2 Best Sights in Fairbanks, the Yukon, and the Interior, Alaska

About 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks, the Chena Hot Springs Resort offers guests winter snow coach rides to a yurt on Charlie Dome with a 360-degree vista of nothing but wilderness—and a good chance of viewing the northern lights. The resort also offers a heated log cabin "aurorium" a short hike away. Guests can even arrange a wake-up call when staff spot the lights.

The Elliott Highway, which starts 10 miles north of Fairbanks in Fox, takes you to the Tanana River and the small community of Manley Hot Springs. Residents maintain a small public campground across from the Manley Roadhouse. Northern pike are caught in the nearby slough, and a dirt road leads to the Tanana River, with its summer runs of salmon. The Manley Hot Springs Resort has closed, but the hot springs are only a short walk from the campground. The highway is paved for the first 73 miles from Fairbanks, until the junction with the Dalton Highway.