Coldfoot Camp

Look, it’s a truck stop. The staff was absolutely friendly. Food was great. The cleaning staff did the best they could to clean the facilities that are there. However, the trailers are quite literally leftover from the building of the pipeline in the 1970s. You can feel the springs through the beds and if your neighbor dares have a room level conversation you can hear every word. I’m writing this review to try to encourage ownership to invest back into the place, maybe some new trailers slowly over time even. It’s clear the investment from the 70s is being milked of every drop, and at least in the summer it seems to stay quite busy, so one would think some new investment would get a return. I feel like it’s fair to ask to invest in newer facilities once every 50 years…that said, I greatly appreciate the staff there and their friendliness and that they try to do their best with what they are given.

This place is great. Good food, friendly service, and tent camping in front of the Inn is free. Down side to tent camping is that the haul road truckers leave their engines idling all night so bring some ear plugs. Also, in mid-July, the sun dips below the horizon for a whopping 38 minutes so bring an eye mask!

I love this place!! The food is amazing- super fresh salad bar for the win! And they are 6 hours from the nearest grocery store. Staff are super kind and helpful. Free camping,too. For me it has been such a great place to regroup/recover in between outdoor adventures. For others, it's a break on the drive to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay. Prices are high, yet the quality is high, too :)

Granted, my expectations were low about the food, but boy was I wrong! Everything was delicious. I mean, genuinely delicious! I forget what kind of soup I had, but it was fantastic. I had the fish sandwich and it was juicy, the dressing was fantastic, and just a really, really, good sandwich. The cashier wasn't exactly engaging, but everybody else there was off the chart. Of course I had to have several beers. Considering where they are, I thought the prices were fair.

We spent 2 nights/3 days at Coldfoot Camp. Our adventure was booked through the Northern Alaska Tour Company. We arrived in Coldfoot via an all day van drive from Fairbanks. Our tour guide, John was beyond incredible! He is very knowledgeable about Alaska and enthusiastic about his job. He managed to share interesting commentary, facts and stories about Alaska and our drive the entire time we were with him-8 hours. We stopped at the Yukon River for tasty lunch that we preordered and again at the Arctic Circle where we changed vans to head on to Coldfoot. Rooms are basic and rustic, but adequate. No thermostat in the room -our room was chilly. Whenever we were there we kept the door to the hall open to let heat in (hallway was warm). The food at Coldfoot Cafe was excellent with large portions. We took the Arctic Mountain Safari tour which lasted all day. Again, our tour guide Declyn was so enthusiastic and knowledgeable! We drove further north along the Dalton Hwy, saw a herd of caribou, dall sheep and stopped at the Arctic Divide. That evening we took the evening aurora tour to Wiseman where they truly have a dark sky. The cabin there is unique and we were hopeful to see Northern Lights. Unfortunately, it snowed the entire time we were there, so no aurora sightings, but Declyn kept our evening interesting. The next morning we experienced dog sledding, learned about Dan's team of 16 dogs and went for a ride in the forest. We flew out of Coldfoot in a 6 seat small plane back to Fairbanks. All in all, our trip was a once in a lifetime experience!

Love this place - rustic and without frills but if you’ve traveled elsewhere in rural Alaska, you’ll find this to be top notch. Nice to have a bathroom ensuite and the truck stop restaurant is amazing!!

Damn fine restaurant and really great staff! It's such a pleasure stopping here as a Haul Road trucker. I can't thank them enough for being here for us drivers. Thank you!

Very rustic. We had no hot water but they gave us a second room where we could shower. It was muddy!!! The food was expensive but it was buffet style so all you wanted.

I'm not one of those people who is going to move to Alaska, but I am definitely one of those people who has been moved by Alaska. Travel Alaska will tell you, "Coldfoot is one of the few Alaska communities north of the Arctic Circle accessible by road. The town serves as a stopping place for those driving the Dalton Highway on their own or as part of a tour." 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle I was able to order a vegetarian burger. I mean, how is that not 5 stars? Delicious black bean patty with crisp lettuce and fresh tomatoes, thick onion rings, then the next morning a satisfying bowl of oatmeal, a 4 egg omelet - and coffee. Buckets of hot, satisfying coffee. The fridge has all your soft drinks (and my v-8, get those vegetables!). Oh, and you can get gas, mail a letter, spend the night in a warm bed, take a hot shower, and generally feel comfortable and taken care of. Staff were all friendly, prices were reasonable all things considered. It was interesting to watch the big rigs come and go. I guess there is a TV show or something about driving up here. I don't watch TV so you'll have to pop up here and let me know if it reflects real life. Did I mention that I'll be back? Oh for sure. It's the first time in my life I wish i had many more decades ahead of me, because I would spend them exploring this incredible place.

We visited here in early October of 2021. Their motto is, "Delicious handcrafted food and soulful hospitality." My wife and I stayed in a small, meagre room with two beds in the nearby Coldfoot Camp. We visited the trucker's café twice, once at night and for breakfast the next morning. The service was very good both times and it seemed the staff was like a small family. Most of the staff are from other states and our waitress for dinner was from Wisconsin. We sat at the bar and I ate the "Standard" burger with tater tots. The $11.95 burger came loaded with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion and I added a fried egg for $1. They piled up a literal mountain of tater tots and the burger weighed-in at a generous half pound! The food tasted good and really filled us up. We also had two beers each. They had a good selection of domestic, bottled beer and a few Alaska microbrew cans. The gift shop is adjacent to the bar, and we bought a few postcards and t-shirts. The small post office is only open a few days of the week, so our waitress offered to drop off our postcards when it was open. During the winter, the café is open from 5 am until midnight. The nearby open lot was a perfect place to take photos of the Northern Lights, and we witnessed a spectacular display for about three hours. The next morning we ordered breakfast. I think breakfast turned out far better than dinner and you can order breakfast anytime of the day. I had the Classic Breakfast, which included two eggs; ham, bacon, or sausage; hash browns or home fries, and toast. It turned out to be a massive breakfast with great bacon fit for any ravenous trucker. We needed some gas and asked the waitress what to do. She said to leave our credit card, pump the gas, take a picture of the dollar amount, and then show her to pay. For such a remote café, they had great selection of food and very generous portions. All the staff had a friendly, laid back attitude that I enjoyed. Overall a great place to hang out and eat. I'd highly recommend their breakfast.

Can't beat this diner for large portions and food that will stick to your bones. Its also a place to warm up even if the diner is closed.

By our tour company, with some vegetarians in our group, we were told not to expect much in terms of food, but we were so lucky to come across the cafe that had a variety of choices, with hosts and servers that were so willing to accommodate our needs. Each meal we had was so flavorful and delicious, came piping hot, and had enough portion to fill us up the rest of the day. Very very glad we were able to enjoy such a variety of food, in the midst of nature. Would highly recommend.

Let me just say, I have eaten at some of the most fanciest restaurants around the country and internationally but have never had breakfast this good. Please do yourself a favor and get the omelets for breakfast, lunch, dinner or all of the above! You will not be sorry!! Apart from the delicious and reasonably priced food, the staff is also super friendly! If you take time to talk to them you'll realize they are from all over the States! This staff is here because they want to be. Working here is more than just a job to them :)

Excellent food. You will not leave hungry from this spot! We enjoyed "the standard" which is a mega burger with all the fixins. The portion size of fries was huge too. Everything was cooked perfectly and the service is super friendly. This is a must stop if you are traveling north on the dalton highway from Fairbanks to Deadhorse.

We went there and stayed over night, so we had two meals there. This is the only restaurant in the Coldfoot camp, and it is next to the camp rooms and the post office. The food price is actually very low and that really surprised me :0 a burger only charge you around $13, can you believe that? The staffs are nice and the food taste good. They also have small gifts shop there you can buy some postcards and stamps, and mail the postcards from here (the post office only open for a short time every week, you can give your postcards to them when the post office is closed). Anyway, this is a good place for some hot and good food to eat in the article circles!

Awesome stops here. Stoped 3 different times while doing a dalton roadtrip. Food was great each time. AM crew and PM crew are awesome. Will deff go back here when doing this trip again. Was sad to leave

To be clear, this Cafe is not in the town of Fairbanks, but 250+ miles north, at the base of the Brooks Range. We had camped in Fox, and woke up early the next morning to drive north. A friend had suggested stopping at Coldfoot, and I knew it would be the only place to stop at on the entire drive. We arrived at lunch time, and my husband ordered the BLT, and I had the fried fish sandwich. My sandwich was good, but his BLT was amazing! I've never had bacon perfectly cooked like that - not the cheap bacon, either. Lots of perfectly crips bacon, that wasn't too thin, or too thick that it was like jerky. Yum! Fries were perfectly crisp, as well. Also, the prices were cheaper than in Anchorage. What?! Ok, this proves that Anchorage restaurants are over-priced for no reason! If we can get a great meal in the middle of nowhere for less ... Anyway, we got some large cookies ($1.95/ea I believe) at the front counter to take with us, and we traveled on, over the pass, a little passed Galbraith and back. We tried a couple of the cookies along the way and wow, they were really good. I have been searching for the perfect gingerbread cookie for years - crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with that taste of dark molassas. I FOUND IT HERE!!! Their spice cookies are perfection! I wish I could get some right now. By the time we got to Coldfoot again, it was late, and we stopped in for dinner. We got the dinner buffet, for $21.95. We totally expected it to be like Golden Corral food and quality. NOPE! Here is what was on the menu: Salad bar (a GOOD one at that with lots of fresh options) Pasta with acorn squash Roasted Summer Squash with Beets Parmesan Potato Wedges Stuffed Peppers with Cornbread and Sausage Tuna Steaks with Pancetta Mocha Squares (tasted like chocolate cheesecake - yum!) Assorted homemade cookies Wow, everything was so good! It was surreal that this small place, out in the middle of nowhere, that is guaranteed to get business, actually cares about what they serve, and they serve it well. Very heathly options cooked up deliciously. Amazing! We camped a couple miles north, and the came back for the breakfast buffet the next morning (~$15). There was a great fruit bar, with fresh picked blueberries, along with fresh, canned, and previously frozen fruit, cottage cheese, yogurt, granola, etc. I had the yogurt, blueberries and granola, and it was delicious! I forgot to write the menu down, but the hot foods included bacon, sausage, french toast, pancakes, a scrambled egg hash that was delicious, homeamde citrus scones that were divine, and more. So good and lots of healthy options. We ended up buying the rest of the spice cookies that they had on hand for the road. Wow, I still can't get over how great this place is. The service is great, the food is awesome, and best of all, they don't have to care what they serve (being that they are the only option for hundreds of miles in either direction), but they do, and that deserves the extra star.

Completely off the grid, I think they do a terrific job with food prep here. I had a great clam chowder with Yukon potatoes, and a big French Dip sandwich. My cohorts had the veggie burger, and two orders of fried shrimp. I must tell you we were all pleasantly surprised at the food quality and quantity. Just amazing, when I can't even cook with a full, modern kitchen!!!

If you want a camp site for your RV with hookups, be persistent. This camp is about midway between Fairbanks and Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. Obviously under-trained staff and managed very loosely. My husband went in and asked how to get a camping spot with hookups for the RV and where to pay. The female at the counter told him they did not have hookups for RVs but we could drive around to the left and find a spot out of everyone's way to just park. When he came back to the RV with this info, I was shocked since all the reading literature and the guide at the Yukon River Camp had told us Coldfoot Camp was the only place on the Dalton Highway with RV hookups on the way to Deadhorse, and I had called ahead before we left Fairbanks and was told they did have RV sites with hookups. We drove around to the left as she'd instructed only to find the drive looped back around to the main road, no safe place to park. Decided to drive back to the other entrance and ask again. This time a young man finally came to the desk (desk was often unattended with several minutes wait time whether paying for a meal, buying propane, checking in, etc.). He did know they had RV hookups and sent us looking for a site up the hill "over there somewhere." Indeed, they have a handful of pull-through RV sites with water and 15 amp electric. No sewer, no dump station. Despite the staff snafus and waits, the meals were decent and all you can eat and the gift shop had a good supply of tshirts, sweatshirts, etc. Lots of truckers stop here. Basic, no frills place. You pay for unreliable Wifi which is slow at best, and randomly shuts down completely, and was the most expensive WiFi we've found so far. However, it is a small slice of civilization in the middle of wilderness.