Photo Credit: Jack Ouellette

Witness the Magic of the Aurora Borealis: Alaska Northern Lights Tours

Alaska Northern Lights Viewing  (:59)

First things first: The best time to see the northern lights in Alaska is from late August to mid-April, when the nights are long and dark. (You won’t see them during the summer months because of Alaska’s midnight sun.) Plan to look for the spectacular, multi-colored lights from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., when the sky is at its darkest and the auroras are the most active.

Where should you go? The main auroral band, the ring of geomagnetic particles around the Arctic Circle where the Northern Lights are most visible, crosses the state in an arc above the Alaska Range, which makes Fairbanks and points north the sweet spot for northern lights viewing. Fortunately, it’s easy to get there: You can fly into Fairbanks and be at a world-class aurora-viewing venue in under an hour.

While you can look for the lights on your own, taking a northern lights tour in Alaska is an easier, more efficient way to go. You’ll have a guide who will take you to the best viewing spots and explain the science behind this natural phenomenon. Most tours will also provide warm clothing and hot beverages so you can stay comfortable and enjoy the show!

Interested in tracking the aurora yourself? Download The Alaska App! Our weather tab links directly to the Alaska Geophysical Institute forecast, issuing a nightly forecast and a 27-day forecast.

Why Alaska?

If you’re browsing northern lights–viewing vacations, you’ve likely seen trips to Norway, Canada, Sweden, Iceland, and Greenland. They’re all great places, but here are 4 reasons why Alaska tops the list:

1. Easy Travel from the Lower 48

You can book nonstop flights to Anchorage year-round from major U.S. hubs (like Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland), so you can get here in just a few hours—no passport required.

2. Fall or Winter

From mid-November through March, you can check into a lodge or look for the lights each night as you try a different activity, like ice fishing or dogsledding. And if you’re on an aurora quest from mid-August to mid-September, (Fall) there’s still time to enjoy summer activities, like visiting Denali National Park or taking a glacier cruise.

3. Great Odds

Visitors to Alaska who spend 3 nights looking for the lights from Fairbanks have a 90% chance of spotting them!

Jump to our list of recommended tours

How to Increase Your Chances of Seeing the Lights?

There’s no guarantee, of course: Clouds may cover them, or they may simply not show up in your location. Fortunately, there are a couple of ways to greatly improve your chances of seeing the aurora:

Plan 5-7 Days

Dedicate at least 3 nights to looking for the lights, so that you, too, will have a 90% chance of seeing them. It can work as a three- or four-day trip centered on a weekend, but then you will need to be more focused.

Go to Fairbanks and the Auroral Oval

Fairbanks sits just below the main auroral band, offering dark skies, minimal light pollution, and clear views of the night sky - all of which make the area a sweet spot for northern lights viewing.

The city has a variety of aurora-viewing venues, from a number of scenic drives and parks to cozy cabins and lodges. With the airport located just a short drive away, visitors can fly into Fairbanks and be at a world-class aurora-viewing venue in less than an hour.

Lodges & Overnight Tours

  • Northern Alaska Tour Company offers 3-day/2-night (and longer) trips from Fairbanks to Coldfoot Camp above the Arctic Circle. Located halfway between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay, this is an exceptional spot to see the lights.
  • Iniakuk Lake Wilderness Lodge, a fly-in luxury wilderness lodge inside Gates of the Arctic National Park, offers one of Alaska’s most exclusive experiences for viewing the northern lights. Step outside or scan the sky from the lodge’s huge picture windows.
  • Just an hour from Fairbanks is Borealis Basecamp, where you can book your own clear-roofed igloo for the night.
  • Salmon Berry Tours offers 6-day/5-night packages from Anchorage. You’ll work your way north, stopping in Talkeetna, and look for the northern lights each night once you reach Fairbanks.
  • Wild Journeys Alaska offers custom, private multi-day packages (3+ nights) from Anchorage. Enjoy fun activities during the day and 3 nights of aurora viewing. Going for more than 3 nights? You’ll get an aurora forecast each day, so you can pick which 3 nights to chase the lights.

Evening Tours

From Fairbanks

  • Aurora Pointe is a northern lights–viewing venue just 15 minutes from downtown Fairbanks. You’ll find a beautiful, warm space serving coffee, tea, and locally made snacks while you wait for the lights to appear.
  • With Alaska Wildlife Guide, you can leave from Fairbanks and combine a soak in Chena Hot Springs with your search for the aurora.
  • Travel beyond the Arctic Circle to see the lights with Northern Alaska Tour Company. Drive, fly, or do both!
  • For something really unique, head out with Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service for a night of ice fishing. You’ll be nice and warm in a cabin out over the lake as you cast your line and enjoy refreshments. The wide-open view is perfect if the aurora makes an appearance.

From Anchorage

  • On the Anchorage Aurora Quest with Alaska Photo Treks, you'll pho­to­graph alpen­glow on snow-capped moun­tains, frosty scenes glow­ing in rich win­ter light, wildlife wan­der­ing snowy paths, city lights reflect­ing on the water at twi­light, and pos­si­bly even the north­ern lights!
  • With Wild Alaska Journeys, you’ll head out of Anchorage (or Wasilla/Palmer) between 9 and 11 p.m., and for the next 7 or so hours, you’ll be on a hunt for the aurora!

Other Tips

Aurora + Hot Springs

Soak in the healing waters of Chena Hot Springs, a prime location to view the lights if the forecast is good!

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.

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Clear-Roofed Igloos

Gaze up at the northern lights from your private Igloo, just north of Fairbanks

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. 

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Arctic Circle Fly, Drive and Overnight Adventures

Drive north (or fly) from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle

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: Aug 21 - April 21 $799+ 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

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Photography Tours

Tours from Anchorage. Learn how to photograph the northern lights. Non-photographers are welcome to enjoy the show and have their photo taken.

Season: Aug 17 - April 24 $269+ 6 hours

Pho­to­graph alpen­glow on snow capped moun­tains, frosty scenes glow­ing in rich win­ter light, wildlife wan­der­ing snowy paths, city lights reflect­ing on the water at twi­light, and pos­si­bly even the north­ern lights!

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Multi-Day Winter Vacation

Experience Alaska's iconic winter activities + northern lights viewing

Season: October - April $1325 | 1 - 6 people 6+ hrs

Chase the lights on a pri­vate tour with Wild Alas­ka Jour­neys and you’ll be in the capa­ble hands of local guides who know where to look and under­stand the sci­ence behind them. All trips are pri­vate, so bring your fam­i­ly or group and spend a night on the look­out for the auro­ra or make it part of a mul­ti-day jour­ney. Either way, you’ll leave with unfor­get­table memories.

Season: Nov 01 to Mar 28 $129+ Day Trip, $2495+ Multi-Day 4 hrs - multi-day packages

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.

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Aurora Ice Fishing

Spend the evening ice fishing from a warm hut, situated in an unobstructed viewing location

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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Remote Wilderness Lodge

View the aurora from the comfort of a remote wilderness lodge in the Brooks Range

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

If you want to view the north­ern lights, this fam­i­ly owned lodge offers a remote and exclu­sive expe­ri­ence north of the Arc­tic Cir­cle. Whether you are dogsled­ding, snow­shoe­ing or just scan­ning the skies for the north­ern lights, you will still be able to relax in com­fort and nev­er feel like you are rough­ing it.

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Evening Viewing, Short Drive from Fairbanks or Anchorage

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: October - April $1325 | 1 - 6 people 6+ hrs

Chase the lights on a pri­vate tour with Wild Alas­ka Jour­neys and you’ll be in the capa­ble hands of local guides who know where to look and under­stand the sci­ence behind them. All trips are pri­vate, so bring your fam­i­ly or group and spend a night on the look­out for the auro­ra or make it part of a mul­ti-day jour­ney. Either way, you’ll leave with unfor­get­table memories.

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