Chena Hot Springs Resort

The Wifi was almost non existent, but online lists that it is available. Only for a few each day! The service in their restaurant was terrible. Food was decent, but wish it had been better considering how long we had to wait for it. Hot springs and locker rooms were fantastic. Ambiance wasn’t as relaxing as we had hoped. The rooms were small and barely accommodated 2 people in a 4 person room. The ice museum at the resort was fantastic. The bartender, Tom, was the best part about the entire weekend!

The Hot Springs are the main attraction & they are excellent. Getting to stay in them until nearly midnight allows a lot of time to relax and enjoy them.

We stayed 5 nights to catch the Aurora Borealis, it did not disappoint. This is a remote location an hour and a half NE of Fairbanks. There’s nothing else out here except for the resort so you are a captive audience to their offerings. The food in the restaurant is decent, could be better. Wait times are long for peak hours. Ordering to go is a good option. There’s a bar in the restaurant. Bring your own bottled water because the well water tastes terrible, and for some reason the restaurant does not sell it. There’s a lot to do here including some free activities. The hot springs, pool and hot tubs are free, hiking is great, geothermal energy and greenhouse tours are free and aurora viewing is free. Lots of games available in the activity center. Several paid tours available depending on time of year. Check out their website for list. Highly recommend the Aurora Viewing Tour if you’re here during a time when it’s going to be out. We had a fantastic light show! The tour takes you up the side of a mountain in a snow machine. It is rough on the back so you may want to pass if you have back problems. My husband did okay, but was sore for a few days after. It’s 5 hours altogether and there’s yurts for hot beverages and getting warm. Heated out houses available too. BRING A TRIPOD FOR YOUR PHONE OR CAMERA for the best pictures of the Aurora. We forgot ours. Pictures are still good, not great. No cell service here, Wi-Fi is slow and only available in some areas.

The hot springs were amazing and soothing. The hot tubs were tepid and the pool was not appealing. Be careful walking into the hot springs as the cement is slippery and there was a large gap in the rocks at the bottom of the ramp people were falling into on The bottom right of the ramp. The locker rooms smelled stale. Rooms mediocre. Total waste of money to see the ice museum for the price. Jackets were filthy and zippers didn’t work. This place needs housecleaning.

A nice get-away from Fairbanks where you can observe auroras easily and convenioently. The hot springs pool is very nice, Restaurant food is fine but the wait-times can be pretty long

Parking was horrible specially if you come late evening in busy vacation times. Hot spring was very nice.

We loved our week at Chena Hot Springs. The Northern lights put on a fabulous display. The hot springs and the pool were wonderful. The food at the restaurant was delicious. We were treated well by the staff. A quick dog sled ride was fun. Highly recommend this adventure in the remote resort.

Very convenient to the pool and hot spring. Close to activity center where they provided northern light tour, dog tour, ice museum tour, skimobile. Close to main lodge where there is the restaurant and gift shop. Food there is really good. The room is very clean, but small and very very hot. We had to open our window to cool our room. The room also comes with two day hot spring tickets which makes it very worthy especially during winter time.

The property is very quiet and rustic. The hot springs was kind of slimy and stinky of sulfur but the water was very warm which felt great. The rooms were nice but the hallway to the room was like a sauna. Not many food options so be sure to take snacks.

Its an interesting place. A lot of innovative features and quirky stuff ( eg an airplane, ice museum which was so so, rusting antique cars) . Spa and lockers are a bit worn. Great service. Rooms are basic. They are all centrally heated. Our room was cold and it was in the 40s. We saw thebnorther lights in Fairbanks and photos from here looked a little better. It does have a viewing area about 10-15 minutes uphill. Not sure I would recommend to friends. Nice place to relax and hike in September.

The heater in room wasn’t working. The water smelled bad.

The receptionist was very pleasant . The key to our door didn’t work , the floor was dirty and sticky near the top of the bed , the heating was stuck on high and the room controls did not work The hot springs were fun, but the towel they provide doesn’t dry anything ! The food in the restaurant was very tasty and Jorge a was very nice waiter .

We were really disappointed with the Hotel property and Hot Springs. We had been there once for the day in 6/2014 and this place is really run down. The actvity room had zero activities, no cards no board games, just a waiting area for paid activities. Luckily we travel with playing cards. So between paid activities people had nothing to do. The hotspring locker room was filthy, hair and garbage on the ground that you had to walk through. Our hotel room was filthy and the floor hadn't been washed in a long time. The beds were comfortable and the sheets smelled clean. The employees were nice.

Hair dryer was not working, dirty floors and water quality not good at all.

The only thing we actually liked was going into the hot springs early Sunday morning, we had the whole place to ourselves, that was the highlight of our stay! Other than that the restrooms were disguising and looked like they had not been cleaned in 5 years !! The overall vibe of the place was not calm and peaceful, it was totally opposite of what we expected! The restaurant was below average and short staffed. The ice museum was a joke, it was so small and unimpressive! Don’t waste your money!! I would not recommend this place to any of my friends or family .. there are much better places to stay!

Overall very clean. Staff was friendly and helpful and the grounds were beautiful.

I just dont understand how come they fot 4.3 star reviews on google. It doesn't worth every penny. Let me break it down : • The room is so small (like a college dorm) • so many black mold on the wall • tv doesnt work properly • bathroom so small • the toilet cant flush • restaurant is overpriced • hot spring showers are filthy

My family and I stayed at Chena for 6 nights in December. The drive from Fairbanks was easy and check-in was smooth, even at 11pm. We booked two double bed rooms and they were small but clean. We ate at the restaurant on site for many of our meals. Prices are high but portions are huge. We left quite a bit of food behind unfortunately since there wasn’t a mini fridge or microwave in our room. As for the hot springs, we loved it. Plenty of locker space and hooks at the end of the board walk to hang your towel. It’s a perfect place to warm up after a day spent doing winter activities.

The property is very quiet and rustic. The hot springs was kind of slimy and stinky of sulfur but the water was very warm which felt great. The rooms were nice but the hallway to the room was like a sauna. Not many food options so be sure to take snacks.

We try to do our stay-cations a couple times a year. It was dirty and poorly kept, rooms were too hot. Mold on indoor jacuzzis, staff tried to down play the incidents. Next year we will find a different place.

Loved this area. Moose lodge was very dated. My bathroom was not cleaned before checking in. The towels from the previous guests were still in the floor. This placed reminded me of camp from dirty dancing.

Not ADA friendly. Poor WiFi, TV service. The hot springs was why we went. Probably will not stay in the resort again. One time experience. Not worth the money spent. The restaurant price are way high.

It is possible to view aurora on site. The nextdoor runway is the first choice. If you have time and energy, a better pick is the Aurorarium located atop the adjacent hill. It takes 10 min on foot. When aurora is not visible, you can still enjoy the hot spring. The property is somewhat outdated and you should expect problems. In our case, the heating was malfunctioning. At the reception, I was told the only option was a piece of blanket. No way! I asked to dispatch a service person who provided a portable heater. It made the room warm enough. We were staying in a room on the 2nd floor. Other members of our party had another heating problem, which was too hot. They had to keep the window open throughout the night to sleep well. A window lock in their room was broken and took 1 hr to fix it by a service person. Our room had a shower temp control which was not working. We had to ask again a service person. There is no room phone so we have to visit the reception once we find a problem.

Chena Hot Springs is definitely a unique place to visit. The hot springs themself were great, and it's worth the visit just to experience them. We stayed for two nights and I can't imagine staying longer unless you were absolutely focused on seeing the northern lights and are ok waiting for a weather window. We did not see them, it was overcast the whole time. They also don't really offer wake up calls, so we had to just periodically keep on checking. We stayed in a Fox River room. It was clean- but nothing special. Our first room was ridiculously hot with no way of cooling it even with the windows open. It was in the 30's outside. The thermal heat was radiating up from the ground. They were super accommodating and moved us to a room on the 2nd floor that was much cooler. There is a TV but only a couple channels come in and the only one that came in clearly was Fox News. There is not a fridge or microwave in the room which made it difficult to bring leftovers from the restaurant or keep room drinks cold. The restaurant itself was very good and had many options which is good since it is the only option for all meals. Though there is a Cafe with frozen stuff you can heat up in their microwaves if you want. We went to the ice museum- it was neat though I am not sure it is worth the $20, but there is little else to do so I would plan on it. All of the hotel staff were super friendly. Overall, I am really glad we went and enjoyed it, but do not see the need to go back.

Room very hot no AC dinner pricing very expensive

The springs were awesome. Enjoyed my time in the water. The room / building is heated by the hot spring water and I was unable to sleep, windows open , fans going and it was still 90 in the room. Bathroom was hot to the touch

We had an amazing time. The food was wonderful. Only suggestions for improvement are need more comfortable mattresses in Moose lodge and the heat in Moose lodge was a little much. We tried to turn the thermostat down without success. So, just open all the window and turn your fan on when you first get there so by the time you want to sleep it will be cool enough. Also, bring your own drinking water as the mineral content is quite high from the tap and at the restaurant.

CHena is in a beautiful area and short walk up the hill will take you to an amazing spot to view the Aurora. The staff were all friendly and helpful. Enjoyed our interactions with each of them. However, the rooms were tired and not well kept. The shower handle was backwards, you could hear noise throughout the night. I recommend staying in the newer Moose lodge as we were in the older quad cabins and they were disappointing. The price point was very fair and there is a lot to do on the property in terms of hiking, hot springs, tours of the ice museum and goethermal green house. The food in the restaurant was fine.

Very convenient to the pool and hot spring. Close to activity center where they provided northern light tour, dog tour, ice museum tour, skimobile. Close to main lodge where there is the restaurant and gift shop. Food there is really good. The room is very clean, but small and very very hot. We had to open our window to cool our room. The room also comes with two day hot spring tickets which makes it very worthy especially during winter time.

The hot spring was nice, there are lots of beautiful hiking opportunities nearby, and the service in the restaurant was great. However, the property is old and rooms could use some updating (better mattresses, functioning thermostats, ventilation that doesn't require running the ceiling fan when it's cold outside). While the area itself is quiet, doors and walls are thin, and you will definitely hear people in building common areas/other nearby rooms. If your room is near the Activity Center, you'll also hear a lot of vehicle noise.

A second floor room was reserved for us and I was surprised Moose Lodge did not have an elevator. Thankfully we were able to change to an available cleaned room on the first floor to help my husband who cannot do stairs. The staff were helpful and understanding to accommodate our request.

Great staff although no way to reach front desk by phone. Very outdated rooms (hot and stuffy) and paths outside were covered in ice. Too many lights to see the Northern Lights. However, hot springs and ice museum were cool to experience and the restaurant was delicious. Fun souvenirs and coffee/hot cocoa building.

The property was really busy and staff seemed to lack sharing information. We were given room keys but not given any directions on where our building was or where to park cars. We had to ask questions like what dinner options there were, what the pool hours were and try to interpret the map of the property which we took ourselves from the counter (it was not offered to us or pointed out)… there was no information on rooms either so had to constantly find staff to ask. You can’t park near your rooms so you have to carry your bags through the car park to your room. The building we were in didn’t have a lift. The main dining room had a long wait list so we ended up in the cafe and bought a frozen pizza which we thought we’d heat up in the microwave we spotted off to the side of the cash register. It turns out they have an oven they can cook it for you in, but again no where did it say this and we had multiple people come in and see we had pizza and asked where we got it, how did we cook it etc. so a small sign on the fridge in front of the pizza saying they can cook it for you would be beneficial. The pizza was yum. A folder in our room with information on opening and closing times of the restaurant, cafe and pools would be useful. We didn’t end up using the pools as there was so many people in there that it was a turn off. The highlight of our stay was the cafe staff, the Aurora tour (we saw Northern Lights!) and the dog cart ride. The Ice Museum was ok.

Unique area, place, and a great spot to see aurora. Staff is friendly and fun, as is the whole atmosphere of the resort. Don't expect new/fancy buildings or facilities, but otherwise we are a big fan of this place.

Acknowledgment of presence at restaurant (waiting for seating) was very poor. Ate there 3 times. Wait staff should be dedicated to a room and the patrons in it. Service within the restaurant was also poor, although the food was good and delivered fairly quickly.

Very nice stay. Staff was friendly and aways accommodating.

Excellent staff - friendly and helpful. Jordan at the front desk was a pleasure to encounter.

My family and I stayed at Chena for 6 nights in December. The drive from Fairbanks was easy and check-in was smooth, even at 11pm. We booked two double bed rooms and they were small but clean. We ate at the restaurant on site for many of our meals. Prices are high but portions are huge. We left quite a bit of food behind unfortunately since there wasn’t a mini fridge or microwave in our room. As for the hot springs, we loved it. Plenty of locker space and hooks at the end of the board walk to hang your towel. It’s a perfect place to warm up after a day spent doing winter activities.

We loved our week at Chena Hot Springs. The Northern lights put on a fabulous display. The hot springs and the pool were wonderful. The food at the restaurant was delicious. We were treated well by the staff. A quick dog sled ride was fun. Highly recommend this adventure in the remote resort.

We took the Chena shuttle from the Fairbanks airport to the resort. The van was very cold, no heat and has seen better days. At check in we were advised that we have to carry our 3 50 lbs luggage to the Moose lodge & up to the 2nd floor. My husband just had a shot in his spine due to back issues & I have a torn rotater cuff. No one to assist, you would think that they would have someone to help with the amount of money we paid for the room. But wait there is more…no heat in the room, no refrig, no microwave. Several vending machines out service, dryer for the swim suits out of service & the snow cats are on their last leg, plus again no heat! I asked a waitress about the water and ice for drinks due to my allergy to sulfa, she advised it was filtered not to worry however it’s filtered but if you are allergic to sulfa DON’T DRINK. Trust me. We had to wait for the same waitress to get back from a smoke break before we could place our dinner order then had to wait for her to return again to get our food, smelling like a big cigarette. The ice museum is a waste of money, it’s been melted & of course the resort didn’t tell us about it but once inside you can clearly see that it hasn’t been kept up. Shuttle service back to the airport was just as cold. Do you not believe in heaters? Property has bare electrical wires, smoke detectors unhooked, dusty and dirty. This resort & equipment looks like they haven’t seen a maintenance in a very long time.

You are extremely far away from everything.

We stayed 5 nights to catch the Aurora Borealis, it did not disappoint. This is a remote location an hour and a half NE of Fairbanks. There’s nothing else out here except for the resort so you are a captive audience to their offerings. The food in the restaurant is decent, could be better. Wait times are long for peak hours. Ordering to go is a good option. There’s a bar in the restaurant. Bring your own bottled water because the well water tastes terrible, and for some reason the restaurant does not sell it. There’s a lot to do here including some free activities. The hot springs, pool and hot tubs are free, hiking is great, geothermal energy and greenhouse tours are free and aurora viewing is free. Lots of games available in the activity center. Several paid tours available depending on time of year. Check out their website for list. Highly recommend the Aurora Viewing Tour if you’re here during a time when it’s going to be out. We had a fantastic light show! The tour takes you up the side of a mountain in a snow machine. It is rough on the back so you may want to pass if you have back problems. My husband did okay, but was sore for a few days after. It’s 5 hours altogether and there’s yurts for hot beverages and getting warm. Heated out houses available too. BRING A TRIPOD FOR YOUR PHONE OR CAMERA for the best pictures of the Aurora. We forgot ours. Pictures are still good, not great. No cell service here, Wi-Fi is slow and only available in some areas.

A nice get-away from Fairbanks where you can observe auroras easily and convenioently. The hot springs pool is very nice, Restaurant food is fine but the wait-times can be pretty long

Parking was horrible specially if you come late evening in busy vacation times. Hot spring was very nice.

Far out of the way

Chena Hot Springs is like a big family camp. The hot springs are great - very hot in spots! The food was wonderful - Alaskan scallops, hamburgers/fries, sesame chicken salad -- all delicious and prices are pretty standard. Great margaritas and they offer good wines and beers. Rooms in the Moose Lodge are a little dated but look like they have recently be painted and are clean and roomy. Staff people were all friendly and helpful. This place is literally at the end of the road! Beautiful creek and forest all around.

My family and I stayed at Chena for 6 nights in December. The drive from Fairbanks was easy and check-in was smooth, even at 11pm. We booked two double bed rooms and they were small but clean. We ate at the restaurant on site for many of our meals. Prices are high but portions are huge. We left quite a bit of food behind unfortunately since there wasn’t a mini fridge or microwave in our room. As for the hot springs, we loved it. Plenty of locker space and hooks at the end of the board walk to hang your towel. It’s a perfect place to warm up after a day spent doing winter activities.

CHena is in a beautiful area and short walk up the hill will take you to an amazing spot to view the Aurora. The staff were all friendly and helpful. Enjoyed our interactions with each of them. However, the rooms were tired and not well kept. The shower handle was backwards, you could hear noise throughout the night. I recommend staying in the newer Moose lodge as we were in the older quad cabins and they were disappointing. The price point was very fair and there is a lot to do on the property in terms of hiking, hot springs, tours of the ice museum and goethermal green house. The food in the restaurant was fine.

Great location to witness Northern lights

Its an interesting place. A lot of innovative features and quirky stuff ( eg an airplane, ice museum which was so so, rusting antique cars) . Spa and lockers are a bit worn. Great service. Rooms are basic. They are all centrally heated. Our room was cold and it was in the 40s. We saw thebnorther lights in Fairbanks and photos from here looked a little better. It does have a viewing area about 10-15 minutes uphill. Not sure I would recommend to friends. Nice place to relax and hike in September.

Overall, pretty good considering it is designed to be rustic in nature. Internet access needs to be upgraded. Food was excellent.

We stayed 5 nights to catch the Aurora Borealis, it did not disappoint. This is a remote location an hour and a half NE of Fairbanks. There’s nothing else out here except for the resort so you are a captive audience to their offerings. The food in the restaurant is decent, could be better. Wait times are long for peak hours. Ordering to go is a good option. There’s a bar in the restaurant. Bring your own bottled water because the well water tastes terrible, and for some reason the restaurant does not sell it. There’s a lot to do here including some free activities. The hot springs, pool and hot tubs are free, hiking is great, geothermal energy and greenhouse tours are free and aurora viewing is free. Lots of games available in the activity center. Several paid tours available depending on time of year. Check out their website for list. Highly recommend the Aurora Viewing Tour if you’re here during a time when it’s going to be out. We had a fantastic light show! The tour takes you up the side of a mountain in a snow machine. It is rough on the back so you may want to pass if you have back problems. My husband did okay, but was sore for a few days after. It’s 5 hours altogether and there’s yurts for hot beverages and getting warm. Heated out houses available too. BRING A TRIPOD FOR YOUR PHONE OR CAMERA for the best pictures of the Aurora. We forgot ours. Pictures are still good, not great. No cell service here, Wi-Fi is slow and only available in some areas.

The property was really busy and staff seemed to lack sharing information. We were given room keys but not given any directions on where our building was or where to park cars. We had to ask questions like what dinner options there were, what the pool hours were and try to interpret the map of the property which we took ourselves from the counter (it was not offered to us or pointed out)… there was no information on rooms either so had to constantly find staff to ask. You can’t park near your rooms so you have to carry your bags through the car park to your room. The building we were in didn’t have a lift. The main dining room had a long wait list so we ended up in the cafe and bought a frozen pizza which we thought we’d heat up in the microwave we spotted off to the side of the cash register. It turns out they have an oven they can cook it for you in, but again no where did it say this and we had multiple people come in and see we had pizza and asked where we got it, how did we cook it etc. so a small sign on the fridge in front of the pizza saying they can cook it for you would be beneficial. The pizza was yum. A folder in our room with information on opening and closing times of the restaurant, cafe and pools would be useful. We didn’t end up using the pools as there was so many people in there that it was a turn off. The highlight of our stay was the cafe staff, the Aurora tour (we saw Northern Lights!) and the dog cart ride. The Ice Museum was ok.

This was a great escape with loads of outdoor activities. However, there weren't enough food/dining options to keep up with demand. Best to dine at nonpeak hours if you want to eat in the restaurant. The staff really work hard so kudos to them.

The only restaurant is at the resort. If you don't get seating early for dinner you will have to wait for a while. The host was not very freindly.

Acknowledgment of presence at restaurant (waiting for seating) was very poor. Ate there 3 times. Wait staff should be dedicated to a room and the patrons in it. Service within the restaurant was also poor, although the food was good and delivered fairly quickly.

The only reason that I didn't give it zero stars was that the food was wonderful and delicious and the front desk staff and restaurant staff provided great customer service. I would avoid going to this area. It's a day trip for locals and didn't seem like a lot of people stayed overnight. Ice museum was not worth the tour. The hot springs didn't smell clean (not the sulfur from the springs). We stayed in one of the off buildings, which was outdated. The shower was either scalding or freezing. The room was OK clean. TV didn't work. The staff was great but the buildings need a complete overhaul.

My family and I stayed at Chena for 6 nights in December. The drive from Fairbanks was easy and check-in was smooth, even at 11pm. We booked two double bed rooms and they were small but clean. We ate at the restaurant on site for many of our meals. Prices are high but portions are huge. We left quite a bit of food behind unfortunately since there wasn’t a mini fridge or microwave in our room. As for the hot springs, we loved it. Plenty of locker space and hooks at the end of the board walk to hang your towel. It’s a perfect place to warm up after a day spent doing winter activities.

Food is overpriced and not very good.

Expensive and restaurant service can be slow. Overall experience was good.