Last Frontier Westy’s

Road-tripping across Alaska makes for an epic vacation—and that “epic” factor just goes up when you do your trip in a classic VW van from this Anchorage-based operator. Outfitted with many of the home-on-wheels comforts of a traditional RV, these rentals offer a nimble way to road trip—with the bonus that pretty much everyone you see waves and smiles when they see your cool ride.

Living the Good #VanLife

Indeed, not everyone wants the size of an RV for their roadtrip. VW campervans are smaller, but Last Frontier Westy’s vintage models come with beds and often small kitchens—so this feels nicely like a hybrid of RVing and camping, in an intimate space that still never feels cramped. It even comes with its own instant-style tent: Each of these vans has a canvas pop-top on them that unzips like a half-dome and holds one of the beds, which sleeps two people. When you lay in this birds-eye-view bed, you can look out to watch the sunset or sunrise. Combined with the bed in the vehicle, each van can sleep up to 4. (There are no onboard bathrooms—or any of the chores that come with having one—but pretty much any campground where you’d park has bathrooms.)

Each van comes with linens (sheets, down blankets, pillows), dishes, pots and pans, and basics like salt and pepper, spices, and copies of Milepost and Alaska Magazine. You can add on niceties such as hammocks, camp chairs, car seats, towels, a cooler, a tent, or a solar shower. And three of the four vans have hook-ups for an RV park/campground, if you want to connect to power.

Just choose the bus that feels right to you—each has its own personality (and name):

Goldy

The original member of the fleet is a stick-shift 1986 bus with two beds, full stove and sink, fridge, and an auxiliary battery with AC/DC converter, so you can plug anything in. There’s a solar panel on top, which charges the battery under the midnight sun. Its radio looks like an old-style VW model, but it has a Bluetooth.

Poly

Named after Polychrome Pass in Denali, Polly is a 1986 stick-shift Synchro, with two beds, a two burner stove, sink, fridge, and Bluetooth radio. Poly is 4-wheel drive, and handles great in all weather. It has powerful round South African headlights, some great Audi breaks, and a propane heater: if you go fall camping, that heater kicks on whenever the temperature dips below your chosen point on the thermostat.

Sourdough

Sourdough is an alaskan slang term for "local" or "old timer" and refers to any person who has lived in Alaska for a significant period of time and has established themselves in the lifestyle which is typical of the frontier Alaskan and outdoors man. Sourdough is a white, 1991 automatic-transmission Weekender. The top pops and the bench seat folds down, so it has two beds and extra seats. It doesn’t have a fridge, sink, or stove— but that’s easily remedied by bringing a cooler and a camp stove to use outside. Because it can fit more people, it’s great if you’re bringing kids or more gear.

Clark

Clark is the newest member of the Trickster Trips fleet. And, he's the only "male". He's blue, burly, and strong and is named after Lake Clark National Park. This 1988 Westy has a full kitchen set up and a full kitchen with a manual transmission.

Details

If you rent during the summer—June, July, or August—there’s a one-week minimum for a rental, but during the rest of the year, you can just rent it by the night. Like most rentals in Alaska, you need to be at least 26 years old and must stick to paved roads on your trip (so no Denali Highway or McCarthy Road). But that still leaves a huge number of options—after all, this is Alaska. The bus itself—and the #vanlife feelings people say it gives to their journey—just add to your experience.