University of Alaska Museum of the North

If you are even slightly interested in the history and culture of Alaska, I would recommend you pay a visit here. They say it’ll take you 4 hours to fully take advantage of the museum. However, that’s only if you read literally every single word on every single exhibit (trust me, that adds up to a lot of words). We skimmed most exhibits and read all the details only for the ones we had particular interest in, and were out in an hour and a half. It was still a very enjoyable experience!
The «place where you go to listen» room upstairs is pretty funky and unique – definitely don’t forget that there’s a second floor to this place – and there’s some unexpectedly cool artwork as well (only unexpected because I didn’t know there was any art in this museum). Also, don’t forget your cameras because you get stunning panoramic views of Fairbanks from the vantage point up here.

Sadly they do not offer student discount (only for the U of Alaska students). The building architecture was beautiful but the museum itself is small. Took us under one hour to explore. Unless, you have plenty of time, you can skip this place. The dinosaurs and dalton highway exhibits were there and very small.
The cool thing about this museum is their Sound room on the 2^nd floor! And of course, the gorgeous view of the city of Fairbanks.

I thought it was a very well done museum. If you go, definitely spend the extra $ 4 to get the headphones, the audio portions they have scattered throughout the museum are really nice and they have some serious experts that tell you interesting stories or facts about the items you see.
We stayed in AK for 5 days and after 4 days of extreme hikes, freezing snow melt and tent camping, it was a very nice and relaxing visit.

I spent a few hours there on my second day in Fairbanks, definitely a must-​see in Alaska. Not one of those snob cultural places but a quiet, not pretentious yet magnificent museum with an amazing collection, a very efficient mediation, a splendid temporary photography exhibition in a clear and spacious building. I live in Paris and work in the cultural management field and this is what I call a good museum.
Take your time and allow yourself to spent some time in the ‘Place Where You Go To Listen’, this was an amazing experience. Even the children were calm in the room, sitting on the bench, watching and listening quietly.

As everyone else has said this museum packs in a lot. There is a TON of stuff here so if you love museums and impressive collections, you should absolutely check this place out. I think for us it was a little overwhelming.
The main exhibit is divided into regions of the state and focus on the wildlife, geology, and native people for each of those regions. There is also a fair amount of more recent state history sprinkled throughout. I just felt that the presentation of such a vast amount of stuff was a little too compressed. I found it hard to absorb much of it, though some pieces do speak for themselves as you will see if you visit.
The upstairs is an art exhibit that spans quite some time in local art history. Again, this isn’t really our thing so we flew through this part quicker than the downstairs part. Also the gift shop is very nice and the view from the windows near the front entrance is breath taking on a clear day.