Driving from Fairbanks to Anchorage please make sure to take the route going via North Pole, a very small village but a lot of history behind it. It was home to America's largest toy factory for years and that amazed me. The santa claus house is just a very positive and fun place for both kids and adults.You can take pictures with Santa ( he lives here !!! ) or you can visit his pet reindeer and moose next door. Great coffee and chocolate fudge at the cafeteria ....
Gift shop for Christmas items. They have some really beautiful things, plus typical gift shop items. I have had to really look for "Made in Alaska", would like there to be more. Kids love this place, even has reindeer. I take visitors there. They added a coffee shop inside and I believe you can get locally made ice cream outside during the summer. It is a fun place to visit. Amount of time to stay depends on if you are a shopper, just browsing, or sitting on a bench waiting for someone who is!
Start by going to the ice park next to santa clause house. It is very cold, so make sure you cover up! Santa clause house is an awesome experience and as you wait to have your pic taken with santa (free with your camera) you can shop, drink delicious mocha latte or eat fudge which is so good!
We thought that a trip to North Pole, Alaska to see Santa's house would be a hoot. The street lights looked like candy canes which was a plus. And the big Santa was fun. But basically you are visiting a store with a bunch of Christmas stuff to buy. The "letters to Santa" were posted on a little board in the back of the store. I would not recommend driving out of your way to go here. If you are already in the vicinity and feel like shopping, then it would be fine.
I dropped over $100 here without even trying and I DON'T shop for souvenirs when I'm on vacation. However, it's totally cute and I would definitely go there again and I would recommend it to others.
This place is just fun. When we went Santa was "on vacation", but it was still fun to look through the shop and see the reindeer. It is a magical place for all.....
my husband and myself we lucky to come to the North Pole in October only to find Santa was on vacation. Was very sad as we had come all the way from Australia just to see him.The staff in the shop were not even dressed as Santa's helpers. The only decorations we found were made in China and not from the North Pole.What I would've loved to see was a workshop where the toys were being made.
While visiting Fairbanks after seeing some other attractions, we had some time left in our day. We decided to drive to North Pole Ak. The town was cute. All the street light poles looked like candy canes. We went to Santa Claus House to check it out. It was one large Christmas decorations gift shop. A great place if you are looking for decorations.
The Santa Clause House is more of a gift shop with reindeer and winter activities and events. There are plenty of Christmas, North Pole and Alaska gifts to purchase. There is also yummy coffee and fudge. The Christmas in Ice events are pretty cool to check out as well as the New Years eve fireworks display.
How good is this place? Christmas decorations everywhere. Books, shirts, cards, gifts - anything and everything to do with Christmas is inside. Santa is there and happily lets you have your photo taken with him (use your own camera and it's free!). There is also a little cafe inside so you can have a snack and drink after all that shopping. The reindeers are outside nearby. Also an ice park next door with some great ice sculptures (pay to enter). It's just fun to spend some time here and look around.