Originally Posted by arineumann

My wife and I went to FAI last March, and for aurora viewing, I highly recommend Skiland. It's a ski hill a little way out of FAI, and while they charge $25/person/night, it's really nice to be inside where it's warm, sipping on a hot beverage, while looking out at the aurora through a picture window. We went back-to-back nights and had incredible viewing. We had the old lodge to ourselves one night last year and it was awesome (the new lodge is more popular and better insulated, but doesn't give you as good of a view). Since it's out of town, you don't have to worry about the lights of the city interfering with your viewing. We had tried watching from our car out on the Steese highway, but had to return to town when nature called. Going to the lodge gave us a chance to stay out viewing longer since they have toilets on-site.