I wrote about our RV previously here, but in this post, I'll focus on the cost. Why? Like with my previous post about our Guatemala trip costs, I'm hoping this info can help others plan since it's hard to accurately estimate travel costs. This was our first time renting an RV and I was not sure what the final costs would be compared to the initial estimates shown on the rental sites. In the end, renting the RV was 100% the best choice for us on this trip and saved us money compared to the alternatives.
The total for our RV including gas and campgrounds was just over $4,000 for 8 nights. Whew! That's more than our entire month in Guatemala, and doesn't include food, flights, and activities. Alaska, amirite?! Let's break it down:
RV Rental = ~$3,250
- Base fee = $2,537
This was for a 28 foot RV with two slide-outs, and the rental included unlimited mileage. We owed a deposit of $634 upfront and the rest at pickup. - Options:
- Six camping/lawn chairs = $90. We never ended up using more than a couple at a time.
- Prepaid propane: I don't remember the cost exactly but it was around $30? We never had to refill it and didn't run out. It was worth not having to find a place to refill it before returning.
- Linen package = $160. Not really an option since they automatically provide and charge $40 for every person after the first two.
- Additional driver fee = $15/day. Worth it to be able to trade off drivers, especially since Mary was willing to share that job with Bill.
- We decided not to add the optional collision waiver or other insurance. I was worried about this because they do a good job of freaking you out that you are definitely either going to crash the RV because of your inexperience driving a huge vehicle or because nature will get you somehow (crack your windshield, etc.). The insurance was expensive though, over 10% of the rental cost, and we luckily did not have any issues that required it. Our deductible otherwise would have been $3K, yikes. Our normal car and credit card insurances have exceptions for RVs and would not have covered anything.
- There were also lots of options for renting equipment like grills, fishing rods, and extra kitchen equipment like a toaster. We didn't need or rent any of this. The RV kitchen came well-stocked, missing only a coffee maker (Mary brought a french press).
- There was also an option to pay per mile vs. unlimited, but we stuck with unlimited.
- Fees & taxes:
- Random fees with no detail: $87
- Taxes $280
I have no idea how any of these compare to RV rentals elsewhere in the US. Overall, the price was close to what we were originally quoted, and only differed because of our add-ons. Very happy with the RV rental place overall (Great Alaskan Holidays).
Gas = $550
Our estimate for gas was almost exactly right - around 1,200 miles @ 11 mpg (oof) was just under $550. (We'd Google-mapped to figure out the mileage and Googled for the mpg on RVs of this size.) We did not purchase any prepaid gas options with the RV and returned it full as required. This was during high gas price time last summer but gas in Alaska was not excessively expensive compared to home, the rare item that didn't have an Alaska upcharge.
Campsites = ~$250
In our 8 nights on the road, we stayed in 6 different places with nightly cost ranging from $0 - 58.
- For two nights, we "boondocked" it - just stopped on the side of the road. We stopped in different places traveling north from Denali to Fairbanks and retracing those steps south. These ended up being some of my favorite stays, with beautiful views near rivers or over mountains. The highway even had boondocking areas separated from the road by trees so noise wasn't a problem. Total cost = $0. Boondocking is legal in most areas of Alaska.
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| Boondocking in northern Alaska |
- Quartz Creek Campground - $26/night. This campsite is managed by the federal government. It had a bathroom with no showers, but on our first full RV day we were not yet grimy.
- Seward Municipal Campgrounds - $55/night. This site is managed by the city of Seward, and had bathrooms with showers, water/electric hookup, and a dump station. It was really packed together, very much an RV parking lot, but was right on the beautiful rocky shore of Resurrection Bay and perfectly located to walk all around Seward.
- Denali's Riley Creek Campground - $40/night. Very convenient, right inside the entrance to the national park and walking distance to the shuttle buses and visitor center. We spent two nights here. Nice wooded sites.
- Wasilla's Matanuska River Park - $31/night. We found this one on the fly on our way back south the night before we turned in the RV.
If We Hadn't Rented...
Alternately, we could have rented a car. The quotes for regular car rentals were close to $3K, which is ridiculous. I'm not sure if that price was part of the normal post-pandemic rental car price increases or if rental cars are typically crazy high in Alaska. In our initial research, we learned that even mediocre-to-bad hotels are very expensive ($200+, often >$300/nt) in Alaska, and we would have needed two rooms each night since there were 6 of us. AirBnB wasn't a great option everywhere either, though we did have a reasonable AirBnB in Anchorage. Car rental combined with those housing costs would have sent this trip cost into the stratosphere.
The RV was super convenient too, and I loved not having to haul suitcases around each night and having a bathroom whenever needed. Having the kitchen saved us a lot of money too, and gave us the flexibility to eat whenever and wherever we were vs. needing to find a restaurant in remote areas. We ate four meals out (plus some snacks/ice cream) during the time we had the RV, and spent more on those four meals than on groceries for all the other meals combined for those 8 days and nights. (Meals averaged $80 for our family of 4, with Zadie typically either ordering from a kids menu or sharing with Ruth.) If we'd been in hotels the entire time and paying for 3 meals out every day, our food costs would have been astronomically higher. Good way to stick with reasonably healthy options too!
Would We Rent an RV Again?
Definitely, especially for a trip like this where we're visiting a bunch of parks in remote areas. Super comfortable and convenient, especially for the person who's not driving. ;)