Matanuska Glacier, located on the East side of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, is the largest road-accessible glacier in Alaska.  The glacier is easily seen from several locations along the Glen Highway which runs for 189 miles between Anchorage and Glenallen, Alaska.    The Glen Highway, a National Scenic Byway, is one of Alaska’s most beautiful highways and is well worth the time to experience for those who are touring Alaska by car on a self-drive itinerary and want to include such destinations as Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Valdez, Alaska.  The Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site is located at mile 101 and provides some interpretive signage along with a short nature walk on a ridge above the Matanuska River.  The recreation site is well worth the stop to stretch your legs as it’s near the half way mark between Anchorage and Glenallen.  (more…)

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To get some of the most scenic views of Anchorage many locals hike Anchorage’s most popular hiking trail each year, Flattop Mountain Trail. The Flattop Mountain Trail is located in Chugach State Park, a popular outdoor recreation area located in the Chugach Mountain Range. Chugach State Park is the third largest state park in America, and has multiple easily accessible trailheads located in Anchorage and Eagle River, Alaska. Flattop is known for its panoramic views of Anchorage and the surrounding area, including Cook Inlet, and on clear days views of Mt. McKinley, Mt. Foraker, Mt. Spurr, and Mt. Redoubt are very possible. (more…)

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When you think about an Alaska vacation it is natural to also think about visiting one of Alaska’s outstanding National Parks. Not only is Alaska home to Wrangell St. Elias National Park, the largest National Park in the country, we also have some of the country’s most spectacular Parks such as Denali National Park, Glacier Bay National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park.

So of course we are excited about the upcoming release of the latest Ken Burns documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea”. This six-part, 12-hour documentary series was filmed over a period of six years, and includes some of the Nation’s most stunning Parks, including a number of Alaska National Parks.

The series is coming to PBS September 27, 2009 or you can pre-order a DVD for release in early October. In fact, we are giving a way a DVD box set of the film each month starting in October through the end of the year. Just email us at parks@alaskatravel.com or follow us on Twitter and you will be automatically entered to win.

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Alaska Tour & Travel specializes in custom vacation packages to Alaska’s most spectacular destinations. Consequently, much of the content you will find on our web site does tend to focus on Alaska’s most popular travel destinations such as Anchorage, Denali National Park, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward and Whittier. At the same time, we recognize that Alaska is a big place with many, many destinations to explore. Over the years we have added product for many of our favorite smaller destinations like Homer, Valdez, Cooper Landing and Talkeetna. For those of you looking for even more information on many of Alaska’s communities that are perhaps just a bit off the beaten path, you will certainly want to keep reading. We recently completed a project adding 60 pages of all new content to AlaskaTravel.com for many of Alaska’s smaller communities, as well as additional Alaska national and state parks. Continue reading for a full list of cities and parks. (more…)

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With family and friends who come to visit us in Alaska I always want to take them down to Seward, it’s small town Alaskan feel and beautiful setting is always a hit and is fun even for those of us who are Alaska residents. This year my family took our sister in law from Australia, new to Alaska, on a on a day cruise with Renown into Kenai Fjords National Park and it was amazing! We saw so much wildlife it was astounding. (more…)

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The Alaska Railroad has several different daily routes that passenger trains are operated on throughout the summer season.  One of the least well known is the Glacier Discovery train which travels a circular route between Anchorage, Whittier, and the Spencer – Grandview area within Chugach National Forest.  The Glacier Discovery originates and ends in Anchorage, but passengers can also board the train in Girdwood, Portage, Whittier, Spencer, or Grandview.  A return trip from Portage to Anchorage by motorcoach is available for those passengers who have traveled up to Spencer/Grandview for the day.  This is a nice feature as it returns you back to the Anchorage Depot about 2 ½ hours earlier then you would have if you traveled by rail. (more…)

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Visiting Kenai Fjords National Park on a day cruise is an annual summer experience for my family and me.  I’ve often seen kayakers while out in Kenai Fjords viewing the glaciers in Aialik (pronounced “eye-al-ick”) Bay and thought that kayaking amidst the icebergs, sea otters, and seals would be an awesome experience but one that I’d likely not do myself due to time and cost.  Recently, Sunny Cove Kayaking has started a new Kayaking Kenai Fjords National Park tour that makes such a trip reasonable in cost and attainable to do in one day.  (more…)

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There isn’t a more independent way of experiencing Alaska at your own pace then to create a custom travel itinerary which includes a rental car as your means of transportation for your Alaska vacation. All of Alaska Tour & Travel’s packages can be customized to provide visitors the option of traveling via rental car instead of the Park Connection Motorcoach or the Alaska Railroad.  We sometimes call these packages  Self-drives, and have found they are a popular means of touring Alaska.  Our Self-drive’s include all the hotels, tours, car rental and any other necessities that you’ll find in our other packages.

One of the advantages of Self-Drive packages is that you can visit some off-the beaten-path Alaskan communities which are not otherwise included in travel packages.  Communities such as Homer, Cooper Landing, Valdez, as well as some great parks such as Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Kachemak Bay State Park, and even Chugach State Park will be readily accessible to explore at your own pace with a Self-drive package.  (more…)

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