Frommer's Alaska 2010 (Frommer's Color Complete Guides) | 
| Author: Charles P. Wohlforth
Publisher: Frommers
Category: Book
List Price: $21.99
Buy New: $12.70
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Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 7726
Media: Paperback
Edition: Pap/Map
Pages: 640
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0470497734
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.980452
EAN: 9780470497739
ASIN: 0470497734
Publication Date: January 12, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780470497739 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Amazon.com Review
Discover The Best of Alaska
Content from Frommer's Alaska 2010 As a child, when my family traveled outside Alaska for vacations, I often met other children who asked, “Wow, you live in Alaska? What’s it like?” I never did well with that question. To me, the place I was visiting was far simpler and easier to describe than the one I was from. The Lower 48 seemed a fairly homogeneous land of freeways and fast food, a well-mapped network of established places. Alaska, on the other hand, wasn’t even completely explored. Natural forces of vast scale and subtlety were still shaping the land in their own way, inscribing a different story on each of an infinite number of unexpected places. Each region, whether populated or not, was unique far beyond my ability to explain. Alaska was so large and new, so unconquered and exquisitely real, as to defy summation. In contrast to many places you might choose to visit, it’s Alaska’s unformed newness that makes it so interesting and fun. Despite the best efforts of tour planners, the most memorable parts of a visit are unpredictable and often unexpected: a humpback whale leaping clear of the water, the face of a glacier releasing huge ice chunks, a bear feasting on salmon in a river, a huge salmon chomping onto your line. You can look at totem poles and see Alaska Native cultural demonstrations, and you can also get to know indigenous people who still live by traditional ways. And sometimes grand, quiet moments come, and those are the ones that endure most deeply. As the writer of this guidebook, I aim to help you get to places where you may encounter what’s new, real, and unexpected. Opening yourself to those experiences is your job, but it’s an effort that’s likely to pay off. Although I have lived here all my life, I often envy the stories visitors tell me about the Alaskan places they have gone to and what happened there. No one owns Alaska, and most of us are newcomers here. In all this immensity, a visitor fresh off the boat is just as likely as a lifelong resident to see or do something amazing. Alaska's Top Destinations by Category
The Best Views | 
The Best Alaska Cruises | 
The Best Glaciers | 
The Best Fishing | 
The Best Bear Viewing | 
The Best Marine Mammal Viewing | 
The Best Encounters with Native Culture | 
The Best Hotels | 
The Best Winter Destinations |
Product Description
- Completely updated every year, Frommer's Alaska features gorgeous color photos of the sights and experiences that await you.
- Our expert author lets you know your best bets for spotting wildlife, catching salmon or halibut, and getting up-close-and-personal with glaciers. Plus, detailed information on Alaska’s most scenic drives and where you can go to interact with Native people and culture.
- Our cruise experts break down the variety of Alaska cruises, from the debate between small versus large boats to who you can expect to be sailing with when you choose a particular cruise line.
- Plus, the best scenic drives along Alaska's highways, a guide to exploring Denali and Kenai Fjords national parks, "when, where and how" for viewing bears, whales, and other wildlife and insider advice on getting the most out of your Alaska cruise experience
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
Full of great information, pictures, and maps. Well Organized. March 18, 2010
Neil Gandhi (Dublin, CA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R5CN9YH1Y98IA In this review, I go over different sections of the book and great additions Frommer made to Alaska's 2010 guide. As always, Frommer has come up with another hit!
A really excellent travel guide! May 20, 2010
E. Swope (Kaneohe, HI USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As the only state I have never visited, Alaska has been on my short list for a long time.
Generally what I look to a travel guide for is recommendations on hotels and restaurants. I have made my reservations online for many many years, looking for out of the way places and a more authentic experience. In that regard, this guide really hits the mark. Written by a Alaska native, seasoned writer of some repute and naturalist, the book is an enjoyable read and unusual, in my experience, in that it really gives you an insider's perspective. Writer Charles Wohlforth points to the most beautiful vistas and how to get there; and provides perspective on Alaska's history, it's residents (both human and wildlife,) how, when and where to approach them.
He and his team go farther than many guides in that they do not just recommend a tour or hotel, they review all of the options and explain which is best for whom. that is he covers luxury travel, economy travel, nature tours... so that you can put together an itinerary best suited to you.
The guide covers all of the things one would expect: an over view of each region and/ or city, average temperature and weather chart, a large coated pull out map as well as numerous smaller detail maps, guides to parks, tours, activities, hotels and various modes of transportation. Where he goes beyond most guides is with his knowledge of native wildlife, where to see it and how to safely approach (or conversely when to keep your distance). That said this guide would also be of interest to bird-watchers and wildlife enthusiasts in general.
The book is both comprehensive and relatively compact. Because of its dimensions, it is more portable than most books of this scope. That said I believe it is the only guide you would need (speaking as one who usually buys a comprehensive book for planning and a compact guide for actual travel).
The only downside I see to this book is that after reading it I do not know that I would be satisfied with a 7-14 day tour. Alaska is immense, rich with beautiful and unusual vistas, diverse cultural experiences and a wide variety of recreational activities as well. After reading this book I am no longer thinking about hopping a 7 day cruise from Seattle and think I'd like to spend some time on land, inland, and get to experience some of the Alaska that you do not get to see from a cruise boat (or tour bus).
Essential March 25, 2010
Julie S.C.Y,
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Frommer's has established its reputation for quality tourism information and this book maintains that tradition (with the gorgeous amount of Alaska photographs inside, it even improves on it).
This is a thoroughly researched and beautifully presented guide. There's no way that a visitor to Alaska could cover even a small fraction of the activities listed and, more important, "Frommer's Alaska 2010" steers you away from the "junk" (like the tourist-trappy "Native American" places) and guides you to the places--both famous and off-the-beaten trail--that are genuinely worthwhile.
Another high-quality product from Frommer's.
Highly recommended.
a new angle for touring Alaska May 30, 2010
J. Tichon (CA USA)
A really interesting book that gives a different angle (as compare to Lonely planet or Rough guide etc...) about traveling in Alaska, the attached map is nice though not that detailed, great pictures - very good information, I recommend as a good book to study before heading up North :)
Finally a Frommer's Guide that Does the State Justice June 7, 2010
Bryan Newman (St Paul, MN)
I have never had a problem with the written content of the Frommers guides, and Charles P. Wohlforth has a resume that makes him infinitely qualified to write book (I can even forgive that I got food poisoning from one of his recommendations - stuff happens.) But Alaska deserves color photos, lots of them. I have knocked other guides by Wohlforth like Alaska For Dummies for not having photos so I am glad that this guide starts to do the state justice.
Of course this is not a coffee table book so there are no sweeping vistas, but there is definitely enough to whet the appetite for your trip. I have never really considered myself a "Frommer's traveler" as I tend more to campsites and fishing holes, but I really appreciated an older addition I picked up a few years ago. It turned me on to a couple of restaurants that I had not known about (and yes, one left me in a tent with distended stomach and cold sweats, but like I said stuff happens.)
The book itself has very high quality paper and printing, alhtough the binding may not quite be up Job. My binding is already showing distress and it hasn't even been thrown into a backpack and hauled 2500 miles yet. One of the drawbacks of this higher quality paper is that is now weighs about as much as a brick. It's a little weighty for a backpack traveler. Also, it covers the whole state which is generally a little overkill for most visits, unless you are on the Mother-of-all Land/Sea packaged tour. It would be nice to see it cut into two guides, one for the Southeast/inside passage and another for the rest of the state.
The maps are great, and the information is great as always. I even found the outdoor adventure content worthwhile. Often that is so generalized and glossed over it is pretty much useless. This book is a great choice for planning a visit, but a little heavy for throwing in your day pack while visiting.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
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