I just stumbled across this thread, and needless to say found it absolutely fascinating. Probably from a different perspective than most though! I've lived in Barrow for the past 15 years and just prior to that spent 2 decades in Fairbanks.

Since this thread clearly shows up on google searches (!) and gets resurrected every few months, I wanted to add some comments and recommendations. First, my email and website are listed in my profile, and I am comfortable answering questions about Barrow. I do not do commercial tours, but 1) I know everybody that does and 2) I often connect with people via email and then spend time with them when they get here. I'm a bit of a history and culture buff, and a photographer. It's pretty easy to keep a visitor very busy here for two or three days...

As for the aurora, Fairbanks offers greater potential to actually see it, because in February and March the sky is more likely to be cloud free. The auroral activity in Barrow is almost exactly the same as Fairbanks. Barrow is on the northern edge of the activity band, and Fairbanks is on the southern edge. Neither is particularly good in the fall, as that is the "rainy season" in Fairbanks. September on the average in Barrow has perhaps 25 days with cloudy skies, and in October it is 30 days! In either location February through March is the best time, but by the end of March the days in Barrow are getting too long. In either location the temperatures in February and March are cold, though Fairbanks can be significantly colder than Barrow. There is no wind on a cold day in Fairbanks, while in Barrow the wind is always blowing.

Otherwise, Barrow is a vastly more interesting place to spend a few days... if you are into adventure. Alaska is an adventurous place, and Barrow is the most adventurous place in Alaska. Barrow does not have fancy restaurants (just good ones) or fancy hotels, no bars or nightclubs, and there are no tourist traps of any kind. There are no signs telling you where to be entertained, or how. All of the hotels are good enough. All of the taxis are too. The worst restaurant isn't bad, but if you want more food at better prices and a chance to see some photography and get good advice on what's to do, go straight to Sam & Lee's. Ask any cab driver, and they'll get you there.

Fairbanks is a nice bit of "small town America". If that is what you want, you will not be disappointed. But frankly the Lower-48 is loaded with towns just about the same, and it is a waste of good money to come to Alaska to see what you've got 100 miles down the road.

Barrow is not like anything in the Lower-48. The population is very international, with a large number Filipino, Thai, Samoan, Tongan, Korean, Hawaiian, Mexican and Americans mixed in with the predominant Inupiat people. You cannot do anything without interacting with at least 4 or 5 different cultures and languages. But make no mistake, the predominant culture is Inupiat Eskimo. All politics and most of the social life here surrounds the Inupiat value system. That includes schools, the city and Borough governments, the stores, the museums, the library, the college... everything.

And you cannot even begin to find out what is here in a one day stay. Three or four is a good number, if (and only if) you do some homework and pick the right times to come.



Last August about four miles southwest of Barrow on the beach. A couple of young fellows visiting Barrow got an unexpected treat. The bear is munching on a walrus carcass that had washed up.



A youngster ripples the baleen on a Bowhead whale harvested by his father's crew.