The Perfect Week in Alaska
Tonsina Creek Trail - Seward, AK
Ever since I read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah I have been obsessed with going to Alaska. Add on hearing the most entertaining stories from my mom when she lived there in the 70s….I had to go.
We road-tripped around Alaska for 7 days in August and selected “home bases” in Anchorage, Homer, Seward, and Talkeetna. We went with another couple and it was the trip of a lifetime. Here is our itinerary with all the fantastic things we did!
Anchorage
My first piece of advice when you fly into Alaska is to get a window seat! The views of the mountains and ocean are beautiful. It will be your first taste of the Alaskan landscape.
We landed in Anchorage in the early morning so we had a full day to explore. If you are visiting Alaska in the summer get ready for the longest days ever! The sun is up forever…and ever. It’s especially confusing when you walk out of a dark bar at 10:30 pm and it’s sunny out!
We headed straight to rent bikes and ride the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. We rented electric bikes from Pablo’s Bicycle Rentals. They are family-run and were so generous to us! I highly recommend using them for your biking adventure. The Coastal Trail has miles of paved trails and it’s common to see moose and eagles while biking!
After our bike trip, we walked around the corner from Pablo’s and had brunch at Snow City Cafe. They have yummy smoothies and amazing benedicts to choose from! The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around Anchorage. There are many shops to browse and things to see that are all within walking distance. We ended our day with dinner & beers at 49th State Brewery. If it is a nice day out make sure to sit out on the rooftop patio!
Homer
The drive from Anchorage to Homer takes about 4.5-5 hours. However, you will find many places to pull over along your drive. We started our day at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It is the perfect first stop as you can stretch your legs while walking around to view moose, bears, wolves, bison, eagles, and other animals.
After a long day of driving we checked into our hotel and headed to Homer Brewing Company. This place is an absolute treat! Locals, live music, a great patio, and tasty beer! What more could you ask for?
We spent the evening walking along the Homer Spit and popping in & out of shops. We felt like kids again walking the coastline and skipping rocks to the sound of the waves.
When we visited, COVID was still impacting normal business. We found many restaurants closed early and missed getting dinner some nights due to this. As a recommendation, physically check in with a restaurant that you may be interested in eating at later to learn their hours! Online information isn’t always up to date in Homer. Here were some of our favorites we did get to try!
Finn’s Pizza - They have a lovely outdoor enclosed patio.
Salty Dawg Saloon - A classic must-do place!
Fat Olives Restaurant - We got takeout from here and enjoyed dinner on the beach!
We were training for a marathon during our trip to Alaska, so if you are a runner know that there is a fabulous paved trail that runs up the spit and makes for a gorgeous morning run (or bike/walk)!
Post run we grabbed breakfast at La Baleine Cafe which was great for a quick meal on the spit. We then decided to take a boat to Kachemak Bay State Park to hike! There are a lot of random boats in the harbor that will take you across. Kachemak Bay State Park is across the bay from Homer and has over 25 miles of trails in the park, many accessed by boat only. Our boat driver dropped us off and turned around to leave….which was a little nerve-wracking, but he came back at the time he promised!
We hiked Glacier Lake Trail which is a moderate 3.3 miles roundtrip. It started on a trail just off the beach, wound through the forest, then spit us out at a gorgeous glacier lake! The elevation gain was very minimal and we saw a bear!
Seward
Seward is a 3 hr 30 min drive to Homer. Seward is located on an inlet on the Kenai Peninsula and is home to world-class fishing. It was hands down my favorite town we stayed in!
We stayed at Nauti Otter which was just outside the town and a community of yurts, rustic cabins, and tiny homes! I highly recommend staying here as you get to interact with others and it is such an Alaskan vibe!
The highlight of our time in Seward was a kayaking tour to an iceberg. We used Liquid Adventures Tour Company. They have multiple full-day tours to choose from. We saw every Alaskan sea creature imaginable as well as a family of black bears. If you get seasick at all be prepared with some Dramamine because the water was choppy while on the bigger boat!
The town of Seward has shops, bars, and restaurants to explore all within walking distance. A few places we enjoyed were:
Flamingo Lounge - This is a MUST. Grab a White Russian and a snack of tots! They also serve brunch on the weekends! Very 70’s atmosphere in Flamingo’s.
Tony’s Bar- See the Moose head at the bar and play a round of pool!
Yukon Bar- Another place to put a dollar on the wall and play pool!
Seward Brewing Co - The food here is really great as well as the beer!
Woody’s Thai Kitchen - Truly great Thai food in all the way in Seward, AK!
On our way out of Seward, we did a quick hike at Tonsina Creek Trail. This 3.4-mile trail cuts through the forest and goes along a small stream where thousands of Salmon were swimming in! It was an easy trail and the views of the mountains lining the ocean were incredible. We also saw a lot of bald eagles diving around the area and then back up to their nest high up in the tree.
While we were not deep sea fishers, Seward would be the place to look into this if that is something you are wanting to do!
Talkeetna
We used Talkeetna as our base for Denali National Park. Talkeetna is a small town packed with activities. I highly recommend staying in an Airbnb in Talkeetna. There are dozens of cute cozy cabins to choose from. If you pick one on the outskirts of town up on the side of the hill you will wake up to jaw-dropping views of Denali (assuming it is visible while you are there). There is only a 30% to 40% chance people will see Denali when visiting Talkeetna. The mountain is so high that the clouds block it a lot of the time. We were lucky enough that we got one crystal clear blue day while we were there.
View of Denali from our Airbnb
One fun activity is to go fly fishing in the area. We used a guide to show us the ropes and the best places. We did a full-day excursion with Talkeetna Wilderness River Fishing Guides and caught tons of fish! Using a guide was nice for us as we did not know what we were doing and the guides typically know all the hot spots for where the fish are.
Talkeetna has a surprising amount of restaurants and bars considering how small it is. Our top spots were Denali Brewing Co. and Flying Squirrel Bakery. Denali Brewing Co. has a location in the middle of town that is a full restaurant and a location a few miles out of town where they brew their beer. We went to both and they are very different atmospheres. We had breakfast at Flying Squirrel Bakery multiple times and the food is unreal good! Near Flying Squirrel Bakery is Alaska Birch Syrup. They offer quick tours and tastings of the birch syrup they make. It is worth a stop if only to try the birch ice cream!
The most fantastic thing to do in Talkeetna is to take a small plane around Denali National Park and land on a glacier. We used Sheldon Air Services and I highly recommend it over K2. We had originally booked K2 but then the day we were originally supposed to go was canceled due to bad weather. The next day was sunny and Sheldon Air Services was able to fit us in last minute. The plane was smaller and consisted of just our group compared to the 20+ people on the K2 planes. Pictures do not do this experience justice. If you only do one thing from this list of recommendations this would be it! The entire trip took around 2 hours.
We had such an amazing time in Alaska and I hope you get the opportunity to experience this wild land for yourself!
