Thinking I'd like to take myself and the girlfriend to Nome for the Iditarod finish. I've found a few vacation packages for this, and it ranges from pricey to African safari sorts of pricing

Usually I try to avoid the package stuff but given the remote location and small size of Nome I'm thinking it might be worth it.

Has anyone done this, or have any advice or advice thoughts on using a tour guide or which ones to use?

Thanks!

You’re going to Nome in it’s busiest week of the year, yeah, gonna be pricey.

Step 1- call and book a room, but with the storm surge last week, I don’t know what hotels will even be answering. Nome Nugget could be washed away or if not, badly damaged. Aurora Inn is the nicest, but again, I don’t know what will even be open. All the hotels are pretty much right on strip by the ocean, so it’s a hard hit for Nome.

Step 2- book an Alaska Airlines flight.

Nome is small enough you can walk most anywhere, but Aurora rents trucks/SUV’s. Can’t think of any other places that do. It will be winter, and Nome is windy, so there will be some suck involved. There’s 3 roads out of town, but two aren’t even maintained in the winter for the most part. Council and Kugarok rd are pretty, but the ones not plowed all the way. No need for a tour guide in a place that small.


Hopefully there is still availability this late in the game, it may seem far off, but people plan this stuff as soon as the previous years race is over.

It definitely looks like a small town. Thats kind of why I was leaning towards a package. The tour guides offer snow machines during the vacation, and I dont see any way to get a snow machine otherwise....eg.... Theres a car rental place but I dont think theres a snow machine rental place (At least not one I could find)

It is a small town/village.

Rebuilding after the storm may take awhile and into next year if supplies are in short supply. Most construction equipment and materials are barged in. It is late fall and barges already have their last loads on the way.

Freeze up is fast approaching.

If you are on fb get on some of the Nome pages and ask around. Somebody may rent their snogos.

I was up in Nome hunting right before the storm and stayed at the Aurora, really great hotel especially by village standards (It would be one of the nicer hotels in Anchorage). When I talked to them they said you need to book Iditarod at least one year in Advance and they were already full. Im sure its much worse now that the storm took out a lot of stuff on Front Street.

The Nugget is gone, and wasn't a place I would advise anyone to stay at anyway. Aurora is nicer.

OP, feel free to PM me if you have specific questions about Nome, and what you want to do here. I have a co-worker whose wife does dogsled tours that week.

As far as walking, it's small enough, if you're tough enough for the wind and cold lol.

Had to stay in the Nugget last september, great street-side view of a few fights over the liquor bottle.

Lot of history in it, but not the worst casualty. The Subway/Movie theater though is the real gem.