Fairbanks, Alaska

Fairbanks, Alaska

Fairbanks Links Activities (8) Lodging (8) Transportation (4) Travel Planners (4)

A product of the Gold Rush, Fairbanks has grown into a bustling trade and transportation center for Interior and Far North Alaska. Alaska's second largest city (population 32,156) is home to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Fairbanks enjoys more than 20 hours of daylight from mid-May through July.

Popular regional activities include cruising the Chena and Tanana rivers on an authentic sternwheeler, canoe, or raft; observing musk oxen, caribou, and reindeer at the university's Large Animal Research Station; and visiting Alaskaland, a frontier theme park.

You can also drive to bubbling mineral waters at Manley, Circle, and Chena Hot Springs; view a portion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline; and visit the community of North Pole, where the U.S. Post Office traditionally sends Santa's mail to be answered by his elves.

A fly-in excursion to Fort Yukon on the Arctic Circle gives you a sampling of life on the Yukon River, in Alaska's largest Athabascan village.