Visiting Fairbanks in the winter is one of those Alaskan experiences that you’ve just got to do. Yes, it is definitely cold. And yes, things are icy, but there’s actually so much fun to be had when you are in Fairbanks in the winter. We’ve got an itinerary that is just perfect for enjoying a week of ice and snow and wildlife. Whether it’s your first time or your 10th trip to Alaska, I think you’ll find that Fairbanks in the winter is a different version than anything you’ve experienced before.
We love getting to visit the cold north, and I used to live just south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula and I worked at Denali National Park. With each trip back with the kids, I enjoy getting to see just what about Alaska inspires them and I’ll tell you, visiting Fairbanks in the winter was a hoot to experience with them. As you take a look at our Fairbanks winter itinerary, please let us know if you have any questions by leaving a comment or sending us a note. There’s a lot to figure out and plan when you are planning a trip to Alaska in the winter so we are happy to help out in any way.
Also, be sure to check out our other website, myalaskatrip.com, for lots more information about visiting Alaska any time of year and all over the state.
Being Prepared for Fairbanks in the Winter
Before you dig too much into our Fairbanks winter itinerary, know that the extreme cold is very manageable with a little planning. A combination of indoor and outdoor activities paired with proper attire really does make it doable. We live in Florida so visiting Fairbanks in the winter feels like the most extreme of extremes. Luckily, we like to research and we arrived being well prepared for the cold. Here is our packing list for spending a week in Fairbanks, Alaska during the winter (these are affiliate links).
- Temperature rated coats (they’ll have an actual temperature range)
- Temperature rated gloves
- Glove liners (thin gloves that act as an insulator)
- Lined snow pants (even if you’re not going to make snow angels)
- Long johns / long underwear
- Buff / scarves
- Stocking caps
- Merino wool socks (you’ll even double these up)
- Winter boots – we all wear Keens (you’ll rarely wear shoes)
You may need to shop for some of this stuff in advance, but it’s worth it. The best options for finding quality cold weather gear are actually NOT Amazon or Columbia, but SidelineSwap, GearTrade, REI and Backcountry. Each of these websites has an amazing consignment program with validated gear quality and usually a comprehensive selection for gently used snow gear.
Note: quality winter gear is very expensive and a great way to save is getting second hand gear. Especially for kids, snow gear tends to be very gently used because it’s so rarely used.
Is it completely dark in Fairbanks in Winter?
If you’re planning your trip to Fairbanks in the winter, I bet you’re wondering about the never-ending darkness that northern Alaska is famous for. Well, yes, Fairbanks is absolutely dark for the majority of the day from November to February, but as the days get longer, just like in the lower 48, there is more light. The cold winter weather stretches into the end of March or even early April as the thaw begins. During this early spring period, the daylight and darkness are actually evenly split as you move into the spring equinox.
Even in peak of winter there are things happening in Fairbanks. When you have your travel dates, be sure to check and see what events are going on while you’re in town. We were able to go to the Open North America Dogsled Championships since our timing was just right. You never know what you’ll get to do!
Driving in Fairbanks in Winter
Probably one of the more daunting thoughts about visiting Fairbanks in winter, or anywhere in Alaska really, is the fear of driving in icy or snowy conditions. I get it, and no matter how often I do it I still get a little bit anxious. Something impressive about winter in Alaska though is that the roads are very well maintained when it comes to snow plowing and ice build up. Yes, you will be driving on roads that are thick with ice for many months, but they are also continually sanded.
You do need to exercise caution when driving in Fairbanks in winter, but also once you understand the look of different surfaces, you’ll find your confidence for driving. We drove all around Fairbanks, to North Pole, up to Chena Hot Springs and even to Denali National Park and were stunned to find very well kept, easy to drive roads. Yes, there was snow all around and even falling at times, but driving in Alaska in winter is much easier than you might expect.
How Many Days for a Winter Alaska Trip
One of my favorite questions to answer about visiting Alaska is how many days do you need for have a solid Alaskan winter experience.The answer will be different for everyone depending on their comfort, interests and budget, but assuming that you’re not afraid of the cold, love icy things and have a solid travel budget, I would say at minimum one week to explore a region in the winter.
We spent a week in Fairbanks while it was the peak of winter activities and could’ve had two more days. Our family stays really busy when we travel, so if you were to do everything we did and also work in some downtime and relaxation, you’d probably need 10 days to do it. The great thing is though, you don’t have to tackle it all in one trip. If this is your first adventure to Alaska in the winter, I would keep it at 5-7 days so that you get a good taste of the fun but don’t wear yourself out too much. This will also set you up for an even better trip the next time.
Should I stay IN Fairbanks for a Winter Visit?
When you’re in Fairbanks, you’ll be doing activities all around the city and even venturing far beyond the actual town into the wild or other small towns. It’s nice to have a home base when you’re visiting for a week or more, but also, it’s great to mix things up and stay in different areas. We’ve stayed in quite a few Fairbanks hotels in different places, and have some ideas about where to stay in and around the city.
First off, staying downtown is great because it’s convenient for good food, some of the sights you’ll want to see, and because it’s not far from the airport when it’s time to fly out. There are national travel brand hotels like Hyatt and Best Western, and then there are some independent hotels. You’ll also find a range of budget options.
If you want to head outside of town you’ll find some cool lodges and even vacation rentals. You’ll read about them below, but two of our favorite stays in the Fairbanks area in winter are far from town: Borealis Basecamp and Chena Hot Springs Resort. The experiences are very different and both are awesome for a winter trip.There are lots of things to do both at these resorts and beyond downtown Fairbanks, so if you’re choosing a hotel out of town, you should book one based on the activities you want to do and what’s close to most of them.
Fairbanks in Winter: One Week Adventure Itinerary
Usually when we make an itinerary for our trips, we tell you where to stay each night, but this time we’ll just point you in the right direction of planning your activities in nearby areas so you can either stick with one home base or can plan your days with minimal time driving between places.
REMEMBER: build the itinerary that works for your time, interests and budget. If part of a vacation to Fairbanks in the winter includes staring out at the snow and reading a book, then you’ll want to make sure that you’ve got a good amount of downtime in the right places for that.
Day 1: Arrival in Fairbanks
It’s a long day of travel to Fairbanks, Alaska unless you’re on a direct flight from Seattle, Chicago or Denver. Chances are more likely that you’ve had at least two flights to get here, so for me that’s enough to make me want dinner and bedtime. When you arrive in Fairbanks though, you might be inspired to stay up late on your first night to watch for the Northern Lights, aka the Aurora Borealis. If that’s you, then be sure that you’ve booked a hotel on the north side of town or just outside of town so that you don’t have light pollution preventing your viewing.
A fun and easy hotel to book for the start of your visit to Fairbanks in winter is Pike’s Waterfront Lodge. It’s very Alaskan and is all about the winter experience. From ice sculptures on the property to a small museum all about the Aurora Borealis, and even an Aurora Conservatory for viewing, it’s a great way to be immersed in having a winter Alaska trip.
Day 2: Experiencing Ice Culture
For most of us visiting Fairbanks in the winter the thing that really stands out is the ice. It’s everywhere and really is a part of the fun. For your first full day here, find ways to enjoy the icy experience. There are a few options so choose what feels good for your family or group. After you’ve gauged the temperature and dressed appropriately for the weather, head out for some ice fishing!
I’ll be the first to tell you that ice fishing isn’t the most thrilling thing to do in Alaska in the winter, but it’s for sure unique and may just be on your Fairbanks bucket list. This is an activity to do with a guide due to needing the right gear and a warming hut, but it’s a great intro into enjoying the cold. If that’s not your speed, swing into REI and rent snow shoes for the day. There are lots of great snowshoeing trails around Fairbanks, including around the Tanana Lakes, that are easy and fun to explore.
After lunch and some downtime, stop into the Ice Museum in downtown Fairbanks (hours vary) and then stroll the riverfront path along the Chena River, which stays frozen into April typically. As the day progresses, make your way to the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds for the Ice Alaska exhibition and World Ice Art Championships. This is seasonal, so be sure to confirm that the ice park is set up and what ice sculpture events are happening.
Additional option: today is also a great day to visit a sled dog kennel and have a dog mushing experience. There are several dogsled kennels open to the public in Fairbanks and there are lots of opportunities to enjoy a dogsled ride.
Day 3: Museums and the Northern Lights
Since most of yesterday was spent outside enjoying the ice and snow, today is a mix of museums before heading to our luxe stay up in the hills above Fairbanks. Begin with a visit to the Morris Thompson Cultural Center, which is also the Fairbanks Visitor Center. This is a great spot to really get your bearings of the area and learn about Fairbanks’ history and nature.
After this, head up to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North. We really enjoyed visiting this museum as it’s a good mix of natural history, Alaska Native culture, gold rush history and Alaskan art. It’s good for all ages and if you’re lucky, you may even spy a view of Denali off in the distance.
Grab some lunch and then head over to the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, which may sound odd for visiting Fairbanks in the winter, but you’ll love it. It’s full of cars and costumes/clothing from the start of automobiles in Alaska, including some really cool race cars. I didn’t think our kids would be into the Antique Auto Museum but I was wrong. And it was a great way to mix up the types of things we were doing and seeing each day.
Wrap up your day with heading to tonight’s special accommodations at Borealis Basecamp. Located about 40 minutes from downtown Fairbanks, Borealis Basecamp has igloos and cubes with giant windows aimed at making it so you can lay in bed and watch the Northern Lights comfortably. And then there are lots of activities too, but for now we just need to get to Basecamp and get settled, hopefully getting a beautiful Aurora Borealis show in the middle of the night.
Option: if you’re not staying at Borealis Basecamp (it’s very expensive and books far in advance), then plan to head to Aurora Pointe. This cool spot opens at 10:00 pm and is far from the city lights up on a hill. Here you’ll have wonderful dark skies for watching the Northern Lights, a pavilion to warm up in and learn about what makes the Aurora Borealis, and even s’mores and wine. It’s a wonderful Northern Lights experience!
Day 4: Borealis Basecamp Adventures
If you got to wake up at Borealis Basecamp, that’s awesome and I hope you had an amazing night under the Aurora. If not, I hope you had a great night watching the night sky too, but now you need to head up to Basecamp Adventures for a day of fun. Part of the Borealis Basecamp experience is getting to enjoy the winter activities up away from the city. Today you have some options to really get a feel for what winter fun can be.
First up, how about a dogsled experience? There are lots of places all around Fairbanks that you can do this, but up here is really fun for a few reasons: it’s beautiful, the mushers are the coolest people who really love their dogs, and there are puppies to meet and maybe even adopt! When you’re done, you can hit the woods with some snowshoes and go tromping through the quiet, snowy forest. There are great cross country ski paths to enjoy as well.
Have some lunch at Basecamp Adventures (limited menu) and then head back out into the cool with the crew for a snowmachine tour. Snowmachine and snowmobile are interchangeable words, so if you wrote one of those things on your bucket list for Fairbanks in the winter, you can cross it off up here at Borealis Basecamp Adventures.
There’s more to do at Basecamp, from hanging out in the lodge and playing games to going on a reindeer walk or doing a helicopter flightseeing tour. It’s a really cool, special place to visit or stay, and if you can add it to your itinerary do it. If you get to stay for one more night, make sure you listen for the gentle alarm they ring in your igloo or cube for when the Northern Lights begin!
Note: because Borealis Basecamp is a premium experience, both the stay and the activities (some are included when you’re staying here), if that’s not in your budget you can do the dog mushing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and cross country skiing at a few other places around Fairbanks.
Day 5: Chena Hot Springs
I think part of enjoying Fairbanks in winter is leaning into the most Fairbanksy thing: Chena Hot Springs. I came here on my very first trip to Fairbanks 25+ years ago and it’s still fun. Chena Hot Springs Resort is a lot more than just a hot spring pool that you can visit. We’ve done hot springs all over from California’s Sierra region to Yellowstone Country Montana, but nobody has a hot spring rock pool like Chena Hot Springs.
Spend the day enjoying the outdoor hot pool (16 year old and up), the indoor swimming pool and spa tubs if you like, and then enjoy everything else around the property. Here you’ll find another great opportunity to experience dog mushing with a dogsled ride through the woods and a kennel visit. You can do the geothermal power tour to learn about the underground source of supplying energy to the whole resort, and you can even visit the AMAZING hydroponic greenhouses.
Year round, not just in winter, there is also the Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs. You can do the tour and visit the indoor frozen palace, see how they do ice sculpting and even have a cocktail at the frozen bar in the ice museum. End the day with, what I think is the coolest tour you can do in Fairbanks in winter: snow cat up the mountain for the Aurora Borealis! Leaving late at night and returning to the base as late as 3:00 am, the Northern Lights adventure is really cool and fun, with the best Aurora viewing I’ve ever experienced.
Tip: stay overnight at the Chena Hot Springs Resort so that you can just go to bed after the really late night you’re going to have. We loved staying in a cabin off the creek, which was wonderfully rustic (no running water even). It was a blast and the kids thought it was the coolest place we stayed.
Day 6: Exploring North Pole, Alaska
Before you get all crazed that we took the kids to the North Pole in winter, nope. We went to NORTH POLE, AK. This is a fun town just east of Fairbanks and it’s embraced its name of “North Pole” to include lots of holiday theming all around town, including candy cane striped street lights. The most famous spot in North Pole is the Santa Claus House. Year round it’s just solid Christmas, full of decorations and knicknacks, holiday music and even a dessert bar.
Outside the Santa Claus House you’ll find lots of Christmassy photo ops, including the largest Santa Claus statue in the world. I know it sounds over the top, but… I mean, it is. I love it.
There is more to visiting North Pole, Alaska than just getting your fill of Christmas out of season. This is an awesome area for having more outdoors winter experiences. Depending on your energy level and budget, you can fill your day with activities. We spent a day with Rod’s Alaska Guide Service and had a whole day of fun: ice fishing in the morning, lunch on a frozen lake (Chena Lakes), meeting sled dogs, and then doing a two hour snowmachine tour through the backwoods of North Pole. We saw a moose on our snowmobile tour and had the best day being sporty. Our kids loved this particular day of our winter Fairbanks itinerary.
Day 7: Wrapping up Fairbanks in Winter
Today is your last day here in Fairbanks if you’re sticking to our travel plan. It’s a chance to do anything you didn’t get to yet, including revisiting some of the fun stuff you may have already done. For our family, our kids really enjoy visiting sled dog kennels and watching mushers do their thing, even when we don’t get to participate in the dogsledding. If that’s your family too, try to visit one more sled dog camp and get in some puppy snuggles.
If you have it in you and you want to do something many people don’t even think of, you can spend this day having a trip to Denali National Park in winter. You can do a guided tour (then you don’t have to drive yourself and you get narration) with Northern Alaska Tour Co making stops along the way to Denali NP, then do some gentle snow hiking in the park, and make your way back to Fairbanks, watching for wildlife along the way. You’ll love it!
A lot of flights leave Fairbanks in the evening or late at night (1:00 am even) so you have typically at least a half day or more on your final day to explore a bit extra. This can also be a great day to just relax at a lodge or get in one final snowshoe. DON’T LET YOURSELF BE LATE to your flight though. It’s easy to think you’ll have plenty of time, but always error on the side of getting to the airport early.
Optional: Adding the Alaska Railroad
I love talking about the Alaska Railroad because it’s such a cool and unusual tourist experience. Stretching from Seward to Fairbanks, the scenery on the Alaska Railroad is epically beautiful. If you’re visiting Fairbanks in winter, you have a unique train ride option called the Aurora Route. In the winter months the train does only the stretch between Anchorage and Fairbanks and vice versa, making a few planned stops and a few whistle stops along the way.
What we loved about doing the Alaska Railroad Aurora Route was getting to have a day to decompress after having such a busy week of winter fun and sightseeing in Fairbanks. We had three meals on the train (all delicious), saw 6 moose as we traveled, enjoyed reading and cocktails, played cribbage and just had a beautiful time. The weather for us was wonderful so we even had an amazing view of Denali as we headed south.
The Aurora Route is an all-day experience, leaving at 8:00 am and getting to the destination around 7:30 pm or so, depending on whistle stops. While the winter route doesn’t have the glass top observation cars on the train, there are huge windows and the seating in the upper area of the bistro car is awesome. We all had a great trip and highly recommend it for anyone else doing Fairbanks in winter.
So what do you think? Do you think you and your family or friend group would enjoy doing a winter trip to Fairbanks and exploring all the snowy destination has to offer? I think having such an immersive winter experience is great, especially for kids who don’t live in cold places (like our family, down here in Florida). Seeing how a whole city and state finds joy and fun during the ice season was a blast for us.
If you have any questions about visiting Fairbanks in winter or planning any sort of travel to Alaska, please leave a comment or send us a note. In addition to having lived in Alaska we have a dedicated Alaska travel site and visit several times each year to be sure we have the best, most up to date info for travel planning. We’re always happy to help YOU!
