SDR 03 Alaska Highlights Self Drive Tour

7-Days Alaska Highlights Self Drive Tour 
Explore Alaska's Highlights and spectacular scenery during this one week journey. Observe the wildlife in Denali National Park, enjoy the gold rush atmosphere in Fairbanks and visit Valdez - gateway to the tidewater glaciers in Prince William Sound

Day 1: Anchorage (Arrival Day)

Arrive in Anchorage during the day. Transfer to your hotel in downtown. Spend the remaining afternoon to visit the sights of the Alaskan city or enjoy a stroll along the Coastal Trail with views of Mt. Denali and the "Sleeping Lady". Guided city sightseeing tours are arranged on request. Overnight Anchorage.

Day 2: Anchorage - Denali National Park

Leave Anchorage and drive north on the Park Highway towards the Matanuska Valley. Stopover at Talkeetna whose wilderness location at the base of Mt. Denali and at the confluence of three wild rivers makes a center for outdoor enthusiasts, climbers, and tourists. The mountains, rivers, glaciers, and meadows in the area provide superb sightseeing, especially by air. Please ask for flightseeing trips to Mt. Denali. Continue to Denali Village.

Day 3: Denali National Park Wildlife Tour

Today experience the wildlife and wonderful sceneries of Denali National Park. In the morning drive to the Visitor Center where your wildlife tour begins. Pick up your pre-reserved tickets and explore the center if time allows. Board the bus, sit back, enjoy the scenery and look out for wildlife. Your driver informs you about the history of Denali National Park, its diverse wildlife and flora. Once a bear, caribou or another animal has been spotted the bus will stop that everyone can watch and take pictures. Your tour runs all the way to Eielson Visitor Center, a four hour drive or to Wonder Lake - on special request. You can get off the bus anytime you wish and take a stroll, go hiking and enjoy the landscape. By hand signal the next available bus will stop for you to get on.

Day 4: Denali National Park - Fairbanks

In the morning leave Denali National Park and drive onwards to Fairbanks. Stopover at Nenana, once a traditional gathering
place for Athabascan Indian. Continue to Fairbanks the "Golden Heart City" where you can visit a former gold mine, cruise aboard a sternwheeler on the Chena River and view the Alaska Pipeline.

Day 5: Fairbanks - Valdez

Heading south, the highway runs through stands of white birch and black spruce, often photogenically close to the Tanana River. Soake up the raw beauty of the drive into the central Alaska Range, often paralleled by the Alaska pipeline. Visit the historic roadhouse in Copper Center before the Washington Glacier peeps into view. Arrive in Valdez, gateway to Prince William Sound. A favourite tour is the cruise to the amazing icebergs of the Columbia Glacier.

Day 6: Valdez - Anchorage

In the morning take a stroll around the boat harbour, go on a kayaking tour or explore the area on a hiking trip. Drive on the Glenn Highway where you'll be treated to vistas of forested slopes, glacier-filled valleys and snowy peaks of the Mentasta and Wrangell mountain ranges. The road cuts through the fertile, crop-producing Matanuska Valley and passes right above the Matanuska Glacier. An excellent place to examine glacier-borne rocks and to peer down into crevices since the lower end of the glacier is relatively flat and easily clambered upon.

Option: Instead of driving back to Anchorage you also can enjoy a scenic cruise aboard the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry across Prince William Sound to Whittier. See rates below.

Day 7: Anchorage

In the morning check out of your hotel and return your rental car. Tour extensions on request.

Services Included