Day 1: Anchorage – Arrival
Welcome to Alaska! Arrive in Anchorage and pick up your rental car at the airport. Settle into the state's largest city, backed by the Chugach Mountains, and watch the evening light stretch far into the night — this is the land of the midnight sun.
Day 2: Seward
Take the road south along Turnagain Arm, one of the most beautiful coastlines in North America, between sheer cliffs and tidal bore. Continue on to Seward, a small fishing port tucked deep into Resurrection Bay.
Suggestion (not included): a stop at the Portage Glacier visitor center, or a short cruise across the lake to the glacier face.
Day 3: Seward
Free day in Seward, between the small-boat harbor, the Exit Glacier trails and the Alaska SeaLife Center.
Suggestion (not included): a cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park, among glaciers calving straight into the ocean, puffins, sea lions and, with luck, humpback whales and orcas.
Day 4: Talkeetna
Head north through the Matanuska Valley and the foothills of the Alaska Range. You reach Talkeetna, a timber-built pioneer village frozen in time and the historic base camp for climbers setting out for Denali.
Day 5: Talkeenta
Free day in Talkeetna. Wander down Main Street, walk out to the confluence of the three rivers, and take in the view over the Alaska Range on a clear day.
Suggestion (not included): a flightseeing tour over Denali, North America's highest peak at 6,190 metres, with the option of a glacier landing. Subject to availability and weather conditions.
Day 6: Fairbanks
North again on the Parks Highway, through spruce forest and wide-open country. You arrive in Fairbanks, a city born of the gold rush, at the gateway to the Arctic Circle.
Day 7: Fairbanks
Free day in Fairbanks and its surroundings.
Suggestions (not included): a soak in the Chena Hot Springs, out in the wild an hour's drive away; the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska and its collection devoted to the state's Native peoples; or a paddlewheel riverboat cruise along the Chena River.
Day 8: Denali Area
Drive back south to Denali National Park. Take time to get your bearings around the park entrance, with its freely accessible trails and viewpoints over the Alaska Range.
Day 9: Denali Area
Free day in the Denali area.
Suggestion (not included): the park bus, the only way to travel the interior park road. Six million acres of tundra, home to grizzly bears, caribou, moose and wolves. The route is subject to change depending on park road conditions.
Day 10: Anchorage
A final leg south to Anchorage, with the peaks of the Alaska Range as a backdrop. Free evening in town for last-minute shopping and a farewell meal of wild salmon or king crab.
Day 11: Anchorage – Departure
Return your rental car at Anchorage airport and board your flight home.
