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RSAN01 Alaskan Nature Escape - Rail & Drive Tour from Anchorage

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  • Code: RSAN01

RSAN01 Alaskan Nature Escape - Rail & Drive Tour from Anchorage

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From North to South, experience Alaska with the Best! An adventure by rail and road across central Alaska is a great way to discover Alaska’s grand scenic beauty. Board in Anchorage the last full-service railroad in North America and choose between the “Adventure Class” seating in the one-storey railway car or the “Deluxe Dome Railcar” on board the Alaska Railroad or with one of the privately operated trains. All train cars feature large panorama windows ensuring unobstructed views around every bend of the majestic beauty of the glaciers, mountains and Alaskan wildlife. Spend two days at Denali National Park which is the natural habitat for many types of wildlife including caribou, moose, wolves, Dall sheep, bald eagles, and the mighty grizzly bears. The next train route leads to Fairbanks, the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, which enjoys 24 hours of daylight during summer. Pick up your rental car and overnight in the quaint town of Talkeetna, located at the confluence of the Chulitna, Susitna and Talkeetna Rivers and known for scenic flightseeing tours to Mt. Denali. Enjoy the drive along the coast to Seward, where we have reserved the scenic Kenai Fjords glacier & wildlife tour for you. Your Alaskan vacation comes to an end in Anchorage. Please read our itinerary to have more detailed day-to-day experience. On request, this trip can be customized and can be organized in reverse order.

  • Itinerary

  • Prices & Dates

  • Attractions & Add-ons

  • Accommodation

  • Rental Car

  • Map

  • Information

  • Reviews

Anchorage ( Overnight: Anchorage )

Arrive in Anchorage during the day. Check in to your hotel in downtown Anchorage. Nestled along the Chugach Mountains, the coastal city of Anchorage is not the frozen tundra of Alaska you might imagine. You will find it’s brimming with activities for the outdoorsy and adventurous. Being the largest city in Alaska, it is rich in indigenous culture; spend your day enjoying the Alaska Native Heritage Center, visiting the Anchorage Museum, or browsing through the Saturday Market. Visit the Lake Hood Floatplane base, go for a walk along the Coastal Train and try out one of Anchorage popular seafood restaurants. With so much of variety of things, for a first time visitor to Alaska or a seasoned traveller, Anchorage has more to offer and is the perfect starting point for your journey into Alaska.

Anchorage – Denali National Park | Rail Tour ( Overnight: Denali Village )

Morning transfer to the railroad station where you'll board the train to Denali National Park. Choose between the standard rail car or the glass-dome compartments with large panorama windows ensuring unobstructed views of snowcapped mountain ranges, pristine scenery and abundant wildlife. Enjoy the comfortable ride as the train takes you via the Matanuska Valley towards the Alaska Range and Mt. Denali. Onboard services feature a restaurant, gift shop and snack bar. Arrive at Denali Village late afternoon. Transfer to your hotel and check into your room. Once you settled take a stroll through Denali Village, join a flightseeing tour, wildwater rafting trip or visit Jeff King’s Husky Homestead Kennel for a personal tour with four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King and his sled dogs.

Denali National Park ( Overnight: Denali Village )

Denali National Park offers excellent wildlife viewing and spectacular sceneries. Pick up your tickets, board the bus and watch out for grizzly bears, moose, caribou, wolf and fox moving along the ridges and river beds. Your driver informs about the history of Denali National Park, its diverse wildlife and flora. Once an animal has been spotted the bus will stop that everyone can watch and take pictures. The bus turns around at Eielson Visitor Center - 66 miles one way/8 hours round trip. You can get off the bus anytime to go for a hike. Return to the Denali Park entrance anytime during the day. Optional: We can extend the transit bus tour to Wonder Lake or exchange to the Tundra Wilderness Tour, Kantishna Wilderness Trails or Backcountry Lodge Tour. Included: Denali Transit Bus to Eielson

Denali National Park – Fairbanks | Rail Tour ( Driving Distance: 130 miles | Overnight: Fairbanks )

Join this morning the sled dog demonstration hosted by Denali Park Rangers or hike around the Denali Visitor Center. Start your drive on the Richardson Highway and stopover at Nenana. Residents sponsor the Nenana Ice Classic, a nature-based lottery. It is a fundraising event in which individuals attempt to guess the exact time the Tanana River ice will break up. Once you get to dig into it more interesting details emerge! Arrive in Fairbanks, the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, which enjoys 24 hr of daylight during summer. This afternoon board the authentic Riverboat Discovery sternwheeler for a cruise along the Chena and Tanana rivers. Highlight is stopover at an Athabascan Indian Village, Susan Butcher's sled dog kennel and a floatplane take off & land.

Fairbanks – Talkeetna | Start Self Drive Tour ( Driving Distance: 270 miles | Overnight: Talkeetna )

Pick up your rental car. Take the Richardson Highway south via Denali National Park towards Talkeetna - the base for most climbing expeditions and spectacular glacier flightseeing activities within the Alaska Mountain Range. Check into your downtown hotel or a beautiful mountain lodge with breathtaking views of Mt. Denali. Optional Tour: Take a flightseeing trip within 6-Miles of Denali's 20.320 ft summit and get a picture perfect view of the Kahiltna and Ruth Glacier with its Great Gorge - over 9.000 ft deep - as well as onto magnificent ice-falls. Another highlight will be an adventurous glacier landing at the 5600 foot level of the Ruth Glacier, located in the Sheldon Amphitheater. A leisure trip is the jet boat safari on the Susitna, Talkeetna and Chulitna Rivers.

Talkeetna – Seward ( Driving Distance: 240 miles | Overnight: Seward )

Your road trip continues past Anchorage where you will join the Seward Highway - offering incomparable vistas of fjords, glaciers and mountains as you follow the Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm. Arrive in Seward, a small fishing town at the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park. Kenai Fjords is named for the numerous fjords carved by glaciers moving down the mountains from the ice field. The field is the source of at least 38 glaciers, the largest of which is Bear Glacier. This afternoon you have time to visit Exit Glacier. Short trails lead to the edge of the glacier where you take a good photo in front of glacier ice. You may spend some time at the Alaska SeaLife Center – the world’s first cold water marine search institute. Enjoy a delicious seafood dinner overlooking Seward's boat harbor.

Seward ( Overnight Seward )

Board the stable catamaran for a spectacular cruise deep into Kenai Fjords National Park with actively "calving" glaciers and magnificent scenery. Covering 110-miles, the trip is narrated by a Park Ranger, who is highly adept at spotting wildlife and pointing out sights. Kenai Fjords showcase the best of Alaska’s marine world in a compact package. Kittiwakes, puffins and other seabirds nest along cliff faces just above the swells. Sea otters float belly-up eating mussels while Harbor seals haul out on icebergs off Aialik and Northwestern Glacier. Look out for Steller sea lions on Chiswell Island as well as Humpback and killer whales. After reaching the tidewater glacier, guests witness "glacier calving" a process by which glaciers shed giant slabs of ancient ice. Included: Kenai Fjords Glacier Cruise

Seward – Anchorage | End Self Drive Tour

Spend some time in the morning at the Alaska SeaLife Center – the world's largest and first cold water marine search institute with wildlife rehabilitation and public education facilities, try some outstanding halibut or salmon fishing within Resurrection Bay, book a half day kayak tour from Lowell Point to Holgate Glacier or hike the scenic Exit Glacier Trail - the choice is yours ! Take the Seward Highway north towards Anchorage. Feel free to take a break at the designated photo stops to enjoy the panoramic views over Cook Inlet. Arrive in Anchorage later in the day and drop off your rental car.

Rates in US $ / per Person
Comfort Hotel Category Single Double Triple Quad Child
May 18 - May 31 $3178 $1869 $1469 $1266 $423
June 1 - August 31 $3784 $2198 $1696 $1449 $423
September 1 - September 13 $3192 $1876 $1473 $1268 $423
First Class Hotel Category Single Double Triple Quad Child
May 18 - May 31 $4239 $2520 $2006 $1745 $579
June 1 - August 31 $4952 $2918 $2297 $1987 $579
September 1 - September 13 $4239 $2520 $2006 $1745 $579

What’s included

7 Nights Comfort OR First-Class Accommodation

Hotel and State Taxes

4 Days Midsize Rental Car (For additional Upgrades and Extras Click Here)

Unlimited Free Mileage

Rental Car Licensing Fees

CFC, State & City Rental Car Sales Taxes

One Way Car Rental Fee

Denali Transit Bus Ticket to Eielson Visitor Center

Kenai Fjords Glacier & Wildlife Cruise including lunch

Harbor Tax

Fairbanks & Denali Railroad Station Transfers

Tour Documentation

Sightseeing Information

Railroad Transportation Anchorage – Denali National Park

Railroad Transportation Denali National Park – Fairbanks

Comfort Hotel Category includes Reserved Seats in Standard Adventure Class Train
( upgrade to Dome Car Train is available for $280.00 per person )

First Class Hotel Category includes Reserved Seats in Upper Level Panorama Dome Car Train,
Priority Check-in & Boarding, Use of Private Outdoor Viewing Platform,
Priority Dining Room Seating, Enhanced Reclining Seats

Tour Departures

Daily  from  May  18th  –  September  13th

Denali: Exchange Transit Bus Tour to Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour

The fully narrated 62-mile Tundra Wilderness Tour into Denali National Park is led by a certified naturalist driver/guide who will also provide historical and geographical background of the area. The tour will last approximately eight to nine hours and includes ample photo and rest stops. When your tour driver is able, he/she will take video footage of animals along Park Road and project these images onto drop-down video screens, featured only our specially designed tour buses. This way you can get a close-up look at the roadside action. At the end of the tour, you’ll have the opportunity to purchase a “Tundra Wilderness Tour” DVD, which will feature some of the video footage shot from your tour! Guests cannot switch buses throughout the day (only the Denali Transit Bus allows this).

More Details & Pricing

Denali: Exchange Transit Bus Tour to Denali Backcountry Adventure Bus Tour

The Denali Backcountry Adventure Tour is another premier Denali Park Wildlife bus excursion. This full-day, 13-hour tour travels 95 miles in each direction to the Denali Backcountry Lodge in Kantishna. You'll travel by private bus with a trained naturalist driver/guide giving interpretation along the way helping you search for bear, moose, caribou and other wildlife while pointing out the biology and geology of the region. Several photo and rest stops will be made. Snacks, drinks and lunch are provided. Lunch is served at the exclusive Denali Backcountry Lodge in Kantishna. Lunch consists of a sandwich bar, soups, fruits, snacks, fresh baked goods and non-alcoholic drinks. After lunch try your luck at gold panning near the lodge or take a guided nature walk before returning to the Park entrance.

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Fairbanks: Guided Arctic Circle Van Tour

On this tour you will travel from Fairbanks along the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle in the Brooks Mountain Range. Enjoy the first-hand experience of the Earth’s northernmost circle of latitude in one of our climate-controlled vans. Here, in the summer, the sky is completely light for 24 hours a day! Travel along the famous Dalton Highway and spot wildlife (no guarantee) as you cross the Yukon River. When you arrive, learn about the area’s indigenous culture, take a walk with your guide, snap photos of the arctic landscape, and enjoy lunch amidst the incredible surroundings. You’ll take home an official Arctic Circle certificate to commemorate this amazing Alaska experience.

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Fairbanks: Riverboat Discovery Sternwheeler Cruise

If you've ever read Mark Twain you know of his days as a riverboat captain. Did you know that Jack London was a riverboat pilot as well? Here's your chance to experience the adventure these renowned writers enjoyed as you cruise aboard the authentic sternwheeler riverboat Discovery II, rated the number one boat tour in North America. Enjoy a lively narration as you view a trapper's cabin, log homes, and a bush pilot performance. Visit the home of four time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher, as you pass Trail Breaker Kennels along the Chena River. Learn first hand about kennel life and the challenges that go into making a champion dogsled team. You'll make a stop at the historic site of a Chena Indian village to see native crafters in action and to learn abut Native Alaskan hunting and fishing at an Athabascan Fish Camp.

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Talkeetna: Denali Flightseeing Tour with optional Glacier Landing

The 1 hr Denali flightseeing tour takes you within six miles of Mt. Denali's summit. As your flight departs Talkeetna, you begin to notice how the last ice age has shaped the land. Moments later you enter a world of rugged high mountain peaks and wide glacier filled valleys. See the Sheldon Amphitheater, beautiful Ruth Glacier, and the Great Gorge (the world's deepest - almost 2 miles from top to bottom). Add a glacier landing to your flightseeing tour for a one-of-a-kind expedition. Passengers land usually at the 5600 foot level of the Ruth Glacier, located in the Sheldon Amphitheater. Other popular landing spots are the Kahiltna, the Pika, or the Eldridge glaciers. A glacier landing takes an additional 30 minutes (15 minutes of time exploring on foot and 15 minutes for landing and takeoff).

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Seward: Extend Kenai Fjords Cruise to Northwestern Fjords Cruise

The premium 8 1/2 hrs Kenai Fjords Cruise covers magnificent Northwestern Fjord - the home to three amazing tidewater glacier, hanging alpine glacier, abundant wildlife such as Orca Whales, Steller Sea Lions, playful Sea Otters, Bald Eagles, Puffins and of course the magnificent scenery. On this tour we travel futher into Kenai Fjords National Park than most other daily cruise tour operators. In addition we visit the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and Chiswell Island's seabird rookeries within Resurrection Bay. Make sure you bring your camera to photograph the abundant marine and coastal wildlife, many types of sea birds and the untouched beauty of Alaska's shorelines. Tour includes a light breakfast and hot lunch. Total 150 miles round trip.

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Stephen, Mexico: We just come back home in Mexico and I just write to you to said thanks for the experience that you help us to accomplish, me and my family were surprised for a beautiful country and a cherry on the cake was the wildlife tour at Denali Park.