Visiting Chena Hot Springs with Kids in Fairbanks, Alaska
My family of four, with two kids ages 3 and 6, visited Chena Hot Springs Resort in December on a trip to Alaska to see the Northern Lights. Only an hour’s drive outside of Fairbanks, Chena Hot Springs is considered one of the top attractions in the area—yet has terrible reviews.
But we took the risk. And I am so glad we did. Just an hour’s drive east of Fairbanks, tucked into the woods along a remote road, Chena Hot Springs Resort is somewhat iconic in Alaska — a natural geothermal spa with a generous side of adventures that turned into the most talked-about two days of our entire trip.
Between soaking in steaming pools beneath a sky full of stars, watching our six-year-old hold a husky puppy at the sled dog kennel, and stepping into the Aurora Ice Museum to find our kids wide-eyed and breathless in a room carved entirely from ice, Chena delivered magic at every turn.
Is it a luxury resort? No.
Is it worth it with young children? Absolutely — if you know what to expect. Here’s everything you need to know before you go.
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Quick Tips
Before You go
- Book a day visit or an overnight stay at the resort. All activities are available for visitors, whether they come up for the day spend the night. Book your stay here.
- Give yourself time to get there. Chena Hot Springs Resort is located 66 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. The trip takes about an 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Pack warm gear. Weather temperatures can dip below 0ºF in the winter. Read our blog for more details on what to pack.
- Pool house details: The hot springs are located in the pool house. There are staff there to check you in, locker rooms with warm showers and blow dryers, and towels. Access to the pool house is included in an overnight stay, or at a fee for day visitors
Getting There
- By car (recommended): Approximately 60-minute drive east of Fairbanks on Chena Hot Springs Road — a scenic, paved road. Rental cars widely available at Fairbanks International Airport. Parking is free.
- Resort shuttle: A daily shuttle is available from Fairbanks International Airport to the resort for about $180 round trip. Confirm schedule directly with the resort.
- Guided tours from Fairbanks: Multiple operators offer day and evening tours combining Chena Hot Springs and northern lights viewing — a popular option for families without rental cars.
- The drive itself is beautiful and wildlife-rich; keep eyes open for moose, fox, and in winter, frozen rivers and frosted birch forests.
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Chena Hot Springs Resort Overnight Review with Kids
Chena Hot Springs Resort Overnight Review with Kids
Despite many hours of online research, watching videos and reading negative reviews, I am so glad I took the risk and brought my family to Chena Hot Springs. I would recommend families go with the understanding that:
Kids can only go in the temperature-controlled hot pools and not in the natural geothermal pool
Depending on age, some kids cannot participate in certain on-site activities
The hotel is dated, offering motel quality for a high price
The water at the resort is from a natural spring. It has a rotten egg smell due to the naturally occurring hydrogen sulfide. Bring water bottles for drinking and take this into consideration when you shower.
We stayed in the Fox Rooms ($209/night) located near the pool house. These rooms had two beds, an in suite bathroom, and a tea kettle. It was the perfect size for our little family.
The bathroom was a little dingy, but clean. The room had warm water and central heat. The beds were old, but comfortable and suited our needs.
Soak in the Outdoor Hot Springs
Chena Hot Springs has an indoor naturally heated lap pool and two kid-safe hot tubs, a few outdoor smaller hot pools at kid-safe temperatures, and a larger natural hot pool that is not temperature regulated and only available for adults. All pools are fed by the hot springs.
Entrance to the hot springs is included in an overnight stay, and also at a fee for day visitors.
We walked to the pool house wearing all our snow gear and changed into swimwear in the locker room. It was still dark outside at 10 a.m. when we made it to the pool. We took a deep breath before opening the exit door. The cold air was shocking as my kids took off running and giggling towards the red lit pool.
With frozen toes, we climbed in and instantly the chill melted away. My kids laughed as they scooped the snow that had piled up on the pool rim and put it on their heads. I tried unsuccessfully to take pictures of the frost that adorned our eyelashes and hair from the frozen steam around us.
Pro-tip: On our drive to Chena Hot Springs, I showed my kids a video of a family with three kids (including one baby) who braved the outdoor pools in the winter. This way my kids would know that it was going to be a cold walk from the locker rooms to the outdoor hot pools in our swimsuits, at 5º Fahrenheit.
Swim in the indoor hot pools
Spend about 30 minutes to 1 hour
After spending some time in the outdoor kid-safe hot tubs, we mustered up enough courage to make the trek back inside to splash and play in the indoor pool. Everyone ran, a little more slowly this time with wet feet, through the hallway to the door.
To my dismay it was only a little warmer inside than outside, so we quickly jumped into the pool to stay warm.
We spent about an hour in the outdoor and indoor pools before everyone felt a little cold and hungry.
After, we all showered in the locker room, dried off as much as possible, then began the arduous task of putting on each of many winter layers in order to reenter the chilly Alaskan outdoors.
Visit the Ice Museum
Great place
- 1+ Hours
We reserved spots on Chena’s Ice Museum tour the afternoon we arrived and followed a guide through a mysterious door to a temperature-regulated structure, which allows the Ice Museum to exist year-round.
Once inside we found beautiful ice sculptures, a chapel for weddings, three separate bedrooms with actual ice beds and unique ice sculptures per room where guests can spend the night, and an ice bar serving up appletinis in ice martini glasses.
I preordered two appletinis (additional $20 per person) when I purchased our tour tickets, and clinked ice glasses with my husband while my kiddos jealously watched.
Tickets for the Ice Museum tour were $20 for guests ages 12+ and $15 for kids ages 6-11 years.In stark contrast to the ornate Pena Palace and Quinta de Regaleira, the Moorish Castle is a more simple 10th century classic you can’t miss while visiting Sintra. Its rugged stone walls have stood on this hillside for centuries.
The Moorish Castle is a 10-minute walk from Pena Palace and can be visited on the same day if you plan it correctly. The walk from the entrance to the inside of the castle is long, uphill, and not stroller friendly.
Buy your tickets online or at the kiosk at the entrance to the castle. Tickets are free for kids under 6, 6,5€ for youth ages 6-18 and seniors, and 7,6€ for adults.
Check out our blog post for more tips on visiting the Moorish Castle with kids.
Go Dog Sledding
Great views
- 1 Hours
Dog sledding was by far my daughters’ favorite activity at Chena Hot Springs. We loved speeding through the snowy forest on a dog sled.
Our kids laughed and smiled during the whole 1.5-mile trail run, while our expert dog musher told me stories about his all-female dog mushing team. He shared that each dog had a name, different skillsets, strengths and weaknesses, and was lovingly cared for by the musher himself.
This activity is available for guests ages 2+ years.
Make sure you put on all the layers because it gets cold when you’re moving fast on the sled. Having a neck gaiter was helpful to keep the cold out, and an absorbent booger catcher for my kids.
Hunt for the Northern Lights at Chena Hot Springs Resort
- 5+ Hours
Many people recommend driving out to Chena Hot Springs to catch a glimpse of the aurora borealis while soaking in the geothermal pools.
For an even better view, the resort offers an Aurora coach tour to take guests ages six and older to the top of a nearby mountain.
It was cloudy during our visit, so we did not get a chance to see the magic of the Northern Lights from Chena Hot Springs.
Play with Sled Dogs & Puppies
Great views
- Costs $25 for guests ages 12+ and $15 for kids ages 6-12 Y.
- 1 Hours
The Chena Kennel Tour is held in the educational visitor center and led by a guide eager to talk about dog mushing for 40 minutes straight.
After the spiel, visitors are led back outside to meet the sled dogs and hold puppies.
The caveat is that the tour only allows guests ages six and older to see the pups, requiring younger guests to watch the puppy cuddling from behind a fence.
We opted out of this activity to avoid whining from our 3-year-old.
This tour costs $25 for guests ages 12+ and $15 for kids ages 6-12 years.
Day Visit to Chena Hot Springs
- 9am: Drive to Chena Hot Springs Resort from Fairbanks
- 10:30am: Arrive at Chena Hot Springs. Schedule dog sled ride.
- 11:30am: Eat lunch at the resort restaurant
- 1pm: Visit the Ice Museum tour
- 2pm: Explore the hot springs – indoor and outdoor
- 4pm: Begin your drive back to Fairbanks for dinner
Chena Hot Springs Resort Sample Itinerary
Two options: Stay over night or visit for the day.
The historic center of Sintra is made up of tiny winding streets, pedestrian-only walkways, and beautiful old buildings all built near the Sintra National Palace. We wandered the quiet alleyways, popping into store fronts, some touristy, some artsy, and tasted the delicious foods shops along the way.
I recommend you walk down Volta do Duche, stop, and listen to the troubadours, then buy a souvenir from a street vendor.
We loved finding little fountains and ornate villas throughout the area.
Overnight Stay at Chena Hot Springs Resort
Day 1
- Check into hotel
- Swim in the hot springs
- Return to room to clean up
- Dinner at the restaurant
Day 2
- Breakfast at the restaurant or snacks in the hotel room
- Swim in the hot springs
- Clean up in the hotel. Pack up for departure
- Check-out at 11 a.m.
- Return to Fairbanks
History Corner
The land surrounding Chena Hot Springs has been home to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. For millennia, Athabascan Alaska Native peoples lived along the Chena and Tanana rivers, which served as natural highways — providing food, trade routes, and connection.
The very name “Chena” comes from the Tanana Athabascan people: the Chena band of the Tanana Athabascans traditionally inhabited the Chena River and Chena Village area, and their presence is woven into the landscape that today’s visitors enjoy.
The Fairbanks region’s multicultural history is richer and older than most visitors realize.
During the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s, Black men and women came to Alaska by the hundreds — hunting for whales, patrolling the seas, building roads, serving in the military, opening businesses, fighting injustice, and forging communities in the interior.
Roshier Creecy followed the 1898 gold rush north and became the first African American person to live and mine in the Koyukuk gold fields, and Bessie Couture became the first Black person to own a business in Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush, running a restaurant in Skagway. Filipino workers arrived as early as the 1900s, working as ore sorters in mining operations and as cannery laborers in the salmon industry, becoming by the 1920s the largest single immigrant group in Alaska — a community that built roots across the state including in Fairbanks.
Chinese workers were recruited in large numbers for the cannery industry and gold rush economy, facing violent expulsion in some communities.
Black activists along Alaska’s railbelt — the urbanized stretch from Seward to Fairbanks — took up causes associated with the civil rights movement, fighting employment discrimination, housing exclusion, and political marginalization, with a weekly NAACP news segment airing on Fairbanks’ KTVF television station from 1956 to 1960. These communities collectively helped build the Last Frontier that families visit today — a history that deserves to be told alongside every dog sled ride and northern lights viewing.
Our Experience
The staff at Chena Hot Springs Resort were a mix of white and BIPOC people, as were the guests. During our one-night stay we were the only family there with little kids. Staff and other guests were kind to us, and greeted us with smiles. We felt welcomed and safe.
Learn More
- Stop by the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in Fairbanks
- Donate to the First Alaskans Institute which advocates for the political, economic, and cultural rights of Alaska Native peoples.
Antiracist Travel Considerations
Where to Eat
Try the Restaurant at Chena Hot Springs Resort
Final Thoughts
Chena Hot Springs Resort was so much more than just a hot springs and an old hotel – it was a magical indoor ice palace!
We loved exploring the rooms of the Ice museum, imagining what it would be like to stay there, and drinking out of martini glasses made out of ice.
I admit that I felt a little bad that I couldn’t share the unique experience drinking out of ice glasses with the kids. After taking my last sip of the appletini, I washed the glasses and refilled them with water.
With giant smiles and adult accuracy, my 3- and 6- year olds shouted “cheers” to each other, clinked glasses, and sipped their water. The tour guide joined the rest of the group outside and asked everyone with martinis to smash the glasses after finishing their drink for good luck.
With some encouragement from the tour guide, our two girls relunctantly chucked their glasses onto the icy floor. After many attempts the martini glasses finally shattered, skidding ice chunks along the frozen floor that quickly turned into a soccer game.
As you can tell, my family made awesome memories at Chena Hot Springs Resort. If you can look past the rustic lodging then you will see what a fun, winter adventure Chena Hot Springs Resort can be!
Go ahead, give Chena Hot Springs a try, and leave a comment below when you do!
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