Planning a trip to Anchorage
Orientation
Many visitors never make it beyond the downtown area, the old-fashioned grid of streets at the northwest corner of town where the high-rise hotels and gift shops are located. Street numbers and letters work on a simple pattern, and navigation is easy. Beyond downtown, most of Anchorage is oriented to commercial strips, and you'll need a map to find your way. It's easy to orient yourself, because you can always see the huge Chugach Mountains on the east side of the Anchorage bowl. Some parts of greater Anchorage are in distinct communities outside the bowl, including Eagle River and Eklutna, within half an hour on the Glenn Highway to the northeast, and Girdwood and Portage, on the Seward Highway, 45 minutes to the south. The suburban Matanuska and Susitna valleys (known as Mat-Su) lie an hour north of the city on the Glenn and Parks highways.
Visitor Information
The Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau, 524 W. 4th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501-2212 (tel. 907/276-4118; fax 907/278-5559; www.anchorage.net), offers information on the city and the entire state at its centers and extensive website (the site even has a feature to allow visitors to ask questions of staffers by e-mail). The main location is the Log Cabin Visitor Information Center, downtown at 4th Avenue and F Street (tel. 907/274-3531; open daily June-Aug 7:30am-7pm, May and Sept 8am-6pm, Oct-Apr 9am-4pm). If it's crowded, go to the storefront office right behind it. You'll also find visitor information desks at the airport: one tucked under the main escalators on the baggage claim level of the domestic terminal and in the international terminal.
The Alaska Public Lands Information Center, located at 605 W. 4th Ave. (across the intersection from the log cabin at 4th and F), Ste. 105, Anchorage, AK 99501 (tel. 866/869-6887 or 907/644-3661; www.alaskacenters.gov; open daily 9am-5pm in summer, Mon-Fri 10am-5pm in winter), can help anyone planning to spend time outdoors anywhere in Alaska. Exhibits in the grand room with high ceilings -- the building was a 1930s post office and federal courthouse -- orient visitors to Alaska's geography and outdoor activities and make an excellent starting point for your trip. The center is well worth passing through the federal security checkpoint at the entrance. Free walking tours are at 11am and 2:30pm daily.
Getting Around
By Rental Car
Driving is the most practical way for most independent travelers to tour the main part of Alaska, and the location of Anchorage at the hub of transportation networks makes it the handiest place to start. Having a car vastly improves a visit to Anchorage, as the city is spread out and public transportation and taxi service are far less practical. Most major car-rental companies operate in Anchorage, largely from the car-rental facility next to the main terminal at the airport. A compact car for $50 a day, with unlimited mileage, is a bargain. Taxes and airport fees add as much as 40% to the rental price. You can cut that approximately in half by renting off-site. One agency with a downtown location is Avis, at 5th Avenue and B Street (tel. 800/230-4898 or 907/277-4567; www.avis.com). If you're not interested in driving around Anchorage, you may also be able to save time and money by flying on to your next destination, such as Kenai or Fairbanks, and renting the car there. Use a website to comparison-shop with taxes and fees included. In any case, reserve ahead, as cars can sell out in summer.
Car Wheels on Gravel Roads -- Contracts for most car-rental agencies do not allow vehicles on gravel roads, and none of the name-brand companies' agreements does. Pavement will get you to all the major places tourists go, but some magnificent back roads are unpaved, such as the Denali Highway or McCarthy Road. Violating the rental contract places you at risk of paying out of pocket for repairs and the rental agency's lost business if the car is damaged. In Anchorage, High Country Car and Truck Rental (tel. 888/685-1155 or 907/562-8078; www.highcountryanchorage.com) does rent for use on gravel highways (although not the Dalton Hwy.). They rent one-way to Seward and Whittier, too, for the convenience of cruise or train passengers. I've also located a couple of agencies in Fairbanks that offer the service.
By Rental RV
Several large RV-rental agencies operate in Anchorage. High-season rates for a midsize unit are around $1,610 to $1,820 a week, plus the large amount of fuel RVs use and taxes; a truck camper (the kind of unit that is on a pickup truck) rents for close to $200 a day. ABC Motorhome Rentals, 3875 Old International Airport Rd. (tel. 800/421-7456 or 907/279-2000; www.abcmotorhome.com), charges no mileage fee.
By Bus
In a city as spread out as Anchorage, city buses will always be a slower and less convenient choice than cabs or rental cars, but the People Mover system (tel. 907/343-6543; www.peoplemover.org) is well run and perfectly practical for destinations that are served by direct routes from downtown. A new website (http://bustracker.muni.org/InfoPoint) uses a map to track the exact location of each bus and the actual time it will arrive at any stop, making the system easy to use for a novice. Bus fares all over town are $1.75 for adults; $1 for ages 5 to 18; 50¢ for those 60 and older, those with disabilities, or those with a valid Medicare card; free ages 4 and under. The transit center bus depot is at 6th Avenue and G Street. Buses generally come every half-hour, hourly on weekends; you will need to go online and figure out your route and timing in advance.
By Bike
The network of bike trails is a great way to see the best side of Anchorage, but not a practical means of point-to-point transportation for most people. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail starts right downtown. Good street bikes are usually for rent near Elderberry Park downtown, at the start of the Coastal Trail, from Pablo's Bike Rental, a booth in the parking lot near the corner of 5th and L (tel. 907/250-2871; www.pablobicyclerentals.com). Rates are $12 for 3 hours, $30 for a day. A bike-rental shop with a wide choice of equipment is in the blue 4th Avenue Marketplace at 4th and C: Downtown Bicycle Rental (tel. 907/279-5293; www.alaska-bike-rentals.com). Rates start at $16 for 3 hours, $4 each additional hour, max $32 per day. The shop also carries tandems, kids' bikes, and trailers, and clip in shoes and pedals for advanced cyclists. The shop also offers a hikers' shuttle to the Glen Alps parking lot, the trail head for Flattop Mountain.
Fast Facts
Banks -- A bank is rarely far away, and all grocery stores and gas stations also have ATMs.
Hospitals -- Alaska Regional Hospital is at 2801 DeBarr Rd. (tel. 907/276-1131; www.alaskaregional.com), and Providence Alaska Medical Center is at 3200 Providence Dr. (tel. 907/562-2211; www.providence.org).
Internet Access -- Downtown, get online at Kaladi Brothers Coffee, with Wi-Fi and public terminals, at 6th Avenue and G Street, in the base of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. It's also a comfortable and popular coffee hangout.
Police -- The Anchorage Police Department has main offices at 4501 Elmore Rd., south of Tudor Road; for a nonemergency, call tel. 907/786-8500. For nonemergency police business outside the city, call the Alaska State Troopers, 5700 E. Tudor Rd. (tel. 907/269-5511).
Post Office -- Downtown, it's downstairs in the 4th Avenue Marketplace at D Street.
Taxes -- There's no sales tax in Anchorage. The bed tax is 12%.
When to Go
The Anchorage Folk Festival (tel. 907/529-7383; www.anchoragefolkfestival.org), January 19 to January 29, 2012, imports musicians and shows off local talent in free concerts, workshops, and jam sessions, as well as four guest musician dances that raise money for the festival. Check the website for times and venues.
The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous Festival (tel. 907/274-1177; www.furrondy.net), February 24 through March 4, 2012, is a winter celebration started in 1935 and recently rejuvenated with creative, youthful events such as the exciting and funny Running of the Reindeer, an event like the Pamplona Running of the Bulls, but far safer for all involved, since reindeer are notably gentle animals. The Native Arts Market, the biggest and best in the state, should not be missed, and there are many community events as well: a parade, fireworks, a carnival, craft fairs, snowshoe softball, dog-sled rides, and so on. The Rondy's traditional centerpiece (global warming permitting) is the speedy World Champion Sled Dog Race, a 3-day sprint event of about 25 miles per heat. In addition, the last weekend of the festival coincides with the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (tel. 907/376-5155; www.iditarod.com). The Iditarod, long Alaska's biggest winter event, brings in a flood of visitors who link seeing the race with winter sports and festivals in Anchorage. On the weekend of the start, the streets of Anchorage fill with foreign languages, as European visitors come in disproportionate numbers. The Iditarod begins from Anchorage the first Saturday in March (in 2012, Mar 3) and then proceeds in trucks to the restart the next day in the Mat-Su Valley for the 1,000-mile run to Nome.
The Anchorage Market & Festival is a big street fair and farmer's market held every weekend from mid-May through mid-September at 3rd Avenue and E Street (tel. 907/272-5634; www.anchoragemarkets.com).
The Alaska State Fair (tel. 907/745-4827; www.alaskastatefair.org), which culminates a 12-day run on Labor Day each year, is the biggest event in the area. It takes place in Palmer, 40 miles north of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway. It's a locally oriented state fair, with rides, booths, exhibits, contests, fireworks, and live music. Much of which you would expect, but for the vegetables. The good soil and long days in the Matanuska Valley around Palmer boost their growth to massive size, the stuff of childhood nightmares. Cabbages are the size of bean-bag chairs. A mere beach-ball-size cabbage would be laughed off the stage. And it's not just the 125-pound cabbages. Imagine a 19-pound carrot, 35-pound broccoli, 43-pound beet, 63-pound celery, or 76-pound rutabaga (all records from the fair, among others you can check out on the website). The flower gardens are amazing, too, although not in the same way. Note that on the weekends, the fair ties up traffic between Palmer and Anchorage, so it's wise to go early or midweek, if possible. The Alaska Railroad runs a passenger car between the Anchorage Depot and a terminal at the fairgrounds on certain days.
The Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout basketball tournament (tel. 907/786-1293; www.goseawolves.com), hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage, brings college men's and women's teams from all over the nation to the Sullivan Arena over Thanksgiving weekend and the preceding week.
The Anchorage International Film Festival (www.anchoragefilmfestival.org) has grown in a decade into a major event, with as many as a dozen screenings for 2 weeks starting in early December. The films come from every corner of the world and include the obscure and bizarre, as well as the profound.
Getting There
By Plane
You'll probably get to Anchorage at the start of your trip by air, as the city receives by far the most flights linking Alaska to the rest of the world, on many airlines. The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is a major hub. Seattle has the most frequent flights connecting to Anchorage, with numerous domestic carriers flying nonstop all day. Within Alaska, most flights route through here, even for communities that are much closer to each other than they are to Anchorage. Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/252-7522; www.alaskaair.com) is the dominant carrier for Alaska destinations and the only jet operator to most Alaska cities.
Various commuter carriers link Anchorage to rural destinations not served by jet, offering a convenient, time-saving alternative to driving to communities such as Homer, Kenai, or Valdez. Given the extraordinary taxes and fees imposed on rental cars at the Anchorage airport, you may also save money by flying to these towns and renting there. Era Alaska (tel. 800/866-8394 or 907/266-8394; www.flyera.com) is the state's largest prop carrier, serving more than 100 destinations from the Gulf of Alaska to the Arctic. Tickets can be booked through Alaska Airlines on some code-share routings.
Unless your hotel has a courtesy van or you rent a car, a taxi is probably the best way to get downtown from the airport. A taxi ride downtown from the airport runs $18 to $20. Try Alaska Yellow Cab (tel. 907/222-2222). Shuttle vans serve the airport, with arrangements changing frequently. Ask at the visitor information desk in the baggage claim area. The People Mover city bus connects the airport and the downtown transit center hourly. Take Spenard Route 7A (every other Rte. 7 bus on weekdays).
By Car
There's only one road to the rest of the world: the Glenn Highway. It leads through the Mat-Su Valley area and Glennallen to Tok, where it meets the Alaska Highway, 330 miles from Anchorage. Thirty miles out of Anchorage, the Glenn meets the Parks Highway, which leads to Denali National Park and Fairbanks. The only other road out of town, the Seward Highway, leads south to the Kenai Peninsula.
By Bus
Alaska/Yukon Trails (tel. 800/770-7275; www.alaskashuttle.com), a van and minibus service, runs between Anchorage and Fairbanks, with a stop at Denali National Park and Talkeetna. From Fairbanks, they run tours to Dawson City and Whitehorse. In Anchorage they stop at the airport, hostels, and downtown. A one-way ticket to Denali costs $75 and to Fairbanks $99. Various other van and bus services offer transportation to and from Seward, Homer, Talkeetna, Denali National Park, Fairbanks, and other points; options are listed in the sections on each of those places.
By RV
A recreational vehicle is a popular way to explore the region. It's possible to rent in Alaska or to come to Alaska with your own RV without making the time-consuming return trip by shipping your RV back from Anchorage to Tacoma, Washington, and flying to meet it (since southbound ships are relatively empty, you get a special rate). Contact Totem Ocean Trailer Express (tel. 800/234-8683 in Anchorage, or 800/426-0074 in the Lower 48; www.totemocean.com).
In addition, some firms offer one-way rentals beginning or ending in Anchorage. Alaska Motorhome Rentals (tel. 800/323-5757; www.bestofalaskatravel.com) offers several city pairs, allowing visitors to drive one-way from Seattle, to rent after riding the ferry partway, or to rent between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Sample rates: Skagway to Anchorage carries a drop-off fee of $795 to $995, plus the cost of the rental, $209 to $249 a day in the high season, plus mileage (or pay $35 a day for unlimited mileage), gas (budget generously), and tax. Check the website for discounts. The same company has another operation, Alaska Highway Cruises (tel. 800/323-5757), that provides packages to cruise one-way, tour Alaska in an RV, and fly home.
By Rail
The Alaska Railroad (tel. 800/544-0552 or 907/265-2494; www.alaskarailroad.com) connects Anchorage with Seward and Whittier to the south and Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and Talkeetna to the north. It's a fun way to travel, with commentary in the summer, good food, and clean, comfortable cars. However, the train is priced as a tourism excursion and costs more than ordinary transportation. Most trains run only in the summer, but a snowy 12-hour odyssey to Fairbanks runs once a week all winter. The summer fare to Fairbanks is $210 one-way; the winter fare is $159 one-way, $127 for Alaska residents.
