Alaska + Hawaii - Anyone been and have advice?
Discussion
I'm trying to get this years trip planned. Though i'm massively struggling to decide where to go! It will definitely be the US (i've been a lot, and love it!).
My current thought is mid-August to early September for 3-4 weeks. ~2 weeks in Alaska, and ~2 weeks in Hawaii.
Does anyone have any advice for either locations, and whether this is a good (or bad) time of year to visit either?
I'm into big landscapes, and have been to 16 US National Parks, and many other parks. So for me it's mostly about the outdoors (though no camping!).
Thanks
My current thought is mid-August to early September for 3-4 weeks. ~2 weeks in Alaska, and ~2 weeks in Hawaii.
Does anyone have any advice for either locations, and whether this is a good (or bad) time of year to visit either?
I'm into big landscapes, and have been to 16 US National Parks, and many other parks. So for me it's mostly about the outdoors (though no camping!).
Thanks
I can't speak for Alaska (though I'd love to go) but Hawaii at that time of year is nice. I went 18 months ago - tried a couple of islands and generally loved it. Get out on the water (ex-SEAL boat is crazy fun) and go snorkeling with the rays at night. Big island and the volcano are impressive too and there are plenty of opportunities, off the beaten track, to get some amazing photos. I went before I bought a camera, so I'd love to go back and snap away.
Again I'm afraid I can't comment on Alaska but I went to Hawaii on my honeymoon last August and it was amazing. We spent 5 nights on Maui and 1 on Oahu and I'd definitely recommend both, but for very different reasons.
I found Oahu to have a lot more of the "classic" Hawaii look to it- think Lost, Jurassic Park, etc... On the downside though things were generally quite touristy, and I was definitely not a fan of Honolulu.
For photography though I'd very strongly recommend Maui. A few of mine:
Road to Lahaina (this is Pistonheads after all!)
Lahaina
Beach at Wailea
Kayaking with wild turtles
Pipiwea Trail
And my absolute highlight, driving the Haleakala Highway to watch the sunset and stargaze.
These photos were taken with a 5 year entry model Sony A290, so I'm sure with better kit you could get some better shots of the stars.
August seemed to be a good time of year to visit, around 30 degrees in the day and generally dry. I'd recommend the trip purely for driving up the Haleakala Highway, 25 miles of hairpins climbing to 10,000ft, and apparently the second best place in the world to stargaze.
Hope that helps a bit.
I found Oahu to have a lot more of the "classic" Hawaii look to it- think Lost, Jurassic Park, etc... On the downside though things were generally quite touristy, and I was definitely not a fan of Honolulu.
For photography though I'd very strongly recommend Maui. A few of mine:
Road to Lahaina (this is Pistonheads after all!)
Lahaina
Beach at Wailea
Kayaking with wild turtles
Pipiwea Trail
And my absolute highlight, driving the Haleakala Highway to watch the sunset and stargaze.
These photos were taken with a 5 year entry model Sony A290, so I'm sure with better kit you could get some better shots of the stars.
August seemed to be a good time of year to visit, around 30 degrees in the day and generally dry. I'd recommend the trip purely for driving up the Haleakala Highway, 25 miles of hairpins climbing to 10,000ft, and apparently the second best place in the world to stargaze.
Hope that helps a bit.
Edited by JustADay on Monday 2nd March 00:06
Edited by JustADay on Monday 2nd March 00:15
I can't help with Alaska but have spent time on Big Island and Maui a few years ago.
Big Island
Much more "Jurassic Park" type landscapes
Some is very green for a reason - lots of rain in certain time of the year
Worth checking on whether the classic lava flowing into the sea can be seen. When we were there the flow had diverted and was flowing underground into the sea instead
Thurston lava tunnel is well worth a walk through
It felt a lot more touristy than Maui
Maui
Much more laid back and what I'd imagined Hawaii would be like
Mt Haleakala - well worth the drive up for sunset / stars and then the wonderful drop back down all those hairpins when you may almost have the road to yourself. I won't post a hire car pic as we got lumbered with a Chrysler Sebring convertible - a hateful hateful car, I'm sure the QM2 has more responsive handling!
Walking up in the Mt Haleakala area is good too, with some nice treks into the caldera. Once 400yds away from the visitor centre you will lose the crowds
Paia is a good base to explore the island and the Paia Inn is a super little hotel and the fish market over the road is a really nice fish restaurant. I recall this was roughly 1he 30 to 2hrs from Haleakala
Try the road round the north of the island - people say it's dangerous but it's not really, it's just as narrow as some Highland roads and if treated with caution takes you to some wonderful views
Some of the famous windsurfing beaches like Hookipa are right by the road so you can spend some time watching them do some really great tricks, a 300m lens on a crop sensor is good, 400mm would enable you to get some really nice shots
I'd definitely like to go back to Maui and explore more
edited to add image from top of Mt Haleakala - the clouds rolled in below us when we were up there for sunset so views down over the island, but still mighty impressive looking down on mother nature doing her thing
Clouds below Mt Haleakala sunset by CVP1, on Flickr
Big Island
Much more "Jurassic Park" type landscapes
Some is very green for a reason - lots of rain in certain time of the year
Worth checking on whether the classic lava flowing into the sea can be seen. When we were there the flow had diverted and was flowing underground into the sea instead
Thurston lava tunnel is well worth a walk through
It felt a lot more touristy than Maui
Maui
Much more laid back and what I'd imagined Hawaii would be like
Mt Haleakala - well worth the drive up for sunset / stars and then the wonderful drop back down all those hairpins when you may almost have the road to yourself. I won't post a hire car pic as we got lumbered with a Chrysler Sebring convertible - a hateful hateful car, I'm sure the QM2 has more responsive handling!
Walking up in the Mt Haleakala area is good too, with some nice treks into the caldera. Once 400yds away from the visitor centre you will lose the crowds
Paia is a good base to explore the island and the Paia Inn is a super little hotel and the fish market over the road is a really nice fish restaurant. I recall this was roughly 1he 30 to 2hrs from Haleakala
Try the road round the north of the island - people say it's dangerous but it's not really, it's just as narrow as some Highland roads and if treated with caution takes you to some wonderful views
Some of the famous windsurfing beaches like Hookipa are right by the road so you can spend some time watching them do some really great tricks, a 300m lens on a crop sensor is good, 400mm would enable you to get some really nice shots
I'd definitely like to go back to Maui and explore more
edited to add image from top of Mt Haleakala - the clouds rolled in below us when we were up there for sunset so views down over the island, but still mighty impressive looking down on mother nature doing her thing
Clouds below Mt Haleakala sunset by CVP1, on FlickrEdited by CVP on Monday 2nd March 11:40
We started planning an BC/Alberta to Alaska round trip quite a few years ago (getting on for 10 or so), got as far as a route and started looking at hotels for overnight stays but for whatever reason we never implemented the trip and to this day it remains as one of our few unexplored areas of NA (36 NP's so far) IIRC there were going to be a lot of mom and pop hotels and diners along the way, how that may have changed in those intervening years I'm not sure but funny enough a discussion on vacation destination this weekend did see Alaska come up as a subject so would love to hear any experiences too.
I think one frustrating thing about AK and HI would be the backtracking of flights as you kind of have to go to the lower 48 first and then back again to get to HI when direct flights would save huge amounts of time. On that same theme i always tell people to consider Vancouver as their layover on the way back to the UK from HI. Its more or less on the great circle route between the two so shortest flying time and its a nice clean quiet modern airport with a fairmont hotel located above international check-in who offer day use rooms. So the usual red eye out of HI sees you in YVR for morning check in to your room, a few hours kip, swim in the pool and some grub before your evening/overnight flight to the UK. Much better than sitting in LAX or an extra 5h in the air on a cross country to jfk.
As for HI, i have always found it a funny place, definitely bucket list and you have to go at some point, but its never really hot or cold. Just kind of comfortable all year but at any time the wind can turn it too hot or too cold for where you are at that point. The islands are also frustratingly slow to get around, they may not be very big but most of the time your on a 45mph single carriageway road and often going the long way round due to mountains. When i was researching HI i found lots of people saying don't do saddle-back road (big island) at night as its a narrow winding road, well we did on the way down from sunset on Mauna Loa, and whilst its narrow and winding by US standards, its a superhighway compared to uk roads and headlights at night make spotting on coming cars easy. Same applies to the road to Hana, our US friends (one HI native) were horrified when we said we drove back in the dark.
HI is also a place of stark contrasts both in scenery and the hubbub and opulence of Waikiki to poverty and solitude on remote beaches such that can be seen on the drive out to Ka'ena Point State Park Oahu
But grab your camera and knowing your ability to get up early and put yourself out for a picture, come back and show us some great shots.
I think one frustrating thing about AK and HI would be the backtracking of flights as you kind of have to go to the lower 48 first and then back again to get to HI when direct flights would save huge amounts of time. On that same theme i always tell people to consider Vancouver as their layover on the way back to the UK from HI. Its more or less on the great circle route between the two so shortest flying time and its a nice clean quiet modern airport with a fairmont hotel located above international check-in who offer day use rooms. So the usual red eye out of HI sees you in YVR for morning check in to your room, a few hours kip, swim in the pool and some grub before your evening/overnight flight to the UK. Much better than sitting in LAX or an extra 5h in the air on a cross country to jfk.
As for HI, i have always found it a funny place, definitely bucket list and you have to go at some point, but its never really hot or cold. Just kind of comfortable all year but at any time the wind can turn it too hot or too cold for where you are at that point. The islands are also frustratingly slow to get around, they may not be very big but most of the time your on a 45mph single carriageway road and often going the long way round due to mountains. When i was researching HI i found lots of people saying don't do saddle-back road (big island) at night as its a narrow winding road, well we did on the way down from sunset on Mauna Loa, and whilst its narrow and winding by US standards, its a superhighway compared to uk roads and headlights at night make spotting on coming cars easy. Same applies to the road to Hana, our US friends (one HI native) were horrified when we said we drove back in the dark.
HI is also a place of stark contrasts both in scenery and the hubbub and opulence of Waikiki to poverty and solitude on remote beaches such that can be seen on the drive out to Ka'ena Point State Park Oahu
But grab your camera and knowing your ability to get up early and put yourself out for a picture, come back and show us some great shots.
I've done 3 trips to Alask with work. The longest being 3 weeks in Anchorage.
You can get direct flights from Europe on Condor Airways: http://www.condor.com/us/flights/flight-anchorage-...
Saves a lot of time from the usual route of LHR - Seattle, then Seattle to ANC.
In the tourist season, hotels and hire cars are very expensive. For a reasonable hotel in Achorage, you could be looking at £300 per night, and £100/day for a basic hire car. A few months earlier costs were about 1/3 of this, but off-season many shops and restaurants were closed or had restricted opening hours. Some make all their money for the year in that short 6 to 10 week period.
From Anchorage, it's a day excursion down to Seward, and northbound the same for some scenic driving and getting up close to a Glacier (of which there are a few).
To be honest, after driving a few hundred miles, turning the corner to see another stunning snow capped mountain range does become a little tedious.
I was limited to day trips from Anchorage, as I was working 6 days per week, but even if I was to go back on holiday, I doubt I would spend much more than a week there. There are a reasonable amount of things to do (flights to Mount McKinley etc.), but expect to pay royally for them. Eating out can be done on the cheap, but even then I'd budget £50 - £70 per day per person.
If you are taking your camera equipment in your hold baggage, then make sure you get one with TSL approved locks, otherwise customs have a tendency to force open your case if you leave it locked. When departing Anchorage, I was advised each time to leave my case unlocked, despite having 2 connecting flights back to Scotland... I did, and everything was fine, but I did have the works insurance covering my stuff.
You can get direct flights from Europe on Condor Airways: http://www.condor.com/us/flights/flight-anchorage-...
Saves a lot of time from the usual route of LHR - Seattle, then Seattle to ANC.
In the tourist season, hotels and hire cars are very expensive. For a reasonable hotel in Achorage, you could be looking at £300 per night, and £100/day for a basic hire car. A few months earlier costs were about 1/3 of this, but off-season many shops and restaurants were closed or had restricted opening hours. Some make all their money for the year in that short 6 to 10 week period.
From Anchorage, it's a day excursion down to Seward, and northbound the same for some scenic driving and getting up close to a Glacier (of which there are a few).
To be honest, after driving a few hundred miles, turning the corner to see another stunning snow capped mountain range does become a little tedious.
I was limited to day trips from Anchorage, as I was working 6 days per week, but even if I was to go back on holiday, I doubt I would spend much more than a week there. There are a reasonable amount of things to do (flights to Mount McKinley etc.), but expect to pay royally for them. Eating out can be done on the cheap, but even then I'd budget £50 - £70 per day per person.
If you are taking your camera equipment in your hold baggage, then make sure you get one with TSL approved locks, otherwise customs have a tendency to force open your case if you leave it locked. When departing Anchorage, I was advised each time to leave my case unlocked, despite having 2 connecting flights back to Scotland... I did, and everything was fine, but I did have the works insurance covering my stuff.
ViperDave said:
I think one frustrating thing about AK and HI would be the backtracking of flights as you kind of have to go to the lower 48 first and then back again to get to HI when direct flights would save huge amounts of time.
Flights are insanely expensive in August/September. But this seems like a good time to go, so i might just have to go for it. (though my backup plan is Seattle > Glacier NP > Banff NP > Jasper NP > Kamloops > Vancouver > Olympic NP > Mt Rainier NP > Eugene > Crater Lake NP > SFO, which sounds fun, but not quite as adventurous and 'epic').Economy flights are ~£1.6k (excluding island hoping in HI). But i'm not sure i'm up for that far in a non-exit row/more legroom seat. 6ft4 and economy is NOT fun. £1.6k to go business (from Dublin not London though).
In HI i was thinking of doing Kauai and Big Island (for Volcanoes NP). Though i haven't thought too much about it yet.
In AK i was thinking: Denali NP for the longest, Kenai Fjords (maybe some kayaking), possibly Wrangell St Elias (but it's very expensive), and maybe Katmai for bears (crazy money).
JohnS said:
If you are taking your camera equipment in your hold baggage, then make sure you get one with TSL approved locks, otherwise customs have a tendency to force open your case if you leave it locked.
My luggage is TSA approved 
But no delicate gear goes in there (tripod, batteries, chargers, filters, etc... do though). I usually pack everything into carry on. Though there's zero chance this can ever be the correct weight, so need to make sure it's not checked too closely! Edited by Matt.. on Monday 2nd March 18:36
Skip the flights and drive, that was our plan, i think it went something like
Although google maps is fighting back for fairbanks to dawson and insisting on going to whitehorse rather than top of the world highway.
Seattle - Glacier
Dont forget grand coulee dam, not sure if they still do the laser show on it each night but if they do its pretty good, the drive down the lake to dry falls is not bad too. Look up some of the history of the great missoula flood as it will help explain the terrain your driving over (especially if you go on to palouse falls) Spokane has a massive waterfall in the middle of downtown (snake river), a bit out of your way but old spiral highway running north out of lewiston would be a fun drive, just don't do what we did and drive up us95 only to find the good road going back down from the top and no time to drive back down again. There are some impressive sights between here and Boise too, but still taking you off course for Glacier. (didn't you do that one last year?) there are some pretty cool views of the snake river between Boise and twin falls too but your way off course for glacier and canada now and you completely missed hells canyon!
Banff to Vancouver is a whole another thread!
Olympic was a bit meh by the time we had got there, the mountain part of it is just another view over the mountains which you will be bored of by then and the rainforest bit was err well raining! so kind of just some wet trees and a river. Continuing down the pacific side of Olympic is just lots of Forrest interspersed with clear-cut tree farming which is pretty unattractive, so take the ferry to Seattle as its the best way to arrive there.
Mt Rainier, is kind of nice and photogenic if your lucky to see some Lenticular clouds over it, but dont forget St Helens.
Columbia river gorge is impressive and there is a waterfall off mt hood just off the highway. Crater lake, well its a long drive down to it but worth it especially if your going to make the effort for nighttime photography, Oregon is a bore to drive though for the most part though, lots of trees and 55mph speed limits on very good roads where 70 would be perfectly safe, oh and they wont let you pump your own gas either.
if your continuing south to sfo then you have Mt Shasta and Shasta lake, which is about the only scenic section of I5, hang a left at redding for Bernard falls and Lassen np, or head to the sea for redwoods np. Stay out of the central CA valley if you can as I5 is so so boring, but does let you get up and down CA easily.
plenty more to add though if you go that way!
Although google maps is fighting back for fairbanks to dawson and insisting on going to whitehorse rather than top of the world highway.
Matt.. said:
Flights are insanely expensive in August/September. But this seems like a good time to go, so i might just have to go for it. (though my backup plan is Seattle > Glacier NP > Banff NP > Jasper NP > Kamloops > Vancouver > Olympic NP > Mt Rainier NP > Eugene > Crater Lake NP > SFO, which sounds fun, but not quite as adventurous and 'epic').
your right not quite so epic and bucket list, but one i can help with more. Seattle - Glacier
Dont forget grand coulee dam, not sure if they still do the laser show on it each night but if they do its pretty good, the drive down the lake to dry falls is not bad too. Look up some of the history of the great missoula flood as it will help explain the terrain your driving over (especially if you go on to palouse falls) Spokane has a massive waterfall in the middle of downtown (snake river), a bit out of your way but old spiral highway running north out of lewiston would be a fun drive, just don't do what we did and drive up us95 only to find the good road going back down from the top and no time to drive back down again. There are some impressive sights between here and Boise too, but still taking you off course for Glacier. (didn't you do that one last year?) there are some pretty cool views of the snake river between Boise and twin falls too but your way off course for glacier and canada now and you completely missed hells canyon!
Banff to Vancouver is a whole another thread!
Olympic was a bit meh by the time we had got there, the mountain part of it is just another view over the mountains which you will be bored of by then and the rainforest bit was err well raining! so kind of just some wet trees and a river. Continuing down the pacific side of Olympic is just lots of Forrest interspersed with clear-cut tree farming which is pretty unattractive, so take the ferry to Seattle as its the best way to arrive there.
Mt Rainier, is kind of nice and photogenic if your lucky to see some Lenticular clouds over it, but dont forget St Helens.
Columbia river gorge is impressive and there is a waterfall off mt hood just off the highway. Crater lake, well its a long drive down to it but worth it especially if your going to make the effort for nighttime photography, Oregon is a bore to drive though for the most part though, lots of trees and 55mph speed limits on very good roads where 70 would be perfectly safe, oh and they wont let you pump your own gas either.
if your continuing south to sfo then you have Mt Shasta and Shasta lake, which is about the only scenic section of I5, hang a left at redding for Bernard falls and Lassen np, or head to the sea for redwoods np. Stay out of the central CA valley if you can as I5 is so so boring, but does let you get up and down CA easily.
plenty more to add though if you go that way!
Edited by ViperDave on Monday 2nd March 22:53
we did Vancouver, rocky mountaineer to banff which gives a different perspective on the mountains, then up the ice fields park way to jasper before flying from Edmonton to Oahu (via yvr) overnight in Waikiki before island hopping to the big island for the volcanoes. Then back for beach time in a rented house on the beach a long way from anywhere (seemed like it) on Oahu.
Watch out for scenery fatigue around Washington and Oregon as a lot if it is very similar, I'm sure that's why i wasn't impressed with the Olympics as it was towards the end of a trip across WA and down into OR so trees and mountains were a bit "ok its another pine tree/mountain".
At least HI will be completely different, its one of those places that's like the USA but not quite right, not as bad as Australia/Canada obviously as its still part of the USA but it has a very different feel to the mainland.
Watch out for scenery fatigue around Washington and Oregon as a lot if it is very similar, I'm sure that's why i wasn't impressed with the Olympics as it was towards the end of a trip across WA and down into OR so trees and mountains were a bit "ok its another pine tree/mountain".
At least HI will be completely different, its one of those places that's like the USA but not quite right, not as bad as Australia/Canada obviously as its still part of the USA but it has a very different feel to the mainland.
Currently looking at something like this:
1. Fly into Anchorage
2. Fly out to Wrangell St Elias NP
3. Wrangell St Elias NP
4. Wrangell St Elias NP
5. Wrangell St Elias NP
6. Fly back to Anchorage, drive down to Seward
7. Seward (Kenai Fjords NP)
8. Drive to Denali NP
9. Denali NP
10. Denali NP
11. Denali NP
12. Denali NP
13. Drive to Anchorage
14. Fly to Big Island, Hawaii
15. Big Island
16. Big Island (Volcanoes NP)
17. Big Island
18. Fly to Kauai
19. Kauai
20. Kauai
21. Kauai
22. Fly to Oahu (Honolulu)
23. Oahu
24. Fly home
Not really sure Wrangell St Elias NP is feasible. It's expensive. Mainly due to having to fly in/out, and that flight is nearly £400 from Anchorage. You can drive it, but not really sure i want to do that road on my own.
Any thoughts on the route?
1. Fly into Anchorage
2. Fly out to Wrangell St Elias NP
3. Wrangell St Elias NP
4. Wrangell St Elias NP
5. Wrangell St Elias NP
6. Fly back to Anchorage, drive down to Seward
7. Seward (Kenai Fjords NP)
8. Drive to Denali NP
9. Denali NP
10. Denali NP
11. Denali NP
12. Denali NP
13. Drive to Anchorage
14. Fly to Big Island, Hawaii
15. Big Island
16. Big Island (Volcanoes NP)
17. Big Island
18. Fly to Kauai
19. Kauai
20. Kauai
21. Kauai
22. Fly to Oahu (Honolulu)
23. Oahu
24. Fly home
Not really sure Wrangell St Elias NP is feasible. It's expensive. Mainly due to having to fly in/out, and that flight is nearly £400 from Anchorage. You can drive it, but not really sure i want to do that road on my own.
Any thoughts on the route?
Been to both Alaska and Hawaii. Both very beautiful for different reasons. Would give the big island a miss but Maui and Kauai are lovely. I'd recommend going to Alaska in July. Get a flight to Katmai and watch the bears catching salmon in the river. One of the most spectacular sights I've ever witnessed.
This publisher: http://www.discoveringhawaii.com/ does a series of books "driving and discovering Hawaii" with a section they call a "professional photography and video location guide".
I have their Maui & Molokai guidebook - just one warning; to get to several of their recommended photo locations you're better off renting a 4WD
I have their Maui & Molokai guidebook - just one warning; to get to several of their recommended photo locations you're better off renting a 4WD
I'm still failing to decide on which route. This is stupid now 
I think Alaska and Hawaii will be a good £1,000 more expensive than my alternate route (~Seattle/Glacier NP/Banff NP/Jasper NP/Mt Rainier NP/Crater Lake NP/San Francisco).
Getting tempted by the alternate route on financial grounds now.
Must. Make. A. Decision. !!
I think Alaska and Hawaii will be a good £1,000 more expensive than my alternate route (~Seattle/Glacier NP/Banff NP/Jasper NP/Mt Rainier NP/Crater Lake NP/San Francisco).
Getting tempted by the alternate route on financial grounds now.
Must. Make. A. Decision. !!
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