Visiting Yellowknife

Yellowknife Tours – Day Tours in Winter

5 years ago
6 years ago
2 Comments
by Kyle Thomas
Yellowknife Daytime Tours

There is more to do in Yellowknife than you might think. For starters, we have our list of free activities you can get up to in Yellowknife. However, there is also a long list of daytime tours you can participate in during the winter. So if you are travelling to Yellowknife for business, or to see the Aurora Borealis, or if you have just never left the comfort of your downtown apartment and office job since you moved to Yellowknife, this list is for you.

Now for simplicity sake, we are going to make this into a series. Part one, this one, winter daytime tours, and part two, summer daytime tours. To check for the summer daytime tours list, check out our daytime tours tag here.

On to the list! I will break it down by the type of tour, with a short description of what the activity actually is and then list the tours that I know of (if one is missing contact me). This list will change and evolve over time. Keep in mind that I’m trying to only list the actual tour provider and not a reseller of someone else’s tour.

Featured Tours

Full disclosure, featured tours are paid listings that go to help support Yellowknife Online content creation.

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Sundog Adventures

Take a dog-assisted kicksledding tour around beautiful Yellowknife Bay. Explore the Back Bay Ice Caves or visit the Snow Castle!
Phone: 1-867-446-8687
Website/Email: Learn More
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Yellowknife Community Tour

Learn about Yellowknife from a passionate life-long Yellowknifer. History, cultural, things to do.
Phone: 1-867-444-0901
Website/Email: Learn More

Hiking Tours

There is a lot of great hiking around Yellowknife and just outside of the city. Some of the best trails you have to drive to, so often times your best way to experience them is through a tour provider. Many tours head out to the popular Cameron Falls, while others also hit hotspots like Prelude Lake Hiking Trail and the Cameron River Ramparts

Interpretive Tours

To go beyond just a typical hiking tour, taking an interpretive tour is an excellent way to learn more about what is surrounding Yellowknife. What type of forest we are in, what types of animals call this area home, what foods can be naturally harvested, and the different types of geography we are on. An interpretive tour is educational, informative and a great way to see and learn about this area.

Ice Caves in Yellowknife

Ice Caves Tours

An Ice Caves tour is like a very short hike and depending on who you are with, also part interpretive tour. The Ice Caves themselves are a natural phenomenon and just really neat to crawl into and look around. Some tours will just offer to take you to the caves, while others will offer you a more in-depth look at how they are created.

Yellowknife City Tours

A Yellowknife City Tour is a wonderful introduction to Yellowknife and, sometimes, a leason on the history of Yellowknife. A simple Yellowknife City Tour will take you around to a few sights to show you want every visitor might see. A great Yellowknife City Tour will wheel you around Yellowknife in and out of popular and lesser known areas while weaving stories of how Yellowknife came to be. From the indigenous people of the area, to the early explorers, all the way up to when gold was discovered. A Yellowknife City Tour should leave you wanting more with a list of things to check out and explore during your time in Yellowknife.

Ice Fishing Tours

Ice fishing is a favourite pastime for many Northern residents and in another form it is a traditional way of life. Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories has always heavily relied on fishing as a food source, which is why so many of our location restaurants boost using local fish on their menus.

Dog Sledding Tours

Dog Sledding was a staple way of life in the North for a long time, be it for check traplines, traveling from community to community, or racing in local dog derbies. While all of this still exists in one form or another, today you can also head out on your own dogsled. You can take a ride in a big sled or try your hand at driving your own dog team.

We keep a list of local Dog Sled Tours here on Yellowknife Online.

Snowshoeing Tours

Snowshoeing is a fun way to get out and explore the winter wonderland that surrounds Yellowknife. There is nothing quite as satisfying as hearing the crunch of the snow under your snowshoes as you trek over untouch lands. Read up on the different snowshoeing tours offered in Yellowknife, some are simple and let you try out snowshoes, while other will take you out into the wilderness on traditional snowshoes and teach you about their traditional uses.

Winter Activity Tours

A bit of a generic category but when there is only one tour operator for a specific winter activity I didn’t think they needed their own category. There are a few tours that will take you out into the great outdoors in a few different and unique ways. Such as a Fat Biking tour, which is a bike with oversized tires that allow you to float on top of the snow. Or a kicksledding tour that is assists by huskies, kind of like driving your own mini dog team.

Tugah Northern Experiences

Indigenous/Cultural Tours

And finally, a unique way to learn about Northern Canada, especially around Yellowknife is through an Indigenous Cultural tour. When you join an indigenous cultural tour you get to emerge yourself in a culture that has inhabited the area and land around Yellowknife for thousands of years. Different tours will demonstrate different components but at the end of the day, you will get to experience part of the local culture and come away with a better, deeper, understanding their traditions and ways of life.

Flightseeing Tour

This is like a sightseeing tour, but from the air. A few different avaiation companies based here in Yellowknife provide these tours around the city as well as the surrounding area for a variety of durations.

  • Air Tindi – Long standing bush plane and northern aviation company based at the Yellowknife Airport and in Old Town.
  • Amhic Air – Small scale floatplane and ski-plane operation based on Old Town Yellowknife.
  • Acosta Helicopters – Helicopter company based at the Yellowknife Airport

Wildlife Viewing Tour

I wouldn’t say that Yellowknife is a wildlife destination, but there are many critters and beasts that roam around the area. Often times little animals such as foxes and ptarmigan can be seen just around town or while on another tour. However, if you are interested in seeing a larger animal you have to get a good distance out of town. Buffalo – or Bison – can often be seen between Behchoko and Fort Providence, with a couple companies offering tours, which is mainly just transportation.

Are there other tours out there available during the day? Let us know.

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About the author

Kyle Thomas

Kyle grew up in Yellowknife and is a local entrepreneur, writer, baker, and Yellowknife Advocate who is addicted to learning as much as he can about the community and sharing it with anyone who'll listen. In 2009 he developed YkOnline.ca. A website all about living, working and thriving in Yellowknife for residents, newcomers, and visitors.

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