5 Best Hotels in North of Fairbanks, Fairbanks, the Yukon, and the Interior

Soaking in the hot springs of this one-of-a-kind, eco-friendly resort has long been a popular experience for tourists and locals, especially in winter, when a soak is often paired with overhead aurora sightings. Chena's waters are served up in hot tubs, an indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor natural-rock lake. In winter you can go dogsledding, skiing, snowmobiling on quite electric machines, and take a 4½-mile round-trip snow-coach tour to a heated hilltop yurt with 360-degree views. Summer activities include dog-cart rides, guided ATV tours, and horseback riding. Don't miss the charmingly unfinished ice museum, complete with an ice bar that serves appletinis from hand-carved ice glasses, ice bedrooms, and ice sculptures by world-class carvers. In addition to the multiple lodge buildings, the resort offers camping sites and accommodations inside yurts. Eventual plans call for the introduction of overnight stays in repurposed Alaska Railroad train cars. 

Fuel, tire repairs, and towing are available here, along with basic and clean rooms built from surplus pipeline-worker housing. The 24-hour restaurant serves generous portions of truck-stop fare. It's the only facility within 100 miles or more. Adventure-travel options include flightseeing and river rafting in summer and aurora safaris and dog mushing in winter. The complex has a post office and RV spaces with hookups—they're nothing fancy. There's no dump station.

Usually reserved by locals and adventurers with extensive backcountry experience, these Alaska State Parks cabins have woodstoves, bunks, and tools for cutting wood; you have to supply everything else—food, bedding, water, cooking utensils, and, at some, firewood. This is basic Alaskan shelter, but it can't be beat for leaving the real world behind.

The Bureau of Land Management runs 12 public-use cabins in the White Mountains National Recreation Area and one road-accessible cabin on the Elliot Highway, with 300 miles of interconnecting trails. Designed primarily for winter use by dog mushers, snowmachiners (snowmobilers), and cross-country skiers, cabins provide shelter for summer backpackers, although summer access is limited by mountainous and boggy terrain. The cabins have bunk beds, wood stoves, tables, and chairs.

The motel, built from surplus pipeline-worker housing, is basic and clean with shared bathrooms. You can buy gasoline, diesel, and propane here but only during business hours. The restaurant serves meals from 9 am to 10 pm, with shorter hours in winter.