Best Things to Do in Fairbanks, Alaska

Fun fact: If you’re wearing sunscreen, you’re invisible to reindeer. (It’s the same superpower that allows them to see through multiple feet of snow to find lichens.) That’s just one of the tasty tidbits owner Jane Atkinson offers up during her reindeer hikes. On most days in the winter, you can accompany her (and reindeer Bramble, Forest, Rocket, Peanut and others) on a leisurely guided hike around the boreal forest on her property. The walk concludes with hot cocoa and cookies. 

Let’s get this out of the way: In Alaska, it’s called going snowmachining, not snowmobiling. That’s important information to know before booking this outing, where you ride a snowmachine upriver to a luxury solar-powered ice fishing cabin to angle for salmon. The protein is later prepared for you over a wood stove before you head back to town. 

Another option for those looking for an “It was THIS big” story, Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service takes clients out on a late-night fishing excursion in a heated cabin, where they’ll also, hopefully, get to witness the Northern Lights pirouette overhead as fish tug on the line below the water. 

Sled dogs have long been important in Alaska. Last Frontier Mushing Co-Op offers an all-inclusive three-hour tour wherein guests not only hear about the storied sled dogs and mushers of Alaska but also experience mushing to a Mongolian yurt. 

While it’s possible to drive yourself to the Arctic Circle, we shouldn’t recommend it. The roads are patchy, there’s few places to stop along the way, and the journey is long. Instead, consider taking a flightseeing tour with Northern Alaska Tour Co. The five-hour Arctic Circle Air Adventure takes guests from Fairbanks, over the Yukon River Valley, through the Brooks Range and touches down in Coldfoot for a breezy land tour and cup of coffee before making the trip in reverse. Once back in Fairbanks, you’ll get a certificate and will have the bragging right of being one of less than two percent of all travelers to Alaska to visit the polar region.

Even if you only have a passing interest in cars, the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum is worth a visit. Of the roughly 100 antique (pre-WWII) vehicles on display, seven exist nowhere else in the world. The collection represents some of the rarest and historically significant cars globally, including the first car ever built in Alaska. That car’s creator had only seen pictures of vehicles, but he was able to cobble something together with bar stools and a single-cylinder marine engine found in a sunken boat in the harbor. Surprisingly, it worked. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn’t earn him the affection of the girl he’d built it to impress. 

In 2020, the state of Alaska airlifted a rotted out 1940s bus from Denali National Park and Preserve. It was a pretty controversial move, considering the bus was made famous by “Into the Wild,” which chronicled how Christopher McCandless ended up dying there in 1992. Part of the reasoning for removing the bus was because every year, hikers who wanted to pay homage to McCandless would need rescuing. The bus is being restored by the staff at the University of Alaska Museum of the North — you can view it in the building’s atrium. Other objects of interest range from Indigenous artwork to a mummified Ice Age bison. 

One thing you may be surprised to learn is that Alaska has some pretty bonkers laws surrounding breweries, one of which is that they’re not allowed to stay open past 8 p.m. Because Midnite Mine started out as a dive bar (the kind with scratched felt pool tables, vintage posters of scantily clad women, flickering Budweiser signs and a dog-friendly policy) and only recently added the second-floor brewery, they’re able to pour their suds all night long. It’s an endlessly entertaining place to have a drink and do some people-watching.

The middle child of the Fairbanks brewing scene, Black Spruce Brewing Co. opened on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, in 2018. Though the day of their anniversary may be dark, their hoppy concoctions are anything but. Black Spruce has arguably one of the most interesting and inventive tap lists in the entire state, with things like Blü-Grl Mixed Culture Sour with locally harvested blueberries (a fruit that is notoriously hard to use in beer). 

A newcomer to Fairbanks brewing, Lat 65 just opened in 2021. It’s housed in a former athletic club, so there are cheeky nods to its past life scattered around the truly massive complex. There are often about two dozen taps on offer (mostly their own, but occasionally something from another Alaska brewery), so chances are they’ll have something that you like. 

If it’s a bluebird day and you’re looking for a warm patch of sun to have a beer in, HooDoo’s beer garden is a solid choice. Granted, it’s not a strictly summer hangout — even on the coldest days of the year, the locals will be sipping around the outdoor fire pits. Each year the brewery makes an imperial stout in homage to the winter solstice (called 3:41, a reference to the number of sunlight hours on the shortest day of the year) and Belgian Golden Strong for summer solstice (named 21:49 for the same reason). 

If you flew into Anchorage, you may have seen this brewery’s sister location at the airport. Silver Gulch is the area’s OG brewery (it’s technically in Fox, 20 miles north of Fairbanks), having been open since 1998. Their tagline: “Fairbanks, where the people are unusual and the beer is unusually good.” Come for the true-to-style lagers and ales, stay for the fabulous pizzas. 

After the breweries close, this is a stellar place to keep the party going. Just don’t be confused or put off by the fact that to access it, you need to go down a narrow alleyway and into what, from the outside, looks like a storage unit. Inside there’s a shiny, silver Airstream packed diagonally in a room painted daisy yellow and turquoise, from which you can purchase beers, boozy lemonades and canned wine. Many of the drinks are served in glassware that depicts a pink unicorn and a green T. rex. 

This Thai restaurant does all the usual faves, as well as some with an Alaska twist, like saffron halibut. Interestingly, this Lemongrass is the company’s second location — the first is in the famous Chiang Mai Night Market, the oldest and one of the largest night bazaars in Thailand. They were successful enough to have a second location in the U.S., and they decided Fairbanks, a small, remote city that’s largely made up of miners, trappers, oil field workers and military personnel was where they wanted to expand. 

Found next to the Fairbanks Airport tower, guests of East Ramp can watch bush planes bound for the remote corners of Alaska take off over a pint and a pizza. The restaurant has about a half dozen signature options, but most people choose to build their own. 

One of the few examples of upscale dining in Interior Alaska, Lavelle’s Bistro boasts menu options like honey apple halibut and a meatloaf with 25 different ingredients. The restaurant also has a good wine list. 

This diner admittedly doesn’t look like much, but for truckers coming south on the Dalton Highway from the Arctic, it’s nirvana — it’s the first restaurant in hundreds of miles. Hilltop is known for it’s no-frills breakfast menu and the mind-boggling number of pies they have on offer at any given moment. 

You’ll be hard pressed to find a more jaw-dropping accommodation than this. Borealis Basecamp boasts 15 custom-built, clear-roof igloos that are positioned to maximize your chances of witnessing the aurora borealis (the tourism board estimates the light display is visible 240 nights per year). Even if you don’t see the ribbons of luminescence, it’s worth the stay for the sheer beauty of the area, where you can also do some quintessential Alaska adventures like dog sledding, snowshoeing and more. They do have a tendency to sell out months in advance, so if you’re hoping to go, plan ahead. 

Not technically in Fairbanks, we include this one for its popularity with locals and visitors alike. It’s about an hour drive from downtown Fairbanks, so it’s remote enough the city’s light pollution won’t interfere with your chances of witnessing the aurora. Because the lights are best visible in the wee hours of the morning (we’re talking the hours between 1 and 4 a.m.), you’re going to have to stay up late. One way to while away the hours before the big show is in the resort’s eponymously named natural hot springs.