Northern Lights Tours — Local services in Yellowknife

Bucket list item...Check! Wonderful experience...Check! Thank you Northern Lights Tours Yellowknife for making my experience a great one!!

We visited Yellowknife for 3 days and 3 nights and booked the following tours: 3-day winter clothing rental Aurora Tour x 2 nights Snowmobiling Tour, 3 hrs plus campfire lunch Dog sledding All Tours include pick up and drop off

I went out 3 Aurora Tours, only 2 with Northern Lights Tours; one with sheld and one with Julian. NLT tour is mobile so you go wherever the Aurora is. Depending on the night, it will depend on where you end up. It was -22°C when we went...thanks to the rented gear, we were Cozy. I wanted to see the lit up teepees, which NLT offers when the Aurora is there. To guarantee that experience, I booked a stationary tour with a company that offers beautiful ones. As beautiful as they were, there were no lights. Yhey just drop you off and leave you wondering around their property. If I were to do it again, I would do all 3 nights at NLT. We saw the lights on both nights and boy, they were awesome!!! Your picked up on a bus. When your stopped at a sight, you have the option to warm up in the bus whenever you want. The also fed us with cookies and hot chocolate- makes you feel like kid again how excited you feel when they announce it 🤭. As promised, on the tour, they take professional pics of you and send them via google drive the next day. They also gave directions on the phone settings required to take your own pics ...no gatekeeping!!!

The dog sledding tour was fun. We had the pleasure of meeting Kelly, our guide. The property was lovely so we took our own pics while we waited for our turn. We enjoyed the dog sledding while covered in blankets. We were served hot chocolate and Bannock. We also got to try our hand at axe throwing - an extra add-on by Kelly. Kelley sent us video of our ride hour later - an extra add-onby Kelly. You also have the opportunity to meet and pet the dogs of you want.

The 3 hr snowmobiling tour with campfire lunch was great. Our tour guide was Sheldon. Sheldon, Sheldon, Sheldon... he is a party all on his own! Interesting and entertaining conversation. He really put thought into our lunch, including cupcakes for dessert! He gave us Mexican hot chocolate that I think was from his own stash - so delicious 😋. He took photos and video of us riding. He made the campfire and told us story after story. He was better than any TV series! He also gave us a sneak peak of what ice fishing feels like just before the end of the tour.

I communicated with Julian via WhatsApp regarding this trip and he was very accommodating and attentive. He's definitely a busy guy as he runs Tours and does the administrative duties. If you're type A and need to have all your plans and times ready before you leave home, like me, this may pose as a slight snag in your planning. My advice: roll with it and relax. Julian will take care of you and remember that you are on vacation!

I highly recommend these guys as they offer a variety of tours, their price is comparable and because they are damn good at what they do!!!

My only regret: I didn't book...

Aloooha! Some nights to remember, all because to this one-of-a-kind ultimate expert in chasing the Aurora Borealis, his name is Julian from the “Northern Lights Tours Yellowknife, Canada.” Julian was “Da Best”, a great guide, safe driver and was very experienced, knowledgeable, kind, driven and very motivated. He also replies to my messages quickly and precisely! He shares with you his genuine love and passion for the Northern Lights and he provided an amazing information about the Northern Lights, and my favorite part and highlight of this tour besides of course the Aurora Borealis was the hot chocolate and his delicious Maple cookies that he served every night during the tour, and of course everyone’s favorite was the hot chocolate and S’mores at their teepee tent, looking at the bright moon with the lunar halo around it, the milky way, the calming and tranquil sounds of the forest, Hā (means: Breath of Life in Hawaiian.) Julian was passionate about the Northern Lights and his enthusiasm was contagious, that is why I ended up extending my tour! I originally booked their 3-day Northern Lights Tour+Hotel package, then I ended up chasing the Northern Lights every night with them for 7 or 8 days (I think?) and every single night was a success! He knew the best viewing spots to take us, he will drive us around to many locations, like their teepee, tent, cabin, and lakesides each night to give us the highest chance to see strong Aurora! He took us further than usual in order for us to experience the best views of the Aurora and he will not give up until we see one, even if it takes 7 hours chasing these beautiful Auroras! You can tell that he is passionate about the northern lights and what he does as his enthusiasm and knowledge is apparent from the outset. And shortly after the trip Julian will send us the pictures that he took, and they are all fantastic pictures. My Samsung S23 (got frozen) struggled to capture the lights even though they were very clearly visible to the naked eye, so it was a relief to have a pro like Julian taking shots that we could keep. He will also show you how to make the most of your camera no matter what you are shooting with. Amazing excursion! I really couldn't have picked a better guide, and I was incredibly fortunate to get clear skies and strong solar activity each night of our tour which resulted in some incredible sights. This trip was phenomenal! This was a once in a lifetime experience that meant a lot and I’m very grateful I booked it through “Northern Lights Tours in Yellowknife”, Julian really did an awesome and fantastic job and couldn't have been a better host and guide. This tour was worth every cent and was the ultimate way to fulfil my Northern Lights dream. Thanks, Julian, for this great experience of a lifetime. Wholeheartedly recommended it...

We booked both an aurora chasing tour and an ice fishing tour with this company. For the price, the aurora tour is a good budget-friendly option. We booked three nights of aurora chasing with Julian and were able to see the aurora clearly on 1 out of the 3 nights due to it being very cloudy. Obviously, this is not the fault of the tour group. Julian and his team tried very hard to drive to multiple locations to try and find the auora for us. Each evening around 5 PM, Julian would email us our exact pickup time, which was usually between 8:00–8:15 PM. The buses were very punctual, but since we were always the last to be picked up, they were already packed with limited seating available.

The tour group consists of two full buses, so if you're looking for a more intimate experience, this may not be the best choice—you get what you pay for. Julian and his team also offer free photography, which is a nice perk, but due to the large group size, there is a significant lineup for photos. After the tour, we were given hot chocolate and Subway cookies, except on the last night when we were not offered cookies.

We also booked an ice fishing tour with this company, which I wouldn’t really recommend. It seemed like they outsourced it to a third-party operator, as our guide had only been living in the area for four months. The fishing rods were broken, and they provided little background on how ice fishing actually works. One of the tourists in our group had a bite, but the fish got away with the hook because the guide hadn’t tied it properly.

That said, the fresh fish lunch was delicious—though it wasn’t caught in Kam Lake - the lake we fished on. In fact, it turns out that keeping fish from that lake is not allowed, so the fish was brought in from another location. However, if you fish on Great Slave Lake, you can keep the fish, so I suggest booking your ice fishing tour on Great Slave Lake.

Overall, the aurora tour was decent for the price, but I’d skip the ice...