To kick off our five weeks in Alaska, we spent six nights in Fairbanks. The second largest city in Alaska, Fairbanks was the city I was least impressed by in the 49th state.
It’s not that it’s ugly, it’s just not as scenic as other places like Anchorage and Seward. The military has a strong presence in the city, so it has more of a suburbany feel than a touristy feel.
Having spent so much time on the road in the weeks leading up to our arrival in Fairbanks due to us driving up there through Canada, Shae and I were both somewhat toast that week and so didn’t have as much energy to get out and about as we might’ve liked. We did find some fun stuff to do along the way though, so here’s a roundup of our (almost) week in Fairbanks, AK.
Where We Stayed In Fairbanks, AK
Alaska isn’t a cheap place to book accommodation in the summer, so where possible we used hotel points. In Fairbanks, that meant we booked a stay at the Hyatt Place Fairbanks. At the time of our stay in June 2024, the Hyatt Place was a category 4 property in the World of Hyatt program which means it costs 12,000, 15,000 or 18,000 points per night depending on if it’s at off-peak, standard or peak pricing respectively. It was at standard pricing (i.e. 15k points) for five nights and off-peak (i.e. 12k) for one night of our stay.
This property had the general feel of a Hyatt Place, which is no bad thing. That’s because rooms tends to be a little more spacious than your average hotel room – almost more like a junior suite as there are defined bedroom and living areas.
What we didn’t care for as much were the hardwood floors rather than the usual carpet you get at Hyatt Places. We didn’t mind the hardwood floor in our room, but it did mean that we could hear the people walking (or stomping) around in the room above us.
Another downside to our room was that the shower didn’t have very good water pressure. The shower head was also unusually high up; so much so that Shae couldn’t reach it to change the spray type.
Complimentary breakfast is available for all hotel guests. It’s served from 6am-10am, so I loved that it was available later in the morning as I’m not much of an early riser. In terms of amenities, the hotel had a business center, indoor swimming pool, fitness room and a guest laundry area.
The internet could be slow at times, but that seems to be a common feature of internet in Alaska.
What We Did In Fairbanks, AK
North Pole
On our drive in to Fairbanks we stopped quickly in a small town called North Pole. As you might expect, it has a winter/Christmas theme, with road names like ‘St Nicholas Dr’ and cute light poles designed like candy canes.
The light poles were about as cute as it got though. Perhaps it’s a cuter place to visit in December, but in June it’s more of a drive-through-to-check-it-off-the-list sort of place. That said, we did stop quickly at the Santa Claus House Christmas store.
Chena Hot Springs
The highlight of our time in Fairbanks was visiting Chena Hot Springs. Just over an hour northeast of Fairbanks, there’s a resort that you can stay at, but day visitors are also welcome to enjoy their hot springs for the day.
Shae and I paid $20 per person for a day pass which gets you all-day access to the hot springs (ticket prices are lower for seniors and children). Although we had all-day access, we only spent 2-3 hours there as we wouldn’t have been able to handle the heat of the springs for much longer.
It was a wonderfully relaxing time though. The resort is in a beautiful setting with a hilly backdrop and spacious outdoor springs.
Inside there was a hot tub, as well as a much-appreciated swimming pool in which to cool off.
Museum Of The North
While I was working one day, Shae visited Museum of the North – here’s her account of it.
The Museum of the North offered a great overview of the state’s geographical features. Each section shared the different physical and human geography for that specific region. It also included a lot of preserved and taxidermized animals from that region. I really enjoyed learning about the seal hunting that happens on the sea ice (we ended up learning even more about this and the whaling practices during our visit to Utqiagvik.)
There was also an exhibit about a mummified and reconstructed steppe bison, an extinct animal from about 36,000 years ago.
Alyeska Pipeline Viewing Point
The Trans-Alaska pipeline – also known as the Alyeska Pipeline – is an 800 mile long pipeline that transports oil from Prudhoe Bay in the north of Alaska to Valdez on the south side of the state.
The pipeline runs both above ground and below ground depending on the area. In areas where there’s permafrost that would be in danger of being heated too much by the oil in the pipeline, the pipeline was installed above ground. The oil can reach temperatures of 100°F (38°C), so having that running through permafrost could cause instability in the ground.
There’s a viewing area for the pipeline 15 minutes north of downtown Fairbanks (you can find it here on Google Maps in case you want to get directions). In addition to the pipeline itself, there are some information boards about it, as well as a couple of other exhibits.
One of those exhibits is a retired pig. That’s not a 65 year old swine, but a tool that was once used to clean the inside of the pipes. Wax used to build up in the pipes, so this tool called a pig was pushed through to scrape it out.
Chena River
We didn’t end up doing any hiking in Fairbanks, but to get Truffles out of the hotel one day we went for a walk at Graehl Park along the Chena River that runs through the city.
Something great that we first noticed in Fairbanks but subsequently saw elsewhere in Alaska is that next to waterways there were children’s life vests available for free for public use (you can see them hanging beneath the sign in the photo below). It’s great that those are available without any fee needing to be paid.
Where We Ate & Drank In Fairbanks
Big Delta Brewing Co
On our drive from Tok (where we’d slept in a wood stove cabin) to Fairbanks, we stopped for a drink at Big Delta Brewing Co. The night before I’d gone for a drink at Bears Den Lounge in Tok so that I could get some work done using their internet. One of the beers I’d had was a Midknight Milk – a blackberry milk stout from Big Delta Brewing Co. When checking where that brewery was based, I noticed it was in Delta Junction – halfway along our route to Fairbanks.
What was a little disappointing was that Big Delta isn’t very pet-friendly, right now at least anyway. Dogs are allowed out on their patio, but they’re not currently licensed to serve beer outside. They’re in the process of building a new outdoor area where they can serve beer, but with dogs not being allowed inside, we were a little stuck.
Shae doesn’t like beer, so she kindly offered to sit outside with Truffles while I went in to check out some of their beverages. I started off with a flight of four beers:
- Hoppy Lil’ Accident (a hoppy pale ale)
- Juice Junction (a juicy IPA)
- Coal Mine Red (an American amber / red ale
- Sins of the Father (a Belgian quad)
My favorite of those was Sins of the Father – it was like a dark hefeweizen and was particularly banana-y.
I followed that up with a Scotty Doesn’t Know porter which was pretty good too.
Trail’s End Lounge
After finishing up in the hot springs at Chena Hot Springs Resort, we stopped in for a quick drink at their bar there – Trail’s End Lounge. I got a White from Alaskan Brewing Co (based in Juneau) which is a Belgian-style witbier, while Shae ordered a glass of white wine.
The Donut Shoppe & Espresso Café
We enjoy trying donuts in different places, so we grabbed donuts from The Donut Shoppe & Espresso Café one morning. Their Bismarck donuts were good – not the best donuts we’ve ever had, but not bad either.
Black Spruce Brewing Company
After checking out the Alyeska Pipeline, we decided to check out a couple of dog-friendly breweries. The first was Black Spruce Brewing Company where I got a beer flight. It was more like a beer flig though as you only get three beers as part of your flight.
Black Spruce had a number of darker beers which are the kind I prefer, so I ordered:
- At Dawn, We Ride Black IPA
- Vernal Buzz Milk Stout With Coffee & Vanilla
- Rye Barrel-Aged Long Nights Imperial Stout
Shae prefers wine and cider at breweries, so she got a Pinnell Pineapple semi-sweet cider.
The barrel-aged stout was my favorite of the three. We were sitting outside in the blazing sun and no shade, so we only stayed for one drink before heading to the next brewery.
Latitude 65 Brewing Company
The second brewery we visited was Latitude 65 and they did have some much-needed shade. Shae ordered a Limeberry Sunray Cider, while I got another flight:
- PWM Saison
- PWM Dark Saison
- Red Raven Red Ale
- Moose Camp Oatmeal Stout
All four of the beers were good, with the stout being my favorite.
Ursa Major Distilling
After checking out of the Hyatt Place on our last day in Fairbanks, we had to run a few errands before continuing to our next destination. We were ready for some lunch and were struggling to find a park along our route to stop at, but noticed somewhere else of interest instead – Ursa Major Distilling.
Ursa Major makes a range of different spirits – gin, vodka, rum and akavit (a Norwegian spirit). I did a small tasting of each of them and particularly liked their rum. Shae didn’t do a tasting, starting off with a Pomtini instead.
We made friends with a bush pilot while in Whitehorse, Canada and the distillery had a cocktail called Bush Pilot, so she followed up with one of those. That contained gin, maraschino liqueur, creme de violet and lemon juice. I went with one of the few types of cocktails I like – a mojito – which was good too.
Next up was a couple of days in Healy in order to visit Denali National Park – more about that in the next few days.
[…] staying 6 nights in Fairbanks, our next stop was Healy for a couple of nights. We’d love to have stayed there for longer, […]