When it comes to finding and booking a fishing lodge for your dream Alaskan fishing adventure, you have several different options available to you, ranging anywhere from just renting an RV to booking an all-inclusive stay at a posh cabin. If you’re planning on booking a lodge, especially if you’re going to more trafficked areas such as the Kenai Peninsula, make sure you make your reservations far in advance. Over one million tourists come to Alaska each summer, so the cabins in the best areas fill up far in advance.
For people with some Alaskan experience, or if you’re on a tight budget, the cheapest form of “lodge’ available is simply to rent a RV. Using this allows you to simply take off, using either highway pulloffs or campgrounds as your places to stay. If you’re planning on going this route, make sure to buy The Milepost (if you need a copy its available on Amazon). This book shows you mile by mile where the best campgrounds, fishing holes, and other services are on Alaska’s highways and secondary roads.
Another budget approach to getting an Alaskan fishing lodge is to book public use cabins. These can be had for as little as $25 a night, but most of them are not accessible by road. You’ll have to find your own transportation, whether by hiking, ATV, or some other means to these spartan accommodations. However, you also won’t have to worry about sharing your steam or wilderness with other anglers. For more information on these, see the Alaska Public Lands Information Center.
Another good choice for someone not looking to spend a ton of money on lodging is finding a motel or a bed and breakfast to stay in. Depending on the time of year and quality of hotel you’re looking for, you can find rooms anywhere from $30 to $200 a night. A good listing of these hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts can be found in The Milepost. This also allows you to be more flexible as well when planning your trip if you rent a car and travel to the streams that are best for fishing that day. But, if you’re planning on doing this and moving around to places where the salmon are running, make sure you call ahead to check availability or you may end up sleeping in your car if the hotels in the area are booked up for the night.
Finally, on to the real lodges. Some of these are nothing more than log cabins, but many offer guide services, equipment, and other benefits to people who book the cabins. Other services some cabins provide range from fly-out trips, chartered boats, meals, fish processing, and freezer space. If this is your first time to Alaska, you should try to choose a lodge that offers at least some of these services so that you get the most out of your trip. These cabins can run anywhere from $500 to $4000 depending on what’s included, when you go, and the length of your stay.
There are many different types of lodging available for your Alaskan fishing trip. Think hard about your level of experience and what you want out of your trip before you decide on where you want to stay. In a later post I will post some of the best Alaskan fishing lodges available.
Related posts:
- The Best Fishing Lodges in Soldotna, Alaska
- Fishing Lodges in Kenai, Alaska
- Tips to Make Your Alaska Fishing Vacation a Success