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Alaska 10-Day / 9-Night Deep-Dive

Heads-up: Late-March = 13-14 h daylight (sunset 20:00-20:30), so you can stack activities like Lego. November-January trips lose 6 h daylight + need stricter aurora scheduling—use this but shrink the daytime lines. ✈️ DAY 1 LA ➜ FAIRBANKS (land 18:30) Car: pre-book Alaska 4×4 (studded tyres included) – pick-up at airport, 5-min walk. Hotel: Westmark Downtown – cheapest bed inside city grid, NO airport shuttle 🚫🚌 → grab taxi $25 or hotel app rideshare. Night 1 Aurora: chase tour $99 – local driver takes you to Murphy Dome or Cleary Summit; free hot-cocoa & tripod loan. (If KP ≥ 3 you’ll probably see green even inside city limits.) 🌞 DAY 2 Fairbanks Base – Snow Play + Aurora Camp Morning 📍 Denali National Park entrance area (2 h drive) – winter gate is open for snow-shoe fun. Park fee $15 vehicle – no buses running, you simply walk on the frozen road = Denali backdrop selfies. Optional flight-seeing $369 pp – 1 h loop, land on a white ridge, pop champagne. Afternoon 🚗 back to town, short rest. Night 2 Aurora Aurora Camp option: drive-yourself $75 (heated yurt access) OR $169 pp with pick-up – includes tripod, campfire sausage & reindeer-hide blanket. Tip: camp sits under a dark-sky arc = 270° view, perfect for 14 mm wide-angle timelapse. Dinner rotation 🍽️ The Crepery – sweet OR savoury crêpes; I’m team chicken-mushroom-cream ($12). 🍽️ Lemongrass Thai – legit tom-yum + pineapple rice, dinner $30 pp. 🐕 DAY 3 “Dog vs Snow-Machine” Show-down AM 📍 Firewalkers Alaskan Malamute Kennel – 25 min north. Book by text the night before → $95 pp, 2-mile self-drive sled, 45 min on-trail. Photo hack: dogs line up at start – crouch low, snow + blue sky = National-Geographic cover. PM 📍 Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service – 10-min drive. Pre-reserve online: single snow-mobile $159 / double $200, 2 h back-country loop, 30 mph across frozen swamp. Helmet & suit provided – wear thin liner gloves inside their mitts (wind-chill −15 °C). Evening errands 📍 Santa Claus House (North Pole) – 20 min drive. Buy ornament, mail yourself a letter post-marked “Arctic Circle” 🎅📮. Night 3 Aurora – same $99 chase (different valley = different foreground). Dinner 🍽️ Aurora Crepes & Peking Duck – duck-crepe-wrap + hand-pulled noodle soup, $20 pp. 🍽️ Soba – Middle-Eastern comfort: lamb stew + sour-cherry rice roll, $40 pp. 🏛️ DAY 4 Culture + Hot-Spring Thaw AM 📍 Museum of the North (UAF campus) – 1.5 h drive but worth it if you skipped Denali flight. $15 entry – blue whale skull, gold-rush hologram, aurora room with 180° screen. Noon 📍 Chena Hot Springs Resort – 45 min from Fairbanks. Day-pass $20 – bring: swimsuit, towel, 25 ¢ locker coin, waterproof phone pouch. Soak 38 °C pool while snowflakes land on eyelashes = Nordic cliché ✅ Dinner fork A. Chowder House – crab-roll + halibut bisque, $20 pp (closes 20 h). B. Chena Resort restaurant – so-so American/Thai buffet, skip & soak longer. C. Lin Jia Yuan – Chinese staples, $30 pp, open till 21 h. Night 4 Aurora – optional rest (cloudy forecast) OR dip again in outdoor spring (aurora can flare above steam). 💎 DAY 5 Blue Ice Day AM 📍 Chena Blue Ice Cave – FREE since 2023 (landslide closed paid access). Self-drive 2.5 h (last 8 mi gravel) – park at mile-marker, 2 h RT hike on frozen river. Gear: micro-spikes + helmet (rent $15 in town). Cave glows turquoise under overcast sky = head-lamp beam shots. Lunch = gas-station ramen + coffee (only pit-stop between Fairbanks & cave). PM back-road to Big Delta Brewing Co – craft IPA + elk burger (if timing works). Fallback: convenience-store kimbap run. Dinner 🍽️ Pump House – waterfront, touristy but convenient. Seafood platter $50-100 pp; my take: view > food, stick with chowder + beer. Night 5 – pack bags, set 05:30 alarm for Day 6 drive to Anchorage. 🧳 UNIVERSAL MAY MUST-HAVES Layer cake: thermal + fleece + wind-shell (10-18 °C swings) Micro-spikes – foldable, TSA-legal, glacier & ice-cave essential Power bank ×2 – cold drains phone 2× faster Offline Maps – Verizon has best coverage; AT&T dies 30 mi out of town 💸 5-DAY CORE COST (per person, duo) Car (5 d 4×4) ......... $290 Gas (700 mi) ......... $210 Hotels (4 n) ......... $480 Activities total ...... $533 (Aurora 3×$99 + Dog $95 + Snow-mob $200/2 + Museum $15 + Hot-springs $20) Food & bev .......... $220 TOTAL ≈ $1,733 Bottom line: May gives you 14-hour canvas to chase aurora, cuddle huskies, soak under snow and still be in bed by 22:30. Copy this skeleton, swap restaurants at will, and Alaska will hand you the northern lights + bragging rights for life. #US #Alaska #Fairbanks

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Alaska 10-Day / 9-Night Deep-Dive

Heads-up: Late-March = 13-14 h daylight (sunset 20:00-20:30), so you can stack activities like Lego. November-January trips lose 6 h daylight + need stricter aurora scheduling—use this but shrink the daytime lines. ✈️ DAY 1 LA ➜ FAIRBANKS (land 18:30) Car: pre-book Alaska 4×4 (studded tyres included) – pick-up at airport, 5-min walk. Hotel: Westmark Downtown – cheapest bed inside city grid, NO airport shuttle 🚫🚌 → grab taxi $25 or hotel app rideshare. Night 1 Aurora: chase tour $99 – local driver takes you to Murphy Dome or Cleary Summit; free hot-cocoa & tripod loan. (If KP ≥ 3 you’ll probably see green even inside city limits.) 🌞 DAY 2 Fairbanks Base – Snow Play + Aurora Camp Morning 📍 Denali National Park entrance area (2 h drive) – winter gate is open for snow-shoe fun. Park fee $15 vehicle – no buses running, you simply walk on the frozen road = Denali backdrop selfies. Optional flight-seeing $369 pp – 1 h loop, land on a white ridge, pop champagne. Afternoon 🚗 back to town, short rest. Night 2 Aurora Aurora Camp option: drive-yourself $75 (heated yurt access) OR $169 pp with pick-up – includes tripod, campfire sausage & reindeer-hide blanket. Tip: camp sits under a dark-sky arc = 270° view, perfect for 14 mm wide-angle timelapse. Dinner rotation 🍽️ The Crepery – sweet OR savoury crêpes; I’m team chicken-mushroom-cream ($12). 🍽️ Lemongrass Thai – legit tom-yum + pineapple rice, dinner $30 pp. 🐕 DAY 3 “Dog vs Snow-Machine” Show-down AM 📍 Firewalkers Alaskan Malamute Kennel – 25 min north. Book by text the night before → $95 pp, 2-mile self-drive sled, 45 min on-trail. Photo hack: dogs line up at start – crouch low, snow + blue sky = National-Geographic cover. PM 📍 Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service – 10-min drive. Pre-reserve online: single snow-mobile $159 / double $200, 2 h back-country loop, 30 mph across frozen swamp. Helmet & suit provided – wear thin liner gloves inside their mitts (wind-chill −15 °C). Evening errands 📍 Santa Claus House (North Pole) – 20 min drive. Buy ornament, mail yourself a letter post-marked “Arctic Circle” 🎅📮. Night 3 Aurora – same $99 chase (different valley = different foreground). Dinner 🍽️ Aurora Crepes & Peking Duck – duck-crepe-wrap + hand-pulled noodle soup, $20 pp. 🍽️ Soba – Middle-Eastern comfort: lamb stew + sour-cherry rice roll, $40 pp. 🏛️ DAY 4 Culture + Hot-Spring Thaw AM 📍 Museum of the North (UAF campus) – 1.5 h drive but worth it if you skipped Denali flight. $15 entry – blue whale skull, gold-rush hologram, aurora room with 180° screen. Noon 📍 Chena Hot Springs Resort – 45 min from Fairbanks. Day-pass $20 – bring: swimsuit, towel, 25 ¢ locker coin, waterproof phone pouch. Soak 38 °C pool while snowflakes land on eyelashes = Nordic cliché ✅ Dinner fork A. Chowder House – crab-roll + halibut bisque, $20 pp (closes 20 h). B. Chena Resort restaurant – so-so American/Thai buffet, skip & soak longer. C. Lin Jia Yuan – Chinese staples, $30 pp, open till 21 h. Night 4 Aurora – optional rest (cloudy forecast) OR dip again in outdoor spring (aurora can flare above steam). 💎 DAY 5 Blue Ice Day AM 📍 Chena Blue Ice Cave – FREE since 2023 (landslide closed paid access). Self-drive 2.5 h (last 8 mi gravel) – park at mile-marker, 2 h RT hike on frozen river. Gear: micro-spikes + helmet (rent $15 in town). Cave glows turquoise under overcast sky = head-lamp beam shots. Lunch = gas-station ramen + coffee (only pit-stop between Fairbanks & cave). PM back-road to Big Delta Brewing Co – craft IPA + elk burger (if timing works). Fallback: convenience-store kimbap run. Dinner 🍽️ Pump House – waterfront, touristy but convenient. Seafood platter $50-100 pp; my take: view > food, stick with chowder + beer. Night 5 – pack bags, set 05:30 alarm for Day 6 drive to Anchorage. 🧳 UNIVERSAL MAY MUST-HAVES Layer cake: thermal + fleece + wind-shell (10-18 °C swings) Micro-spikes – foldable, TSA-legal, glacier & ice-cave essential Power bank ×2 – cold drains phone 2× faster Offline Maps – Verizon has best coverage; AT&T dies 30 mi out of town 💸 5-DAY CORE COST (per person, duo) Car (5 d 4×4) ......... $290 Gas (700 mi) ......... $210 Hotels (4 n) ......... $480 Activities total ...... $533 (Aurora 3×$99 + Dog $95 + Snow-mob $200/2 + Museum $15 + Hot-springs $20) Food & bev .......... $220 TOTAL ≈ $1,733 Bottom line: May gives you 14-hour canvas to chase aurora, cuddle huskies, soak under snow and still be in bed by 22:30. Copy this skeleton, swap restaurants at will, and Alaska will hand you the northern lights + bragging rights for life. #US #Alaska #Fairbanks

Fairbanks
Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center