Chena Hot Springs Northern Lights Tour

For the aurora, book 1st Alaska Tours’ Chena Hot Springs tour ($240): it is the only one of the three with a set aurora watch, from about midnight to 2 AM, inside the peak. Alaska Wild Lights’ tour ($275) is the best-reviewed, 4.5 from 178, and looks for the aurora with stops on the drive back, but it is non-refundable. Find Alaska’s tour ($270) is the only one that sells to one person.

Find Alaska’s tour is also the shortest, 4:30 PM to 11 PM, so it is back in Fairbanks before most of the 10 PM – 2 AM peak: a good choice if you want the springs and an early night, or if you are traveling alone. Alaska Wild Lights runs the largest groups of the three, up to 14, and Find Alaska the smallest, up to 9.

If you want a northern lights tour and Chena Hot Springs, Fairbanks has these three ways to combine them, and all three include the hot springs and the Aurora Ice Museum, so the evening is worth it even if clouds win. Two of them need at least two people, and the outdoor rock pool is 18+ on all three.

A Chena Hot Springs northern lights tour picks you up in Fairbanks in the late afternoon, drives about 60 miles east to the resort, and gives you the evening in the hot springs and the Aurora Ice Museum before the aurora search.

The difference between the three is what happens after dark: 1st Alaska Tours stays for an aurora watch from about midnight to 2 AM, Alaska Wild Lights stops for the aurora on the drive back, and Find Alaska searches on the way back and is home by 11 PM.

The Aurora Ice Museum is the world’s largest year-round ice museum, completed in 2005 from more than 1,000 tons of ice and snow, with an ice bar inside; drinks there are extra. Reviewers rate the soak above everything else: one wrote that she “relaxed in the water for 2 hours soaking up the heat”.

A Chena Hot Springs northern lights tour costs $240 to $275 per person, with transport, hot springs entry and the Aurora Ice Museum included on all three. Food is not included on any of them. On Alaska Wild Lights’ tour towels rent for $5 and a locker costs $0.50; Find Alaska lists towels, swimwear and water shoes as not included and advertises from $243, though $270 was the price at checkout on our date.

Pack a swimsuit, plan to buy dinner at the resort and check the pickup rules before you book. The ticket on all three Chena Hot Springs tours covers transport from Fairbanks, the hot springs and the Aurora Ice Museum; towels, food, drinks and tips are where the extra costs come from.

1. 1
   Bring your own swim kit

   Find Alaska lists towels, swimwear and water shoes as not included. On Alaska Wild Lights’ tour a towel rents for $5 and a locker for $0.50. Reviewers suggest water shoes and a dry bag for your phone.
2. 2
   Plan dinner

   None of the three includes a meal. Food and drinks at the resort restaurant and bar are extra on all of them, and Find Alaska adds only bottled water.
3. 3
   Check ages and health limits

   The outdoor Rock Lake is 18+ on all three. 1st Alaska Tours takes children from 5; Find Alaska takes no one under 18 and is not suitable for pregnant women, heart problems, wheelchair users or non-swimmers.
4. 4
   Confirm where you are collected

   Alaska Wild Lights picks up from hotels within the Fairbanks or North Pole city limits, 1st Alaska Tours from hotels in Fairbanks but not Airbnbs, and Find Alaska from all hotels and most B&Bs in Fairbanks.
5. 5
   Know the refund rules

   Alaska Wild Lights is non-refundable on GetYourGuide; 1st Alaska Tours and Find Alaska cancel free up to 24 hours ahead. None refunds you if the aurora stays away.

If you can only fit one night with a real aurora watch, book 1st Alaska Tours and keep the other evenings for a dedicated tour; Find Alaska’s 11 PM return suits a second, easier night with the springs, and it is the only one of the three you can book on your own.

Alaska Wild Lights’ Chena Hot Springs tour holds 4.5 from 178 reviews and 1st Alaska Tours’ 4.2 from 63; Find Alaska’s is new, with no reviews yet. Both rated tours score high for their guides (4.7) and lower for value, 4.2 and 3.9. One older 1st Alaska Tours review sums up the weak spot: the resort “did not have much to do for the long time you spend there”.

If the aurora is the goal, a dedicated chase gives you more hours under dark sky for less money; if you want a full evening out, Chena gives you more to do. Arctic Night Tours costs $225, sells to one person and stays out from 8 PM to about 4 AM. The best Chena tour for the aurora spends about two hours on a dedicated watch, but you’ve soaked in a hot spring and seen the ice museum whatever the sky does.

Yes, as an evening out with a chance of aurora; less so as your only aurora night. The hot springs and the Aurora Ice Museum carry the night when the sky is cloudy, which several reviewers describe, but you spend a lot of it on the road and at the resort rather than under a dark sky.

Reviews of 1st Alaska Tours’ midnight watch show both sides. In January 2026 Debra had “an amazing show” and found the springs “so refreshing even in -45 deg temps”, while an October 2023 reviewer felt the property “did not have much to do for the long time you spend there”. That matters most on the longer tours: 1st Alaska Tours keeps you out about 11 hours, Find Alaska about 7.

Value is the lowest sub-rating on both rated tours, 4.2 for Alaska Wild Lights and 3.9 for 1st Alaska Tours, against 4.7 for their guides. Reviewers pay for the soak and the Ice Museum; the aurora is the bonus.