Why You Should Pick Alaska as Your Northern Lights Viewing Destination

The aurora borealis is one of the most incredible natural phenomena on earth. Glimpsing this colorful, ethereal display in person is high on many peoples’ bucket lists. While you might think that seeing the northern lights is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that takes months of planning and leads you to remote corners of the world – the northern lights are actually much closer than you think. 

For those that live in the United States, there’s no need to travel internationally to witness some of the best northern lights viewing in the world. Thanks to our location under the auroral oval and our cold, clear, dark nights in winter (particularly in the Interior and Arctic regions), Alaska is the best place in the United States – and one of the best places in the world – to view the aurora borealis. Read on to learn more about why you should pick Alaska as your northern lights viewing destination. 

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Easy To Get To

With year-round non-stop flights from the Lower 48 to the hub communities of Fairbanks and Anchorage, along with easy connections through Seattle, Alaska is only a domestic flight or two away from most corners of the United States. And, unlike international northern lights viewing destinations, you don’t need a passport to travel to Alaska. 

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Easy to Get Around

Once you arrive in Alaska, you’ll find that it’s easy to travel around the state. Compared to international destinations, you don’t need to deal with customs when you arrive, there’s no language barrier, and don’t need to worry about exchanging currency. While the hub communities of Fairbanks and Anchorage are the largest cities in Alaska, they are relatively small and surrounded by wilderness. So, you don’t need to travel far to catch the lights. Both communities have northern lights viewing hot spots right in town. If you do want to venture out of town, you can get out to wilderness areas and away from city lights very quickly.  

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Plenty to Do and See

Alaska is much larger than most international northern lights viewing destinations (in fact, it’s almost twice as large as Iceland, Sweden, and Norway combined!) – meaning there’s a lot of land to explore and a wide variety of places to view the aurora. From seeing the lights dance over the ocean waters of Turnagain Arm in Southcentral Alaska, to the snow-covered trees of the boreal forest of the Interior, to the expansive tundra of the Arctic region, Alaska’s vast landscapes and diverse ecosystems provide epic backdrops for aurora viewing. 

Visitors to Alaska will find plenty of aurora tours and northern lights viewing accommodations to help you maximize your chances of catching the lights. If you’d rather chase the lights independently, you can keep an eye on the aurora forecast and rent a car to drive to the top northern lights viewing locations yourself.

We recommend dedicating at least three to five nights to northern lights viewing for the best chances of clear weather and aurora activity. That means you can easily plan a long weekend trip to Alaska for northern lights viewing, or you can stay longer and experience the wide variety of winter activities and unique festivals and events that the state has to offer. Incredible winter wildlife viewing opportunities, outdoor recreation like skiing and snowboarding, dog sledding, glacier viewing, flightseeing, and Alaska Native cultural experiences await winter visitors to Alaska. 

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Northern Lights & Wellness Experiences

If you’re looking for some R&R, you can visit one of the spas or wellness retreats located throughout the state – some of which cater specifically to northern lights viewing in winter. Chena Hot Springs Resort located outside of Fairbanks not only offers thermal pools for soaking and a variety of accommodation options like cabins and lodge rooms, it’s also one of the best places to view the northern lights and offers aurora viewing tours from the resort. In Southcentral Alaska, visitors to Alyeska Resort in the ski town of Girdwood can enjoy soaking in the indoor/outdoor Nordic Spa by day and take advantage of northern lights wakeup calls at night so you can catch the lights when they are out. Adventurous spirits can head to Arctic Hive for yoga and northern lights wilderness retreats in Wiseman in Alaska’s Arctic region. 

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Whether you have two weeks to embark on a multi-stop northern lights viewing expedition, or you have a long weekend to spend catching the lights from Fairbanks or Anchorage, it’s easy to make your aurora viewing dreams come true in Alaska. Learn more about northern lights viewing tours & packages and northern lights viewing accommodations to start planning your Alaska aurora getaway today.