Headed up in August for a fishing trip with some buddies. I am in kind of sticker shock at the car rental prices. Is there any tips or secrets to save some money? We are looking strongly at Turo, but none of us have used it before. I looked at Midnight Sun and it was expensive as well. Anything I am missing? We need a decent sized vehicle for 4 guys and luggage. Thanks

Everything in Anchorage is more expensive than the mainland U.S. I paid $300+/night for a hotel and it was no better than a $60/night Motel 6.

I was really skeptical about Turo, but we've had great luck with it in three different vacation spots.

All relatively new SUVs, easy to pick up/drop off and much cheaper than a rental agency. All three were waiting at the airport for us when we landed, and we either returned it there or at a predetermined spot near our hotel.

I was also going to suggest Turo, essentially the AirBNB of rental cars.

You might have a car rental as a backup, usually those you do not pay until you arrive.

Alright, we are rolling with Turo.

Anyone know if my travel rewards credit card offers protection on turo? It does on regular rental cars. It is the SWA card.

We will be in Alaska in late July and early August. Anchorage, Wrangell st Elias, Valdez and Brooks Lodge.

It is cheaper to buy a car and sell it at the end than renting for 2 weeks.

It does not appear that credit cards offer rental car insurance thru turo.

We're going to Anchorage in June and I was surprised to see Turo was the same price as rental car companies. I just cashed in credit card points and went the traditional route with Enterprise.

I've had good experiences with Turo, but it just didn't make sense this time.

What are you doing in the Wrangells?

We are driving over to spend a couple of nights at Kennicott Glacier Lodge. Im going out glacier hiking for a day. Then we will head down the HWY to Valdez for a couple of nights to to a glacier/wildlife catamaran tour similar to what we did a couple of years ago out of Seward.

Mainly we are just going a different direction than north to Denali. I cant really improve on the last time we were there.

This is all fly by the seat of the pants this year since we lucked into Brooks so late.

Very cool. We stayed at Kennicott after a backcountry camping trip in the park. I would highly suggest you add an ice cave hike to your plans. It's basically on the same trail to the glacier, you just detour down slope before you get to the main hiking area of the glacier.

Thanks!

We did the same - very cool

Root Glacier - for scale, there are people on the ridge on the left side of that photo

The caves were amazing

Any suggestions for a day excursion out of anchorage? We are looking at a jet ski thing out of Whittier, but would be open to anything else that is fun and adventurous. Don't mind a drive, but have to be back in Anchorage the same night.

It's a 2 hour nice drive to Seward and you can do day trips there for wildlife and glacier cruising and be back to shore by 4 pm and back to Anchorage before dinner.

Drive to Talkeetna for lunch. Hope you get lucky and see Denali.

26 Glacier Cruise
https://phillipscruises.com/

Drive to Talkeetna
-flightseeing/glacier landing tour with K2 Aviation or Talkeetna Air Taxi
-visit Denali Brewing Tasting Room (rent an e-bike at Talkeetna Gear Shop, ride to the brewpub, and they'll pick you up and bring you back to Talkeetna)

We did dogsledding....it was somewhere between Anchorage and Seward so daytrippable....I don't remember exactly.

Took us in a helicopter to Punch Bowl Glacier where the dogs are kept and trained.

https://ididaride.com/tours/girdwood-glacier-dog-sledding-tour/

Not cheap, but a pretty cool experience

One of the family members won his 6th Iditarod this year - even after taking a time penalty for killing an attacking moose and not gutting it properly. Crazy sport!

I'd also recommend the Anchorage Zoo. It wasn't massive but it was pretty cool - less concrete and more actual natural habitat than the zoos we're used to here in Texas. It was a good 2-3 hour activity

Ididaride also does "dog sledding" on carts over gravel roads to keep the dogs in shape over the summer. You get to learn about the race, play with puppies, and go on a ride. It's just outside Seward. Much cheaper than the helicopter rides (which we've done and loved).

I love the drive to Seward. We'll be there for the third time this summer. Doing a day cruise again. And the Alaska Sea Center Aquarium.

Agreed, the drive from Anchorage to Seward is one of my favorites in the entire country

Two of my favorite Wrangell pics from the glacier:

Some good suggestions so far. A friend built a site to help guests choose excursions. You can filter by geography and activity type to get some ideas. It's handy to not just get ads for charters like a typical google search.

Let me know if you want specifics on anything, we have taken guests to most of his suggested activities.

http://explore907.com/

ATV guided tour up near Palmer towards the glacier.

Awesome experience and would highly recommend.


https://youralaskavacation.com/
https://49smt.com