Fairbanks restaurants
 

I think we will have 2 nights in Fairbanks on our own (with 2 teens) at the end of our cruise/land tour. Any suggestions for restaurants in Fairbanks?

There's not really much there of note. The cynical suggestion would be to suggest the long drive to Anchorage.

Best bets might be the Chena Pump House -- which has reindeer on the menu -- and a salmon bake. Can't vouch for the salmon bake personally, tho, but have heard decent reports. All in all, a pretty bleak dining scene.

I also did not find much worthy of note in the Fairbanks dining scene, including the salmon bake. There may be some good restaurants there but, if so, I did not find them. I thought that salmon bake was overhyped and overpriced and the food mediocre at best.

I like the Turtle Club. The Pioneer Park salmon bake is not what it used to be but still OK. As a side note- have your teens well prepared with games, batteries on the cruise tour- extremely few kids go on these.

Hi, BudgetQueen! Do you mean few kids go on the 3 day land part before/after the cruise??? I wonder why that is; seemed to us like a natural to spend a few days on the interior after traveling all that distance (we live on the East Coast). Any other suggestions for keeping the teens happy??

Yes very very few kids on the land portion, frankly 3 days has all the time in transit, you ideally need a 7 day add on. Are you SURE you mean Fairbanks- rarely are there any tour packages including Fairbanks with only 3 days??? Overall this is a very costly option for 4, one reason for the few kids. :( Most families have far better touring options going independent, allowing stops and attractions of interest. RVing is a great option. :) You have the right idea- why not take advantage of being all the way there, but your method may not be what you think?? My experience only. I too live on the East Coast. :)

The land portion of the cruise tour involves getting off the ship at Seward, transferring by bus to Anchorage, then on to Talkeetna where you spend the night in the lodge there. The next morning, you do a bus tour of Denali, then you take the train to Fairbanks in the afternoon. There are two nights in Fairbanks; one day has "planned" stuff such as a sternwheeler cruise on the Chena River. Our final day in Fairbanks we have on our own; our flight back is from Fairbanks to Seattle about 5pm, then a red eye back to the East Coast. Appreciate your help as we have never been there!

BE CERTAIN you have the Tundra Wilderness tour- the Natural History is a complete waste of time- little scenery and probably no wildlife, not even worth going. You need the distance into Denali Park to make it worthwhile at least to Polychrome Pass. Big bear country is mostly between Polychrome and Eielson. Every one needs a pair of binoculars in my opinion. :)

Further looking at your timeframe??? You are scheduled to leave Talkeetna- drive to Denali Park, tour the park then to train all in the same day??? I hope not, For information- it is a 3 hour bus ride to Denali Park, the Natural History tour- as I mentioned is worthless, don't even consider this tour. The train leaves at 4 pm- for 4 hour ride. Way too much transit time for one day. Hopefully you overnight at Denali Park?? with the Tundra Wilderness tour?

I don't recall restaurants in Fairbanks because we had an RV, but some suggestions for teens "to do" would include: visit a "gold mine" and pan for gold (we went to the touristy El Dorado Gold Mine where you are guaranteed to find gold while panning); visit the Univ. of Fairbanks and the Univ of AK museum on campus and see the aurora borealis "show" (if it's still on). It's basically a kind of slide show done by students/TAs at the university but the photos were gorgeous. Even though I had one teen and one tween at the time, we stopped at the "North Pole" in North Pole, Alaska and visited "Santa" in the north pole shop.