This is Seward, Alaska!…read more Although it was mostly rainy for the 3 nights and 4 days I was here visiting back in the month of June, I did not let that deter me from getting out, seeing and doing the sights. Seward is home to amazing Kenai Fjords National Park. Here are 3 activities/tours I highly suggest partaking in while here in Seward.... 1. Explore the Exit Glacier area. Exit Glacier is a real accessible landmark to discover. It's located off Exit 3 of Seward Highway. After making the turn...drive 8 miles and you'll arrive at Exit Glacier. Now...you can walk to "The Toe" of Exit Glacier which I recommend and also, I believe it's imperative to hike the rugged, though strenuous 8-mile roundtrip path called the Harding Icefield Trail. You'll be afforded wonderful views of Exit Glacier and the snowcapped mountains of Kenai Fjords from high above! 2. Do an all-day boat cruise out on the waters of Kenai Fjords. I did an 8.5-hour excursion with Major Marine Tours. Along the journey I witnessed tons of sea life. I also got an up-close perspective of incredible Northwestern Fjord Glacier and Cataract Cove, with epic waterfalls sliding off cliff faced walls. These two spots along my boat tour were the star attractions and some of the most memorable stops along my entire Alaskan vacation! 3. Simply explore the terrific harbor coast town of Seward. Here Seward is located right on the banks and waters of Kenai Fjords. Just walking around and appreciating the overall setting with massive mountains surrounding my every sight was so beautiful to see. My only problem was once again...grrr, the unfortunate rain! :( Also...Seward is obviously a wonderful seafood destination. Don't forget to try some of the cozy/charming restaurants that are emblematic of the type of cuisine you can expect from a waterfront place such as this. Also, you can purchase souvenirs in the downtown area and capture memorable photos along the pedestrian walkway section. In total, Seward, Alaska and Kenai Fjords National Park are necessary Must-Do's when visiting glorious Alaska!

Worth a stop, although more for the wildlife boat tours than the town. The sea life center is…read morepretty great, although a lot of that for me comes from the fact that my friend and I did the puffin encounter, which was awesome--we got to feed the seabirds for probably a good half hour, right in the enclosure. Anyway, the town itself doesn't have much, including food, and I wouldn't spend more than 2 days unless you p,an to hike--I hear there are some great hikes of varying lengths, including e marathon hike and an intertidal hike. The food situation seemed pretty dismal to me. You won't starve, but I wouldn't go back for the grub, and if I did go back I think I'd seriously consider bringing a cooler of pb&j for at least some meals. Anyway, this is the launching point for wildlife tours of the kenai fjords and its glaciers, as well as a 20-minute or so drive to Exit Glacier, to which you can hike up (about 1.5 miles from the parking lot). The hotels seemed exorbitantly priced to me, and. Wished I'd researched camping, as there's a nice site right by the water about 3 blocks off of main street. Main street is 4th ave. and the whole town is less than 2 miles long, I'd say, with bustling sections at either end, downtown and the harbor.

Ok I totally had mixed feelings about this tour company. I booked online a few weeks ago for…read moreWednesday 7/24 at 9am. Got confirmation online. When we arrived today at 8:40 they said it was for Thursday 7/25. My confirmation email ticket had 7/24. So we had to come back at 11:20 for an 11:40 time slot. Grateful they could still get us in but not sure how the mix up happened. The redemption the helicopter pilot was awesome and the views going up to the glacier amazing. The dog mushers were super nice and took out photos for our group. We played with the 10 week old puppies. Played with the one year old dogs. Also got to stop and pet and meet all the dogs pulling us. Its was perfectly sunny on the glacier which made for beautiful views of the surrounding peaks. Took a little different flight path back and spotted some waterfalls and bald eagles. Highly recommend this tour. Just call the day before to verify your booking to be safe. Don't forget to Pet Alpine the dog inside the office. Super chill doggie.

Best experience of my life- everyone was super friendly, warm and welcoming. They pick you up in…read moretown and take you straight to the airport. The pilot, James, was great and my guide was phenomenal. Not only did he explain how everything worked he became a full on photographer too. The ride is beautiful- only thing is wish is was longer for the amount of money being paid. The dog sleeding experience is so cool, get to ride and even got the opportunity to stand on the back and yell to the dogs. Got to hold some cute baby pups afterwards too! 10/10 reccomend to anyone considering it.

Very nice flight to glazier by helicopter- saw big horn sheep and moose on the way ! We only did…read morethe 90 minute tour and dog sled- my wife was glad - no way she could spend the night there - it was snowing and sleeting on us and freezing cold - I fucking loved it too - dogs are well taken care of and very awesome too

This review is from our experience two summers ago with the Overnight Stay Tour. Let me preface…read morethis by saying if you are not accustomed (or willing) to spend the night in a cold tent without running water and room service, this is probably not for you. Accommodations are a bit misleading in the sales materials. Sleeping quarters and bedding are some unleveled tents placed on wood pallets with a few cots covered in dog hair. It's cold at night and the tents are not sealed well, so you'll need to run the propane space-heaters but if it runs out of fuel in the middle of the night be prepared to grab some vise-grips and swap the tanks out yourselves (if you can find one that is not empty). Be prepared to hang out with some less-than personable loner-types who are not much of tour-guides. You are basically on your own to do as you like; which is mostly hang out with the dogs and ask questions about them. The staff in the office was helpful but since the helicopter is on a schedule some of the preparations did feel rushed. Food is minimal; they send up a pizza (dinner), bottles of OJ, and some danishes with you for the morning. I suggest getting into Seward early and eating a late lunch in town. Drinking water was also an issue, we had to reuse juice bottles as not bottled water was available. The actual sled ride was a bit of a disappointment although they gave us two trips as we spent more time up there then originally planned. You do about a mile loop of the base camp and it was a pretty slow pace due to the morning sun beginning to melt the snow. You do not 'drive' the sled, you either sit in front of the musher or stand on a second sled behind him. Seeing how disorganized and 'wild' the dogs were when hooked up made it evident that they animals are not trained monkeys, they are hard-working, eager-to-please, love-to-run little machines. And the worst part of the trip: We were supposed to be flown back out around 9AM weather permitting. Weather was beautiful but noon rolled around and no chopper yet. At this point we discovered the only means of communication they had with the rest of the world was a radio which did not work because their antenna was down at the airport being repaired! They sent us up there with no working means of modern communication; I found this to be unacceptable as if an accident occurred things could have gotten ugly quickly. So other than hunger coming around we had plans for that day to meet people in Anchorage and were becoming concerned. Finally around 3PM (6 hours late!) the helicopter appeared. The staff became the most helpful of the entire trip right around this point, probably looking for a tip which at this point I had decided was not earned. They seem unconcerned with the 'missing' helicopter nor the inability to communicate with the base. The helicopter ride was awesome. The pilot was by far the best employee. He was really cool and was giving guided tour of the area on the way up. He even took us on a side-trip to hunt down some bear, which we found in a valley near the glacier's base; a mother and her cubs. Seeing the land from vantage point was incredible. The trip back was even more exciting as we literally had to shoot an opening in the mountains to get back to the airport; due to terrible cloud cover below. He had made several unsuccessful attempts earlier to get to us that morning. And then there were the dogs. Any dog lover should drop everything at the chance to hang out with these animals in the environment we were in. I will leave out a lot of detail here as it's something which should be experienced. A full-night's sleep is probably out of the question but I didn't mind waking up every couple of hours to 50 baying dogs breaking the erie silence up there. The dogs were quite friendly and many loved to be petted. Some were shy, and a few were best left alone. By far the most entertaining were free-roaming puppies Jane, Stella and Beamer. Incidentally we picked a good time to go as this was their last day of freedom and were in the process of joining the chain-gang that afternoon as we prepared to leave. So with the unexpected 'extra time' that morning I learned most of the dog's names by the time we left and really enjoyed myself. Realistically, what your money gets you is access to the glacier and the camp with limited survival requirements (food, water, shelter). So if you go expecting to camp-out and be pretty self-sufficient you'll love it. Otherwise opt for the normal Dog Sled tour and get the safer, abbreviated experience. Here are some photos from this trip: http://schertz.name/photos/0806-Alaska/Seward http://schertz.name/photos/0806-Alaska/To%20Trappers%20Creek

"I'm supertramp."…read more Ok, I'm not really "Alexander Supertramp" (the alias of Chris McCandless during his ill-fated Alaska Adventure), but I found myself listening to the soundtrack to his cinematic story (Into The Wild) when driving the Seward Highway Scenic Byway. You see, I was in Anchorage for a conference and had penciled in a few extra "me" days before work, so I found myself racking my brain for cold crisp adventures around Anchorage. If I had the time and it was a month or two earlier, I would have loved to hit Denali and see the Aurora Borealis, but timing prevent that. I could have explored Anchorage and nearby areas. But as I sat in my hotel room the first night in Anchorage, I looked at a map and chose a trip to Seward. The main pull: Seward Highway Scenic Byway, and its 127-miles. The drive certainly is filled with majesty. You quickly leave the "hustle & bustle" of Anchorage and then venture along the water of the Cook Inlet's Turnagain Arm. Here you see icy cold water and are surrounded by high mountain bluffs. Once you leave the water you begin to cruise through massive glacier-cut valleys of the Kenai Pennisula. Forget Texas, everything is bigger in Alaska! The drive through these valleys and mountains was my favorite part of the drive. Even though it was cold and the mountains were lightly covered with snow and ice, they all were a blanketed beauty. You really have to be careful here to not get whiplash due to looking at all the views during this drive (oh, and don't take pictures with your phone while you're driving. Save that for the dummies *ahem, ahem*). The drive is 127miles, but for me, the drive went slower (you will find yourself looking around quite a bit). Making many stops is mandatory. The drive is also curvy, and the speed limits are certainly not 70 miles/hr! Oh, be sure to fuel up before taking this drive. There is plenty of empty miles along the way. After about 3-4hrs of driving, Seward sneaks up on ya. I approached Seward around supper time, and was going to go straight into town and look for provisions and lodging, but there was a turn out for Exit Glacier just outside of town. I had to go. It's a short 7-10miles off the Highway. When you get your first glimpses of the glacier, it certainly is impressive, BUT....the road was closed off 2miles from the Glacier. Oh well, I snapped a few far-away shots, and made my way to the end of the Seward Highway Scenic Byway. Seward is a bit anti-climatic. It's a really small sea town. There are a few hotels, restaurants, and bars. I think it must get bustling here during the summer tourist season (boats launch from here to check out the Kenai glaciers.

Drove this road from Anchorage to Seward and back again and the views were amazing. As we drove…read morealongside Turnagain Arm we spotted beluga whales (north of beluga point actually). We pulled off on the side of the road and watched them for at least 20 minutes and it was freaking amazing...easily in my top 10 life experiences. I mean where else are you going to see WILD beluga whales?! Pass Turnagain arm and you drive through mountains and pass glaciers the whole way to Seward. Do yourself a favor and stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It is well worth the money and you get up close and personal with the animals there. Portage glacier and lake are near there, as well.

As the free shuttle service wraps up for the season today, I wanted to give a review to share my…read moreexperience and gratitude for this great and convenient service. I'll start, notably, with the drivers who I remember much of (forgive me if I misspell the names). John - an amazing driver with quite an amazing personality. I love how he's easily engaging with everyone who hops on the bus and have quite a good sense of humor as well. Although I haven't ridden the busses for too long, I come to realize (and appreciate) that he is very honest. I am truly hoping to see him next season. Stacy - another amazing driver with also a very amazing personality. I believe she was the very first driver whom I interacted with and immediately felt welcomed. She's very straightforward/blunt, which is great as her actions kept the service running efficiently. It's hard to imagine the service without her and I'm also hoping to see her back next season. My memory isn't the best, so I have a hard time remembering some of the other names, but I've had amazing conversations with almost all of the drivers and have enjoyed all of them. As a year-round resident, the service has been essential and I've been very grateful for it. To the owners, I truly thank you for it. You and ALL of your staff are amazing.

We were able to take the tour even though we had not made reservations…read more Tour Guide (James) was very informative, entertaining and flexible. Price included a really nice meal at a restaurant on the water and the price of admission for the Alaska Sea Life Center. We had time to not only see, but almost walk to a glacier. Great experience - I Highly recommend Seward City Tours!

The Seward Depot is the southern terminus of the Alaska Railroad. The Depot was constructed in…read more1917 at what is now Adams Street and Ballaine Boulevard to serve the railroad line and the all-weather port at Seward. Gayle and I recently took the train here for a 3 day visit to Seward. Shuttle buses were waiting for us as we arrived. We took the one to our Hotel (Windsong), while headed out for various water and glacier tours. And when it was time, we headed back on the same train back to Seward. It was all very efficient, albeit a little disorienting at this relatively far end of town. The Depot looks a bit on the plain side, at least compared to the Anchorage, Denali, and Fairbanks Station, but it's a nice facility, with friendly agents, comforable seatin, and public restrooms. A special thank you to Depot personnel who found my lost item and arranged for it to be mailed back.

Tour captain Andrew is super fun and knowledgeable about where to find wildlife. We saw orcas,…read morehumpback whales, otters, sea lions, puffins, and a bald eagle, plus spent plenty of time getting pictures at a glacier. There were snacks aboard and our captain had sandwiches for lunch for us half way through the ride. It was the highlight of our entire Alaska trip. Thanks again, and great to meet you today, Andrew!

The coffee shop in here serves great coffee! I would skip the coffee cake though, it was a hard…read moretexture to describe, not cake like, it was eggy, where it has a wet all together almost rubbery texture

I've been to Seward many, many times but this is my first opportunity to stay at Sauerdough…read moreLodging. We stayed in their Sunrise Suite, which is aptly named. Watching the sun come up over the mountains and stream through all the beautiful windows has been a highlight of the trip. The suite is large and very comfortable. The owners have done a wonderful job of blending the quaint historical elements with modern comforts. This place used to be a brothel way back in the day. It's not even a block from the SeaLife Center and right by lots of shops. Looking forward to just walking downstairs for breakfast at the Sea Bean Cafe.