Alaska with kids, especially in the winter, is absolutely magical – from glacier hikes, to ice caves, to winter events like the Fairbanks Ice Festival and the Anchorage Fur Rondy, dog sledding, reindeer encounters and so much more.
Sidenote – the kids’ snowsuits from Reima were an absolute must on this adventure – we would not have survived the cold without them! All of their winter gear is made by Reima and I absolutely swear by this brand for outdoor adventures with littles. Everything from their wool base layers, to hats, mittens, wool sweaters and snowsuits are the highest quality I’ve seen. We’ve passed down our snowsuits from kid to kid and they’ve maintained really good shape throughout the year.
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To see what we pack on all our adventures with kids, check out this post!
1. Matanuska Glacier Hike
I searched for a while to find a glacier hike that would allow us to carry an infant in a carrier and Glacier Tours was one of the few places that did. To access Matanuska Glacier you need to book a guided tour. Usually we like doing things on our own but I was happy to have a guide here. If you have an infant, they’ll try to put you on a private tour so that you can take your time if need be.
Everyone meets at the Glacier Tour meeting point, and from there they take you on a snowmobile-powered sled across a frozen lake right up to the glacier where you will start your hike. The hike is about 2 hours though I wish it was longer! It’s a well marked trail where you’ll walk through caves and glacier walls, learning about the formation of the glacier and how much it has receded in the past few years.
The hike is relatively easy – anyone in relatively good physical shape should be able to hike this. We did this with my 5&7 year old kids, a baby in a carrier and my parents! We all had crampons that were provided for us by the guides. This is an absolute must when planning a trip to Alaska with kids.
2. Glacier Helicopter Ride
Flying over a glacier is an absolute must if you find yourself in Alaska!
We went with Alaska Helicopter Tours and had an incredible time. There’s an age limit for kiddos so we only took our oldest who was 7 at the time. There’s a few different options that could accommodate different budgets with varying number of stops.
3. Reindeer Walk in Fairbanks
When I was looking for things to do in Alaska with kids, this was one of the top experiences that kept popping up and I knew my kids would be over the moon excited to pet a reindeer. There’s a few different options in Palmer and in Fairbanks for reindeer encounters. I was happy we were able to schedule this in for the kids – though I’m not sure who had more fun (me or them!)
We booked with Chena Outdoor Collective which let us learn about the reindeer, feed them, and do a short 20 minute walk around the forest with them while taking pictures. It was super cute and one of the highlights in Fairbanks for us!
4. Dogsledding in Palmer
I think this may have been the kids favorite activity as they’re still talking about it to this day.
We booked with Snowhook Adventures – they have a 5 star rating out of 1000 reviews and they live up to it! You can really tell they love their dogs and take care of them really well. We had each kid with a parent on a different sled. We took turns with my parents watching the baby as she was too young for this, but if we didn’t have my parents on the trip with us, we would’ve just alternated between Danny and myself.
We got to meet all the dogs ahead of getting on the sleds, learn about the history of dogsledding, and enjoy a 1 hour ride through the beautiful forest!
5. Fairbanks Ice Festival
I purposefully timed our trip with both the Fairbanks Winter festival and the Fur Rondy, and I’m glad I did! We loved the Fairbanks Ice Festival so much we ended up coming back a few times. There’s an international ice sculpture competition and the sculptures were some of the best I’ve seen.
It was also the first time I’ve ever seen an interactive element to snow/ice sculptures! There was a ping pong table, air hockey, mini golf, cars and trucks that kids could climb, slides and so much more. Truly a really fun and unique experience. At night the entire place lights up and becomes even more magical. This made our cold stay in Alaska with kids much more manageable 🙂
6. Eagle River Nature Center
We struck out a little bit with weather for this one, but it was still a really beautiful place to explore. If you time it right, you could see tons of wildlife like bears, moose, eagles, deer and elk.
There’s a few easy hikes you can do just to the lookout, and some longer and harder ones if you have extra time. You can check the trails and conditions here.
7. Chasing Northern Lights
This was the biggest reason I wanted to go to Alaska in the winter and we struck out for the most part. We booked a cabin in the forest in Fairbanks, far away from city light pollution so that we didn’t have to drive far at night, but alas, every night was complete cloud cover and zero visibility. I was quite bummed to miss out on so much northern lights potential!
That being said, this was an important reminder to NOT PLAN YOUR TRIP AROUND THE NORTHERN LIGHTS! Think of them as a perk, a bonus, to an already packed and fun trip. But keep in mind the possibility that you could have terrible weather the entire week and not see a single thing 🙂 This was part of the reason for timing our trip with some of the winter festivals going on – making sure there was enough to do during the day in case we struck out with the aurora.
I don’t think you necessarily need a tour to see the northern lights. The sky was covered across much of Fairbanks so it’s not like a tour would’ve helped us find a spot that wasn’t covered. We used the Aurora app to get notifications, as well as Windy to track cloud coverage and I felt like that was good enough for a DIY aurora chase experience.
8. Fur Rondy in Anchorage
This is an annual festival in Anchorage which packs lots of different unique things. The main attraction is the dogsledding race and the snow sculpture competition. There’s a few other interesting things like ice bowling, fat tire bike races, blanket toss and the carnival
9. Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
This is a non-profit sanctuary focusing on the conservation of Alaska’s wildlife! They take in injured or orphaned animals and provide them with a place to roam and medical care. As a visitor you can drive or walk at your own pace around the grounds of the conservation center, seeing these wild animals up close and learning about the conservation’s efforts.
10. Portage Lake
If you’re already going to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, you might as well drive a little bit further to hike along the beautifully frozen Portage Lake. There’s a beautiful glacier you can get to if you hike far enough, which we didn’t have time for, but the sights from the lake itself were magnificent!
