My husband and I had the best time ice fishing with our guide, Tyson!…read more He picked us up right on time from our hotel in Fairbanks and got everything set up for fishing. The equipment was easy to use and everyone caught plenty of fish. I thought it was a really cool experience that we were able to eat the fish we caught right after it came out of the water. Tyson made a delicious meal for everyone and we all had some great conversations too! We will be talking about this one for years!

Greg was our guide down the Chena River. He was knowledgeable, professional and personable. We saw…read morebeaver homes, moose scat and footprints, an Eagle, and a momma Merganser with her babies. The water was crystal clear. Greg provided us with several opportunities to get out on small islands and study prints in the mud as well as talk about plant life. It was a wonderful day and we appreciate Greg's gentle manner and willingness to share local information.

When we went there, we rented two hours for a boat. Were only out on the water for half an hour…read morebefore boat started to leak and gain water when we got back to shore didn't get a refund. The attendant said that he "hates the boat too" and gave us a coupon worth $5 and $6 worth of ice cream.

Reserving kayaks, paying online, and getting the waiver done before is great. Staff were friendly…read moreand helpful to first time kayakers. Will definitely return.

We had an incredible experience with 1st Alaska Tours and would absolutely recommend them…read more We originally booked an outdoor Aurora Borealis tour for December, but the day before the tour they called us to explain that temperatures were already around -41°F and that being outside for hours would likely be miserable. Instead of pushing forward anyway, they upgraded us to their Yurt experience, which was the perfect solution. We could stay warm inside and step outside only when the aurora appeared, warming up in between with hot chocolate, coffee, and soup. One unexpected bonus was that the yurt next to us was offering dog sled rides, so we got to see a dog sled team up close, and that was also an option we could have added. It was a really fun and unique part of the experience. Our driver and guide, Zach, was fantastic. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and very accommodating, and shared great insights about the aurora, Alaska's history, and geography. He was also very honest when he did not know something and tried to find the answer. The next night at the hot springs, we ran into Paul, another guide from 1st Alaska Tours who was leading a different group. He was just as friendly and helpful and offered some great tips, which really says a lot about the company. If you are considering an aurora tour in Fairbanks, 1st Alaska Tours is a great choice. I do apologize for my photography skills and the video was from inside the yurt!

Tour guide George pulled up to my hotel in a heated van exactly on time, and provided commentary on…read morethe region as we drove the 30 minutes or so to Murphy Dome, which I'd been told is optimal for viewing the Lights, with its 360-degree perspective. When we arrived at about 10:30, the Lights were in primitive, foggy form but they steadily got better as time passed, ebbing and flowing in intensity, stretching all the way across the sky at times, in a mesmerizing dance of green and purple. We were fortunate, because the aurora forecast was "excellent" (KP 5-6) for the night we went out, something I'd never encountered before in trips to Iceland or Alaska. Our group of 12 had access to its own warm, roomy, window-encircled yurt, much appreciated due to unusually high winds much of the night. An added treat was the appearance of several dog-mushing teams, coursing across the expanse in front of us. I can't wait to do the exact same trip again next year, but I almost didn't make this one. Although the tour was fully booked when I called 1st Alaska on the day of the trip, they were kind enough to call me back when they received a cancellation, for which I will always be grateful.

Fairbanks Trails & Rivers is run by a husband-wife duo, John and Kellie O'Brien. The duo was an…read moreabsolute delight! Last year in December, we booked a full-day of tours- (1) Alaska Dog Mushing in the morning and (2) Aurora Borealis tour in the evening. We can confirm it was a peaceful, no-frills experience. A year later, we still talk about how much we loved the tours and how Kellie and John were really cool people! --- I booked tours with Fairbanks Trails & Rivers in December 2024 for my party of 4 adults. I found their website to be a little hard to navigate, so I emailed them instead. Their responses were prompt, clear, and ensured that we had the exact tours we wanted. I would highly recommend this route over the website. We paid our invoice over Square and then received email confirmations right after payment. The day before our tours, we received a pick-up time, and on the day of, we were emailed when our pick-up van had headed out. We were picked up at 10 AM from the Hampton Inn and Suites for our Alaska Dog Mushing tour. We chuckled at their gold van because it looked like the definition of an adventure van! The vehicle had a rack atop that made some noise when driving, so it was hard for those in the back to hear what Kellie was saying while driving. It didn't bother us too much though. Kellie was just the sweetest and was so so friendly, and we were honestly really inspired by her mountaineering story. We highly recommend anyone touring with her to ask! On the drive over (and later back), Kellie pointed out and described relevant landmarks while sharing her story. It really felt like we were just spending the day with our cool friend. Before stopping by Douglas Fir Mushing for our dog mushing tour, we pulled into an overlook. Personally, it was of the most beautiful sights I saw while we were in Fairbanks. Afterwards, we were dropped off at Douglas Fir Mushing for ~ 1.5 hours. It was a fantastic time, and they really seemed like they loved their dogs. The tour consisted of: (1) introductions by Mandy and Matt of themselves and of mushing, (2) a quick waiver and safety talk, then we did (3) ~ 30 minutes of mushing (riding in the sled) in pairs, while the other pair stayed back to pet some dogs! We ended up staying a little extra after both groups experienced mushing to warm up by the fire and pet dogs some more. Afterwards, although we were supposed to be dropped back off at our hotel, Kellie was kind enough to drop us off in the city center to save us some money on an Uber! She dropped us off with tips on where to eat and sightsee before the tour in the evening. We had an 11 PM pick-up time for the evening Aurora Borealis tour with John. We had 2 people in addition to us in the van, so there were 6 of us in the van besides John. We weren't cramped, but of course in the night, it was a little chilly even with the heat blasting! Although auroras are never guaranteed, we felt reassured that John was actually doing everything possible to make sure we'd get the best viewings. John felt like a detective, scoping out leads online for where the aurora viewing was good in the area. Overall, we stopped at 3 locations to chase the aurora. All were relatively quiet, and it added a surreal quality to it. Chasing the aurora with John felt like chasing with your chill friend. We had an awesome showing by the aurora, he laughed at our dumb aurora dance, and we had a lot of fun being goofy and rolling in the snow. John also helped us with taking great photos! We ended up heading back to our hotels at 3 AM. Overall, if you want to explore Fairbanks and beyond with the kindest husband-wife Alaskan local duo, I'd highly recommend booking with Fairbanks Trails & Rivers! Competitively priced to comparable tours, the Dog Mushing and Aurora Borealis tours were well-worth the price tags!

John O'Brien is a great tour driver for Fairbanks Trails and Rivers. He took us 45 minutes from…read moreFairbanks to Black Spruce Dog Sled Kennel. We were there about 3 hours and John stayed on site. On our way back, he was kind enough to take us to the Pipeline and a show us a few other sights of Fairbanks. He is very friendly, punctual and knowledgeable!

Would highly recommend reaching out to this company to schedule a ride. The company works based on…read moreavailable slots but the cab driver is prompt, polite, and pleasant to talk to. Fairbanks is a logistical nightmare when it comes to transportation but Moose Cab and tours made our trip better :) Thank you for your service!

My wife and I were in Fairbanks 2 weeks ago to see the Aurora. We had arranged transportation with…read moreGyorgyi and Moose Cab to transport us to and from excursions on two of the days. Gyorgyi was just awesome. She has a wealth of knowledge about the area. We know our worries about getting around were over once we met her. She was always there on time and we felt very comfortable with her behind the wheel. We plan to take another trip back to the area in the future and now that we know that she plans trips as well I'm sure we will use her for everything. We couldn't be more pleased with her cheerful personal service. Thank you Gyorgyi and Moose Cab!

I went on an air tour of Gates of the Arctic National Park with Northern Alaska Tour Company. I had…read moreto be there by 6 and we left around 7. We flew to the town of Coldfoot, about an hour away and 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle. We landed, a guide picked us up and showed us around town then took us to the restaurant/general store. We got our preordered food, ate, visited the national park visitor center, then returned to the airport. At that point, we got back on the plane, did our air tour of the park, landed briefly at Coldfoot to let people off the plane, then returned to Fairbanks around midnight. This was a really cool experience and I'm glad I went. NATC did a great job lining everything up and making sure things went smoothly. The flight(s) were good and enjoyable. The park was beautiful and flying was a great way to see it - I'm sure I saw far more than those who trek in on foot. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed our stop in Coldfoot. It was interesting to see how people lived in the Arctic and I even saw one of the places we went on an episode of Ice Road Truckers since I got back, which was cool. I was happy with the whole experience and I would recommend them.

Started this tour in the rain. We were told if we had to land plane at another stop our lunch money…read morewould be refunded. We'll we had to stop at beetles lodge. Still sitting here. There will be no ground tour from here. That was never mentioned so here we sit in a dumpy restaurant til it's time to take off again. For almost $1,200 definitely not worth it. Added note Matt the owner? Refunded a part of our money.