Fairbanks Ice Museum 🧊 — Attraction in Fairbanks

I visited the Ice Museum in Fairbanks, AK in June, 2013 and was incredibly impressed. I’m guessing many tourists, like myself, seek out places to visit when the weather is comfortable. Hence, the only chance I had to see several ice sculptures (up-close and personal) was to visit an ice museum. I’m guessing there are not many ice sculpting museums in the world and visiting the one in Fairbanks (where I was visiting) was a no-brainer. The cost to get in was quite reasonable for the area and the ticket salesman was delightfully knowledgeable and passionate about his job, the museum, and Fairbanks! He made sure he asked everyone where they hailed from and through this, I ran into another visiting gentleman who lived in my city and had taught at the same school I had before he retired. The Chinese ice sculptor also did a wonderful job. I particularly liked the ice house where folks can go inside and get a picture of themselves sitting in the ice house at an ice table. Of course, it's really COLD in there but felt great since the outdoor temperature was unseasonably hot. Lastly, I also attended the evening Northern Lights show and was again impressed with the passion displayed by the actual photographer who had taken the pictures and put together the show. The incredible pictures were all synchronized with beautiful music which really brought out the overwhelming wonder of the Northern Lights. Just an FYI that this ice museum is very different from the ice museum located at Chena Hot Springs. The ice museum in Fairbanks is housed in an older building (old theatre), but does allow the visitor to sit in the auditorium without freezing. Except for the ice house and table, the visitor can look in at the ice sculptures/ice sculptor in comfort. I also liked the movie which explained the entire ice sculpting process. Additionally, the Fairbanks Ice Museum is an active sponsor of the world's largest art sculpting competition called "The BP World Ice Art Championships" that is done OUTSIDE in Fairbanks every year during February-March. However, I have no desire to visit Fairbanks, AK in February to view these marvelous artistic pieces in person. I'll gladly purchase a video or get some pictures. I recommend visiting both ice museums in the area to get a more thorough experience with the wonder of this type of art. The only disappointment was the fact that the Ice Museum does not sell souvenir embroidered patches or hat pins of the Museum for us avid patch collectors. I have a travel jacket and would have liked to have added this patch to...

Every part of me wants to say we had the best time here but it was such a lackluster experience.

We paid $30 for two of us to enter the "museum" and boy do I regret it...

After getting our tickets, we walked through the set of double doors behind the ticketing area. The environment is really old and run down. It's cold, of course, but everything smells musty and kind of reminded me of standing in a corner of the cold dairy section in Costco where there happens to be an entire pallet of expired milk (I know you wouldn't do that to me, Costco).

There is a large open area where I assume you can sometimes watch artists create their sculptures. But beyond that is a tiny room where some of the ice sculptures live permanently. Most of them looked like they had been there for a while. And it was very underwhelming.

The best part was the tiny ice slide that my husband insisted on going down multiple times in an attempt to get our "moneys-worth".

What a shame. We were both excited to be here. If it weren't for the slide, the entire experience would've lasted less than 10 minutes. The young lady at the ticket counter did tell us, "it's mostly here to take selfies and some photos..." I guess she wasn't wrong.

When we walked out she was asleep at the counter. I wish that were the case when we walked in. I would've known to turn around and leave.

The gift shop didn't have much to offer either. The shelves were pretty bare besides a few of the basics.

We had a lot of fun in Fairbanks - I'd recommend checking out your options - especially if you have young children who get...

It’s important to note this review and it’s pictures are based on a trip there in December 2022. This is because it this time the award winning ice sculptor had not “renewed” the sculptures. It was quite amazing to see how some things sublimated into something else. Some things were entirely unrecognizable. It varied from just sad to darkly surreal. And to be fair, the receptionist gave us advanced warning that things were aging… This is to be expected because people are warm, they breathe everywhere, they open doors, and against better judgement- kids lick, causing temperature fluctuations and deformations.

I don’t blame the museum one bit. It was just weird because I thought a few days before Christmas would have been prime time for a place like this; however, thinking on it, this might be more of a summer vacation type attraction. I would give this place a chance during a different time of the year, especially due to the honesty of the receptionist lady.

There is a fun “ice” slide in the museum. There are little plastic sleds you can use to slide down on, but during our visit we were basically sliding down on the exposed insulation. It still worked though and everyone had fun. The building itself is pretty cool and has really interesting non-ice art and sculptures before the auditorium. I don’t doubt that this would have been a much better experience during another time...