Photo Credit: Black Spruce Dog Sledding

The Best Things To Do In Fairbanks

1. Gold Panning Tours & Gold Rush History

Fairbanks owes its existence to the gold fever that descended on the Tanana Valley. The city is proud of its gold rush history, which you can learn about on a visit to the authentic Gold Dredge 8. Head off to the goldfields of Interior Alaska on an open-air train car as you listen to lore and legend of the day. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Gold Dredge 8 is a mechanical wonder, a huge machine that “walked” across the land, scooping up pay dirt. You can scoop up your own pay dirt by learning to pan for gold. Other local companies offer panning experiences with guaranteed gold, along with the thrill of a potential nugget. Try your luck, and you’ll capture gold fever and an understanding of what it was like to be an early pioneer in this remote environment.

Choose Your Gold Panning Tour

2. On the Water: Chena River & Riverboat Discovery

The Chena River winds through Fairbanks, creating opportunities for an easily-accessible stroll or paddle. Take a self-guided tour along the Chena Riverwalk's 3.5- mile stretch, taking you past parks, museums, and historic districts. You can also find local canoe, kayak or stand-up paddleboard rentals for a leisurely paddle along the Chena’s twists and turns.

From mid-May to mid-September, the Riverboat Discovery offers an historic option for getting out on the Chena as a passenger on an authentic sternwheeler. The 3.5-hour tour includes engaging stops where you’ll learn about dog mushing, bush pilots, and Alaska Native culture. You’ll also voyage to the confluence of the Chena and Tanana rivers, where the currents collide in epic fashion.

Choose your Riverboat Tour or Stroll the Chena River

3. Museums & Cultural Centers

Learn about the influences that have shaped modern day Fairbanks, including its fascinating gold rush history, pioneering spirit and rich Alaska Native culture. The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center is a good place to start. It’s open year-round and offers visitor and public lands info, films, and Athabascan cultural programming.

Pioneer Park has museums and displays dedicated to the gold rush and early pioneers, as well as industry and transportation. Most are closed in winter, but you can still stroll through the park and find pioneer homes that have been relocated here, along with a sternwheeler riverboat and railcar. You’ll marvel at the vintage fashions and still-operable antique cars at Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, open year-round. More than 80 cars showcase the evolution of the automobile from 1898 to 1936. Finally, the UA Museum of the North offers natural/cultural galleries from 5 distinct regions of Alaska and Alaska’s largest public display of gold.

View Fairbanks Museums

4. View the Northern Lights (Aug 21 - Apr 21)

Fairbanks is one of the premier destinations for seeing the Northern Lights, due to its location under the “Aurora Oval,” the zone over the far north with concentrated aurora activity. Weather does affect viewing conditions, so plan to stay at least three nights to get the best chance for a mesmerizing display. Formal aurora viewing tours offer info, photography tips and a chance to get away from city lights for optimum viewing. Stay at a remote wilderness lodge or a clear-roofed dome. Or, you can fly or travel by van to remote Coldfoot, above the Arctic Circle, where crisp, clear weather makes for truly spectacular aurora displays.

Choose Your Northern Lights Tour

5. Dog Sledding

Dog teams were essential to wintertime travel in Alaska’s early days, and the mushing tradition is still strong. Hop on a sled yourself to capture the excitement of working dogs eager to hit the trails. Tour guides are active mushers who love the lifestyle and the sport of dog mushing. In winter (November to March), enjoy picturesque snowy trails through a dense black spruce forest. Ride along, or even take a hand at driving the sled! Many mushers have completed the Iditarod or Yukon Quest, so you’ll get a deeper understanding of this unique sport. Some companies even offer multi-day mushing and camping experiences!

Choose Your Dog Sledding Adventure

6. Arctic Tours

Fairbanks is an ideal jumping-off point to venture north of the Arctic Circle and take in the landscapes and lifestyles of the far north. To explore on your own, rent an SUV and travel the Dalton highway all the way north to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. This northernmost route promises amazing vistas, limited services and unlimited adventure! (Plan for a 3-4 day rental for the entire journey). For those with shorter time frames, Northern Alaska Tour Company offers several options for exploring the Arctic, including bus tours, flights, guided hikes, scenic floats and overnight trips. Fly to communities like Anaktuvak Pass, where you’ll learn about the village lifestyle in rural Alaska. Or fly to Coldfoot, Gates of the Arctic National Park, or the Arctic Ocean.

Choose Your Arctic Tour

7. Wildlife

Interior Alaska has abundant wildlife, with several viewing opportunities Fairbanks. There are outdoor areas you can explore at your own pace such as the Wedgewood Wildlife Sanctuary or Creamer’s Field where more than 100 species of mammals and birds have been identified. The two are joined by miles of trails that take you through a variety of habitats. Watch for foxes, beavers, flying squirrels, snowshoe hare, and moose. Bird lovers enjoy spotting sandhill cranes, tundra swans, kingfishers, owls, mallards and many more. Or book a tour where you can meet and take a stroll with reindeer!

Choose Your Fairbanks Wildlife Experience

8. Winter Activities

Staying active outside in the winter is a way of life for Alaskans – and it’s fun! Several winter tours get you out in the snow and the crisp, refreshing air for an invigorating Alaska adventure. Riding along in a dogsled is a fun way to experience the excitement that Alaska sled dogs bring to every excursion. Or opt for more modern winter transport, and book a thrilling snowmobile tour that puts you in the driver seat and exploring forests trails and frozen lakes.

If you want a quiet explore of the woods on your own power, cross-country skiing is a popular local winter activity that is also a great workout. (There are a few local stores that will rent equipment.)

Fairbanks, and its surrounding lakes offer the great winter option of Ice Fishing. Ice fishing runs from November - March and if you opt for the nighttime fishing option you will have the chance to catch the Northern Lights! You'll fish, catch and release, for trout, arctic char, burbot, and more.

Choose Your Fairbanks Winter Adventure

9. Midnight Sun and Summer Festivals

Located in the Interior region of Alaska, Fairbanks gets hotter, more “summer-like” conditions than other Alaska destinations. After cold winters, summer is a time to celebrate long hours of daylight, enjoy the outdoors! If you’re in town for summer solstice, you can’t escape the daylight, or the massive Midnight Sun Festival. The 12-hour celebration is packed with live music, performances, and hundreds of food and souvenirs. Try your hand at gold panning, pet some sled dog puppies, and cheer for the BBQ cook-off contestants. In addition to great festivals, stroll the local outdoor farmers markets for local veggies, reindeer sausage, locally-made art, and gawk-worthy giant produce.

View Fairbanks Festivals & Events

Fairbanks Day Tours & Attractions View All

Season: Aug 21 to Apr 21 $869+ per person 2+ nights

Spend some time above the Arc­tic Cir­cle under the mys­te­ri­ous, eerie north­ern lights. From mid-Sep­tem­ber to late April, when you have the best chance of wit­ness­ing phe­nom­e­non of the auro­ra bore­alis, you’ll fly from Fair­banks to the remote vil­lage of Cold­foot, in the Brooks Moun­tain Range. After the spec­tac­u­lar flight­see­ing expe­ri­ence, you’ll have either 3 days/​2 nights or 4 days/​3 nights to explore this rugged, fas­ci­nat­ing land­scape, with  ...more

Season: Year Round $20 Yoga | $85+ Tour 1 - 2.5 hrs

You may think of rein­deer as fly­ing crea­tures of the imag­i­na­tion, but here in Alas­ka they’re very real. And this unique tour gives you the oppor­tu­ni­ty to get up close and per­son­al with these mag­nif­i­cent ani­mals. Walk among them and pet them — it’s tru­ly a moment made for Instagram.

Season: Year Round $14.99+

Dri­ve through Alas­ka with an audio tour guid­ing you along icon­ic routes. Audio Tour Alas­ka gives you an insider’s take on every­thing from points of inter­est to his­to­ry, wildlife, and cul­ture, along with cap­ti­vat­ing sto­ries. Guides to pop­u­lar routes include Anchor­age to Tal­keet­na; Tal­keet­na to Denali Nation­al Park; Denali to Fair­banks; Anchor­age to Seward; and Tern Lake to Homer.

$2835 6 Days

Won­der­ing how folks up here deal with Alaska’s long win­ter days? It’s easy when the inky night sky comes alive with an amaz­ing light show like the auro­ra bore­alis. Brav­ing the cold is noth­ing if you get a chance to see the lights danc­ing and wav­ing over­head. Com­bine your auro­ra view­ing trip with a few oth­er high­lights planned out by Salmon Berry Tours, and you’ll expe­ri­ence the best of win­ter in Alaska.

Season: August 21 – April 10, June 7 – August 18 $1746+ shoulder 2 nights 2 guests 2+ Nights

Locat­ed on a qui­et ridge­line out­side of Fair­banks, the Bore­alis Base­camp offers 20 ele­gant igloos and a new vil­lage with 5 auro­ra-view­ing cubes, includ­ing a fam­i­ly suite cus­tom-designed and specif­i­cal­ly posi­tioned to max­i­mize your view­ing of the North­ern Lights. You’ll also have the chance to take advan­tage of the camps many win­ter activ­i­ties like dogsled­ding, snow­ma­chin­ing, snow­shoe­ing, and fat-tire biking. 

Season: Mid-August to mid-April $45+ per person 4 hrs

Just a short 15-minute dri­ve from down­town Fair­banks, wait for the north­ern lights to appear in a warm, invit­ing space. Cozy up to the fire, sip on cocoa and cof­fee, and step out­side when moth­er nature puts on a show. Although the cen­ter is a short dis­tance from town, it is far enough away so that you won’t have to wor­ry about light pol­lu­tion inter­rupt­ing your view as you stand gaz­ing under the vast, star­lit sky.

Season: November - March $149+ 1 hr to full day

Plunge into a win­ter won­der­land of spruce forests, wide open spaces and wildlife. This snow­mo­bile tour in North Pole (just out­side of Fair­banks) offers an unpar­al­leled peek at Alaska’s inte­ri­or and a seri­ous thrill, whether you take a first-timer’s tour or embark on an overnight adventure.

$89.95 3 hrs

Climb on board an authen­tic Alaskan stern­wheel­er, the River­boat Dis­cov­ery, and take a jour­ney back in time along the Chena and Tanana rivers. Stern­wheel­er boats trans­port you out into the Alaskan wilder­ness, and also back to a time when Gold Rush fever was sweep­ing across the state. The Dis­cov­ery II and Dis­cov­ery III offer ful­ly nar­rat­ed three-and-a-half-hour tour. But all your time isn’t spent on the boat. You’ll make an unfor­get­table one-hour  ...more

Season: May 20 - August 31 $250 5 hrs

Pilot your own ATV through the rugged Alaskan wilder­ness out­side Fair­banks. Choose from morn­ing or evening tours dri­ving an ATV — a 2021 Can-Am Trail Mav­er­ick side-by-side in Fair­banks with Mid­night Sun ATV tours.

Season: Year Round (Except May) $70+ 30 min - Multi-Day

Sam­ple a vari­ety of Alaskan activ­i­ties year-round through this orga­ni­za­tion that’s all about show­cas­ing the com­mu­ni­ty of Two Rivers. The sig­na­ture Taste of Two Rivers Tour includes a dog sled demon­stra­tion, gold pan­ning, and an oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet & pet rein­deer. Oth­er sum­mer tours include hikes with rein­deer and vis­it­ing a peony farm. In win­ter, go dog sled­ding (day or mul­ti-day expe­di­tion) and view the north­ern lights. 

Season: May - September $249+ Half Day to Multi-Day Excursions

North­ern Alas­ka Tour Com­pa­ny offers sev­er­al tours that trans­port vis­i­tors to the Arc­tic Cir­cle. You can fly, dri­ve, or do a com­bi­na­tion of the two, depend­ing on your trav­el pref­er­ence and how much time you have. The most pop­u­lar tour is the fly-and-dri­ve excur­sion, which gives you incred­i­ble views from the air and a tour of the town of Cold­foot, fol­lowed by a dri­ve back to Fairbanks.

Season: Memorial Day - Labor Day $20+

Gold Daugh­ters pro­vides a fun, hands-on way to learn about Fair­banks’ gold rush his­to­ry, and get a glimpse of the same thrill that brought so many peo­ple to Alas­ka in the first place. Your entrance fee pro­vides you with a poke of pay­dirt with guar­an­teed gold and lets you pan all day.

Season: Aug 21 - April 21 $679 - $879 14 - 15 hrs

Stand out on the Arc­tic tun­dra under the north­ern lights, expe­ri­enc­ing their eerie glow on a one-day tour you won’t soon for­get. From Octo­ber to April, you’ll depart from Fair­banks on this one-day adven­ture and get a majes­tic flight­see­ing trip to the remote town of Cold­foot, above the Arc­tic Cir­cle. Explore this fas­ci­nat­ing town and look for the mys­te­ri­ous lights over­head. Then dri­ve south and get a close up of all the ter­rain in between, seeing  ...more

$569 4 hrs

Fly from Fair­banks and trav­el 80 miles above the across the Arc­tic Cir­cle on a scenic and his­toric adven­ture. Depart­ing in the evening, you’ll pass over the stark ter­rain of north­ern Alas­ka and land at the Athabas­can vil­lage of Fort Yukon. Then, with your guide, you’ll spend an hour learn­ing all about this fas­ci­nat­ing area — the his­to­ry, how peo­ple take care of them­selves in a pun­ish­ing envi­ron­ment, and some of the char­ac­ters who have called this  ...more

Season: Mid-May – late August $185 per person 7.5 hours

Join Alas­ka Wildlife Guide in expe­ri­enc­ing one of Alaska’s most desired attrac­tions, Chena Hot Springs Resort. From vis­it­ing the most north­ern Ice Muse­um, soak­ing in the all-nat­ur­al hot springs to learn­ing more about geot­her­mal ener­gy and vis­it­ing rein­deers, this tour will be a high­light of your Alas­ka experience.

Season: Year Round $90+ per person 30+ min - Multi-Day

Take part in the thrill of win­ter and fall dog sled­ding out of Fair­banks. You’ll expe­ri­ence the sport with one of Alaska’s longest-run­ning dog tour com­pa­nies. Go for a ride, attend mush­ing school, or go on a mul­ti-day adven­ture to the his­toric Tolo­vana Roadhouse.

The Mor­ris Thomp­son Cul­tur­al and Vis­i­tors Cen­ter in down­town Fair­banks has brochures, maps, free WiFi and tele­phone, dai­ly lodg­ing avail­abil­i­ty, and local walk­ing and dri­ving tours. Serv­ing as the region­al vis­i­tor facil­i­ty, the friend­ly and knowl­edge­able staff have answers to all your questions.

It’s Christ­mas year-round in North Pole, Alas­ka at the San­ta Claus House, just 20 min­utes from Fair­banks. The San­ta Claus House is a fron­tier gen­er­al store and post office turned hol­i­day shop. The postal tra­di­tion lives on — offi­cial let­ters from San­ta are post­marked from the North Pole and stamped with an offi­cial San­ta seal. The store also has live rein­deer, a cof­fee shop, hol­i­day gift items, the world’s largest San­ta stat­ue and, in summer  ...more

Season: Aug 22 to Apr 03 $195 per person 10 hours

Join Alas­ka Wildlife Guide in explor­ing one of Alaska’s most desired attrac­tions, Chena Hot Springs Resort. From vis­it­ing the most north­ern Ice Muse­um, soak­ing in the all-nat­ur­al hot springs to view­ing the breath­tak­ing North­ern Lights dance across the sky, this tour will be a high­light of your Alaskan experience.

Season: February 20 - April 10 $9,895+ per person, all-inclusive 3-5 nights

This fam­i­ly-owned, fly-in lux­u­ry wilder­ness lodge is 200 miles north of Fair­banks and 60 miles above the Arc­tic Cir­cle. Stays are all-inclu­sive and exclu­sive — they only accept one group at a time. Go dogsled­ding, snow­shoe­ing, or scan the skies for the north­ern lights. The lodge’s huge pic­ture win­dows make it easy to keep a look­out for the auro­ra from a warm, com­fort­able interior.

Season: Year Round Summer 2 hrs | Winter 2-7 days

Vis­it the world’s old­est Siber­ian Husky ken­nel any time of the year with tour options rang­ing from a cou­ple of hours in the sum­mer to mul­ti-day win­ter adven­tures explor­ing Fairbanks.

Season: Year Round $145+ Dogsled Tours 1-3 hrs

Plen­ty of peo­ple come to Fair­banks to look at the sky — for north­ern lights, or to bask in the mid­night sun. But this dog-mush­ing expe­ri­ence out­side of Fair­banks is proof that there’s plen­ty more of Fair­banks to be seen at eye — or even paw — lev­el. May through Octo­ber, take a a trail ride with 16 dogs hitched up to an ATV. Novem­ber through April, take a mush­ing tour through the snow!

Season: November–March (depending on snow conditions) $89+ per person 1/2 - 4 hrs

Glide over the snow on a sled that’s being pulled by a team of dogs — many of whom have run the Idi­tar­od, Yukon Quest, or oth­er races. Go with Rod’s Alaskan Guide Ser­vice and expe­ri­ence the thrill of dog sled­ding with dogs that love to run and pas­sion­ate mush­ers who will offer a deep­er under­stand­ing of this unique sport.

Season: Mar 26 to Mar 31
Single: $3,995; Double*: $3,195 each
6 Days
Visits: Fairbanks, Delta Junction
Land Package Type: Photography Tours

Ursa Major was one of the first dis­til­leries in Alas­ka and the first legal dis­tillery in Fair­banks. Today they’re ded­i­cat­ed to the fine craft of small-batch spir­its, and you can enjoy their akav­it, rum, vod­ka, gin, canned cock­tails, and sea­son­al releas­es of whiskey. Vis­it the tast­ing room, join a tour, or take a mixol­o­gy class!

Season: Year Round $169+

The folks at Arc­tic Out­fit­ters are trav­el spe­cial­ists, and they’ll work hard to help you plan a trip to fit your needs. Arc­tic Out­fit­ters rents reli­able, sta­ble vehi­cles that are spe­cial­ly equipped for remote travel.

Season: Sept 19 - April 21 $249+ per person 10 hours

A guid­ed day trip out of Fair­banks reveals the qui­et win­ter land­scape of the Tanana Val­ley and Denali Nation­al Park. Walk or snow­shoe on pic­turesque trails through the bore­al for­est, deep in the heart of the Alas­ka range.

Season: May 10 to Sep 21 $75 to $509

This train trav­els through the forest­ed areas north of Anchor­age into the bore­al for­est, and even­tu­al­ly into the tun­dra regions fur­ther north. On a clear day the train will slow down to allow you to see beau­ti­ful vis­tas of Denali. You may also spot wildlife along the way. Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na Day Trip from Fair­banks: Denali Mul­ti-Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na, Denali Nation­al Park, and / or Fair­banks Mul­ti-Day Trip  ...more

$54.95 2 hrs

Hop aboard a nar­row-gauge train and get ready to stake your claim to gold on this two-hour tour of Gold Dredge 8. Learn all about how 100,000 gold rush­ers fought the per­mafrost in their quest to get rich. Then grab some gold of your own!

Season: November–March $209+ 5 hours

See­ing the North­ern Lights is an unfor­get­table win­ter­time expe­ri­ence. Of course, you nev­er know quite when (or even if) Moth­er Nature is going to unleash the dis­play into the night sky. So while you wait, you’ll be try­ing your hand at anoth­er activ­i­ty that’s unique to the Alaskan win­ter: ice fishing!

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Fairbanks Parks & Trails View All

Difficulty: Difficult

This 15-mile loop is well worth the mod­er­ate to stren­u­ous hike. This trail pro­vides views of tors, unusu­al­ly shaped out­crop­pings that were formed 70 mil­lion to 90 mil­lion years ago when molten rock pushed upward and cooled before reach­ing the surface.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 2 miles

This path was con­struct­ed to pro­vide a place for hik­ers to view the plantlife around inte­ri­or Alas­ka. This is a unique trail that allows hik­ers to view things that would be impos­si­ble to hike with­out a trail. There are all types of wildlife and small plants. Water­boots are rec­om­mend­ed in spring.

Difficulty: Easy

The Chena River­walk makes for a relax­ing self-paced stroll along the Chena Riv­er and through the most scenic parks and plazas of his­toric down­town. It’s best when flow­ers are in full bloom (July-August). The path stretch­es approx­i­mate­ly 3.5 miles between Pio­neer Park and Air­port Way, with longer options avail­able. Or — park at Immac­u­late Con­cep­tion Church or in the Down­town Trans­porta­tion Cen­ter for a short­er jaunt.

Difficulty: Moderate

The White Moun­tains Nation­al Recre­ation Area is home to 200+-miles of trail tra­vers­ing a mil­lion acres of wilder­ness and a moun­tain range named for the dom­i­nant col­or of its lime­stone foun­da­tion. To get there, dri­ve 28 miles on the Elliott High­way from Fox (where it splits with the Steese) and look for signs mark­ing the trail­head. The trail­head is the start­ing point for both the Sum­mit Trail, and the Ski Loop Trail, a 5‑mile loop and a nice  ...more

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 3 miles

Eas­i­ly one of the most scenic dri­ves in the Inte­ri­or, the trip out to Table Top Moun­tain from Fair­banks winds deep into the cen­ter of White Moun­tains Nation­al Recre­ation Area, ris­ing up hill­sides and dip­ping down into val­leys for a rolling pic­ture show of spruce for­est and snaking riverbeds. The hike to Table Top Moun­tain is just as spec­tac­u­lar, pro­vid­ing panoram­ic views of the White Moun­tains from the cen­ter of the range, and is a short must  ...more

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Points of Interest View All

Chena River • Hot Springs • Denali Viewpoints

Get a close-up look at one of the world’s engi­neer­ing mar­vels. Here you will find infor­ma­tion­al dis­plays about the pipeline and an exam­ple of a pig, the device used to clean and inspect the inside of the pipeline.

In Sum­mer (May — Sep­tem­ber), The Denali Star Train ser­vices Anchor­age, Wasil­la, Tal­keet­na, Denali and Fair­banks. In Win­ter (Octo­ber — April) the Auro­ra Win­ter Train oper­ates as a flag top train between Anchor­age and Fair­banks. It stops here head­ing North on Sat­ur­day, and South on Sunday.

Difficulty: Easy

The Chena River­walk makes for a relax­ing self-paced stroll along the Chena Riv­er and through the most scenic parks and plazas of his­toric down­town. It’s best when flow­ers are in full bloom (July-August). The path stretch­es approx­i­mate­ly 3.5 miles between Pio­neer Park and Air­port Way, with longer options avail­able. Or — park at Immac­u­late Con­cep­tion Church or in the Down­town Trans­porta­tion Cen­ter for a short­er jaunt.

Wildlife view­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in Alaska’s sec­ond largest city. Look for migra­to­ry birds, moose, salmon & more.

It’s Christ­mas year-round in North Pole, Alas­ka at the San­ta Claus House, just 20 min­utes from Fair­banks. The San­ta Claus House is a fron­tier gen­er­al store and post office turned hol­i­day shop. The postal tra­di­tion lives on — offi­cial let­ters from San­ta are post­marked from the North Pole and stamped with an offi­cial San­ta seal. The store also has live rein­deer, a cof­fee shop, hol­i­day gift items, the world’s largest San­ta stat­ue and, in summer  ...more

Ursa Major was one of the first dis­til­leries in Alas­ka and the first legal dis­tillery in Fair­banks. Today they’re ded­i­cat­ed to the fine craft of small-batch spir­its, and you can enjoy their akav­it, rum, vod­ka, gin, canned cock­tails, and sea­son­al releas­es of whiskey. Vis­it the tast­ing room, join a tour, or take a mixol­o­gy class!

[{"slug":"fairbanks","title":"Fairbanks"},{"slug":"anchorage","title":"Anchorage"},{"slug":"arctic-far-north","title":"Far North\/Arctic"}]

Visitor Centers View All

Information on lodging, tours, maps and more

The Mor­ris Thomp­son Cul­tur­al and Vis­i­tors Cen­ter in down­town Fair­banks has brochures, maps, free WiFi and tele­phone, dai­ly lodg­ing avail­abil­i­ty, and local walk­ing and dri­ving tours. Serv­ing as the region­al vis­i­tor facil­i­ty, the friend­ly and knowl­edge­able staff have answers to all your questions.

Take a deep breath and explore Fair­banks! With the mid­night sum­mer sun shin­ing near­ly 24 hours a day, Fair­banks is burst­ing with ener­gy and things to do. Explore Fair­banks is head­quar­tered at the Mor­ris Thomp­son Cul­tur­al and Vis­i­tors Cen­ter which is also the hub of year-round staffed vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion and services.

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Shopping View All

Watch crafts­men turn birch logs into heir­loom bowls, browse some 1,500 Made in Alas­ka prod­ucts or cus­tom design your own laser engraved bowl while at the Great Alaskan Bowl Com­pa­ny. Start­ed over 20 years ago, this fam­i­ly-run busi­ness is one of the last oper­a­tional bowl mills in Amer­i­ca, and it thrives because of the qual­i­ty prod­ucts and large selection.

It’s Christ­mas year-round in North Pole, Alas­ka at the San­ta Claus House, just 20 min­utes from Fair­banks. The San­ta Claus House is a fron­tier gen­er­al store and post office turned hol­i­day shop. The postal tra­di­tion lives on — offi­cial let­ters from San­ta are post­marked from the North Pole and stamped with an offi­cial San­ta seal. The store also has live rein­deer, a cof­fee shop, hol­i­day gift items, the world’s largest San­ta stat­ue and, in summer  ...more

What­ev­er your cloth­ing and gear needs are, you can find top-qual­i­ty prod­ucts — along with advice from Alaskan experts — in this long-run­ning fam­i­ly-owned store with loca­tions in Anchor­age, Fair­banks, and Kodiak.

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