Below Zero Travel To Alaska

Alaska is very close to my heart as this is the place my husband proposed to me! He booked a surprise weekend getaway to Fairbanks from Seattle on our 6th dating anniversary and proposed to me under the Northern Lights. I knew it then, that this would just be the 1st of many trips to Alaska for us and I am glad we got another chance this year in February!

Photo: Taken by my husband right before the proposal in Fairbanks, Alaska

Planning the Trip

We made the plan to visit Alaska on Travel Tuesday - a day of travel only deals and savings offered by hotels, airlines and more. It falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, immediately following Cyber Monday.

For our trip, we planned to spend 3 days in Anchorage and 2 days in Fairbanks. We chose to land in Anchorage as we wanted to experience the 12 hour Aurora Winter Train and the availability of the train matched well with our dates. 

For local transportation, we planned to use Uber/Lyft in Anchorage as everything was nearby and all tours we booked had pick ups from our stay. For Fairbanks, we ended up booking a Turo as we wanted to chase Northern Lights as well as drive to Chena Hot Springs Resort. The resort does provide a pick up and drop off service from Fairbanks city but it costs $180 round trip per person, which I feel is super expensive. I was initially hesitant about the drive as the temperature was something we were not used to plus we were not sure about the driving and visibility conditions. However, I did call the resort office a week ahead and was well assured about the constant snow clean up on the roads from Fairbanks to Chena Resort. Based on our experience, we also faced no difficulty driving late at night/early morning hours. The 2 day Turo cost us around $400 for a 6 seater SUV. For how we managed a 6 person drive in winter clothes with multiple checked in bags, I will have to write another blog, and no, we did not fit everything in the car.

Our Stay

In the 5 days, we stayed at 4 different locations! 

Day 1 in Anchorage: Comfort Suites Anchorage International Airport (Link)

We booked a 2 Queen Suite which had a 6 person capacity. The hotel was a 5 min drive from the airport with a free pick up/drop off service from/to the airport. The room was comfortable though the floor we were assigned (3rd floor) to at that point had some renovation going on but it didn’t bother us at all - there was no noise. 

The hotel’s restaurant had been closed since COVID but there were a bunch of places to eat nearby and we were able to get delivery via Doordash as well.

Day 2 in Fairbanks: Entire Home in Airbnb (Link)

We reached Fairbanks around 8 pm and needed a place just to crash for a few hours as we had planned to stay in Chena Hot Springs the next day (Even though we made our bookings in Nov 2023, we were unable to get a 2 night stay at Chena Resort). We were actually glad we booked an Airbnb as 2 of us who had soft top checked in baggage had slightly wet clothes and the Airbnb had a washer-dryer. This might have been due to the water that seeped in during our train journey because it was snowing. 

Day 3 in Fairbanks: Chena Hot Springs (Link)

I was excited as well as dreading this stay as there were a lot of mixed reviews about the hotel. We booked a 6 person capacity Bear Family Suite which was about a 4-5 min walk from the main lobby. The suite featured 2 queen beds in one room, 2 twin beds in the adjoining room and 1.5 bath. I had read reviews that the rooms are old and dirty, they smell like sulfur and it can get really cold if the windows are cracked. WE DID NOT FACE ANY SUCH ISSUES IN OUR ROOM AND WERE QUITE COMFORTABLE. Not sure if this room was new or recently renovated, but it might be good to confirm at the hotel when you book your stay. 

Regarding food, they have 2 options - 1 restaurant near the lobby and 1 cafe in the Activity Center. Restaurant has limited dining and they do not take reservations. The cafe in the activity center offers fresh pizza and a few frozen items that can be purchased and warmed in the microwave. Do note, they can only make 1 (sometimes 2) pizza’s at a time and if they already have a few orders 1 hour before closing, they might not take your order. 

Day 4-5 in Anchorage: Entire Home in Airbnb (Link)

For our last stay in Alaska, we booked a townhome in Anchorage. The home featured 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. I was glad we booked this place as we actually saw a moose right in front of their backyard! 

Things we did

Aurora Winter Train: From Anchorage to Fairbanks (Link)

Cost: $$$ (~$300 per person)

We had heard so much about the Alaska Train and it did not disappoint! I do want to point out a few details about the train - 

• The winter train does not include the glass-dome seating and only has 1 class - the Adventure Class, which is a regular train seating. 

• Each car in the train has the 1st 2 rows facing each other (good for groups) with a table in between but the rest of the rows are all in 1 direction. The seating of the train is assigned during check-in, which happens an hour before the train journey.

• The starting 4-5 rows do not have any overhead carry bag storage, so be mindful, if you enter the train late, you may not have any place to keep your bags on top and might have to store them on the floor. Also note, as the train makes 2 stops where you can get down for 5-10 mins, you will get wet and thus your seating area too!

• Charging points are not available at every seat but you can use the cafe or the dining car area to charge your devices. 

• You can bring your own food and snacks if you do not want to use the dining service offered in the train. 

• You only get drip coffee in the cafe car but you can get a barista style coffee at your station after you check in. 

• The cafe car has multiple 4 seater group seating (6 I think) on the lower deck and a few couple seating (3 I think) at the upper deck. This place gets filled up initially and they have a 40 min policy to empty the seats so that others can sit as well. However, we noticed the place is mostly free the last 5 hours of the journey. 

• The last 3 hours of the journey is mostly in the dark, where you do not get to see anything at all. 

• A local mentioned the reindeer sausage that we get on the train is mostly pork. (I did not validate this. If you do, let me know!)

The views during the journey are definitely breathtaking, and we got to see - a lot of moose, bald eagle as well as the tallest base-to-peak mountain - Denali! 

Our take on the journey - 

• Def. a one time bucket list item!

• The train is pretty slow and the views are kind of similar - covered in snow. It can start to get boring 2-3 hours into your ride. 

• Take games along!! We played Uno, Phase 10 as well as a few other card games in the cafe car. 

Dog Sledding Tour @ North Pole (Fairbanks) (Link)

Cost: $$ (~$100 per person)

This is a 30 min tour where they take the first 5-10 mins to go over the history of mushing, provide cold weather gear which we missed as we were 15 mins late!! We got lucky as another minute late, they would have canceled our tour. Also, as we were well protected in terms of the gear when we reached, they directly sent us to our sleds to get started. For a group of 6, we had 3 sleds assigned to us with 2 people along with a musher on each sled. 

Even though we got to experience this only for a bare 10 mins, it was totally worth it. They have a midway stop where you meet the dogs - you can pet them and take as many photos with them !! Def. a must do, if you are visiting Alaska during the winter! 

Aurora Ice Museum Tour @ Chena Hot Springs Resort (Fairbanks) (Link)

Cost: $ (~$40 per person with Appletini)

The resort has a lot of activities but as we stayed there for just 1 night, we decided to go for just the Ice Museum Tour. This is a 45 min tour where they give you a 15 min overview on the history and details on the ice sculptures, post which you are free to look around and take photos and enjoy an Appletini at the bar before you exit. We even made our friends renew their vows at the ice sculpture chapel as we missed their wedding. Do note, you meet the guide at the Activity Center instead of the Ice Museum Location where they check in everyone. There isn’t much cell reception at the resort, another reason why you would want to take a screenshot of your booked tours. (The Activity Center and the lobby area do have connectivity.) 

Fun Fact - Apparently, you can even book the Ice Museum for the night!!

Matanuska Glacier Walking Tour (Anchorage) (Link)

Cost: $$$ (~$300 per person)

This is expensive, but if there is 1 activity you want to spend money on, it's this!! As we were a party of 6, we got a private tour for the same cost and they provided pick up and drop off service from our Airbnb. As it is a 8 hour tour, you do need 1 day in your trip just to do this. The walking trail is just 1.5-2 miles which is completed in 2 hours, but the drive to/from the Anchorage downtown area is what takes the time. 

They have 2 stops before we start the trail - 

• Gas Station where you can use the restroom and buy some snacks

• Matanuska Gift Shop where you can again use the restroom and buy some souvenirs. (P.S. you get the Glacier Mud Pack here that you will see during your tour on the glacier which apparently is good for your skin!)

For this tour, they do provide glacier specific gear such as spikes for your boots but you need to prepare yourself for the winter wear. I have shared below our packing list for this trip for reference. 

After completing the glacier walk, they take you to a local eatery. For us, it was The Long Rifle Lodge which has a breathtaking view of the glacier as well. 

Westchester Lagoon Overlook (Anchorage) (Link)

Cost: FREE

This is a nice walking trail and park where you will see families and kids play. As we went during the winter, the lake was frozen and completely covered with snow and kids were skating. We were tempted to get off and try walking over the lake. DEFINITELY WILL NOT RECOMMEND DOING THAT as the snow at the edges of the lake is soft and quite deep! We also saw a few people ski on the lake trail, though this was a different type of a ski but it looked interesting but we couldn’t find any rentals nearby. 

Fur Rendezvous Snow Sculpture Competition (Anchorage) (Link)

Cost: FREE

Every year local artists/families compete in an ice sculpture competition in February. Our timing was perfect as we visited the place just 2- days before the judging and most of the sculptures were 80% ready. If you are visiting Feb end - early March, this is definitely worth a visit to see the different art pieces built by the local artists. 

Hot Springs @ Chena Hot Springs Resort (Fairbanks) (Link)

Cost: FREE if you are staying at the resort

As we stayed at the resort, this was free for us but you do not need to stay here if you want to visit just the hot springs. I have been to this place twice now, once as a day visit to the resort and the other this time as a night stay at the resort. I personally preferred the night stay as the pool gets quite busy in the morning/afternoon hours but there weren’t many people in the pool at night. Also, for some reason, the pool felt extremely hot in the afternoon hours (we finished the water from our water bottles) while I didn’t feel the need to sip water during the night visit. I will call out that photos will come out better in the afternoon but at night, you will need a good quality camera to capture your crazy ice hair-do’s. 🙂

The place does offer towels (free for resort guests), lockers and showers for the guests. Lockers are not free, so you want to bring in a few quarters. Do keep 2-3 quarters with yourself as everytime you open your locker, you will need a new quarter to lock it back in. 

Also, yes, the place does smell like sulfur but after a few minutes, you just get used to it. 

Chasing The Northern Lights (Fairbanks)

Touchwood, I have been lucky that I saw the Northern Light both the times when I visited Fairbanks for a max of 2 days each time. I met many people during our stay that had not seen the lights even though they were there for like a week. We didn’t really book our trip looking at the moon phase or anything like that. However, there are ways you can increase your chances of viewing the lights. Nothing is Guaranteed though!!

Here are some tips I can share from my visit - 

• Best Months: The best months are from late August to late April but the weather conditions are best in either September for warm-summer month visit or February-March for warmest-winter visit

• Locations: (details on location and how to get there)

  • Fairbanks

  • North Pole

  • Cleary Summit

  • Murphy Dome

  • Chena Hot Springs Resorts

• Real Time Trackers & Forecasts: 

  • Explore Fairbanks (Link): This site gives a 3 day forecast and a 3 hour forecast visibility chance. Both times, it was pretty accurate with its prediction when we went. For example, it showed an ‘EXCELLENT’ chance at the Chena Hot Springs location for us from 6 pm to 6 am and we did see the lights between 11:15 pm to like 12:30 pm. 

  • Aurora App: This app shares the Kp Index of your current location and shows the best location to view Aurora along with a Visibility %. This app is not specific to Alaska and can be used for viewing Northern Lights around the world. You can use this to check 1 week forecast as well as visibility % forecast with a 10 min interval. The app also has ‘Live Aurora Webcams’ which you can use to see what the sky looks like. 

    • The Kp index is a scale that measures the strength of geomagnetic activity in the Earth's atmosphere, which is the cause of the Northern Lights. The index ranges from 0 to 9, with higher values indicating greater geomagnetic disturbances. A Kp index of 5 or higher is often associated with good viewing opportunities at mid-latitudes.

  • Space Weather Live App: This app was actually shared by our Matanuska guide which the locals use for Aurora tracking. 

Food we liked

Anchorage

Seoul Casa - Korean Mexican Fusion

• Bulgogi Egg Rolls

• K-Town Wings

• Tacos - Fish, Shrimp, 3 Amigos Tacos

Ginger

• Mee krob

Whiskey and Ramen

• Takoyaki - a must do order anytime we see it on the menu!

• The Dark Horse Ramen

• Cocktails

• Tea (local) - Our friends loved this and the restaurant even shared a few samples for us to take back home!

Everest Kitchen

• Chicken Momos

• Chicken Lollipop

• Butter Chicken

• Garlic/Onion Naan

• Lamb Biryani

• Lamb Rogan Josh

Fairbanks

Pagoda Chinese Restaurant & Bar

• Bang Bang Shrimp

• Chicken Lo-mein

• Kung Pao Chicken

• Mangolian Beef

Packing List

You can find basic winter packing list at Alaska.org that I used for my reference. There are also places where you can rent winter wear if you only need it for this trip. 

Here is what I packed for myself:

• Base Layers

  • 3 polyester pairs (Brand: 32 deg Heat from Costco)

  • 2 woolen pairs (Brand: Smartwool)

    • I used these for the Matanuska Glacier Tour and while chasing the Northern Lights at Fairbanks)

  • 1 heattech tights (Brand: Uniqlo)

• Lightweight Layers

  • 6 Polyester/Nylon sweater tops 

    • Whatever I mostly use in Seattle weather

  • 1 denim legging (Brand: Uniqlo)

  • 1 polyester pants (Brands: North Face)

• Heavyweight Layers

  • 2 Fleece Jackets (Brand: Uniqlo)

  • 3 Fleece Pants (Brand: Eddie Bauer, Uniqlo)

  • 1 Thermal overall (link)

    • A must have! I loved wearing this during my trip!! Though I ruined it when I washed it - I have no idea what I did wrong! 

• Final Layer

  • 1 Fleece Snow Jacket (link)

    • This felt very light and as it was from Amazon, I wasn’t too sure if this would work but I had no issue as I layered up pretty well. I actually liked that it wasn't too heavy. 

• Everything Else

  • 3 wool liner socks (Brand: Smartwool)

    • I used used only once though

  • 6 wool socks (Brand: Smartwool)

  • 2 full sleeve night suit set

  • 2 swimsuit

    • Used only once for the Hot Springs visit

  • 1 snow boots (Brang: UGG)

    • You need to buy 0.5 - 1 size bigger so that you can fit in your wool socks. Make sure you try it on with your wool socks before you buy. 

  • 1 slip on boots (Brand: North Face)

    • This has become my go-to for taking my dog on a poopy walk and at the airports as well

  • 1 shower slipper

    • Hot Springs locker area can get dirty. Do note, you cannot wear this inside the hot springs, but can leave it right at the entry

  • 1 ear muffs (link) 

    • Which I lost on on the Aurora Winter Train 😀

  • 1 neck muff (Brand: Uniqlo)

    • Found this very useful!

  • 1 winter hat (link)

  • 1 head ski mask - Balaclava (Brand: Under Armour)

  • 1 pair of normal gloves (Brand: North Face)

  • 1 pair of liner + ski gloves (link)

    • I used these for the Matanuska Glacier Tour and while chasing the Northern Lights at Fairbanks)

    • The liner gloves here are very important as you won't be able to click pictures with the ski gloves on and your hands will freeze if you do not have a liner glove below.

  • 1 Hot Hands Set (link)

    • This includes hand warmers, super warmers and toe warmers. I found the toe warmers useless and with the Smartwool socks, I didn't really need one. The hand warmers were the best and lasted a good few hours. The super warmers were too big for me and I didn't really end up using it for our trip.  

Here is what I packed for my husband: 

• Base Layers

  • 3 polyester pairs (Brand: 32 deg Heat from Costco)

  • 2 woolen pairs (Brand: Smartwool)

• Lightweight Layers

  • 3 Polyester half sleeve tops (Brands: Adidas, Nike)

    • Basically his soccer jerseys

  • 4 Polyester full sleeve tops (Brand: Under Armour)

  • 3 polyester pants (Brands: Nike, Adidas)

  • 1 cotton Jogger

    • He used this for dinner at Anchorage

• Heavyweight Layers

  • 1 Polyester hoodie

  • 1 Fleece Shirt (link)

  • 2 Fleece Jackets

  • 2 Fleece Pants (Brand: North Face)

  • 1 Down Jacket

    • He used this on his way back as he was tired of wearing the heavy snow jacket everywhere

• Final Layers

  • 1 Fleece Snow Jacket (Brand: Michael Kors)

  • 1 Waterproof pants (Brand: North Face)

• Everything Else

  • 3 wool liner socks (Brand: Smartwool)

    • He didn't use this at all

  • 7 wool socks (Brand: Smartwool)

  • 2 full sleeve night suit set

  • 2 swim shorts

    • He also used just once

  • 1 snow boots (Brand: UGG)

  • 1 slip on boots (Brand: North Face)

  • 1 shower slipper

  • 1 ear muffs (link)

    • He didn't use this. The winter hat was sufficient for him.

  • 1 neck muff

  • 1 winter hat (link)

  • 1 head ski mask - Balaclava (Brand: Under Armour)

  • 1 pair of normal gloves

    • He didn't use this at all

  • 1 pair of liner + ski gloves (Brand: North Face)

  • 1 Hot Hands Set (link)

    • He used this once while capturing Northern Lights from our phone