wrong. We did our glacier landing flight earlier in the day - with the same company. Later in the day, this happened

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2_Aviation_de_Havilland_Beaver_(DHC-2)_crash

I still think about this all the time and how close we were to this being us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the small plane site seeing flight that goes to the summit of Denali and then lands the mountain side glacier on the way back down.
I got for my wife and our teen son.
You literally have to wear an oxygen mask during the flight.

You literally do NOT have to wear an oxygen mask to fly around Denali.
If you did, I bet the pilot cheated you and chaged you extra for the totally unnessesary oxygen.

See denalisummitflight.com for pictures of the oxygen masks used.

As I said...charging you extra unnesessarily. You neither need oxygen to climb Denali, nor fly around it.

I went on an Alaskan cruise this past summer, and my husband and I agreed that cruises are NOT the way to enjoy Alaska.

We saw Juneau, which was by far the best part of the trip. We hiked to the Mendenhall Glacier, which was incredible.

The rest of the trip was eh. The only other place we went was Skagway, and honestly, who cares about some dink town with 900 residents (300 in the winter). We thought we were going on a safari but it was really meant for people who don't like exercise; there was barely any hiking or rowing (the boats all had motors and they started them up as soon as we got into deep enough water, even though we told them we wanted to row). Mostly we got somewhat close to a glacier, but we'd seen a much cooler one in Juneau and we prefer movement to just sitting in a boat.

If you really want to see Juneau, you could fly into or out of there from Anchorage. The only ways into/out of Juneau or via boat or plane; the longest street is called The Road and is about 45 miles long (the entire city's roads total 90 miles, we were told). If you go, I highly recommend a hike to the Mendenhall Glacier. The Tongass National Forest is really amaziing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the small plane site seeing flight that goes to the summit of Denali and then lands the mountain side glacier on the way back down.
I got for my wife and our teen son.
You literally have to wear an oxygen mask during the flight.

You literally do NOT have to wear an oxygen mask to fly around Denali.
If you did, I bet the pilot cheated you and chaged you extra for the totally unnessesary oxygen.

See denalisummitflight.com for pictures of the oxygen masks used.

Anonymous wrote:Do the small plane site seeing flight that goes to the summit of Denali and then lands the mountain side glacier on the way back down.
I got for my wife and our teen son.
You literally have to wear an oxygen mask during the flight.

You literally do NOT have to wear an oxygen mask to fly around Denali.
If you did, I bet the pilot cheated you and chaged you extra for the totally unnessesary oxygen.

I'm from Anchorage and 18:24 posted a perfect itinerary.

Last summer we flew into Anchorage and rented a car for about 10 days. We stayed in Anchorage for a day or two and then focused mostly on the Kenai Peninsula. We did a small plane out of Homer for a bear tour (worth it) but we did not do a helicopter.

Great trip.

Anonymous wrote:Do the small plane site seeing flight that goes to the summit of Denali and then lands the mountain side glacier on the way back down.
I got for my wife and our teen son.
You literally have to wear an oxygen mask during the flight.

+1. We did a different glacier flight, did not need oxygen masks, but took a small flight out of Healy that landed on a glacier. Kind of pricey but YOLO, one of the coolest things I have ever done

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for all these ideas! Has anyone done an Alaska helicopter ride? Is it worth it?

I am normally not someone who does helicopter tours (too loud and too risky), but we did this one in Seward and my kids loved it. Ihttps://sewardhelicopters.com/seward-dog-sled-tours/

OP here. Thank you for all these ideas! Has anyone done an Alaska helicopter ride? Is it worth it?