Everything to do at Alaska's Chena Hot Springs

10.01.2025 - 10:09 / lonelyplanet.com

Jan 9, 2025 • 4 min read

An Alaskan vacation may bring to mind images of huge salmon, slow-moving glaciers, never-ending mountain ranges, and – for those who’ve visited before – mosquitos the size of eagles. But about 60 miles out of Fairbanks, at the end of a winding road through the wilderness, you will also fine an oasis in the woods.

Whether you want to soak in healing waters, mush a dogsled team, take a flight-seeing tour or visit the world’s largest year-round ice environment, Chena Hot Springs has it all.

Chena Hot Springs is more than a wilderness hot spring, though that alone is worth the trip. It also has the world’s largest year-round ice environment – the Aurora Ice Museum. Housed in a giant igloo replica with an internal temperature of 24℉ (-4.5℃), going inside requires a parka (loaners are available).

Once inside, the lights are kept dim while colorful bulbs light up award-winning ice sculptures carved by a local couple. For a fee, the tour includes an appletini mixed in a glass carved entirely of ice, at a bar carved of ice, sitting on a stool that is – you guessed it ­– carved of ice. Tradition holds that, once empty, the ice glasses are smashed on the pavement out front while making a wish (they wouldn’t travel well in your luggage anyway).

The truly brave can reserve a night’s stay inside the ice hotel, and sleep on a slab of ice. Guides claim few remain all the way through the night.

With the delicious appletini sloshing around in your system, the soothing waters of the hot spring lake feel even more marvelous. Discovered by gold miners more than a century ago, the springs boast mineral content that heals more than just sore muscles. The outside pool averages 106℉ (41℃) and the indoor a comfortable 90℉ (31℃), and people come from all over the globe to soak in the atmosphere as well as the steaming bath.

Surrounded by boulders and flowering plants, you’ll feel as if you stumbled on an exotic natural pool, aside from the enclosed building and railing along one side. The pool can become crowded, but the experience is still worth it – just sit back, close your eyes, and drift into well-needed relaxation. The outdoor lake is only available for people over 18 years of age, but the indoor pool is fun for all.

Basking under the summer midnight sun in soothing mineral waters is fantastic but a winter visit has its perks too, when the aurora borealis makes an appearance. The dancing lights of the aurora in varying shades of greens, reds and purple are stunning, whether for the first time or the fiftieth. Winter packages at Chena Hot Springs Resort range from day trips to week-long photography excursions during times when the northern lights are most likely to appear.

Chena Hot Springs Resort is