2 Best Hotels in Chena Hot Springs, Fairbanks, the Yukon, and the Interior

Soaking in the resort's hot springs has long been a popular experience for tourists and locals, especially in winter, when a soak is often paired with overhead aurora sightings. Chena's waters are served up in hot tubs, an indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor natural-rock lake. In winter you can go dogsledding, snowmobiling, and take a 4½-mile round-trip snow-coach tour to a heated hilltop yurt with a 360-degree view. Summer activities include dog-cart rides, guided ATV tours, and horseback riding. Don't miss the world's only year-round ice museum (tours $15), complete with an ice bar, ice bedrooms, and ice sculptures by world-class carvers. In addition to the multiple lodge buildings, the resort also offers camping sites, and yurts ($65 and up) are available for rent.

Usually reserved by locals and adventurers with extensive backcountry experience, these Alaska State Parks cabins have woodstoves, bunks, and tools for cutting wood; you have to supply everything else—food, bedding, water, cooking utensils, and, at some, firewood. This is basic Alaskan shelter, but it can't be beat for leaving the real world behind.