Alaska Vacation Rentals

If you want to experience unspoiled natural habitats, cool clear water, and crisp clean air, then look no further then Alaska. You'll spend your Alaska vacation in complete peace and serenity when you stay in one of Rent101's Alaska vacation rentals. Watch the Aurora Borealis from the deck of your private Alaska vacation rental. Stay in Anchorage, where the Alaskan Wilderness meets a buzzing metropolitan center. Be sure to visit one of Alaska's National Parks. With 20 to choose from the possibilities are endless. Located on the shores of Cook Inlet and at the foot of the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage is a unique urban environment set in the heart of great wilderness. Experience the Anchorage culture and explore Alaska's unique heritage to discover the true beauty of "The Last Frontier." Anchorage museums provide insight to Alaska's amazing past. Anchorage wildlife viewing opportunities provide visitors great insight to Alaska wildlife. Surrounded by state and national parkland, Anchorage is also the ideal base camp for Southcentral Alaska wildlife adventures. The great outdoors await you with plenty of opportunities for ice skating, ice hockey, alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, snowboarding, dog sledding, snow shoeing, snowmobiling, and sledding. Be sure to go fishing while you are in Alaska. Alaska boasts some of the best fishing waters, they are especially known for their salmon. You'll also want to experience the great outdoors while you kayak, canoe, raft, jet ski, motorboat, paddleboat, hike, or bike. While you're there go flightseeing, get a true appreciation for the size and magnificence of Alaska while enjoying a flightseeing tour of Anchorage, nearby Chugach Mountains, Mt. McKinley, Prince William Sound or the Harding Icefield. Some tours actually land on a glacier! A must see in Alaska are the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights. The Aurora Borealis are glowing, dancing curtains of light. They ripple and sway, fold and unfold, then suddenly disappear, only to reform in a new shape minutes later. They appear in the sky when the electrically charged particles from the Sun are blown on a solar wind and react to the earth's magnetic field. Fall, winter and spring is the prime season for viewing, and the best displays tend to be accompanied by sub-zero temperatures and moonless skies. The best hours are often near midnight. Of course, no one can guarantee when they will be out. Alaska has over 20 national parks, including Denali National Park (just south of Anchorage), Kenai Fjords National Park (located on Kenai Peninsula), and Glacier Bay National Park. Denali National Park & Preserve features North America's highest mountain, 20,320-foot tall Mount McKinley. The Alaska Range also includes countless other spectacular mountains and many large glaciers. Denali's more than 6 million acres also encompass a complete sub-arctic eco-system with large mammals such as grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, and moose. Kenai Fjords National Park encompasses 607,805 acres of unspoiled wilderness on the southeast coast of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. The park is capped by the Harding Icefield, a relic from past ice-ages and the largest icefield entirely within U.S. borders. Orcas, otters, puffins, bear, moose and mountain goats are just a few of the numerous animals that make their home in this ever-changing place where mountains, ice and ocean meet. The marine wilderness of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve provides opportunities for adventure, a living laboratory for observing the ebb and flow of glaciers, and a chance to study life as it returns in the wake of retreating ice. The park has snow-capped mountain ranges rising to over 15,000 feet, coastal beaches with protected coves, deep fjords, tidewater glaciers, coastal and estuarine waters, and freshwater lakes.