The host George is very informative, friendly and funny. I learned a lot on their ice fishing, city and Arctic Circle tours. Their prices are hard to beat.The ranch has a great, expansive view, and my friend and I were able to see Aurora several times. Im so happy we chose this place

One of the best places to view the Northern Lights. Our group never stayed in the resort. We did pay $30 per person to wait in the lobby. As you wait, they provide hot chocolate with cookies. You even get to watch a short film about the natives in Alaska. We were lucky to see the northern lights on our first visit to this hidden gem.

We booked two nights but we extended one more night for the Aurora. The Ranch is up on the hill excellent for Aurora viewing. The Ranch is very comfortable inside although outside was covered with snow everywhere on February 2019. We appreciated very much that Keith and his wife picked us up at the airport when we arrived late night. And Keith is very experienced and knowledgeable of Alaska. Thank You Keith!George is funny, Maggie is nice!Thank you for letting us to stay at your ranch!This is the one to stay if you want to go for Aurora!

Came here at night as part of a tour group. The main room was kept dark to minimize light pollution, and theres a film that plays when the aurora isnt out. Hot drinks, snacks, and wifi are available.

Chandalar ranch is a gem! I would highly recommend this place 10/10 for views of the northern lights and 10/10 for the people. The family that runs it went out of their way for me and would do the same for anyone passing through. If I’m ever in Alaska again, I will definitely come back here. Thank you Chandalar ranch!!

The host is very kind, and the room is warm inside. It would be better if there are more board games.

Pretty nice, weather has been good lately. I live here so dont mind me

I dont know who the owner is or if it was he that approached us a couple days ago but there seems to be some kind of mental instability going on with him. We were watching the Northern Lights, parked at the public school a mile or so from the ranch and this guy drives up and tells us we have to leave and recommends a place to go. The place he recommends is a pullout along the main highway so we head back toward the school but find a little pond so pull over to view the lights. This guy comes out and harasses us telling us that we were illegally parked on a public road and points a strong flashlight in our faces and tells us you people from the lower 48 should just go home and stay there. When one of us shined a light in his face, he reached for his hip - as in where a gun holster would be. He says if you take another step, youll be on my property and youll be sorry. We never actually saw a gun but he was acting pretty bold walking our to a car full of people at 2:00 in the morning. We notified the state troopers and they said they were going to investigate but havent heard of any resolution. The thing is that while this guy may be making nice with whoever pays to stay at his place, he actually despises those of us in the lower 48 in a seemingly mentally unbalanced way.Just a heads up to those considering staying at Chandalar.

The best place for Aurora!At first. We saw someone said this place is not good so we only booked for one day .but when we reached there we like it so much !people are very nice and friendly there .the Japanese girl who work there is so nice !she came to noticed us Aurora was coming so we can see it .and we attended the arctic circle tour .George is very friendly ,humors and experienced we like him a lot .we saw the amazing Aurora during the tour !thanks of George ! wish we can stay there longer .anyway we will come back and will tell all of our friends to go there .it is really a nice place

Had a great experience there while catching my first Aurora experience. Host (George) and wife were great and they were very helpful with making my family comfortable and entertained throughout my visit there. The views on the ranch are absolutely amazing and worth the price of admission. The host is an expert photographer and more than happy to make suggestions on getting the best shots. Great pics to captured lasting memories.Note: We were there for two nights and on the first night it got full with travel groups. Comfortable still, just more people around.Note 2: Host has a strict trespassing policy, if anyone is planning to just drive up to the viewing area, take a pic, and then leave without paying...well hes going to act accordingly. Saw this first hand when driving back from dinner on my second night there. Happens to be a couple of loud a-hole china-men. Why do they have to talk so loud??

2018.11.3 Reply to the ownerfrom the lower 48 states and a Chinese. Are you thinking I cannot reply your rhetoric? :-)A sense person would apologize for your rudeness to us first, which is something I cannot find from your long rhetoric reply.1. I can understand your point for your angry to those who “illegally” use your restroom. But you should despise THEM instead of dissing “Chinese” in front of me, who seems to be your customer and have not violate anything.2. Did you personally offended us? Let’s refresh your own words: ”I respect every culture, but Chineses made a bad name of it.” and you were speaking that when staring at me, who, let me repeat, did not violate your rules. How long do I need for your condescending apology?3. Who are those using your bathroom? 2 of them are Taiwanese Americans and they seems leading the group to your restroom. Yeah they are Asians. This leading to #4 question.4. Are you racist? From Wiki: “racist is a person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or who believes that a particular race is superior to another. “ your prejudice against Asians seems to be a checkmark. Don’t you prejudiced all Asians are Chinese?5. Is Alaska safe? Yes for most of the place we had been to, but not in your “private property”.6. Is Alaskans friendly? Yes for everyone we met except you.Your really should read the reviews and understand their perspectives. So funny to see you spent long time online, writing long reply, arguing which them, blaming them for not being a good customer or not your customer. It seems that your parents start your business and ,sorry to say that, you are ruining it now.

Update regarding to the owner’s reply: We paid $30 per person, so we ARE customers. We may not be in the booking system but for sure in the transaction history. The owner’s reply is of logical flaw, as we didn’t have reservation but she swiped our card and took our payment, so it’s not like she said they only take reservations. We paid for the service and not satisfied and never got the refund. So it’s not as she said either unsatisfied customers would get refund.Parked our car on the side of road and was then threatened to charged our money. Right after we were charged, they said we need to leave right away and they said they had guns. We were threatened to pay the money then we got nothing about the service but threatening and kicking out!!!! This is the worrrrrrrst experience I have since I came to US several years ago. I realized all they want is money, and in order to get money, they dont care what they do to their customers or just people passing by their house.

This is a very nice company .Their beautiful house has good views and easy to see Aurora. Manager George is funny, experienced, and knowledgeable person.

I stayed in one of the bunk rooms in the lodge with a friend for four nights recently and we had a good time overall. My main complaint is that their website needs some major updating because its a bit deceptive. There arent any horses there anymore, the little log cabin that appears to be off on its own is actually in a rather busy parking lot, and the back decks werent even built yet in the photos of the lodge.I also think Maggie, the host, could have been a little friendlier and more helpful -- especially when it came to locating Chena Hot Springs Road from the Parks Hwy and finding the lodge. I also had asked her via email about stopping at a grocery store on the way out there and she did not provide enough useful information. I had to call a friend who lives in the area because I got a bit turned around. Maggie also did not provide enough info about finding the lodge in the dark. Many road signs were covered with snow and I had no idea what mile marker the lodge was. I had to pull over and call her.The owner of the resort, Keith Koontz, and his son George, as well as Linda the housekeeper, were the most helpful and friendly. George always gave us a heads up when the aurora was out and even knocked on our room door to let us know it was out strong to ensure we didnt miss it. His sense of humor was a pleasure!Maggie did redeem herself a bit on our last night by treating my friend to a large cupcake with a candle and singing Happy Birthday with her family.I would recommend the place for anyone wanting to see the aurora because we did catch a couple of good shows two out of the four nights. The common kitchen was well stocked with cooking utensils, the bunks were comfy, and the bathroom was clean. I hope Maggie will do a little soul-searching, however, and be a better hostess.

Awesome place to see aurora borealis!! I had a great experience when I was there.

Best place to catch the aurora very friendly staff. Fair prices, definitely would recommend.

It also a great place to view Aurora. Make sure you got 4 wheel drive car to drive there. My car get suck in the snow. The owner is very nice and she bring us tools and spend half hour to help us.

The Chandalar Ranch is known for its fantastic views of the Aurora during winter months, however, we stayed here for a Summer Youth Conference and had a great time!! There were about 20 of us, and we stayed from August 4-10. Everyday was sunny and had the perfect temperature between the 70s-80s.The view is tremendous, absolutely stunning, it looks like a painting. Even after 6 days of looking at the view, it still took my breath away. They have a fully functional kitchen, and 2 bathrooms, 1 for the men and 1 for the women. Theres an open field 5 feet from the door. It is on a slight slant, so we walked to the Two Rivers School for basketball, kickball, soccer, frisbee, and mouse-on-ground. In the dining room there was an assortment of puzzles and games, such as Connect 4, which we all had fun with. There is no lake nearby, but the Ranch is only a 30-minute drive to Fairbanks, and we had a day where we went to the Tanana Lakes Recreation Area Swim Beach which was a blast.The owners, Keith and Velma, are the nicest people on Earth!!! Keith had to come in and fix one of the toilets that kept running, and it took him very little time to fix it. Maggie and George are the managers. They were helpful getting us set up, and then they mostly stayed out of sight. Which was really nice, not to have someone watching over our shoulders. That was a real plus for our group, which made everyone feel like the space was ours, and it empowered everyone to show respect to the place and keep it clean.All in all, it was a great Youth Conference and I would highly recommend this place!

We were told by friends it was a good place for aurora. And we drive to this place, and the owner asked $30 per person for staying in the lodge. Then we asked if discount is possible. The owner treated us like her enemy and told us rudely why I will give you a discount to people who will be here once in your life? It might be true, but I still can write review.You think we are too cheap to pay for $30? I am not complaining about the price here and we think it is fair to charge and we will, I am complaining about the attitude and the way they speaking to customers.

Very beautiful place, we had our wedding here and it was absolutly beautiful and very reasonably priced and they give you full reign of the venue.

Threatened to be “careful” on his private property even before I could say anything. I was hoping for a good experience based on the review but that was not what I expected. $30 is way over priced for a seat and the host is very aggressive and unfriendly. Definitely NOT RECOMMEND.

This couple is famous for greed! They won’t let you stand on their property more than 10min, unless you pay 30 bucks. Be careful! They will take your photos and try to attack you if you stay on their property, even tough you are thinking where you should go due to the bad weather on the road. Worst people, worst place.

Great place, friendly owners deffently recommend

The aurora lights are amazing....! must come prepared ahead of time with cameras cause theres no help unless you ask someones next to you. AND NO FLASHLIGHTS....!

It is the best place if you want to see northern lights. We were there for 2 nights and saw the lights. It will give u a canin experience, however there is always scooe of improvemnet. Since it is in a remote area you dpnt get food or any store nearby. Hence if they provide at least breakfast if would be great. Also toiletrries could have been provided.I would still recommend people to stay there to enjoy northern lights, but bring your own food and supplies.Ita a beautiful stay.

This place was amazing! I saw many Aurora Lights and the lodge offered a lot of extra activities such as ice fishing, Arctic Circle tour, sled dog riding etc.

The Taiwanese host Maggie is so aggressive and not friendly at all. The most important thing is that we woke up in the morning because of it’s so cold in the room ,there is no power and no water. And when we tried to call them like 6 times to ask what’s wrong, nobody answered the phone. Highly not recommend.

Stay there for 2 nights in the private room. Small and simple, but great location to see Aurora, we can just step outside the door and the wild open space allow us to see and set up the camera for Aurora.

Only because theres no zero star. Ive been to all the states in the western half of the lower 48 continent over the past 3 years; stayed in all kinds of properties from cheap private B&Bs/motels to 5 star luxry resorts, and have never been to a place like this. The owner (yes, that Taiwanese lady) treated us like her enemy. Absolutely no customer service or hospitality whatsoever.Save yourself some $$ and trouble, go find somewhere else. Maybe save up and go to Iceland or northern Europe if you are chasing aurora.Edit: Chena hotsprings resort has a much better tour on the mountain top for $75 with unlimited hot food and beverage.

My mom and I had a good time here. George took us to the Arctic Circle Tour and he is so patient and helpful. He knew where is a good viewing place to wait aurora, and where to take a good aurora picture. After he learned we have waited for 4 days but see nothing because of the cloudy sky, and that night was our last chance, he spent long hours with us to wait the aurora, we did not get back to the ranch until 2:00 a.m., and of course we saw a very beautiful aurora thanks to him. Its like a dream has finally came true:) Maggie and Keith are also very helpful and knowledgable. I will definately recommend this place!

So stupid! We have booked for ice-fishing and they should pick up us from the hotel. When they arrived the hotel, they didnt give us a call and find no one in the lobby and just gone. That is so ridiculous! When we ask whether the fee can be refundable, they said we need to contact with the driver. And we ask the drivers phone number, the just hang up the phone! We called back a few times, nobody response! Never come for this place for anything! Never book any activity with chandalar ranch! They are sucks!

My friend and I came here to see the northern light in the midnight, cause in the morning we went to the dogsleddering and the owner told us that place is one of the best place to see it.When we came here, we cant see any northern light so we went to their hotel to ask them. But they just asked us whether stay here or not. If we stay there we need to pay 30$. We cant see any light so we dont want to stay there. Then her attitude turned very bad. And we just leave and went to a parking lot to wait.

We stayed a few days and aurora only appeared near horizon. This place has open space in the north without tall trees or hills which is critical to see those average aurora. Also there is only a a few steps from aurora viewing spots to heated room for you to recover from freezing cold. You do need to make reservation before you can come to this place. Otherwise you may not be treated as you expected.

Murphy dome is far more better place than here for catching aurora. The owners are also not very kind to visitors. Worst experience in Alaska.

I recommend this place to people who want to watch the Aurora

Great Aurora viewing spot, friendly host with the necessary amenities.

Excellent!!

Very very bad experience and very very unfriednly hosts, wonder how the five star reviews came out, maybe by the owner himself?There are many spots to see the northern lights, please never choose this one.

Stay here for two nights, great place and great host.

The hosts were friendly and kind, they helped us when we met problems, Ill absolutely go back and stay at Chandalar Ranch!!!!!!! Thanks!!!!!

It is the best place to watch Aruola

Fraudulent.

Threatened

Very nice

Very nice

Nice place

This place is a lie its the worst place to watch the Aurora and the family members are hell expensive

Worst experience ever. So rude and unfriendly.

It was just a nightmare

No better than a parking lot

I love this place