Aurora Village, Yellowknife
With cousin. Aurora in Iceland back in November 2017. Turned out that it was a decent shot~
Yellowknife Airport
Yellowknife Airport
Avoid coming here during December lol...The temperature is brutal. I encounter the two coldest days while I am here, -29 to -31°C but feel like -37°C according to the app. My hands almost get frostbite when I try to take some pictures in the city for just few seconds. Two best months to visit are March and September, but you should also expect more tourists.
Am I lucky or unlucky? How is it fair lol...
What is the aurora
Aurora is a light show, caused by energy from the Sun and fueled by electrically charged particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field. The phenomenon happens when the solar particles enter the Earth's upper atmosphere and cause the collision between moving electrons with the oxygen and nitrogen. The color of auroras depends on how much energy they have at the time of these collisions. High energy electron causes oxygen to emit green light, and low energy electrons cause a red light. On the other hand, nitrogen emits blue light, and the blending of these colors can lead to purple, pink, and white colors too.
Red, yellow, and green aurora, but it is very weak on the first night
Aurora is moving beautifully! It happens 30 minutes before we leave on the second night
Flights
Most common airlines to Yellowknife are Air Canada and WestJet. You can use 25,000 United or Singapore airlines' miles to redeem a round-trip flight between the States and Yellowknife under the Star Alliance program. However, these award flights do not meet my desired departure and arrival time, so I use Chase Ultimate Reward points to redeem my flights instead.
On my way to gate A2 in Calgary, flying to Yellowknife
WestJet: De Havilland (Bombardier) DHC-8-400 Dash 8Q
Fri (12/14): 6:00am-8:14am, 11:52am-2:04pm, 3:45pm-6:37pm
YZF - YEG - YUL - PHL: 16,452 UR points
Sun (12/16): 6:00am-8:17am, 12:05pm-5:56pm, 8:00pm-9:39pm
Attractions & Activities
Aurora viewing
There are many aurora tours in Yellowknife, and most of them are the same to a certain degree. I choose one night with North Star Adventures tour and one night with Aurora Village. North Star Adventures will drive you around and chase after aurora base on the weather, so it increases the chance of seeing aurora significantly if the sky is cloudy. Coincidentally the sky is cloudy on my first night there, so I am glad that I go with North Star on the first night. We have a relatively smaller group, so it is also easy to chat and make friends with everyone. I am lucky to make new friends, Joseph from Australia and Alice from Taiwan, and Alice is also our guide! North Star will provide you n+5 photos for free with their water mark on the pictures, and n represents your party size. Few facts about North Star Adventures:
- The company will collect everyone's hotel and airbnb locations and send out a pick up time table via email between 4 to 6pm on the day of the tour
- They will provide hot chocolate in the middle of the tour
- They will help you take as many pictures as you want. You get n+5 photos for free.
- They will help you set up your camera
Joseph and Me
Rare multi colors of aurora, especially red, but the aurora was relatively weak unfortunately
Next day I go with Aurora Village, which is probably one of the most popular and commercial tour in the town. Initially I am a little hesitant to join this tour because I do not want people keep on walking into my shot when I try to take pictures of aurora. It turns out that the amount of people is actually a lot less than I originally expected. I make some new friends from Vancouver and Los Angeles here as well. Few facts about Aurora Village:
- Private property and there are 21 teepee in the area
- $25 for using the heating chair
- They provide photo service: $25 on the first photo and $15 each after
- $10 for tripod rental
- $25 to extend your stay for an extra 90 minutes, highly recommend if the weather is good
- Raven Hill tends to have least amount of people, often time only photographers get up here
- Buffalo Hill is the highest hill in the area, and it provides a panoramic view
- There are gift shop, dining hall, and restroom on sites
Aurora Village, private property
I stay in the teepee #13
Unlimited green tea, hot chocolate, and coffee. Lovely!
Aurora with teepee #9
Aurora with teepee #9
Buffalo Hill
Buffalo Hill
Buffalo Hill
Buffalo Hill
Aurora with teepee #6, 7, and 8
Aurora with teepee #3, 4, 5, 6, and 7
Aurora above the lake
Aurora with teepee #4, 5, 6, and 7
Aurora with teepee #1 and 2
Aurora with teepee #6, 7, and 8
New friend(Dad) and his family from Los Angeles. He also graduates from UT Austin!
That's me~
Gift shop
City of Yellowknife
Everyone should visit the city hall because they will give you a certificate and a small Yellowknife pin!
Yellowknife pin. It is pretty cool
Certificate of reaching North of 60° parallel
Outside of City Hall
Wolf statue inside the city hall
Polar bear statue inside the city hall
Visit Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre
I normally do not like to visit any sort of museum, but Joseph and I do not have any activity plan in the town, so why not give it a try. You can visit the city hall first and get your certificate there, then walk here, which only takes about 5 to 6 minutes. As I expect, I do not like this place too much lol...Nonetheless I take some pictures~ Descriptions below are taken from the Heritage Centre directly.
When you see this sign, you are very close to the Heritage Centre
Playground area
Lobby area
Polar bear
- They have black skin. Under the skin there is a layer of fat that can measure 11.5 cm thick
- They are so well insulated by fur and fat that they're nearly invisible when looked at using heat detecting infrared photography
- Canada has the largest number of polar bears - an estimated 15,000 bears. Approximately 3,000 of these live along the arctic coasts of the NWT
Muskox, it moves easily over rocky, icy surfaces with their round, sharp-edged hooves
Beluga
- Travel over 5,000 km in one year
- Communicate using calls, whistles, chirps, squeaks, grunts, bubbles, changes in head shape and body position
- Make at least 24 different vocal sounds
- Can dive as deep as 1,000 meters
Caribou (Reindeer)
Fox & Muskrat
Air Services dated back to 1918
Moose
Bush Pilots Monument
Another activity you can do is to explore the old town in Yellowknife. There are attractions such as McAvoy Rock and Bush Pilots Monument. Bush Pilots Monument is to honor the pilots who helped open up the north to the rest of Canada. In the past, bush plane was a vital source for the transportation of people, food, supplies and vehicles. In order to see the monument, you will have to take the stairs up to the hill in the center of old town. There is a platform on the top of the hill, and you will be able to see the city skyline of Yellowknife.
Skyline of Yellowknife
Joseph with the monument
Accommodation
Most of aurora tours will either pick you up from the hotels below or from airbnb within the town. However, some of them do not offer such a service to pick you up from airbnb. In which case, you will have to go to one of these hotels before the pick up time, and they will only drop you off at these hotels by the end of the tour. You should definitely consider the draw back if you want to book with airbnb because it is ridiculous to walk from one of these hotels back to your airbnb under the temperature of -31°C, which is what I do...
Chateau Nova
Take over Explorer as the new highest rating hotel in the town. The hotel is fairly new, and the price is on the higher end compared to the other hotels. If you are looking for a luxury hotel, this is probably going to be your best bet.
Source: Online from Expedia
Explorer
It used to be the highest rating hotel in the town before Chateau Nova was built. That's being said it is still a very good hotel to stay at if you are not a fan of other hotel brands or airbnb.
Source: Online from Booking.com
Quality Inn
As a member of Choice Hotel brand, if you happen to have some points to use, it can save you a lot of money. Its location is right next to the main street, Franklin Avenue, so it is very convenient to most of the stores and restaurants.
Source: Online from Choice Hotel
Days Inn
The price is going to be on the lower end of these hotel chains mentioned above. Personally I will rather stay with airbnb because the price is still fairly high with Days Inn during the winter season.
Source: Online from Booking.com
Airbnb (Yellowknife Travelers Lodging House license b&b)
I choose to stay at airbnb, and I highly recommend to stay at this particular one. The owners are really friendly and helpful. They are quick at responding. The male owner picks me up from the airport and show me around the house. They rent out a total of 4 rooms on the 2nd floor. The place is clean. It is very warm inside the house, so you do not have to worry about the temperature at night.
Living room on the 1st floor
Restaurants
A Taste of Saigon
I plan to eat at Korea House for dinner originally, but somehow I oversleep even with an alarm. So the Korean restaurant closes when I get there. Alternatively, I end up eating Pho here. The price is fairly cheap. They also offer a variety of options to choose from. At a night of -31°C, it is fantastic to have Pho.
There are plenty of seats inside. You can't go wrong with Pho when it is freezing out there!
Korea House Restaurant
As I mention above, I do not get to eat at this restaurant because I oversleep unfortunately. Apparently the restaurant closes at 7pm on the Saturday...I am tilted off the face of the earth.
I don't understand why it closes at 7pm on a Saturday...Source: Yelp
The Mantle
A Filipino restaurant, on the 3rd floor of Days Inn. It is very convenient to the residents of the hotel, especially during the winter months. The foods look delicious from the picture online, but I didn't end up coming here unfortunately. It is very cold, and I try to avoid going out from airbnb as much as possible.
NWT Brewing Company / The Woodyard Brewhouse & Eatery
This place is on the way to the old town, so it is a nice stopping point to have a place to sit down and get some coffee or bear. When you walk outside under the temperature of -31°C for a while, you are desperately trying to get somewhere inside to warm up. I ask myself a question multiple times: Why am I doing this to myself...I should just take a taxi.
Premium Beer Flight $14.50.
AMBRRR ALE - BUG REPELLENT IPA - NITRO PORTER - ROTATING SEASONAL BEER
Hot chocolate
Soup of the day - Bread with beef stew
Further inside the restaurant
Further inside the restaurant
Area near the entrance
Joseph from Australia
Items to bring
The average temperature is around -20°C in December. Make sure you follow my item check list or you can rent winter clothing from the tour companies. The cost of winter clothing rental ranges from $40 to $60 per day, so you might as well invest in your winter gears in my opinion.
- HEAT TECH ultra warm t-shirt and pants from UNIQLO or similar products
- Long sleeve shirt & a sweater as the middle layer
- Windproof down jacket. Local mostly wear Canada Goose jacket as the outer layer
- Winter ear muffs
- Winter balaclava or ski mask
- Winter wool sock
- Winter gloves, preferably insulated cotton and windproof
- Winter hat, beanies, or if down jacket with hooded
- Tripod and camera. They will charge you for tripod rental
- Rest are optional subject to one's need
Don't get fooled by these city shots below and think it's not freezing out there...There are so many times I almost get a frostbite when I only take my hands out for a few seconds...
56th St, near my airbnb
51 Ave is closed because they have this playground for kids during the Winter...wth lol...
YK Centre, shopping mall. North Star Adventures office is also on the 1st floor here
Aurora Village office
Dettah Ice Road is filled with snow. Road is closed when I visit, but a vehicle still goes through...
Do you recommend joining the tours?
In the winter months, I definitely recommend joining the aurora tours to save yourself some troubles. I will suggest to wait until one to two days prior your arrival to book a reservation, so you can choose which type of tours to base on the weather prediction, aurora hunting tour where they drive you around versus aurora village where you wait for aurora to show up at a private property. If the weather is nice, I go for aurora village. If the weather is cloudy, I go for aurora hunting tour.
Yellowknife or Iceland?
If you are going for aurora specifically, then it's Yellowknife hands down. However, I rate Iceland higher than Yellowknife because there are more attractions and activities to do in Iceland. On the other hand, you will have a much higher chance seeing aurora in Yellowknife. Aurora is more like a bonus in Iceland, and the weather is very unpredictable in Iceland, especially in the Winter.
Best month to visit Yellowknife?
March and September. I recommend September over March because a lot of people may still find the temperature being too low in March. However, March has the lowest chance of significant precipitation, which includes rain or snow. Note that if the sky is not clear, you will not be able to see aurora. If you can't make a trip here during these two months, you should also consider early April.
Camera settings to capture the aurora?
My settings are F2.8, ISO 800 to 3200, and shutter speed anywhere between 8 to 30 seconds. Generally you want to use the manual focus and set it to infinity because it is too dark to use auto focus at night. However, if your picture is out of focus, you may consider raising the F-stop and increase the ISO or shutter speed. Note that if you increase your shutter speed too much, the star may become a star trail instead, which is something you may want to avoid. Alternatively, set your focus point at hyperfocus distance if there is a foreground in your shot.
Other activities in Yellowknife in the Winter?
My entire focus is about aurora during this trip. However, there are many other activities you can consider if you come here in the winter season: dog sledding, snowmobiling, ice fishing, and visit the old town and Dettah Ice Road.
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