Hotels near Merrill Field Airport - MRI, Anchorage

Alaska is so beautiful but Anchorage doesn't show that at all. The city is so gloomy and is not properly taking care of its people. We did find a few good bars and pubs, but walking around on the street just made us sad. Recommend only staying in Anchorage for activities outside of the city (visit Whittier or go hiking in Chugach State Park!) or to pass through on your next adventure to Denali, Fairbanks, Kenai etc. One activity worth doing in Anchorage is the coastal trail, by bike or by foot, you'll definitely spot an eagle or a moose!

I came specifically for the Alaska Winter Train Ride from Anchorage to Fairbanks. It was a breathtaking beautiful ride! I am planning future trips back to Alaska to take more train tours. The hotel shuttle driver and another hotel guest recommended the seafood chowder at Forty Ninth State Brewing in downtown Anchorage. The driver offered to take me. I ordered the Alaskan seafood chowder with a lager loaf, a garden salad and their "award winning" smoked wings. Bingo! The seafood chowder was delicious with chunks of seafood in a very flavorful creamy broth! It was very good and the lager loaf was scrumptious. Together they made a great combo! I can see why the "award winning" smoked wings got an award...they were delicious, even cold, the next day! Customer service here was top shelf. Kristaleigh took my order and made the recommendations for the wings and lager loaf. She was delightful and professional! Overall, it was a very warm environment and pleasant interaction. Hats off to the chef/cook at the Lakefront Anchorage Hotel restaurant. I spent one night here and ordered take out. I ordered two salmon tacos (scrumptious and very tasty) and steamed veggies which were flavorful and steamed just right! The bartender who took my order was very helpful and professional. Great customer service!

Very easy to get around but I recommend a rental car. Lots to see but some of the locations are definitely within driving distance. Alyeska Resort is a must. Tram rail and seven glacier restaurant is very impressive.

We did not have an opportunity to view much of Anchorage as we were headed to Wasilla to visit family. We did eat at the Arctic Roadrunner in Anchorage, which is a very popular burger restaurant; the burgers were great! We stayed at the Hyatt in Anchorage, which is only 8 minutes from the airport. We'd recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to be close to the airport and have a great hotel/restaurant to visit. Directions to the airport were fairly straight forward; there was very little traffic mid-morning Sunday.

We just had one day to sightsee. We did the city trolley tour in the morning, hosted by a local with excellent knowledge of the city and Alaska generally; it is worth going on the longer trolley tour so you can get off the bus for photos etc. In the afternoon an out of town tour by “escape anchorage.com” was also excellent and made a good contrast to the city tour, and was good value at $129. If we had had longer we would have hired bikes to cycle the coastal trail, visited the museum and done a longer trip to one of the national parks. Restaurants were good - we went to Ginger and 49th State Brewing (both bar / restaurants) and would recommend both. There is plenty to do - but do check the weather, and also Alaska’s 35 different species of mosquitoes (we didn’t see any in mid May)!

The whole place is run down and shabby. The draperies had holes, the phone was dirty, and the TV controls were sticky. I was afraid of bedbugs but the linens were clean. There were homeless right outside our window playing rap music on loudspeakers. Very sketchy people staying at the hotel. The shuttle drivers were nice, but the desk guy wasn't friendly. It was a very depressing place. Definitely not worth the money. Ramada should be ashamed.