Aurora Ice Museum and Fairbanks Ice Sculptures
The Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs is open every day of the year at 25°F. What you see on the tour, how to visit, and how it differs from the ice sculptures in Fairbanks each February and March.
Searches for Fairbanks ice mix up two different things, so it helps to separate them before you plan. The Aurora Ice Museum is a permanent, refrigerated ice building at Chena Hot Springs Resort, about 60 miles outside the city, open every day of the year. The World Ice Art Championships is a sculpting competition held in Fairbanks itself for about six weeks in late winter. They are unrelated and in different places, and if your dates cover both, each is a good reason to go.
There is also a third thing people search for that Fairbanks does not offer, which we cover first.
For the soak, the drive and the resort around the museum, see our Chena Hot Springs guide.
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No, There Is No Ice Hotel You Can Sleep In
Many people come to this topic looking for a Fairbanks version of Sweden’s Icehotel at Jukkasjärvi: a hotel built from ice, where you sleep on an ice bed under reindeer hides with the aurora outside.
Fairbanks does not have that. What it has is the Aurora Ice Museum, an ice building you tour, photograph and have a drink in, but do not sleep in. The museum does contain four rooms carved to look like ice hotel suites, and you walk through them on the tour. The resort sells the visit as a 45-minute guided tour, not as a night’s stay. Alaska “ice hotel and northern lights” packages generally combine aurora viewing, ordinary accommodation and a museum visit.
None of this takes anything away from the museum, which is remarkable. It just helps to know before you book, so you arrive expecting the right thing.
If the draw is watching the aurora from somewhere warm and unusual, the Fairbanks answer is glass rather than ice. The Aurora Glass House Experience at Cleary Summit, rated 4.5/5 across 41 reviews, puts you in a heated 270° glass room on the ridge for the evening, and there is glass-roofed and dome accommodation north of the city if you want to stay the night. See where to stay for aurora viewing for the options.
What the Aurora Ice Museum Is
Location: Chena Hot Springs Resort, around 60 miles / 97 km north-east of Fairbanks Open: every day, all year Interior temperature: 25°F (about −4°C) Access: 45-minute guided tour at set times; advance booking recommended
The museum was completed in January 2005 by Steve Brice, a sixteen-time world champion ice carver, working with Heather Brice, herself a seven-time champion. The resort calls it the largest year-round ice environment in the world, built from more than 1,000 tons of ice and snow harvested at the resort.
Year-round is the phrase that matters here. Other guides get this point wrong more often than any other.
The engineering behind it
An ice building in interior Alaska is nothing special in January. Keeping one standing in July, when Fairbanks can reach 86°F (30°C), is another matter.
The museum stays frozen thanks to an absorption chiller powered by the resort’s geothermal system. The same low-temperature geothermal water that heats the hot springs runs the refrigeration that keeps the ice from melting, so heat is used to make cold. For anyone interested in renewable energy, it is the most interesting thing at the resort.
The resort also runs year-round greenhouses on the same geothermal source, which is why the restaurant can serve locally grown salad in February.
What you see
Carved ice throughout: chandeliers, a jousting knight, the ice bar, seating, the four hotel-style rooms, an ice chapel and sculptures that change over time. Carving demonstrations run when a carver is available. The ice has high optical clarity, and under the colored lights the sculptures look like glass.
Parkas are provided for the tour, which matters more than it sounds. 25°F is mild by Fairbanks standards, but you will be standing still indoors for most of the visit, and it is easy to arrive dressed for a warm resort rather than a freezer. Bring your own gloves and a hat; the resort recommends both. Children must be at least 6.
Visiting the Aurora Ice Museum
The appletini
The ritual is an appletini served in a hand-carved ice glass at the ice bar. It is an add-on charged on top of the tour, you need valid ID, and you must be 21 or over. You can keep the glass for as long as it lasts, which is not very long.
It is unapologetically touristy, it appears in almost every photo taken here, and plenty of visitors who meant to skip it end up ordering one.
Practicalities
Tours run several times a day, and the resort says the times shift with the sunset. Check the day’s schedule directly with the resort before you set out: a wrong timetable costs you a two-to-three-hour round trip. Arrive about 15 minutes before your tour to check in at the Activities Center.
Advance booking is recommended. Popular slots fill, particularly in February and March, and walk-in space is not guaranteed.
Our pick on GetYourGuide: the Aurora Ice Museum Ticket and Guided Tour, rated 4.3/5 across 80+ reviews, books the 45-minute guided visit with a parka included. It is the museum only, not an aurora tour, and the appletini is still an add-on. Our full breakdown of that ticket has the details.
Because the museum sits at the resort, many visitors combine it with the hot springs in one outing: the ice museum, a geothermal soak and, after dark, the aurora overhead. That is the standard Chena day, and the reason the resort appears on so many Fairbanks itineraries. If you would rather not drive, the Chena Hot Springs Day Tour + Ice Museum (4.7/5 across 26 reviews) covers the daytime version with transport from Fairbanks, and the Northern Lights & Chena Hot Springs Tour (4.5/5 across 170+ reviews) adds an aurora search on the drive back.
→ Chena Hot Springs from Fairbanks
The World Ice Art Championships
When: mid-February to the end of March, weather permitting Where: Fairbanks. The event has recently changed venue, so confirm the current location before you go Hours: typically noon to 10pm
This is the other ice, completely different in character: outdoors, competitive, temporary and in town.
Held every year since the late 1980s, the championships bring sculpting teams from around thirty countries to Fairbanks to carve multi-ton blocks of ice, and draw roughly 45,000 visitors a year. Competitors work in categories from single-block pieces to multi-block monumental work, and the finished pieces are closer to buildings than ornaments. The blocks are cut from local ice, and the best pieces are clear enough to glow when they are lit.
How it fits an aurora trip
Two features make it unusually well suited to your schedule.
It is open until 10pm. That covers the dead hours between dinner and an aurora tour pickup, and nothing else in town fills them as well.
It is better after dark. The sculptures are lit at night, and colored light through clear ice is the version to photograph. Arriving at 3pm and leaving before dusk is a common mistake.
The park also has ice slides and luges, which changes the event for anyone traveling with children, or with a teenager who has decided that ice sculpture is not for them.
Timing your trip around it
If your dates are flexible and this appeals, it is a good reason to come in late February or March, which is also generally considered peak aurora season in Fairbanks. The two line up conveniently.
→ Best time to see the northern lights in Fairbanks
Which Should You Do?
Both, if your dates allow. They are very different experiences.
| Aurora Ice Museum | World Ice Art Championships | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Chena Hot Springs Resort, ~60 mi out | In Fairbanks |
| When | Year-round, daily | Mid-Feb to end of March only |
| Setting | Indoors, refrigerated | Outdoors |
| Duration | 45-minute guided tour | As long as you like |
| Time of day | Set tour times, which shift with sunset | Noon to 10pm; best after dark |
| Combines with | Hot springs, aurora viewing at the resort | Dinner, then an aurora pickup |
| Booking | Recommended in advance | Walk-up |
| How cold? | 25°F (about −4°C), parkas provided | Outdoor Fairbanks winter; dress properly |
If you are visiting outside the ice art window, from September to early February or in April, the museum is your only option, and it stands up on its own.
Photographing Ice
If you are going for the photos, a few things make a real difference.
At the museum, the lighting is colored and low. Your phone will produce something usable but flat. A camera that lets you set white balance will do much better, because auto white balance fights the deliberate blue-purple lighting and neutralizes the very quality you came for.
Lens fogging is the real enemy. Moving a cold lens into a warm room, or a warm lens into the museum, produces condensation that takes a long time to clear. Let equipment adjust inside a closed bag before you take it out.
At the ice park after dark, the sculptures are lit from inside and out, and the contrast between bright ice and black sky is extreme. Expose for the ice and let the background go dark.
Batteries fail fast in the cold at the outdoor event. Keep spares in an inside pocket against your body, and swap them rather than nursing a dying one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Aurora Ice Museum open in summer?
Yes. It is open every day of the year, kept at 25°F (about −4°C) by a geothermally powered chiller whatever the weather outside, including summer days when Fairbanks reaches 86°F (30°C). The common claim that it is a winter-only attraction is wrong.
Can you stay overnight in the Aurora Ice Museum?
No. It is a museum you tour, not accommodation. It contains four rooms carved like ice hotel suites, which you see on the tour, but Fairbanks has no Scandinavian-style ice hotel you can book a night in. Chena Hot Springs Resort offers conventional rooms and cabins.
How cold is it inside the Aurora Ice Museum?
25°F, or about −4°C. Parkas are provided for the tour. It is cold enough to be uncomfortable in resort clothing, but far milder than a Fairbanks winter night outdoors.
Do I need to book the Aurora Ice Museum in advance?
It is recommended. Tours run at set times and popular slots fill, especially in February and March. Walk-in space is not guaranteed, and the resort is a 60-mile drive from Fairbanks.
How far is the Aurora Ice Museum from Fairbanks?
Around 60 miles / 97 km north-east, along Chena Hot Springs Road, which is paved and maintained through winter. Allow an hour to ninety minutes each way.
What is the ice glass drink?
An appletini served in a hand-carved ice glass at the ice bar. It is charged separately from the tour, requires valid ID, and is limited to guests aged 21 and over.
Are the Aurora Ice Museum and the ice sculptures in Fairbanks the same thing?
No. The museum is a permanent refrigerated building at Chena Hot Springs Resort, open all year. The World Ice Art Championships is an outdoor competition held in Fairbanks from mid-February to the end of March.
When are the ice sculptures on in Fairbanks?
From mid-February to the end of March, weather permitting, typically open from noon until 10pm. Go after dark, when they are lit.
Can you see the northern lights at Chena Hot Springs?
Yes. The resort is well outside the Fairbanks light dome and runs its own aurora viewing. The pool house closes at 11:45pm, though, so soaking and the peak aurora hours only partly overlap.
Next Steps
For the resort itself, the drive and the springs: Chena Hot Springs from Fairbanks. For everything else to do in daylight: things to do in Fairbanks in winter.
Chase the Aurora From Fairbanks Tonight
Join 250+ travelers who rated this small-group northern lights tour 4.8/5. Expert local guide, heated transport, hot drinks, and professional aurora photos — all included. Free cancellation.
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