Anchorage: Best Places to Stay
Copper Whale Inn: Reasonable rates, clean rooms, and nice views located close to the entrance of the coastal trail with a bike-rental place on one side and Simon and Seaforts on the other. Really nice management also, this is the place we send our visitors.
Susitna Place Bed and Breakfast: We’ve had relatives stay here before. Seems nice enough if kind of soulless but has a nice location near downtown and the coastal trail.
VRBO.com or Homeway.com: They have some nice places but seems hit and miss. Book early.
Captain Cook Hotel: Owned by a former Governor, this is the grand dame of Anchorage hotels and is popular with the cruise ship companies. The decor was no doubt fancy and modern in the 70’s but its long, tiled lobby corridors and dusty chandeliers feel like they could use an update. We’ve actually stayed here and found the rooms a bit small and characterless, though clean enough. But if you’re looking for a big complex of a hotel (4 restaurants, gift shops, gym, conference rooms, etc.) this is probably your best bet. Ask for a room with a view. Avoid the Crow’s Nest restaurant.
One plus: They gym has an indoor pool in the basement (though who comes to Alaska for the swimming?)
PLACES TO AVOID:
Marriott: Oddly, we’ve stayed here too (for a conference when the room was included), this is probably the best of the places to avoid. The whole thing felt very standard – I guess that’s why people stay at places like a Marriott: you know exactly what you’re going to get. Oddly, they don’t seem to have any corner rooms (though our room was located on the corner, it only had one set of windows at the end of our little shoebox.) Crazy expensive in the summer.
Hilton: Very popular with the cruise ship circuit, this at least has a better location than the Sheraton. Seems spendy for what you get, though.
Embassy Suites: Located in midtown next to a highway. Maybe good if you’re doing business with B.P. or having your tires replaced at Sears across the street.
Sheraton: A standard Sheraton in a terrible location – between two, very busy one-way roads and next to a cemetery and an Office Depot. Why they didn’t build it closer to downtown we will never quite understand.
