About an hour away from Fairbanks is the Chena Hot Springs Resort, where you can stay or just visit. Our visit was in the chilly month of January and let’s just say the thought of a hot spring instantly warmed us up. During the colder months, this place looks like a fairy tale! Nestled amongst the Alaska Range of mountains, the surroundings are all perfectly dusted with snow. While the drive is scenic and beautiful, be sure to fill your tank before leaving Fairbanks because there is only one gas station on the 61 mile road to the resort, which has prices about 20 cents higher than in town.
Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by the front desk staff and given a brochure to look at what we wanted to do. Inside the lobby there’s a restaurant with decent food and a gift shop with a nice variety of items to commemorate your visit. Be aware, if you’re on a small budget, it won’t go far with all the activities available for purchase. Our main reason for the visit was a dip in the hot springs, so we opted out of paying for the Ice Museum, snowmachine tours, kennel tour, dog sledding, aurora tours, ice fishing, sunset tour and massages. We did attempt the free Geothermal Renewable Energy Tour at the stated time, however, nobody arrived to guide us, so we read and viewed what we could on our own.
We continued to wander around the resort, took some beautiful pictures, and then enjoyed the natural rock, hot springs lake, which is drained and cleaned weekly. Find out more here about the process. If you’re staying at the resort, your passes to the hot springs and towel services are included. If you’re just visiting, day pass entry to the hot springs is $15 per person. Bring your own towel to avoid the $5 towel fee and some quarters for the lockers to keep your personal belongings safe and dry ($0.50/each and separated men’s/women’s locker rooms). On your walk to the hot springs, there is an indoor pool and several hot tubs (both indoors and outdoors) to choose from before or after your dip in the springs. Pro tip: take water with you as the springs can dehydrate you quickly! Natalie’s favorite part about the springs wasn’t necessarily the heat but being able to lean against the cold rocks and balance her body temperature, as it gets hot quickly.
The secondary reason for our visit was a scouting effort to decide if we wanted to return to the resort to view the Aurora Borealis there. We specifically look for a dark, wide-open space so that we can see as much of the sky as possible, but didn’t find that here. However, we didn’t pay for the tour that takes you away from the resort itself in a military SUSV, but that’s because we found other viewing areas that are free and closer to where we were staying.
Overall, we had a great experience at the Chena Hot Springs Resort and recommend it for a short day trip if you’re traveling on a budget.