Renting a Car
You have to rent a car. Don’t try not to. Anchorage has many good qualities but a pedestrian friendly city it is not. If you want to save some money, rent from an agency that is off-airport to avoid the mandatory 10% tax. If you’re going to be here for a while (i.e. all summer) buy a car then sell it. Levi Car Rentals and Sales sells and rents shitty cars.
Renting an R.V.
The roads and drive-up campsites are packed in summer with RV’s but we aren’t sure why. RV’s seem to make sense to us where there are lots of rolling highways and backroads to explore. But in Alaska we have, in essence, two roads. One that goes north-south, another that goes east-west (and not even all the way west, it deadends at the north-south highway in the middle of the state.) So why all the RV’s? It can’t be lack of camping options – there are many places to camp and regulations are a lot looser about fires and campgrounds than the lower 48. It must be a lack of places to stay. There simply aren’t enough, affordable options. But a little hunting can turn up what we think are great alternatives.
