We are back from our Alaskan RV adventure! While we traveled, I took note of the things we liked, loved, and the things we were kind of sketched out by in each of the RV parks we visited. Below is a breakdown of each park and the pros and cons of each place. We hope, if anything, that our reviews might give you, the RVer, a little bit of assistance when planning your RV vacation.
Big Bear RV Park {Wasilla, AK}
Big Bear RV Park has water and electric on site and a free dump station for paid guests. The park also has reliable wifi internet.
Bathroom / Showers: The facilities were clean and well kept here. We didn’t have to pay extra to shower or use the bathrooms. Score!
Office and Gift Shop: The woman working the front desk was very nice. She told us about all of the amenities and made sure we had a site that was pleasing to us. She made certain that she gave us the Good Sam Discount and let us check into our spot early. Of course, all Good Sam locations have to offer the discount, but what was nice about this RV park was that she asked us if we were members and wanted to save us money. Saving money = happy dance! The gift shop was small and basic. A few Alaskan tchotchkes were available along with some postcards and other odds and ends. There was a Walmart just a few miles up the road so having a large store wasn’t necessary.
Sites: We had a decent amount of space between each RV. We had a pull-through site so getting in and out of our site was simple. They were level sites, so we didn’t feel off-balance inside the RV. There weren’t a lot of people staying here, so it was quiet, peaceful, and people weren’t walking past our RV all night long. There was a fire ring available if we chose to have a fire, which we didn’t because it was raining.
Truth in Advertising: Big Bear was what is advertised to be on the website. We were next to a frontage road, so we could hear minimal road noise through the night. Part of the noise may have been reduced in the highway was open (it was closed for repairs) and all of the traffic didn’t have to take the frontage road. If you think you’ll be camping amongst the trees, think again. This part is a large open- style park with trees surrounding the property.
Bonuses: Walmart was minutes away. Since this was our first real night in Alaska, we didn’t get everything we thought we’d need on the first Walmart trip, and had to make a second one. Hoping in the RV for a quick trip to the store or for dinner was simple.
Denali Grizzly Bear {Outside of Denali National Park}
Denali Grizzly Bear Resort is located outside of Denali National Park. The park has electric and water hookups and a dump station on site. The park has free wifi, but if you want to use the internet for more than 30 minutes, you'll have to pay.
Bathroom / Showers: The bathrooms were clean and well kept. A few times the women’s restroom was out of toilet paper in all of the stalls. The showers were unisex shower stalls with a changing area. The showers were coin operated and cost .75 cents for three minutes. They weren’t super clean, but they weren’t gross. The showers had the standard peeling paint and water damage visible.
Office and Gift Shop: The people weren’t the nicest here. When we checked in, we didn’t get the usual park pamphlets with information on the grounds (a park map), the things that were available around the park, and directions on how to operate the internet. I had to go and ask for this information and the guy working the front desk seemed shocked that I asked. The woman at the gift shop was cold in nature and wanted to talk to her friend more than she wanted to check out my items. It was just a weird environment. The gift shop wasn’t bad. There were groceries and small RV accessories and the usual Alaska swag for sale here.
Sites: The sites here were small and close together. We could hear the people in the RV next to us running back and forth. We were right on the interstate, buffered by a row of trees. The noise was a lot more than we expected ten miles from Denali. The sites were level, but only back in. The RV sites were close to the main office building, so incoming RV’s and the normal commotion around the office made quiet time a little scarce. There was a fire pit here, but like the last place we stayed, it was raining, so we didn’t have a fire.
Truth in Advertising: These people are liars. Ok, maybe not that harsh, but they certainly advertised things that weren’t available. For instance, the beautiful rushing river was behind the office, and the pictures were taken from the back side of the building to give the appearance of a tree-lined paradise. None of the beautiful nature scenery was close to the RV parking, and we heard road noise all night instead of a rushing river.
Bonuses: They offered a shuttle to the shopping center 6 miles away. This is a bonus because the shopping center doesn’t have RV parking. The shopping center looked cute. There is a Tesoro gas station and a row of shops and restaurants that cater to people visiting Denali since there isn’t anything else close to the park.
Trapper Creek Inn RV Park {Close to Talkeetna}
Trapper Creek Inn RV Park has full hookup sites and a dump station available for free if you're a paid guest.
Bathroom / Showers: We didn’t use the showers here but we checked out the facilities. The restrooms were nice and clean. The showers seemed clean and well cared for and there was a nice laundry room available. The showers and laundry are both coin operated during business hours, so bring your change!
Office and Gift Shop: The office staff was super friendly here. They were happy to see us in their park and wanted us to feel at home. That is a nice feeling on the road. There also was a convenience store for basic needs as well as a grill that offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices. There was a coffee shop attached to the grill. The food looked and smelled good. Pat picked up a potato salad and said it was pretty tasty.
Sites: The sites here were very nice. We had a pull-through site that was nestled amongst the trees. The park host, Larry, greeted us when we approached the RV area and took us to our site. He made sure we had everything we needed for the night and told us where to find him if we needed anything. He came to check on us when we were setting up and offered his assistance again if we needed anything. The sites were level here and we weren’t on top of other RVs. There was a community fire pit in a pavilion that was surrounded my mosquito zappers. The downfall to the tree lined camp sites? Mosquitos! We used my homemade DoTerra bug spray and stayed clear from the little buggers. Most importantly, we had a quiet stay.
Truth in Advertising: This place was great. It was much better than we had expected. We both highly recommend a stay here if you are headed to and around Denali. According to Larry, on a clear day, Denali is easier to view than it is within the National Park, and is actually closer in proximity to Trapper Creek than the Park’s entrance. We didn’t see Denali during our trip at all, bummer. It rained the whole time we were in the area, making our first week in Alaska a soggy one.
Bonuses: Talkeetna isn’t super close to Trapper Creek, so we never made it to the little town. The amenities on site at the Trapper Creek Park gave us everything we needed, so we didn’t feel the need to leave the park and explore. Just the sites and the friendly workers were bonus enough for us at Trapper Creek!
Miller’s Landing {Seward, Ak}
Miller's Landing has free wifi, water and electric sites, and no dump station.
Bathroom / Showers: Kind of gross. I’d say really gross, but I stayed here 7 years ago and they have been upgraded since then. They used to be really, really, gross, but that clearly didn’t keep me away from coming here again because I love the location right on Lowell Point. I digress…the kinda gross rating is because they were not always clean. There was a lot of mud tracked in and out of the bathroom areas and trash was a problem inside the building. The facilities themselves aren’t bad. I just think Miller’s Landing is severely understaffed and they can’t keep on top of the high traffic in and out of their camp. The showers are coin operated showers and cost 1.00 a token and each token gave us 2 minutes of water. We did do some laundry here. Nothing good or bad to say about the laundry facility. It was just average.
Office and Gift Shop: The office and gift shop is super cute. There are some items for sale on the inside such as ice, firewood, ice cream, and Alaskan goodies. They also sold warm clothing for some of the excursions that took place from Miller’s Landing. The workers are all very young and very friendly. Like I mentioned above, they are way too understaffed. In high season they need more employees to check people in and out, and book excursions. We had a little issue moving to our camp site. Someone had parked in our site and left the area. We tried to call them to have them move, but they didn’t answer their phones. There was a lot of confusion, and we finally got placed in a new site. This isn’t a big deal, but if all sites were booked for the night (which they were most of the nights we stayed here), we’d not have a place to stay. The office should have someone whose job it is to manage the camp sites, clean the sites, and get people placed correctly. A lot of Miller’s Landing’s issues could be resolved by adding more staff.
Sites: Miller’s Landing has a lot of different sites. Some have water and electric, some do not. Some sites are for tents, some for little cabins, and then there are the RV sites. The first night we stayed in the site called “Linda.” It was in the trees and quiet, but not clean, and not level. The staff didn’t check the fire rings in between customers, and there was a lot of trash in the fire ring. The rest of the time we were beach-front on Lowell Point. It was a beautiful view. The beaches are volcanic rock and waterfront. Each site has a fire ring and a picnic table. Downfall: the sites are not level at all. This isn’t a problem when we are in our own RV, but rented RVs don’t rent out balancing blocks, and I’d say at least 75% of the RVs were rented. The sites are very close to each other. Noise travels across the beach-front sites, and most nights there were drunk and loud people out past midnight. Verdict: If you want a beautiful stay: this place is for you. You just need to be aware of some of the issues that may come along with the amazing views.
Truth in Advertising: For the most part, Miller’s Landing is truthful in their advertising. They don’t claim to be the best or most upscale of RV parks in Seward. Located down a long pot-holed single lane road, it can be tricky to get to, and certainly, shakes up the RV as well as the contents of the RV. The last few miles to the facility are rough. If you ignore the giant pot holes and focus on the cute baby otters in the bay, then you won’t mind what they say is a “less than optimum kept road” into the park. Don’t open a soda immediately after driving down this road. You’ll be sorry!
Bonuses: Rental Kayak and excursions are available both from Miller’s Landing and other area excursion companies. Miller’s Landing offers shore fishing, boat excursions, guided fishing, kayak trips, and even helicopter rides across Resurrection Bay. I’d suggest booking these activities before you get there, or shortly thereafter, as the excursions fill up quickly. The little gift shop has coffee available and rocking chairs lining the front porch for sitting and enjoying the bay. The place really is rustic and likable, but run down.
Bing Brown’s RV Park {Sterling, AK}
Bing Brown's RV Park has full hookups. Ask about wifi.
Bathroom / Showers: Very rustic and retro. They weren’t dirty, but they are very old and run down. I took a shower here, and I’d say it was like showering in a 1950’s trailer. I wasn’t grossed out, but there were some baby spiders in some of the corners. The door to the women’s room took brute force to gain entry. The showers cost 5.00 a shower, but the water didn’t run out after 3 minutes. Thank goodness, because it took almost 3 minutes for the hot water to reach the shower head!
Office and Gift Shop: A great little grocery and liquor store. The woman who was running the place was very nice and called me “Hon” a lot. The place was older but clean.
Sites: The sites were back-in and full hook up. They were pretty level and the back of the sites were tree lined. Our site didn’t have a fire ring, but others did. We didn’t mind not having a fire because the mosquitos were hungry here. We escaped the rain and tree lined RV park wasn’t too shabby. The whole RV park was quiet. After staying at a noisy place for days, the silence was welcome. We’d stay here again.
Truth in Advertising: The advertising is what brought us to this site. Thank you MilePost 2015! We left Seward a day early because we couldn’t take the cold and rain anymore. We drove toward our next destination hoping we’d find a place along the way that was available to stop for the night. We probably pulled into Bing’s about 8:30 at night and they were more than happy to rent us a site and help us out for the night. Their advertising is what drew us to their place, and we’d go back again!
Bonuses: This place advertises well. It’s not the biggest or the greatest, but for someone traveling in an RV, it’s a decent spot to stop. There might be some long-term RVs here (some of the RVs looked like they’d been there a while), but we ignored those and had a great, quiet stay in the park.
Alaskan Angler's RV Park {Ninilchik, AK}
Alaskan Angler's RV Park has full hookups and wifi.
Bathroom / Showers: These are available in a building in the back of the park. They are located in the same building as the laundry facility. We didn’t actually use the showers, but they looked pretty decent. They are individual rooms with a shower and a changing area. The bathrooms are clean and well kept. The laundry room has 4 washing machines and six dryers, and all of the machines are coin operated. The nice thing about this laundry facility is that they have decent chairs to sit and wait for laundry and a rolling hamper to move the clothes from one machine to another. Bonus? There is a coin machine to make the change right inside the laundry room.
Office and Gift Shop: The office is mostly used to book charters for the nearby river. This park is known for its fishing charters, so it is a one-stop-shop. Stop, fish, and stay. The office has a few basics for RVs but not a ton of things available. The staff is friendly and very helpful. We had encounters with them a few times throughout our stay and they were always very nice and cared greatly for their park. It’s always nice to see people caring about their business.
Sites: We had a very large site that was clean, level, and easy to back in. There is plenty of space to sit outside and enjoy nature. It is a quiet facility and well kept. The part of the park we are staying in is located in the open and not tree lined which made the midnight sun a little brighter.
Truth in Advertising: The park’s advertising is what led us to book here. We were happy with everything we saw online as well as in the Milepost book.
Bonuses: Since we weren’t staying in Ninilchik for more than a stopover, we didn’t need a lot from the facility more than a good place to park and somewhere to do laundry. Ninilchik is a little diamond in the rough, though, so staying here means you can explore all that the little town has to offer. Deep Creek Beach is just up the road from Alaska Best, and the park is a haven for Bald Eagles. If you want to see a Baldy up close and personal, this is a beautiful and easy stop to make.
Homer Heritage RV Park on the Spit {Homer, AK}
Homer Heritage RV Park on the Spit has full hookups and free wifi.
Bathroom / Showers: These facilities were amazing. We stayed beachfront right on The Spit with full hookups, so we didn’t need to use the showers. We went to check out the showers just in case the water pressure at our site was weak, and these were the cleanest showers we’ve seen. The bathroom and shower area is monitored by a caretaker who cleans the shower rooms after each use. These rooms are large, spacious, and sanitary. There is a changing room attached to the shower. The restrooms here were individual rooms and also very clean. The laundry room is part of the bathhouse area and is large, clean, and has many places to sit while waiting for the laundry. The bathhouse attendant is there to help with any of your needs, so just ask. Be aware that the bathrooms and showers do close down at night. They are open from 7am-11pm.
Office and Gift Shop: The office and the gift shop are all part of the same facility that holds the bathhouse. There are many items available for RVers. We asked to rent a TV cable to get TV reception, and it was 12 dollars. Not too bad! There are computers available for use, and a game area to play games that are available from the park. The park brings in fresh bakery items daily, and a has a cute little coffee shop to get the staples in coffee drinking. It’s not a Starbucks by any means, but there are lattes, chai, coffee, and espresso. Outside of the building are many tables and chairs to just sit and enjoy the beauty of the Homer Spit. Since the chairs are closer to the building, the Wifi was super strong here. I was able to sit and do some of my schoolwork for three hours with no service interruption.
Sites: There are different sites available. We had a pull-in site that faced the ocean. The sites are clean, wide, and leveled. We had no trouble pulling into our site. There are also pull-through sites available in other parts of the park, but those sites are not waterfront. It was clean and quiet here.
Truth in Advertising: This place is advertised as one of the best on The Spit. I agree. You won’t be disappointed staying here. This RV park is a little pricier than other places in Homer. We paid 60 a night, but for the facilities and the view, it was worth the extra cost.
Bonuses: This place is made for RV travelers. They cater to the RV enthusiast. Many of the sites are beach front, and I can truly say the most beautiful view. My favorite part of the trip was sitting outside with a fire watching the otters, bald eagles, and seals play in and around the ocean as the tide came in.
Klondike RV Park {Soldotna, AK}
Klondike RV Park has full hookups and free wifi.
Bathroom / Showers: The bathrooms and showers are very clean and well taken care of. There are only two bathrooms here, but most of the sites are full hook up, so it is assumed people will be using their RV bathroom. The shower stalls are free to use for paid RVers and these changing rooms and showers are clean and well taken care of often during the day. There are three coin-operated washer and dryers to use. The laundry facility was bumpin’. We were lucky enough to snag a few washers before the crowd hit. We had a line of people waiting to wash their clothes!
Office and Gift Shop: The little shop has ice cream and RV hoses and connectors for sale. What I loved most about this place was the owner gave us a few things we needed for the RV on loan and trusted us to return them at the end of our stay. A very friendly staff runs this place, and their enthusiasm about the park is evident.
Sites: We had a level drive through site with full hookups. We weren’t nestled in the trees, but trees were scattered around the clean grounds. The spaces had plenty of room around the RV and there was a picnic table available at each site. The people who stayed at this RV park were very friendly. We saw that a lot on our trip, but it seemed like this park attracted the kind of RVers you want to park next to.
Truth in Advertising: This place was one of the newest and nicest RV parks in the Kenai Peninsula. I agree with the advertising. We would have stayed here a few more nights if we weren’t ending our trip with the town of Soldotna. Consider staying here if you are taking a fishing charter down the Kenai. It’s a bit of a drive, but the stay is relaxing, clean, serene, and close to many places in town.
Bonuses: We loved this place. Everything about it is a bonus. You need to stay here.