Tour Overview
| Duration | 10 Days / 9 Nights |
|---|---|
| Destination | Alaska — Anchorage, Denali, Valdez, Wrangell-St. Elias, Kenai Fjords |
| Price From | $6,199 per person (twin share) |
| Tour Style | Small Group Ultimate Expedition (max 13) |
| Best Season | June — early September |
| Data Source | Alaskan Tour Guides Grand Explorer / verified 2026 pricing |
Itinerary Highlights
Day 1: Arrive Anchorage
Airport meet and greet. Anchorage orientation tour introducing you to Alaska’s largest city — set between mountains and sea, where moose are so common that city parks have moose-warning signs. Welcome dinner featuring Alaska seafood. Overnight in Anchorage.
Day 2: Hatcher Pass & Independence Mine
Drive into the Talkeetna Mountains through Hatcher Pass (3,886 ft), one of Alaska’s most beautiful alpine drives. Visit Independence Mine State Historical Park — a preserved gold mining operation from the 1930s that once employed 200 miners and produced millions in gold. Walk through the bunkhouses, mess hall, and the mill where ore was crushed and gold extracted. The alpine tundra surrounding the mine bursts with wildflowers (fireweed, lupine, forget-me-nots — Alaska’s state flower) in July and August. Overnight in Palmer.
Day 3: Denali National Park — Into the Wilderness
Drive to Denali National Park. Board the transit bus for a full day exploring the park road — 92 miles into the subarctic wilderness, with stops for wildlife viewing and photography. Grizzly bears, caribou, Dall sheep, moose, and wolves are all possible; your driver-naturalist knows where they tend to be. Overnight at a lodge deep in the park.
Day 4: Denali — Flightseeing & Tundra Hiking
Optional: glacier flightseeing landing on Denali’s Ruth Glacier (the “Great Gorge” — a mile-deep canyon in ice). Afternoon: guided tundra walk — no trails, just the land itself, learning about the remarkably resilient subarctic ecosystem. Overnight in Denali.
Day 5: Richardson Highway to Valdez
One of the great drives of North America. The Richardson Highway runs from Delta Junction through the Alaska Range and along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to Valdez on Prince William Sound. Stop at the Worthington Glacier — you can walk right up to the ice. The drop from Thompson Pass (2,678 ft) to Valdez (sea level) reveals Keystone Canyon with its dramatic waterfalls. Valdez, a town of 3,800, sits on a fjord surrounded by mountains — the “Little Switzerland of Alaska.” Overnight in Valdez.
Day 6: Prince William Sound — Columbia Glacier Cruise
Board a cruise into Prince William Sound. The star is Columbia Glacier, one of Alaska’s most rapidly retreating tidewater glaciers — it has retreated 12 miles since 1982, and the ice-choked fjord is a spectacular maze of icebergs in every shade of blue. The Sound’s wildlife is abundant: sea otters, Steller sea lions, harbor seals on ice floes, humpback whales, and the occasional orca pod. The Sound is also a working waterway — you will see fishing boats, salmon hatcheries, and the terminal of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Overnight in Valdez.
Day 7: Wrangell-St. Elias — America’s Largest National Park
Drive into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park — at 13.2 million acres, it’s larger than Switzerland and the largest U.S. national park, yet receives fewer than 80,000 visitors annually (compared to Yellowstone’s 4 million). The park contains 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the United States, including Mount St. Elias (18,008 ft), and the largest glacial system outside the polar ice caps. Visit the historic copper mining town of Kennicott (abandoned 1938), where the 14-story wooden concentration mill still stands. Walk the streets of McCarthy, a town of about 30 permanent residents, accessible only by a footbridge. Overnight at a wilderness lodge near the park.
Day 8: Kennicott Glacier & Root Glacier Hike
Morning: guided hike on the Root Glacier with crampons provided. Walking on a glacier is a surreal experience — the ice creaks, meltwater streams run blue over the surface, and crevasses reveal layers of compressed snow that fell centuries ago. The views from the glacier of the 5,000-foot vertical walls of the Stairway Icefall are humbling. Afternoon: tour the Kennicott Mill with a park ranger, learning about how copper ore was extracted from the richest known deposit on Earth and transported 196 miles by railroad to Cordova. Overnight at wilderness lodge.
Day 9: Return to Anchorage via Matanuska Glacier
Long but spectacular drive back to Anchorage along the Glenn Highway, with a stop to view Matanuska Glacier — at 27 miles long by 4 miles wide, it’s the largest glacier accessible by road in the United States. Evening: farewell dinner at a classic Anchorage restaurant. Overnight in Anchorage.
Day 10: Departure
Morning at leisure. Transfer to Anchorage Airport. You leave having experienced Alaska at its most comprehensive — from the continent’s highest peak to its largest national park, from tidewater glaciers to gold rush history.
Included
- 9 nights accommodation
- Daily breakfast + 5 dinners
- Alaskan resident guide (max 13 passengers)
- Denali National Park transit bus (full day)
- Prince William Sound Columbia Glacier cruise
- Root Glacier guided hike with equipment
- Wrangell-St. Elias National Park entry
- Kennicott Mill tour
- Independence Mine admission
- Airport transfers
