You have to click on this listing just to adore the spread of 74 exquisite photos: this log cabin near Fairbanks, Alaska, is surrounded by dramatic green swaths of color, beautifully contrasted with the limbs of birch trees surrounding the home. And you can book it if you’re fast; it’s $170 a night.
The one-bedroom Aurora Outpost studio is off the grid and “dry”—that means there’s no plumbing. So you’ll have to head down a wooden walkway over to the separate outhouse when the time comes...but who could mind another reason to step outside when the sky is doing that? And it’s cute, with one of those half-moon cut-outs on the door.
There’s also an outdoor shower for merging Northern Lights viewing with cleaning up, like a very rustic spa. Another thing that adds or subtracts charm depending on your mindset? There is no electricity. Instead, you get to experience the flattering warm light of lanterns and have a night of recalling what life was like a few generations ago. The cabin sits on a private 100-acre homestead, so there’s plenty of open land to feel connected to the sky; bring your cross-country skis or snowshoes. If all this freaks you out, the host is available 24/7 to help you navigate.
Many reviews mention how warm the woodstove keeps the cabin, even in winter, and how wonderful the outdoor wooden barrel hot tub is. Two bird feeders are nearby, so if you’re quiet, you can birdwatch while soaking. The property even comes with a “resident moose” seen in photos just outside the stairs to the cabin (it is not wheelchair accessible, and the bedroom loft is also up a flight). Another photo shows a fox and her kits.
The interior isn’t anything to write home about, and the bed is literally a mattress on the floor. A taxidermied buck over the front door appears to be at eye level while you sleep in the upstairs loft. But the space is a Guest Favorite, “one of the most loved homes on Airbnb according to guests.” And you’re really not here for the inside; wildlife and the northern lights are calling outside! As the superhost David says in his bio, “Ever since I was a child, I had a deep yearning for the wild areas of the world and the flora and fauna that inhabit it.”