Northwest Territories: Northern Lights and Great Slave Lake
Travel guide · editorialAn area nearly four times the size of Germany, home to only about 45,000 people: the Northwest Territories are among the most remote regions on Earth. A vacation in the Northwest Territories is all about the northern lights over Yellowknife, the whitewater of the Nahanni, and the great lakes.
Landscape and People
The Northwest Territories stretch from the Alberta border to the Arctic Archipelago. The Mackenzie, Canada's longest river, flows from Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea. Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake are among the largest lakes in North America, and the latter, at more than 600 meters deep, is the deepest. In the southwest lies Nahanni National Park Reserve with Virginia Falls, which are nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls; it was one of the very first World Heritage Sites. Wood Buffalo National Park on the border with Alberta protects wood bison. Roughly half the population belongs to Indigenous peoples, the Dene, Métis, and Inuvialuit; the territory has eleven official languages.
Yellowknife
Yellowknife, the capital, sits on the north shore of Great Slave Lake and began in the 1930s as a gold-rush town. Today its residents make their living from government work and from the diamond mines north of the city. The Old Town, with houseboats in the bay and the Bush Pilot's Monument, recalls the pioneer era. The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre showcases the culture and history of the North. Yellowknife is considered one of the best places in the world to watch the northern lights, which can be visible here on more than 200 nights a year. In winter an ice road crosses the lake, and in March the Snowking Festival is celebrated in a snow castle. In 2023 the city had to be temporarily evacuated because of wildfires.
Getting There and Best Time to Visit
Flights serve Yellowknife from Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, and the Mackenzie Highway connects it with Alberta. Many communities can be reached only by plane or, in winter, via ice roads. The best time to see the northern lights is from late August to September and from December to March; for canoe trips and the midnight sun, go between June and August.