Q&A: Where in Canada is it best to experience Northern Lights?
Question by *^*nyqt*^*: Where in Canada is it best to experience Northern Lights?
Hello, I am from New York and recently discovered a keen fascination for aurora borealis (Northern Lights). I also learned the best time to experience them was between september-october, march-april so I was planning a trip for this september to northern Canada. My question is how far north into Canada do I have to drive in order to be able to experience the northern lights?
Best answer:
Answer by Tyler
i believe you would have to go up to the northern territories. your best bets would be the Yukon, or the NorthWest Territories.
i would recommend the Yukon because i believe it’s more developed the the NWT
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the further north the better colours and sounds become. You can sometimes see them as far south as just north of Montreal/Tororonto if its a cold clear evening and they are out in force but you only see it as a faint white glow on the horizon and dont hear the snaps and pops on a strong nite.
The furthest point north in Canada thats easily accessible by public transport would be Fort McMurray in Alberta. You can fly in to Edmonton and then take a regular commuter airline like westjet http://www.westjet.com to fly from Edmonton to Fort McMurray. Here is a link to the towns tourism site and yes they even have northern light packages!
http://www.fortmcmurraytourism.com/index.php?page_id=1003 (in fact their hospital there is called “northern lights regional health” as happen to work in that field. /
Fort McMurray is also home of the oil sands deposits and that process of digging out oil with huge cranes and huge trucks is worth a look see too and open to public tours.
Edmonton is home of the worlds largest mall with a huge indoor water park, hockey rink, submarine pools and like 500 stores so its worth a day on the journey too if you ever do.
Nunavut or North west territories
The best way to see them is on a cool clear night, and outside the cities where the glow of streetlights and buildings will not block the view.
The only place I ever saw them in 40 years here was on the TransCanada highway between Calgary and Banff Alberta around 8-9PM. I think it was March or April. We were on a bus headed for some spring skiing at Lake Louise when the bus driver pulled off the road and let everyone get out to watch it for 10-15 minutes.
And as others have said, they don’t happen all the time. So don’t count on them for your trip or you may be disappointed.
The further North the better. I saw them just the once from the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Anywhere north of the 60th parallel
Northern Saskatchewan, and anywhere north of that, even in Saskatoon we often see them