ALASKA trip

If Alaska isn’t already on your bucket list, go ahead and add it rightttt now.

We went to Alaska in June 2024 and I dream about going back again (or a few more times). One of my bucket list items is to visit all 50 states, so this crossed off a big one. I’ve talked to quite a few people who want to go someday, and I got a ton of recs from other people who have been, so here’s more info on everything we did (it’s a long one)!

We went for two weeks (14 days/13 nights), with two of those being travel days. We went with my parents and chose to go in June because we were celebrating my mom’s birthday, and my husband and I were celebrating our first wedding anniversary. The first half our of trip was spent on land, and the second half was on a cruise. We booked the 10-Day Double Denali tour on the Nieuw Amsterdam with Holland America. A big reason for us choosing HA over some of the other cruise lines is because it was slightly smaller, and I never really found it to be crowded (which was SO nice… call me an old soul). I loved everything we did and wouldn’t have changed a thing, esp. for it being our first time visiting Alaska. Not sure if this is widely known, but we ended up booking the Holland America part through Costco — we got a big gift card for doing so!

As a quick overview, day 1 was our travel day from RDU to Anchorage. We spent days 2-4 driving around in our rental car exploring different towns + places on land, joined our tour through Holland America on days 5-6 to explore Denali, travelled to the cruise ship on day 7, and spent days 8-14 on the ship, exploring Alaska from the coast. We ended the trip in Vancouver (which ended up being a nightmare for us — lol).

Alaska is without a doubt a bucket list trip that everyone should have on their list, and I definitely feel like it needs to be explored from the water, at least once. If and when we go back — because I already can’t wait to go back someday — I’d love to spend the entire time on land, exploring more towns, because there’s just soo much more in Alaska to see (also not a big fan of cruises… been there done that, one & done for me).

Day 1: Monday, June 17 - travel day (our 1st Anniversary!)

Left RDU @ 3pm, had a layover in Minneapolis, landed in Anchorage @ 9:15pm (1:15am EST), then picked up our rental car. It was late when we got there, but I liked not having to rush that morning and not having to “waste” an entire day on the plane. It was CRAZY to see the sun still up that late at night!! Even though I was so tired from only running on 3 hours of sleep & being up for 20 hours, I somehow was still less tired from seeing the sun still out that late at night. This blew my mind the whole trip.
AirBnB (highly recommend!): https://www.airbnb.com/l/bZIGFTdU

Day 2: Tuesday, June 18 - Anchorage

Explored downtown Anchorage, stocked up on souvenirs here (lots of inexpensive stores), grabbed lunch at a food stand called Tia’s, located outside of the federal building. Got the bratwurst + reindeer and it was really good!
Hiked at Flattop Mountain (easy, quick hike with gorgeous views, ~30 min. drive from downtown Anchorage. Parking was $5 when we went).
Dinner: Moose’s Tooth Pizza — I got the margarita pizza with their draft cream soda. My old neighbor who’s from AK recommended this place (it also has over 11,000 reviews on Google and was at the top of many other restaurant recs for the area).
Sunset at Lake Hood (at 10pm!) — soo many sea planes here.
Another rec I had on my list but we didn’t get a chance to go to was Kincaid Park, which is evidently known for its moose population, so check it out if you want to see some moose!
ALSO, fun fact… Anchorage used to be under a glacier tens of thousands of years ago annnnd glaciers are composed of snow that fell *centuries* ago, so kinda crazy to see & think about that in person.

Day 3: Wednesday, June 19 - Anchorage to Seward

We checked out of our AirBnB in the morning and made the drive to Seward, which was just over two hours (longer for us since we stopped multiple times). There was also some traffic we got stuck in for road work — I think summer is the main time for it due to the snow. Along the way, we stopped at Beluga Point (didn’t see any whales) and Turnagain Arm (known for a single wave only twice a day but missed it). We also stopped at Portage Lake, which was one of the prettiest views I’ve ever seen. I found this location just by looking on Apple Maps and seeing where else we could possibly stop, and it turned out great. It was beyond gorgeous, and the only other group of people there who took our picture actually went to UNC… definitely felt like a small world. Kenai Lake was another place we stopped at, which was right before Seward. We found a boat ramp off Quartz Creek Road where we were able to get out and go to the water. We met some guy from Hawaii there who also took our picture for us. This was pretty, but not as pretty as Portage Lake IMO. The last place we stopped at was along the Resurrection River at a viewing point off Herman Leirer Road in Seward, right past the KOA, on our way to the Seavey’s Ididaride dog sled tour. This was another gorgeous spot that’s a must-see that I found just from looking at the maps!
Seavey’s Ididaride dog sled tour - definitely recommend! Such a cool experience and you could tell the dogs truly love what they do. They could not wait to go out on the trails. They only had one puppy when we went, but usually have more!
Dinner: Salmon Bake Restaurant — this was right across the street from our hotel and was one of the top recommendations - we’d definitely go back! I got the seafood chowder.
- other overall food recommendations I heard about before going were salmon, rockfish & halibut! They were all on our list of things to get while in AK.
Stay: Spruce Lodge, Seward, AK (would stay here again… we weren’t there long but it was new & nice!)

Day 4: Thursday, June 20 - Seward to Anchorage

Checked out of hotel and drove to Exit Glacier (15 min. drive). I want to say it was about a two mile hike to the overlook and back. There were lots of people, but it wasn’t too crowded. There were trails, but also some rocks you had to climb up. It took us about 3 hours. On our way back from the overlook, we made our way down to the outwash plain (saw some others walking down there) and walked back that way. Along the way, as well as driving to the parking lot, there’s signs with years on them which represent where the glacier was in that given year. ALSO, I took a small bag of black sand from here, buttttt I left it in my carry-on the whole time, so it got confiscated during our *chaotic* time at the Vancouver airport.
After our hike at Exit Glacier, we drove into Seward. We got a quick lunch at Zudy’s Cafe, drove through Lowell Point (south of Seward), then started the drive back to Anchorage, where we were joining the Holland America part of our trip.
- other recs I had on our list for Seward (ran out of time): Waterfront Park and Tonsina Trail (must pay to park)
Once we got back into Anchorage, I really wanted to stop at a Fred Meyers — it’s like an “everything” store. The one we stopped at was a nicer, bigger & better version of Walmart. There truly was everything you could ever need all in one store.
After that, we checked into the Holland American hotel (Westmark Anchorage) & returned the rental car.
Dinner: 49th State Brewing (walking distance, lots of recommendations to go here so it was crowded)

everythinggg we had here was really good… the crispy cauliflower, handmade Bavarian pretzel, buffalo meatloaf, and the world-famous yak burger.

Since we were taking the train to Denali Natl. Park the next morning, all the luggage had to go on trucks since it wouldn’t all fit on the train, so we had to have all luggage outside of our rooms super early in the AM. Some people put them out the night before, but I was not about that. We were able to bring a small bag / carry-on with us on the train.

Day 5: Friday, June 21 - Anchorage to Denali Natl. Park

This was one of my favorite days of the trip, if not my top favorite. We took the McKinley Explorer dome train (exclusive for Holland America) from Anchorage to Denali National Park. There were also a few train cars for the Princess Cruises passengers — their hotel was right near ours in Denali. This was a full day excursion, from around 9am-5pm. Everyone sat upstairs, while the dining/bathrooms/outside areas were downstairs. I LOVED being able to stand outside, esp. at the back of the train! Luckily our train car was closer to the end too, so we didn’t need to cut through so many cars to get to the back. They served breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks (all extra $, not included in cost of tickets). For breakfast, I got the fisherman’s spread, which had Alaska smoked salmon, then got the bison chili and chips & salsa for a snack. Later on I also got the spiked hot chocolate. Once we arrived, charter buses took us on a quick ride to the hotel (McKinley Chalet, owned by Holland America).
Dinner: Karsten’s Public House — on-site at the McKinley Chalet (try the asparagus fries!). There was live music outside, and after dinner, we walked to the river and along the short trail next to the river. It reminded me of Yellowstone!

This was during the summer solstice, which is even crazier to be in Alaska for. The sunset was at 12:20AM and the sunrise was at 3:35AM (!!!) I knew it stayed light in AK in the summer, but I didn’t really realize that meant it only set for three hours…

Day 6: Saturday, June 22 - Denali Natl. Park

We started the day with a hike at Horseshoe Lake & took a natl. park bus from the hotel to the trailhead. The trail was steep, but it wasn’t too long and it was mainly gravel. The best part of this hike was seeing a moose in the water. We had an excursion in the park through HA that got canceled, but they gave us a new tour that was shorter (Nature Bus Tour), which gave us more free time in the morning. On the tour, we drove further into the park, had a local guide, saw some mountain goats, and gorgeoussss views.
Other recs I had on my list that we didn’t get to: husky homestead & the Savage River in the park.

the one road that goes even further into the park has been closed the past few years due to a landslide (Pretty Rocks Landslide @ MM 43) and is expected to stay closed through 2026.

Dinner: Canyon Steakhouse (I recommend the fish & chips and their root beer/cream soda!)
one week after we left Denali, the Riley Fire started & shut down the train, the park entrance, the HA hotel & more, so we lucked out on our timing!

Day 7: Sunday, June 23 - Denali to Whittier (board cruise)

This entire day was spent on the road from Denali Natl. Park to Whittier, where the cruise was. We had about an 8 hour charter bus ride (8am-4pm), with a hour-long stop for lunch (sandwich buffet) at Settlers Bay Lodge in Wasilla. There were a handful of other HA charter buses of everyone else going to the ship, so it was a little crowded at lunch. Overall, it wasn’t a bad trip and the day passed by pretty quickly. Once we got closer to Whittier, we had to wait at the super long (2.5 miles) one-lane tunnel (with train tracks running through it) to actually get into Whittier. Once the bus got to the port, it only took us about 15-20 minutes to get through security and to our room. We stayed on the 5th floor, mid-ship, with a balcony (10000% worth it). Again, since this was our first cruise, we were prepared for seasickness with those patches, wristbands, medicine, etc. but thankfully didn’t really experience anything, and I think the location of our room helped with this.
- I had flowers delivered to my parent’s room for my mom’s birthday & they turned out so pretty!

Day 8: Monday, June 24 - cruised Hubbard Glacier

This entire day was spent cruising to Hubbard Glacier, which we were stopped at from 3-6pm. It was cold and kinda cloudy, so we sat outside with blankets that they provided. They always kept the blankets stocked outside.
As for food on the ship, we had most meals at the Lido Market. They had a mix of everything at different food stations. Service was fast and you could sit wherever. It occasionally got pretty crowded and was hard to find a table, but that was usually when we went during the busier times for dinner (like right at 6pm).
Some food recs I had on my list that were specific to HA was the banana pudding and MTO crepes, but I never ended up getting either of these while we were on the ship.
Dinner: Dining Room (this was fancier and was at the back of the ship so we had a good view, but it was a lil wavy, so I was starting to struggle)

Day 9: Tuesday, June 25 - Glacier Bay

This day was spent cruising to Glacier Bay, which we were at from around 11:30am-2pm, then onto Skagway. It was sunny and warmer, but still cold by the glacier. They opened the front deck which gave us a great view, but it did get crowded, so we went back to our balconies after about an hour and were able to see the glacier from there since they turn the ship 360. Also saw a bunch of sea otters & were able hear ice falling off (~ calving ~) from the glacier.
This was also my mom’s birthday! On top of the flowers I had delivered, I also decorated her room the night before, and had chocolate covered strawberries delivered that day.
Dinner: Pinnacle Grill (the candied bacon is a must. I also got the baked Alaska bc it’s a must in Alaska, but I didn’t really like it). After dinner, we walked around the ship and watched the sunset.

Day 10: Wednesday, June 26 - Skagway

We were in Skagway from 7am-8pm. For breakfast, we did room service since we were tight on time and had to make it to our 10:15am excursion. We also had to take the tenders to & from the ship bc there was a rockslide, so we didn’t have dock access. There were 5 ships in port this day, so it was crowded.
10:15am White Pass Summit Railroad - this was about 2.5/3 hours total. We sat on the left side & were able to see everything going up. You’re able to walk outside on the train cars, but it was much different (smaller, tighter, sketchier) from the McKinley Explorer going to Denali.
Food: Skagway Brewing Company (recommend: halibut fish & chips, gold rush Alaskan root beer, soft pretzel)

Skagway IMO is an extremely touristy town (reasonably so), but still cute like a hallmark movie. We saw some eagles here in the trees once we were back on the ship… their heads look like big golf balls.
Dinner: Lido Market

Day 11: Thursday, June 27 - Juneau

We were in Juneau (Alaska’s capital) from around 8am-5pm. We didn’t have anything booked this day, but we knew we wanted to go to the Mendenhall Glacier & Nugget Falls. When we got off the ship, we stopped at the “tour stations” by the port that all sell tickets to everything you can do there. My mom was able to negotiate between a few companies (it helped that we were like the first people there, so they were willing to work with us). We ended up getting trolly tickets for $55/person (+ a $20 tip for the driver) to the glacier and back. It was about a 20-minute drive.
Mendenhall Glacier + Nugget Falls (highly recommend) - this is an easy, flat trail that’s about two miles r/t. The bus picked us up from the port at 9:15am and dropped us back off at 12:15pm, so we had three hours there. Two months later in August, it flooded really bad, similar to the big flood in 2023, so we again lucked out on our timing.
Lunch: Tracy’s King Crab Shack; an absolute must but get ready to spend a lottt. The crab legs in the pics below (+ a drink) were like $70 (but so worth it).
other top recs I had for food that we didn’t try: Alaska Brewhouse (fish & chips) & the Red Dog Saloon
After lunch, we walked around town, watched a bunch of seaplanes / floatplanes, then went back to the ship to sit out on the deck. It was super warm and really nice out!
- fun fact: we heard the most haunted buildings in town are the Alaskan Hotel & the Juneau Drugstore. also Juneau is only accessible by plane or boat!
- other recs that we didn’t do: Mount Robert’s Tramway & the Gold Creek Flume Trail

Day 12: Friday, June 28 - Ketchikan

Our last stop was in Ketchikan, from around 11:00am to 7:00pm. It was cloudy and cold, and we didn’t have any excursions planned. We walked to Creek Street, walked in the stores (Sam McGee’s has a lot of locally made things), and saw bears over there too (another trip highlight)! After that, we walked downtown, went into a few more stores, and got some chocolate covered Oreos at Ketchicandies (had lots of recs to go here). For lunch, we stopped at the Alaska Fish House, then went back to the ship and played pickleball + basketball.
- other recs that we didn’t do: Misty Fjords (cruise or boat only), Rainbird Trail (hike), Settlers Cove Rec Area (to see bear)
- more fun facts: Ketchikan is Alaska’s first city, has the highest numbered zip code in the US (99901), and has the only pink US federal building, which represents Ketchikan being the salmon capital of the world.

Day 13: Saturday, June 29 - cruised the inside passage

Our last full day was spent cruising the inside passage on our way to Vancouver. It was a cloudy & cold day, so we didn’t do much, but we did see some whales at the end of the day (yet *another* trip highlight). Later this night when we were packing, we got a notification that our flight the next night had been canceled due to the WestJet strikes at the time (my rec = stick to Air Canada)

Day 14: Sunday, June 30 - Vancouver

gonna preface this that this day could’ve been much worse, but having been gone for two weeks & feeling like we were STUCK in another country, it felt like a nightmare & I have no desire to go back to Vancouver because of it :)
7:00am - ship arrived & we got off ourselves with our luggage. I haven’t done it the other way (have HA get luggage, wait for group to get called off), but this seemed sooo much easier just to have all of our stuff with us, rather than having to wait. We got off, went through customs, then stored our luggage with Grayline. Holland America also offers airport transfer / luggage holding as an “excursion” you can book. We went through Grayline because our flight wasn’t supposed to leave until later, so we wanted to explore the city.
Vancouver tour - we took a guided bus tour, as it was the best way to see the city on a tight timeline. This included Stanley Park and a few other places. We honestly couldn’t even focus though because we were so busy trying to find new flights home.
Flights back to RDU were either early in the morning or late at night. We chose to do a red eye and have the day in Vancouver rather than rushing off the cruise to get to the airport. Either way, we were screwed because our flight was with West Jet, which conveniently went on strike, canceling basically all flights. We even tried booking a rental car to Seattle, but there were either no cars available, or ones that were $800+ for a one-way trip. It was a looong battle with WestJet at the airport, but after a few hours, Tristan and I were able to run & make it onto one plane and landed in RDU Monday morning, while my parents got on a later flight, had a layover in LAX where they spent the night, then landed in RDU Monday night.
other recs that we clearly didn’t get to: Capilano Bridge & the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

If you got this far, THANK YOU! It only took me a whole year to put together, but I hope it’s helpful to others who might be planning a trip to Alaska!!

BANNER ELK, NC