Indeed, you can even see the aurora from right in town… There are tons of great places to keep an eye out for the aurora. Where to See the Northern Lights in Fairbanks Alaska The days immediately before and after a new moon (when the skies are darkest) are the best times to plan your trip.īeyond on that, keep an eye on the aurora forecasts online when you arrive in Fairbanks and make the biggest efforts on days with the most promising forecasts for both weather (clear skies) and aurora activity (higher intensity). It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever seen and will certainly take your breath away. Trust me, it’s worth it to try and see a big show. When it does erupt in a big show, it might last for just a few minutes and then fade back to normal. To see the best show though, you need to have some dedication, which might mean waiting and watching for hours at a time. The best and most mesmerizing display is when it gets more intense and starts “dancing” across the sky, emitting other colors in the cascade of light raining down from blueish to reddish hues. With clear skies and dark nights, you’ll probably most definitely see that.
The standard is a slow (almost not moving) arc of green that you can see hanging overhead. We dedicated ourselves to trying to see the lights nearly every night while in Fairbanks, and there is certainly a huge variability in the strength and intensity of the show. Seeing the Northern Lights in Fairbanks Alaskaīeyond the time of year that you go, you’ll still need some dedication and luck to get an amazing aurora show. I’d try to make that my midpoint on my trip if I could (IE three days before that, and three days), although we didn’t have the flexibility in our dates because we were doing our first ever house sitting gig and then left the following day. When considering the dates you’ll be visiting, be sure to check the moon cycle calendar–you will have optimal dark skies when there is no moon. We opted to stay for a little over a week on our trip so we could maximize our odds of seeing the Aurora as well as maximize our adventures in and around Fairbanks. They say if you stay at least three nights in Fairbanks you’ve got an 80% chance of seeing the Aurora during that time. Read More: Best Time to See the Northern Lights It offers longer days (unlike the paltry 3 hours of daylight offered on the winter solstice), warmer days (it can get to a mind-boggling -40 F in the winter), better road conditions as things begin to thaw, and still excellent Aurora viewing chances (from April through August you pretty much can’t see the Aurora from Fairbanks).īut there are some more aspects to consider when deciding on the best time even after deciding on a particular month. If you’re coming to Fairbanks to try and see the Northern Lights (among other activities) then you’re going to be coming in winter or during the shoulder season.ĭuring all my research I kept seeing that March was one of the best times to come. One round trip was normally $380, but adding on the companion fare brought it up to $500 for the both of us, saving us each over $100 on the ticket.
I’m part of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Program and I’ve got their mileage credit card, so one of the perks is their $120 companion fare, meaning you can add another passenger to the same itinerary for much cheaper.
#Northern lights fairbanks alaska free
I’m big into travel hacking and getting free flights, but when the flights are so cheap, it’s actually kind of wasting your miles on the cheap flights when they could be redeemed for a much more expensive international flight. It would be a shame for her to be so close and not get up there to see it… And it was her birthday, so we decided to do something memorable and chase the Northern Lights in Fairbanks Alaska!įlights to Fairbanks Alaska, deep in the interior of this big state, are not all that expensive from Seattle. So, after returning to Seattle we decided to just make it happen. Since our time in Medellin, Andrea had also been talking about how one of her ‘bucket list’ items was to see the Northern Lights. Seeing the lights with my own eyes one day had always been a goal of mine.īut readers of this blog will know that I’m a firm believer in making someday a definitive date. If you’d like to see the Fairbanks Northern Lights, then this guide will help you plan an incredible trip. One of nature’s most spectacular shows might just be aurora borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, a strange dance of green lights that glow overhead in the Arctic, and it just so happens that the Northern Lights in Fairbanks Alaska is one of the best places on earth to see them. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This article may contain affiliate links.
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