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Chena Hot Springs Resort

Photo: Brady Riemenschneider / CC BY 2.0 · source

💧 Springs

Chena Hot Springs Resort

Fairbanks, AK · Interior Alaska, near Fairbanks

About

Chena Hot Springs sits at 65 degrees north, directly under the auroral oval, 56.5 miles northeast of Fairbanks and clear of city glow. That geometry does the work: green shows up overhead rather than low on the horizon, and you can watch it while floating in Rock Lake, a boulder-rimmed geothermal pool that runs about 106 degrees, adults 18 and over. On active nights the resort runs a tracked SUSV up Charlie Dome for open-sky views from a heated yurt. The Aurora Ice Museum holds 25 degrees year round. At 1,158 feet, cold, not altitude, is what you plan around. Know before you go: aurora season runs September through March, and a clear, moonless night is the one worth chasing. The pool house closes at 11:45 pm, last admission 11:30, so soak early and save the darkest hours after midnight for the open resort grounds.

Highlights

65 degrees N, under the auroral oval56.5 miles NE of FairbanksAurora season Sept to MarchRock Lake soak, 106F, adults 18+Pool house 7 am to 11:45 pmElevation 1,158 ft

Getting there

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Best Dark Sky Stargazing in the US15 places

Best Dark Sky Stargazing in the US

Where to go when you want the Milky Way instead of a glow on the horizon. Fifteen places with genuinely dark skies, from the least light-polluted park in the lower 48 to a 9,200-foot volcano above the cloud layer, an Appalachian ridge with a 360-degree horizon, and an Alaskan hot spring under the aurora.