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Introduction
I have recently done a trip to Anchorage in Alaska in early March 2023, with 2 friends of mine. We were 3 exchange students studying abroad in California. The total trip cost us around ~$850 per person.
This article is a breakdown of how we spent these 4 days.
Alaska is truly an underrated destination for nature lovers. It has beautiful snow mountains and is a perfect place for peace of mind. It really is a spectacular place to visit and doesn’t hold his nickname of “The Last Frontier” for nothing!
None of the links are sponsored, every picture is mine or my friends.
ℹ️ Alaska information
Alaska used to be owned by 🇷🇺 Russia before they sold it to the 🇺🇸 US in 1867 for $7.2 million (equivalent to $151 million in 2022).
They got scammed 💀
Alaska is the largest state in the US with a land area of 1,481,346 km2.
This is huge compared to where I’m from (🇷🇪 Reunion Island), which is only 2,511 km2 wide (589 times bigger!). However Alaska has a population of around ~700,000 compared to ~900,000 for Reunion Island.
So suck it Alaska
🗓️ Alaska in March
We decided to go in the first week of March to enjoy the last bit of winter. During this time the temperature is not as extreme, the daylight hours longer, the auroras still visible, and a festival is going on in Anchorage.
The only “downside” is that we didn’t get to see any bears, as they are hibernating as this time of the year.
We stayed in Anchorage, which is the biggest city in Alaska.
We wanted to spend some time in Fairbanks by taking the Aurora Winter train, which is a day-long train ride (from 8am to 8pm) accross the beautiful Alaskan landscape, but the $250 ticket didn’t fit our budget.
🎒 What we packed
Alaska is, you guessed it, cold! 🥶
Since we stayed for only 4 days, we managed to travel with only our backpacks filled with clothes.
In cold temperatures, you need to dress in layers in order to protect yourself from the elements (snow, rain, wind, cold…).
It’s a bad idea to only wear cotton, trust me 😳 If it gets wet, it stays in contact with your skin, and with the wind blowing and cold temperatures, you’re gonna get fuc***.
It’s important to know these things beforehand, especially if you are from a tropical place like me.
From bottom to top, I wore:
- boots
- a pair of long socks, covered by a pair of long thick socks
- a jogging, covered by 1 ski pants
- a base layer composed of a merino wool shirt
- an insulating layer composed of an undersweater and a sweater
- a shielding layer composed of a good jacket
- a pair of gloves, covered by a pair of mittens
- a scarf
- a beanie
With this fit, you’re gonna love getting dressed for 10 minutes and still feeling cold 😍
💸 Spending summary
| Expense | Price | Price per person (3) |
|---|---|---|
| Transport | $824.67 | $528.22 |
| - Flight ticket | $380.00 | $380.00 |
| - Car rental | $251.00 | $83.67 |
| - Uber | $111.67 | $37.22 |
| - Gas | $82.00 | $27.33 |
| Hotel | $376.68 | $125.56 |
| Activities | $375.00 | $125.00 |
| - Dog sledding | $300.00 | $100.00 |
| - Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center | $75.00 | $25.00 |
| Food | $180.00 | $60.00 |
| Misc. | $15.00 | $5.00 |
| TOTAL | $1,751.55 | $843.78 |
We booked our flight tickets 2 months in advance, at the start of January.
For the hotel, we stayed at Puffin Inn which is close to the airport and offers a free shuttle. Our stay was good and the staff friendly. They allowed us to stay in the lobby while waiting for the returning flight.
We rented a car for the first 2 days and Ubered the last 2. We used Turo which is a car sharing platform between individuals. Getting a heated car is mandatory if you don’t want to freeze to death! I highly recommend renting a car for the entirety of the trip, as I believe the convenience is worth the cost.
We used Tricount to organize our expenses. When someone pays a shared cost, like the hotel for example, (s)he enters the expense on the app and it is automatically split for each member.
At the end of the trip, we just pay back each other according to the app.
🔭 Seeing the auroras
You might find it complicated to understand if you will be able to see auroras when you arrive. There’s no surefire way to know if you’re gonna see them, only probabilities. As a traveller you just want to know if you’re gonna see them at night, not be bothered by making scientific predictions.
The perfect conditions to see the auroras are a clear, dark sky with a high KP index. That means first checking the weather forecast for cloud coverage (lower is better), the current KP Index (higher is better), and then the moon phase (new moon is better). They can be seen as long as it’s dark, but usually from 10pm to 2am.
The Kp index is a measurement of the disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field ranging from 1 to 9. The higher the Kp index, the higher the chance of seeing auroras, and the farther south you may see them. From Anchorage, you can usually see them with a Kp index of 4 or 5. During an extreme event in 1958, the aurora was even visible from Mexico City!
The “official” website for checking the Kp index is managed by the University of Fairbanks. Keep in mind that it’s calculated in Universal Time (UTC), while Anchorage is in Alaska Standard Time in March (UTC -9).There’s probably a tool out there that makes all of this super simple!
🗺️ Itinerary
Interactive map
Here is a map of our itinerary, including our activities and restaurants we visited.
Day 1: Whittier, Byron Glacier, and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
Seward highway
On the first day we drove by the scenic Seward highway heading to Whittier, a small village located behing a mountain that was recommended to us by the staff of our hotel.
To enter Whittier you must pay a fee of $13 per vehicle to go through a tunnel that is sometimes shared by a train. We didn’t know about this at first, which concerned us when the lady at the entrance said “only drive, don’t stop” 😟
Whittier, Alaska
It was one of the coldest places we’ve been, and we learned that every resident of the village live in only one apartment! Every business is open only during summer, so it’s pretty pointless to come here other than visiting.
End of Byron Glacier trail
After that we went hiking Byron Glacier trail. This was a hard trail since our feet kept falling in the snow, making every step a pain. We were disappointed to see that there were no glacier at the end of the trail, but we arrived at an amazing place surrounded by the deadly silence of the towering mountains surrounding us.
ElksWolvesLynx
Then, we went to visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. I am AGAINST zoos and aquariums, but this center takes care of injured animals before releasing them into the wild. They care about protecting the Alaskan wildlife. We got to see wolves, bisons, elks, reindeers, and even a lynx! No bears though 🤷♂️ At night, we tried to see the auroras, but there were too much clouds that day.
Day 2: Dog mushing, Denali State Park, Aurora in Talkeetna
On the second day, we went to visit Denali State Park, a 2 hour drive from Anchorage. We stopped on the way to find toilets, and ended up randomly at the Alaska Dog Center, which offer dog sleding tours! We decided on the spot to give it a go, and were blessed by the excitement of the dogs and the kindness of the staff. I used to have some doubts about dog sledding being somewhat unethical due to the physical exertion of the dogs, but they actually bark to be the ones picked for the tours! They actually love doing it.
Denali National Park is closed during the winter, so we went to Denali State Park to get viewpoints of it. We went to both the south and north viewpoints. Temperatures were close to -30°C at that point.
Denali State Park south viewpointDuring the night, we stayed near the small town of Talkeetna and caught glimpse of our first aurora borealis! We were on top of a hill, and one of my friends almost lost one of his hands trying to take a picture without gloves!
Day 3: Fur Rondy festival, Iditarod race start, Reindeer run
On the third day, we stayed in downtown Anchorage to enjoy the Fur Rondy festival. It was the start of the Iditarod race, an annual race that begins on the first Saturday of March. It’s 1,757km long and usually lasts from 8 to 15 days.
There was also the reindeer run that day. People were running on the street and the reindeers chased them. It’s not dangerous, there’s been no incident in 15 years!
Anybody could sign up for the race for a fee. We unfortunately didn’t participate because we didn’t know at the time. Most were dressed in costumes. Some contestants were even shirtless. It was proper Alaskan shithousery. At night, we went to Point Woronzof Overlook located behind the airport to see the auroras a second night in a row!
Day 4: Almost dying on Flattop mountain hike
We started the day at Gweenie’s, a traditionnal Alaskan restaurant, where we ate reindeer sausages! It tasted like meat. The waitresses were dressed in traditionnal aprons which was rather… surprising.
We then took an Uber to the start of the Flattop mountain trail. It was my first time doing hiking up a snow mountain. There was no warning about the trail, apart from one telling that kids shouldn’t hike alone, but that’s a warning for every trail 🤨
It is DANGEROUS if you’re not prepared!
Make sure to get sticking poles and spikes to not die!! The last part of the trail is a very steep climb. It was actually manageable going up since you’re not looking down, and you’re rewarded with an amazing view of the city and the mountains behind it.
The problem lies in the going down. We saw an old guy RUNNING down without problem, but it’s definitely not for everyone, especially if you have a fear of heights like me. There was a hole down the steep slope and since the sun was hitting the snow, there was only ice remaining, meaning we would have slid to our deaths if we missed a single step.
We went down off trail, which is as or more dangerous, but the fear of the moment took my rationality away. Atleast we got cool shots of the sunset.
We ended up getting picked up on the side of the road by a friendly family that even drove us back to our hotel! And just like that, we flew back to California on that same night.
Conclusion
Alaska is a fantastic destination. We all felt that it was the most incredible destination we have ever been. The Alaskan people are really friendly, and we definitely recommend visiting. Make sure to do your due dilligence beforehand on the harsh conditions to have a safe trip!
