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Attractions

• Alaska Native Museum

  Another Pioneer Park attraction, the Alaska Native Museum houses both indoor and outdoor demonstration areas, a museum devoted to the Athabascan culture and arts and a gift shop. Of special interest at the museum are the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (www.weio.org) held every summer in Fairbanks.

• Birding

  Fairbanks offers excellent birding opportunities at Creamers Field Migratory Bird Refuge. The high point for many local birders is the refuge's Tanana Valley Sandhill Crane Festival, when the return of the sandhill cranes is witnessed. The three-day event features of naturalist talks, hikes into the refuge to see the cranes, crafts and music.

• Boat Tours

  A boat cruise of the Chena River, including some in a historic sternwheeler, is an excellent way to explore Fairbanks' outlying areas.

• Canoeing

  With the Chena River running through the middle of the city, Fairbanks offers a wide variety of canoeing opportunities from leisurely day to overnight trips to Chena River State Recreation Area. Outfitters rent canoes, provide drop-off and pick-up transportation and offer guided expeditions to many rivers in the area, including the Tanana and Chatanika Rivers.

• Charter fishing

  Charter fishing captains based in Fairbanks offer a wide range of adventures for visiting anglers. Outings include both guided charters on rivers and fly-in adventures to remote lakes. Species targeted often include king salmon, northern pike, char, lake trout and Arctic grayling.

• Cross-Country Skiing

  Fairbanks has a variety of Nordic trail system with many of them groomed for classic and skate skiing or lit for night skiing. The Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks stages ski races and other cross-country events throughout the year.

• Fairbanks Community Museum

  Housed in Historic City Hall, the Fairbanks Community Museum (www.fairbankshistorymuseum.com) traces the city's history through an interesting collection of exhibits displaying mining artifacts from the past, sled-dog racing equipment, a complete trapper's cabin and what life is like in Fairbanks when it's 60 below zero.

• Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival

  Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival is on several weekends in July and August at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks campus and features numerous concerts and workshops in the performing and visual arts.

• Flightseeing

  One of Fairbanks' biggest attractions is an imaginary line; the Arctic Circle. Charter air companies offer a wide range of flightseeing tours out of Fairbanks but one of the most popular is to fly across the Arctic Circle that often follows with a landing and a short on-the-ground visit to Fort Yukon.

• Georgeson Botanical Gardens

  Located on the edge of the UAF campus is the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, home to the five-acre Georgeson Botanical Garden. In the garden, visitors can learn about native plants growing under the midnight sun, examine Alaska's world famous cabbages that are the size bushel baskets and join a tour of the facility.

• Gold Dredge No 8

  Located north of Fairbanks off the Steese Highway, Gold Dredge No. 8 (www.golddredgeno8.com) is a five-story, 250-foot-long dredge that was built in 1928 and operated until 1959. Today it's a National Historic Site and one of the most visited dredges in Alaska. Tours are offered through the day during the summer and for the suddenly gold-smitten tourist there's gold panning on site.

• Gold panning

  Have a case of gold fever? Fairbanks is the perfect cure. Hardware stores and geologists supply shops sell what you need to pan for gold and the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau can provide a list of public areas where you can prospect without being a claim jumper.

• Golden Days

  Fairbanks' largest festival is Golden Days, staged the third week of July to commemorate Felix Pedro's discovery of gold. The event features with games and contests, entertainment and reenactments.

• Golf

  In the land of the midnight sun there's plenty of time to squeeze in a round of golf during the summer. At Fairbanks' public golf courses you can reserve a tee time as late as 10 p.m. and still have time for 18 holes.

• Lower Chatanika River State Recreation Area

• Midnight Sun Festival

  Fairbanks stages one of the best summer solstice celebrations on June 21 when the sun shines for almost 23 hours, more than enough time for footraces, arts and crafts booths and the traditional midnight sun baseball game.

• Morris Thomson Cultural and Visitor Center

  Morris Thomson Cultural & Visitor Center is Fairbanks' newest attraction. Unveiled in 2009, the massive center houses the Alaska Public Lands Information Center, the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Tanana Elders Center. In between there are cultural exhibits, a theater and information kiosks.

• Pioneer Air Museum

  Also located at Pioneer Park is the Pioneer Air Museum. Housed in the Gold Dome, the museum features aircraft used in Alaska from 1913 to 1948. There are also photographs and exhibits devoted to everything from the Land-Lease flights to Russia during World War II to the airplane crash that killed Carl Eielson, the founder of Alaska Airlines.

• Pioneer Park

  Pioneer Park is Alaska's only historic theme park. The 44-acre park includes the SS Nenana, a sternwheeler that once plied the Yukon River, and the railroad car that carried President Warren Harding to the golden-spike ceremony in 1923. Museums dot the park like the Wickersham house, built in 1904 by Judge James Wickersham, while kids will love the century-old carousel that still offers rides. In the evening, the best salmon bake in Fairbanks takes place at Pioneer Park.

• Robert G White Large Animal Research Station

  UAF's Robert G. White Large Animal Research Station features herds of musk oxen, reindeer and caribou that researchers raise to study their unique adaptations to a sub-Arctic climate. There are viewing areas outside the fenced pastures or visitors can join naturalist-led tours to see the nursery and learn about the history, ecology and biology of each species.

• Semi-pro baseball

  Growden Memorial Park is the home field for the Goldpanners, Fairbanks' entry in the collegiate-level Alaska Baseball League, which also includes teams from Anchorage, Mat-Su Valley and Kenai Peninsula. And the most popular game of the season by far is when the team stages its Midnight Sun Baseball Game on June 21, a nine-inning game that starts at 10:30pm and is played in its entirety without artificial lights.

• Sled Dog Mushing

  Sled dog mushing is a popular sport in Fairbanks, home of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. Within the area are almost a dozen sled dog kennels that offer guided tours and the opportunity for visitors to mush and work with their own team for a day or more. Also available are dog sled rides, multi-day expeditions and mushing schools.

• Snowmobiling

  During the winter outfitters offer guided snowmobile tours in the Fairbanks area and Chena River State Recreation Site with snow machines and transportation provided for visiting snowmobilers.

• Tanana Valley State Fair

  Tanana Valley State Fair is Alaska's oldest and takes place in August when the fairgrounds on the north side of town come alive with entertainment, livestock contests, craft boots and lots of things to eat.

• University of Alaska Fairbanks

  University of Alaska Fairbanks is the original campus of the state's university system, having been founded in 1917 as the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines. Today the university has more than 8000 students that study at a beautiful campus on a hilltop west of downtown Fairbanks. On a clear day visitors can see Mount McKinley from the Alaska Range viewpoint on campus that includes a display detailing the mountainous horizon. Guided campus tours on most weekdays.

• University of Alaska Museum of the North

  Located on the UAF campus is the University of Alaska Museum of the North - one of Alaska's finest museums. The architecturally innovative building was inspired by alpine ridges, glaciers, the Yukon River, and the northern lights. The museum is home to the Gallery of Alaska, which examines the geology, history and unusual aspects of each region of the state. Here visitors can view the museum's most famous exhibit, Blue Babe: a 36,000-year-old bison found preserved in the permafrost by Fairbanks-area miners. In the Rose Berry Alaska Art Gallery are northern works ranging from ancient ivory carvings to contemporary photographs. In the museum' theater, special programs are shown throughout the day, including an amazing multimedia presentation on the northern lights.

• Upper Chatanika River State Recreation Area

• World Eskimo-Indian Olympics

  One of Fairbanks' most unusual events is the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. This four-day event attracts indigenous people from across the north who display amazing athletic abilities in contests like the Alaska High Kick and Eskimo stick pull. There's also dancing and cultural performances in traditional regalia.

• Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race

  The Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race is Alaska's other 1,000-mile race. The Yukon is staged in February along a 1,023-mile route between Fairbanks and Whitehorse. Along the way mushers and their teams climb four mountains over 3000 feet in elevation high and run along hundreds of miles of the frozen Yukon River.