Customer Reviews

Insiders' Guide to Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska: Including the Kenai Peninsula, Prince William Sound, and Denali National Park (Insiders' Guide Series)

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I was very disappointed when I received this book. It has a beautiful cover, and I was expecting some photos of the area. There are none. In reality, it is a very small paperback with thin paper and not enough substance. In addition, the book is sort of a tourist guide to where to eat, where to stay. I was hoping for more content.

The book was just what I was looking for to help plan my Alaska trip. It had most of the information I needed to properly make my plans.

I have the old version of the guide; a new one is being released in the summer of 2009 that may be more accurate. The guide was adequate, given its old age, but not spectacular. Like most guides, it is more optimistic about the quality of attractions, restaurants, and hotels than truthful. I would prefer a guide book that let's you know that some attractions are less exciting than others, so you know what is worth skipping. I ended up having to rely on the web to supplement the guide, using sites like tripadviser to find more complete information on each destination. If I had to do it again, I would have bought a guide that was more specific to the hiking and wilderness activities I was interested in, instead of this general guide.

This does not offer much other than general information, but it does have a great list of dining, lodging, and shopping. The next edition is coming, so it may improve. But if you want to know where to eat, sleep, and buy and plan for your budget, this gives good info.

The recomended food places were not as described. Atmosphere descriptions were also not that accurate. Museums were greatly overrated. Driving directions could have been a lot clearer. But the referenced tours and phone numbers were very helpful. The recomended places to stay sometimes were great (ones they referenced in Denali) and sometimes really bad (ones referenced in Seward). This may be used as a second or back-up book, but don't let it be the only guide you take with you to the Anchorage area.