Chena Hot Springs Natural Pond — Attraction in Alaska

Chena Hot Springs or I can say magical hot spring located in the remote lands of Alaska. The place is magical and totally picture-worthy!

It’s located about 60 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska and a lovely remote location with thermal hot springs, and perfect for stargazing or better – watching the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) during winter!

The facility has several indoor and outdoor tubs, an indoor family swimming pool, and outdoor Rock Lake — a boulder-ringed artificial lake that provides a wonderful and relaxing vantage point for watching northern lights in winter.

When you first arrive at the pool house entrance you’ll be asked to take off your shoes and store them on a shelf before you venture back into the designated male/female locker rooms. If you don’t like the idea of walking around barefoot through the locker rooms and beyond, I highly recommend packing a pair of shower shoes. The resort keeps the locker rooms very clean.

Please bring Quarters, as in 25¢. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people stuff their items into lockers, and then realize they don’t have any quarters to lock away their belongings. Staff at the pool house front desk will sometimes ask you if you need to exchange paper money for quarters when you initially pay, which can help alleviate the frustration once you are in the locker room.

If you are a guest at the resort then towels will be provided, but if you’re a one day guest you will need to either bring a towel or rent one for $5.00 at the pool house front desk.

You will want to stay nice and hydrated if you plan to stay in the hot springs for longer...

My family went here for the hot springs and pool. There is a nice indoor pool, 2 indoor hot tubs, and 1 outdoor hot tub for kids. Since kids under 18 are not allowed in the hot springs. Which I totally understand since you can smell the sulfur. It’s not the best for them to be in a hot spring. It could also be too hot for their bodies.

Brought my 3 year old and the nice thing about the pool is there are plenty of life vests and swim life vest for the kids, which made it convenient to float around by himself with light supervision. If you have kids make sure you have more adults so you can switch out to use the hot springs since all kids are required to be supervised. That is what we did. My 3 year old had a lot of fun!

The hot springs are worth going for the price since $20 /adult, our 3 year old was free. I believe under 5 is free. But do double check. Lockers are $0.50, towels are $5.00.

Things to bring: towel sandels water bottle - so you don’t have to constantly drink the fountain when your trusty showering items since they have showers.

The only reason for a 3 star, was because the women’s locker room was not the cleanest, need sanitizing. Since their is a lot of people that go there lot of make butts on the benches. Some of the lockers did not work and could not lock. Needs more maintenance in locker and pool area since some of the side were cracking and updating. The hot springs area was nice.

Overall we really enjoyed our evening there. Even though it was an hour away, it was not that bad of a drive. This could be a...

Chena Hot Springs is a solid way to spend an afternoon if you're in the Fairbanks area. I went in the springtime and had an overall decent time. It’s not a five-star experience, but it’s worth checking out, and it's not too expensive if you aren't spending the night and you bring your own shower shoes and towels and such.

The drive in is no joke; watch out for massive potholes and dicey patches, as others have mentioned. The locker rooms aren’t sparkling clean but they’re functional, and the 50-cent lock fee isn't the end of the world.

The indoor pool facility is fine. It's nothing to write home about, but it’s a nice break from the outdoor hot spring, which is very hot in spots And I mean HOT hot. I've been to hot springs before and enjoy hot showers and tubs, but there’s a section near the entrance that felt borderline scalding. My friend and I were literally going, “Ow, ow, ow,” as we got through it as fast as we could.

The rest of the outdoor spring, though, was much more comfortable. There are little rock enclaves where you can relax without being fully submerged, and the temperature in those spots was just right. Expect a faint...