Alaska in Winter: Fairbanks, the Northern Lights and Dog Sledding

1. Day 1: Arrive in Fairbanks

   Fairbanks International Airport to your hotel in central Fairbanks

   • Drive about 12 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Fairbanks
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Fairbanks International Airport (FAI), about 8 km from downtown, where a driver meets you for the short ride to your central hotel. Most flights connect through Anchorage or Seattle; plan to land by about 4 pm to meet the group, and the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Fairbanks sits on the Chena River in the middle of Interior Alaska, and in winter it is a town of short blue days, ice fog drifting over the river and long, cold, often clear nights. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group, hands out the arctic parka, insulated boots and mittens we lend you for the week, and checks that everything fits. The briefing covers how the aurora evenings work, how to dress for thirty below and why most mornings start late. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner in town. If the forecast is strong and the sky is clear tonight, your guide tells you where to look from near the hotel.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Fairbanks International Airport (FAI)
   • Fitting of your loaned arctic parka, boots and mittens
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: Fairbanks by day, the first aurora night

   Fairbanks: the Museum of the North, downtown and the pipeline, then a viewing lodge in the hills

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Fairbanks
   Day 2 details

   We start at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, on the campus ridge west of town, soon after it opens, while it is still dark outside in December. Its galleries cover the whole state, from Alaska Native clothing, tools and art to Blue Babe, a steppe bison found frozen in the permafrost near Fairbanks. As the late sun comes up we drive downtown to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center for an introduction to the Interior's Alaska Native peoples and to life through the winter, then sit down to lunch in town. Early in the afternoon, in the best of the low light, we stop at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline viewpoint north of town, where the pipe runs on raised supports across the snow. Then it is back to the hotel to rest and eat dinner where you like, because tonight is a late one. At about 9:30 pm we drive up into the hills to a heated aurora viewing lodge, away from the city's light, and wait with hot drinks until about 2 am. Your guide watches the sky and the forecast and calls you out when the lights appear.

   Included

   • University of Alaska Museum of the North
   • Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center
   • Sit-down lunch in Fairbanks
   • Trans-Alaska Pipeline viewpoint
   • First aurora evening at a heated viewing lodge in the hills outside Fairbanks, with hot drinks

   Easier option: Stay inside the heated lodge all evening: your guide calls you out only if the lights appear, and you can doze in a chair until we drive back together.

   Free time: Late afternoon and dinner free

   Activity: Aurora evenings mean stepping in and out of the cold for several hours. Wear every layer, and bring a spare camera battery: batteries drain fast at -30 C.

3. Day 3: Chena Hot Springs and the Aurora Ice Museum

   Fairbanks to Chena Hot Springs on the Chena Hot Springs Road, and back late at night

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Fairbanks
   Day 3 details

   A slow breakfast after the late night, then we drive about 97 km east along the Chena Hot Springs Road, through spruce forest and the Chena River State Recreation Area, to the hot springs at the end of the road, about an hour and a half away. Lunch is at the resort. Afterwards we tour the Aurora Ice Museum, a building kept below freezing all year and filled with ice sculptures, ice chandeliers and an ice bar where drinks are served in glasses carved from ice (the drinks are extra). Then comes the soak: the outdoor rock lake is fed by the springs, and sitting in hot water at twenty below while your hair turns white with frost is the photo most people want. There is time to rest, walk the snowy grounds or stay in the water before dinner together at the resort. After dinner we stay on for the second aurora evening, about 95 km from the lights of Fairbanks, and drive back to town by about 1 am. Our driver rests during the day for the late run.

   Included

   • Chena Hot Springs day entry and a soak in the outdoor rock lake
   • Guided tour of the Aurora Ice Museum
   • Lunch and dinner at Chena Hot Springs
   • Second aurora evening at Chena Hot Springs, away from city light

   Optional experiences

   • A drink from the ice bar at the Aurora Ice Museum

   Easier option: Skip the soak and spend the afternoon by the fire in the resort's lodge.

   More active option: A walk on the snowy trails around the resort with your guide before dinner.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the hot springs after the museum tour

   Activity: The outdoor rock lake is for adults 18 and over; younger guests use the indoor pool. Bring a swimsuit and keep a hat on in the water.

4. Day 4: Dog sledding and a last aurora night

   Fairbanks to a sled dog kennel outside town and back, then the viewing lodge

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Fairbanks
   Day 4 details

   Another late start, timed to the light: near the December solstice the sun is up from about 11 am until before 3 pm, so we reach a working kennel outside Fairbanks around midday. The mushers introduce the dogs, mostly lean Alaskan huskies bred to run, and show how a team is harnessed, steered and stopped. Then you ride, sitting in the sled basket under a blanket while the musher drives the team along a forest trail of a few kilometres. If you choose the active option, you stand on the runners and drive a small team of your own on a short loop after a lesson. Back at the kennel there is time with the dogs and a hot lunch. The afternoon is free: rest, look for Alaska Native crafts downtown or, on February and March departures, walk among the ice sculptures of the World Ice Art Championships if the park is open. At about 8:30 pm we head out for the third aurora evening at the viewing lodge, coming back by about 11 pm, earlier than before, because the train leaves at about 8:30 the next morning.

   Included

   • Dog sled ride of a few kilometres at a working kennel outside Fairbanks, with an introduction from the mushers
   • Hot lunch at the kennel
   • Third aurora evening at the heated viewing lodge, with hot drinks

   Optional experiences

   • World Ice Art Championships ice park (February and March, when open; entry extra)

   Easier option: Ride in the sled basket the whole way while the musher drives.

   More active option: A lesson, then stand on the runners and drive a small team of your own on a short loop.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Fairbanks

   Activity: The sled is low and the trail is bumpy in places; tell the musher about any back or neck problems before you ride.

5. Day 5: The Aurora Winter Train to Anchorage

   Fairbanks to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train, past Denali Park and Talkeetna

   • Drive about 18 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Anchorage
   Day 5 details

   This is the one early morning of the trip. In winter the Alaska Railroad's Aurora Winter Train runs south from Fairbanks to Anchorage only on Sundays, leaving at about 8:30 am, and our small-group dates are set so that day 5 is a Sunday. We leave the hotel at about 7:30 am with suitcases packed the night before. They ride in the baggage car, so keep a day bag with a warm layer. Then come about 12 hours and some 575 km rolling south: across the Tanana River flats at Nenana, through the Alaska Range past the Denali Park station, over the high bridge at Hurricane Gulch and down the Susitna valley past Talkeetna and Wasilla. On a clear day Denali shows above the valley, and moose often stand in the snow beside the track. Lunch in the dining car is included, and the long ride is a chance to sleep off the late nights. We reach Anchorage at about 8 pm, a driver takes you to your hotel, and dinner is free. On private dates, or if the railroad cancels for weather or changes its timetable, we fly instead, about an hour, and gain a free afternoon in Anchorage.

   Included

   • The Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train from Fairbanks to Anchorage
   • Lunch in the dining car
   • Transfers to the Fairbanks depot and from the Anchorage depot to your hotel

   Free time: Dinner free in Anchorage after arriving at about 8 pm

   Activity: The train leaves at about 8:30 am. Pack the night before; your suitcase travels in the baggage car, so keep a day bag with a warm layer, a book and a charger.

   

6. Day 6: Turnagain Arm and home

   Anchorage along Turnagain Arm to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center at Portage, then Anchorage airport

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 6 details

   After breakfast we drive south out of Anchorage on the Seward Highway, squeezed between the Chugach Mountains and the tidal flats of Turnagain Arm, which in winter fill with grinding ice floes. We stop at Beluga Point for the view down the arm and keep watch on the cliffs above the road, where Dall sheep are sometimes seen. At Portage, at the head of the arm, we spend about an hour at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a sanctuary for orphaned and injured animals that cannot return to the wild: moose, musk oxen, wood bison, caribou and elk stand out in the snow, while the bears may be denned for the winter. Then we drive back along the arm to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, arriving at about 1:30 pm. Driving is about 165 km in all, a little over two hours. Book a flight leaving after about 3:30 pm; if you are staying on, we drop you downtown instead. Your guide sees you to the airport and checks your flight before saying goodbye.

   Included

   • Beluga Point on Turnagain Arm
   • Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, Portage
   • Drop-off at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) or downtown Anchorage

   Easier option: For a flight before about 3:30 pm, skip Portage: we take you straight from the hotel to the airport.

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 3:30 pm.

   

Wildlife and weather: December and January bring the deepest cold and the shortest days, with under four hours of daylight near the solstice. February is still cold with more light, and March is often clearer and milder, with about twelve hours of daylight by the end of the month. The northern lights can appear on any dark, clear night through the season; cloud, falling snow and a bright moon are what hide or fade them. Moose are often seen along the roads and the railway in winter.

• Fairbanks4 nights
• Anchorage1 night