Alaska Travel

Alaska Travel

Fairbanks Alaska Travel - Discovering the Real Fairbanks

Fairbanks is city of around 30,000 and its a day’s drive north and inland from Anchorage. It is not the most beautiful city but it has a fascinating history, experiences temperature extremes and other unusual climate phenomena across each year and it has some pretty neat attractions. Discovering the real Fairbanks requires a set of wheels as this is a city that spreads out. Only visit in late spring or summer as winter temperatures here are some of the coldest on earth. 

The summer experiences below are likely to give you a ‘feel’ for the unique character of this very northern, inland city and they are well worth searching out.

A Riverboat Cruise up along the Chena River on a steamboat provides an insight into earlier times and is worth including in your Fairbanks Alaska travel schedule. It features an hour long visit to a replica of an Athabascan village.  This tour is informative and provided by Alaskan Native guides it has avoided the trap of appealing to tourists at the expense of authenticity. The home and kennels of the late Susan Butcher who was 4-time Iditarod (annual Alaskan dog sled race) winner, are seen on this cruise which we found surprisingly good.

Chena Hot Springs Resort is a short drive from Fairbanks and built around geothermal hot springs that produce hot spring water all year.  Hot tub soaking in doors and outdoors is available at discount rates in summer along with horse riding, hiking and fishing. You can make this a day trip from Fairbanks or chose to stay at this resort.

North Pole is 15 minutes south of Fairbanks and a place for kids and for kids-at-heart. Of greatest interest to the rest of the world around Christmas when letters to Santa arrive en masse, North Pole is a quirky little place that keeps the spirit of Christmas alive all year round. It’s most popular attraction is Santa Claus House where there are enough Christmas ornaments for all who celebrate Christmas! This is worth including in your Fairbanks Alaska travel schedule even if you are big kids like us.

Gold Dredge No 8 is one of the more authentic gold mines around Fairbanks and although closed in 1959 still draws a large number of visitors interested in this aspect of Alaska’s history. Tours of this 5 deck dredge run every hour across summer.

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