Chena Hot Springs Ice Museum

Can You See The Northern Lights From The Aurora/chena Ice Museum In Alaska

Given that the Chena hot springs and Chena ice museum are located in an area away from light pollution, the Chena hot springs are known as one of the best places to see the northern lights. Imagine watching the northern lights from the Aurora ice museum in Alaska. Contact us to learn more about watching the Alaskan Northern Lights at the Chena Hot Springs and visiting the Aurora Ice Museum in Alaska, or visiting the ice museum at the Chena Hot Springs.

About Chena Hot Springs Resort

The resort was discovered in 1905 by two gold miners, and although it maintains its rustic charm, it’s also thoroughly modern. Its natural surroundings are gorgeous, and it’s ideally located for watching the mesmerizing colors and movements of the Aurora Borealis.

Seeing the light display is a bucket-list item, and the best shows take place between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Watch them on your own or take a viewing tour offered by the resort.

Other resort activities include relaxing in the hot springs, getting a massage, or sipping a drink at the ice bar. You can also take the geothermal renewable energy tour, which explains how the ice museum is kept cool. Other activities include ice sculpting lessons, dog-mushing lessons, and flight-seeing tours.

Discover More About Our Alaskan Ecotour

Our ecotour offers everything you could want when you visit Alaska including expert Alaska guides, entry to Chena Hot Springs, a curling lesson from local players, a dog-sledding excursion, a visit to an ice museum, and so much more. As part of this vacation, you receive aurora ice museum tickets!

Since sustainability is important to us, we donate a portion of proceeds from Northern Lights Alaskan Adventure trips to the non-profit, Northern Alaska Environmental Center. When you travel with us to see the northern lights, the aurora ice museum, and many other hand-picked activities, you are doing your part in keeping the world as green as it can be!

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Why Alaska Wildlife Guide

Attention to details as well as highest quality of service has been at the heart of Alaska Wildlife Guide since the start of the company in 2012, when the owners Rainer and Jutta moved from Germany to Alaska to make their dream become a reality. Within a short amount of time, the company reached the top rank of most recommended tour operator in the Interior of Alaska and has been the recipient of the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence every year. Their love for Alaska as well as their passion to provide each guest with a once in a lifetime experience has extended over to the staff and is evident in every detail of the business.

When & Where Was The Aurora Ice Museum Built

The Aurora Ice Museum in Alaska was built in 2004 in Chena Hot Springs, Alaska. The location is important to people who want to see the northern lights because there is lower light pollution being outside of the city. To get to the Chena hot springs there is roughly an hour and a quarter drive from Fairbanks which makes it easy to see the northern lights and to quickly venture back to Fairbanks for other local finds. More importantly, its an easy trip from the city to visit the unique Aurora ice museum and take an Aurora Ice Museum Tour!

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Where Can You Stay While Touring The Chena Hot Springs Ice Museum

The Chena hot springs were discovered in 1905 and became well known for curing people of their aches and pains. The residents of Fairbanks would take long trips to soak and enjoy the healing waters. One of the places to stay is the Chena Hot Springs Resort. This resort allows you to enjoy great aurora viewing as well as the Chena hot springs ice museum.

Highlights Of The Aurora Ice Museum Tour

• Ice glass served Appletini in the ice bar
• Open everyday all year round
• There is a ice chapel that allows you to renew or plan a wedding.
• $ hotel rooms available in the ice museum.
• Great lighting around the museum

What to bring

You should bring a warm pair of gloves and hat. You should also bring a valid id.

The Chena Kennel Tour last 40 minutes and will allow you to meet some amazing Alaskan huskies and learn all there is to know about the breed. The kennel here has over 50 dogs and you will get to see them all while on the tour.

Fees

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The Aurora Ice Museum In Alaska Has Award

Created by 16-time world champion Steve Brice and his wife, 7-time world champion, Heather Brice, youll be amazed by the beauty of these sculptures. The ice museum features furniture, life-size knights on horseback, chandeliers shifting colors to mimic the Northern Lights, and even a bar, all made of ice. Get a preview of the sculptures and Alaska ice museum attractions here.

Heather and Brice have been crafting art together since 1999. While their year-round ice workshop is at the Aurora Ice Museum at the Chena Hot Springs Resort, they also work at events both small and large. Learn more about their art at Brices website which includes details about their ice craft that has been housed at the aurora ice museum in Alaska.

The Aurora Ice Museum is home to the worlds largest year-round ice environment. It was created from more than 1,000 tons of ice and snow, all harvested from the Chena Hot Springs Resort. The Aurora Ice Museum stays a cool 25° Fahrenheit inside. Keeping the Aurora Ice museum icy cold in the heat of summer comes from the patented absorption chiller, the first of its kind in the world used for this purpose! Parkas are available free of charge to use during your Aurora Ice Museum tour.

The Ice Museum uses geothermal technology to keep it at 25 degrees Fahrenheit all year, despite summers that can reach more than 90 degrees. It took more than 1,000 tons of ice and snow to create the ice museum, which resembles a church.

Chena Hot Springs Alaska

Chena Hot Springs is an unincorporated community and hot spring resort in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States, 56.5 miles northeast of Fairbanks near the Chena River State Recreation Area. The resort makes use of the first low-temperature binary geothermal power plant built in Alaska, and is working on several alternative energy projects, including production and use of hydrogen and vegetable oil for fuel. The resort is conducting collaborative experiments in greenhouse production of vegetables with the University of Alaska FairbanksAgricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

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Do You Want To See The Aurora Ice Museum Or Visit The Chena Hot Springs

For as cold as Alaska is, the Aurora Ice Museum is a hot destination. People love the year-round availability to the ice bar at the Aurora Ice Museum, a walk through their variety of elaborately carved ice sculptures, and proximity to the Chena Hot Springs where their natural hot springs is a great place to watch the aurora borealis. For more information about the Aurora Ice Museum in Alaska, visit their website.

Soak up in the hot springs with its legendary healing mineral waters and then afterward take a quick stroll up to the Aurorium to view the spectacular dancing lights dancing above in the dark skies. The Chena hot springs aurora tour is one of the most requested northern lights tours. You can plan a trip to the Chena Hot Springs and Aurora Ice Museum on the same day!

Public Transit To Aurora Ice Museum At Chena Hot Springs Resort In Fairbanks

Wondering how to get to Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort in Fairbanks, United States? Moovit helps you find the best way to get to Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort with step-by-step directions from the nearest public transit station.

Moovit provides free maps and live directions to help you navigate through your city. View schedules, routes, timetables, and find out how long does it take to get to Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort in real time.

You can get to Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort by Bus. These are the lines and routes that have stops nearby -Bus: BLUE, GREEN, ORANGE

Want to see if thereâs another route that gets you there at an earlier time? Moovit helps you find alternative routes or times. Get directions from and directions to Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort easily from the Moovit App or Website.

We make riding to Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort easy, which is why over 930 million users, including users in Fairbanks, trust Moovit as the best app for public transit. You donât need to download an individual bus app or train app, Moovit is your all-in-one transit app that helps you find the best bus time or train time available.

For information on prices of Bus, costs and ride fares to Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort, please check the Moovit app.

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What Is The Cost Of Admission To The Aurora Ice Sculpture Museum

If you are looking for Aurora ice museum tickets to take an Aurora Ice Museum tour, then we have information about that. The price of the Aurora Ice Museum is reasonable compared to the cool experience you will leave with. While the cost for a tour of the Alaska ice sculpture museum is typically $15 per person, it is included with the Northern Lights trip when you book with Gondwana Ecotours because the Aurora ice museum in Alaska is one of the many Alaskan attractions we visit when Fairbanks.

When is the Aurora Ice Museum open for tours? The Aurora Ice Museum is open every day, 365 days a year! Theres no reason to miss a trip to the Aurora Ice Museum when you visit Alaska.

Chase The Midnight Flight

Flying to Alaska is similar to flying to Europe but reversed making for a long last day in Alaska. Unlike Europe where you arrive in the early morning and usually fly out before noon too, in Alaska you arrive late at night and you fly out around midnight. When we woke up on our last day in Alaska, we technically didnt fly out until the next day . . . at 00:55.

After breakfast, we packed up and left our bags at the front desk. Since we used the Chena shuttle to get to and from the airport, we joined the ranks of homeless Chena guests. During our stay, we noticed several guests each afternoon living in the spacious Activitorium as they waited for their late night shuttle and flight. With ample seating and a good supply of puzzles and books, the Activitorium was well prepared for this reality.

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Enjoy A Drink At The Aurora Ice Bar Inside The Aurora Ice Museum In Alaska

The Aurora ice bar is a half-mooned-shaped bar that is surrounded by a dozen ice stools covered in caribou fur and is completely carved out of ice. Watch your glass being carved out of ice right in front of you! This Aurora ice bar is perfect for an out-of-the-ordinary and exciting new adventure. After touring the Aurora ice museum, enjoy our specialty beverage, an Appletini, in an iced carved martini glass at the Aurora ice bar. If youre worried about being cold, you can enjoy your drink on a caribou fur-covered stool and take in the view or warm your hands by the ice fireplace in Alaskas only ice museum, the Aurora Ice Museum. The ice museums unique bar serves drinks in sculpted ice glasses, the fireplace glows with amber flickers, and 5 chandeliers lit with color-changing fiber optics can be found in the lobby.

Who Built The Aurora Ice Museum

The Aurora Ice Museum in Alaska was made out of ice by Steve and Heather Brice. They likely chose this location because the temperature in the area the Aurora Ice Museum resides is typically around 20ºF all year round. Their fantastic ability to pull life out of blocks of ice is worth witnessing in person. Whether they are carving an ice angel, an ice octopus, a frozen dragon, or an intricate floral design out of ice, the Chena/Aurora ice museum in Alaska is a safe place to store and display their art year-round. The Ice Hotel in Alaska is now the Aurora Ice Museum and is located sixty miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. In the beginning, the goal was to create an ice hotel, but the aurora ice museum in Alaska ended up as a year-round ice environment and Alaska ice museum which is still quite an undertaking! And, they opened the Aurora Ice museum to visitors so you can take an Aurora Ice Museum Tour.

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Make Sure You Dress For The Temperature When You Visit The Aurora Ice Museum In Alaska

Before you visit the Aurora ice museum, prepare for the atmosphere! The ice museum stays at a cool 25° Fahrenheit or -7° Celsius at all times. In order to keep it cool in the heat of summer, they have a patented absorption chiller, the first of its kind in the world used for this purpose. While you can certainly bring your own warm coat, the kind-hearted keepers of The Aurora Ice Museum also offer parkas free of charge during the tour of the ice museum.

Morning Ice Museum And Chena Hot Springs Tour

Total

• Entrance fee to Hot Springs
• What’s excluded

• The number of visitors is limited to reduce crowds
• You are required to bring and wear a mask
• You will receive a mandatory temperature check

What you can expect

Your worries slip away as you step into the warm and calming pools of Chena Hot Springs. On this rejuvenating day trip from Fairbanks, your senses will be reawakened by a day of rest and relaxation at the Chena River State Recreation Area.

Chena Hot Springs are not your ordinary hot springs. The resort makes use of the first low-temperature binary geothermal power plant built in Alaska, and you will be comforted to know that the area provides several alternative energy projects to those big oil pipelines you’ve seen sprawled out around the state. The warming waters will sooth your body and soul with its powerful effects.

The day begins around 11 AM in Fairbanks, where you will be driven first to an Ice Museum, complete with an ice bar and chandeliers made entirely of ice! Here you will have a guided tour of the museum before venturing on to the Geothermal springs of Chena. Before slipping into the pools, enjoy another guided tour and learn about all the possibilities of Geothermal Energy.

You’re now ready to slip into the waters, where you’ll have several hours to lounge and relax before we depart back for Fairbanks. If you’re hungry, make sure to stop by the local restaurant for some food and drink.

Cleaning and safety practices

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Chena Hot Spring Resort

We self-drove to Chena Hot Spring Resort all the way from the Fairbank Airport. The distance wasnt far, at only about 100 km away and we should be able to reach Chena Hot Spring Resort in less than two hours. But giving in that was during winter, we drove much slower. Plus, our GPS was not cooperating enough, losing its reception at some point, resulting we got lost. Fortunately, we realized it and we made a turn back, following our instinct with bits of help from the offline map, finally, we reached. Although it was a little bit longer than we expected it, however, considering we are map-blind, we deserved a pat on our head.

We were there in late January I suppose it isnt peak season because I didnt see many people in the resort. Or, probably people were already resting comfortably under their warm blanket when we were still finding our way to get there. We checked in, dropped our belongings and we went out to see what we could do there. The day was still early and without thinking much, we asked for any activities that we can join for the day besides the Aurora snow coach tour that night.

History Of The Chena Hot Springs

People have been going to hot springs like the Chena Hot Springs for centuries some in search of the eternal fountain of youth and others searching for cures for whatever ails them. The healing water of Chena Hot Springs has been compared to mineral waters found in hot springs in the Czech Republic, formerly known as Bohemia.

The recorded history of the Chena Hot Springs dates to the early 1900s but there is evidence indigenous people used the water at the Chena Hot Springs as well. The water boasts usage by people throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, and International visitors and dignitaries from every corner of the globe. The waters are timeless but the resort began when weary gold miners discovered that soaking in the oh-so-warm waters of the Chena Hot Springs helped their aching bodies.

The geothermal system of the Chena Hot Springs is fed by water that circulates deep underground over a period of thousands of years, picking up the natural heat from the earth, and then short circuits back up to the surface through cracks and fractures in the granite rock underneath the Chena hot springs area. Granite rock fractures or breaks very nicely in all directions, as opposed to layered sedimentary rock that just tends to break horizontally. This allows the hot water to quickly find its way to the surface from a great depth .

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