Anchorage Scenic Trolley City Tour

The staff and driver on this tour were excellent from the beginning. The driver in particular was personable, easy to understand, and full of fun information. She ended the hour-long tour by singing the Alaska state song, and it was beautiful. What a great way to get a tour of Anchorage!

As suggested, we did the trolley tour first to get a good overview of the city. Although the driver was interesting, there is not alot to see that is important that you do not see by walking without a few blocks radius. If you have the time, it is an enjoyable ride. If not, don't feel like you have missed one of the highlights of Anchorage.

The Trolley departure point is next to the Anchorage Visitors Bureau, which is an authentic nordic sod roof cabin. The setting will leave you breathless as flowers cascade from the roof and stream in brilliant colors down the sides & into the abundant flower beds. It would only seem natural to want to board the colorful red trolley parked right outside. (Abandon Hope, all who enter.) The fee to board is a pricey $15 for thankfully, a one hour tour. Purchase your tickets on line for a guaranteed time of departure and seat. If you wander into "trolly time" without the aforesaid reservation, you'll be required to purchase one a minimum hour before, or take your chances with last minute availability. Personally, I was able to take the last seat on the trolley by arriving about .15 minutes before departure. Others stood in the drizzle until the reservations clerk closed the line, working directly from an Apple IPOD application. Very ingenious actually. Board the trolly, safety briefing, begin tour.....mike is turned up oh so high! Passengers were squirming within minutes. I reached for earplugs. The driver had a mundane nasal intonation delivering a spiel so canned nothing seemed impromptu. We proceeded downtown through a bevy of shops to the shoreline, skirting the perimeter and over the main bridge to a residential area, which led us out via a park which had been a former residential area until the devastating Anchorage earthquake of 1964. A 2 minute pause in the parking lot & a quick rendition & we are off to the Lake Hood Airport. Stopping to see the float planes in Lake Hood, the first question asked of the driver was to please turn the mike down. The driver did so far all af the short 2 minute stop. Mike blaring, we drove by the moose paddock, no moose, but no one seemed to mind. Everyone was bugling to get off the bus. My opinion, if you are deaf, this is the tour for you. There are other attractions far more interesting than sitting on a slick seat careening around Anchorage with the tour docent/driver out of a scene from, "The Tour Driver Screamed Bloody Loud".

Anchorage really isn't all that interesting of a town. By the time we went on the tour, we'd heard about the 1964 earthquake a number of different times, and even heard a lot of the jokes already (we'd taken the train from Seward to Anchorage). The most fun parts of town are right in city center (great restaurants and a few very interesting shops with local artisans) and then out of town (Girdwood/Aleyeska). We went on three different bus tours on our trip, and this one was definitely the least interesting. Do it only if you have a lot of time to kill.