Staycation, Covidcation–call it what you want, but many of us have limited travel options as we ride out this pandemic staying close to home. Fortunately for us, a dream vacation we’ve meant to take for years did not require leaving our home province. Churchill, Manitoba is a remote northern destination for eco-tourism and the place where you can see polar bears and beluga whales in the wild on the same trip! It’s a remarkable slice of Canada.

Note: Travel Manitoba partially supported our travel to Churchill. We paid for all activities and accommodations. 

How far north is Churchill, Manitoba?

Located on the west shore of Hudson Bay, Churchill sits on the 58th parallel north. It’s about a thousand kilometres from Winnipeg, and there are no paved roads in or out of town, which has a population of under 1,000. It’s remote!

To get to Churchill, you either have to take a two-and-a-half-hour flight or a two-day train journey from Winnipeg. You can also drive from Winnipeg to the northern community of Thompson (about eight hours) and then take an overnight train from there to Churchill.

Churchill Train Station

We love taking the train, so our first choice was to get a Via Rail berth to Churchill and fly back. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, only coach seats were available at the time of our trip, and there was no food service on board. That sounded less than ideal, so we decided to fly there and back with CalmAir. 

Churchill’s remoteness, combined with a busy work travel schedule, meant we kept putting this trip off. The pandemic gave us the gift of time, and the desire to see something other than our four walls, the motivation to finally make the journey to the Polar Bear Capital of the World. 

A brief history

Are you wondering how such a small, remote community came to exist? Going back 4,000 years, Indigenous peoples–the Inuit, Dene, and Swampy Cree converged in the area, where they hunted and fished. The first Europeans arrived in 1619, but it wasn’t until the Hudson Bay Company built a fort in 1688 that it became a permanent settlement to support the fur trade. The trading post was named after John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough and an ancestor of Winston Churchill. He served as the governor of the Hudson Bay Company.

When the rail line was completed in 1929, Churchill became a critical seaport for grain shipping to Europe. It was also a military training centre at one point and a centre for atmospheric research.

Today, the port still sees some grain shipment activity, but Churchill is mainly known as a tourist spot, and travellers come from around the world for the chance to see polar bears, belugas, and the brilliant northern lights in the night sky.

Churchill the town

We were able to walk most of the town in under an hour. Most shops were open during our visit, but some had shortened hours. 

Before this trip, we didn’t have a clear sense of what life is like in a northern town surrounded by sea and tundra. We discovered that the landscape is harshly beautiful, featuring a lot of rock dotted with the occasional patch of wildflowers. Most buildings have a simple design, and as you’d expect, there isn’t a lot of traffic. Many people get around on ATVs. 

There is a patrol perpetually on the alert for polar bears who wander too close to town and movable signs marking recent sightings. Walking inside town is relatively safe, but you should remain alert. Churchillians generally leave their vehicles and houses unlocked in case someone has to get to seek protection. I found myself routinely scanning my surroundings to look for the closest place of safety when out walking. After a day or two, though, I felt perfectly comfortable on Churchill’s main streets.

The Northern Store provides most of the town’s groceries, clothing, liquor, and household items. The added cost of transporting goods up north makes just about everything more expensive, although the government subsidizes food prices to some extent. 

The massive Town Centre Complex contains health services, recreational activities, a library, and other social services.

For visitors, there are two excellent museums. The Parks Canada Visitor Centre, located in the train station, features interpretative displays of the life and nature of the area. The Itsanitaq Museum offers a fantastic collection of Inuit carvings and artifacts. It also has an excellent selection of souvenir items in its gift shop.

Visitor Centre

 

Itasanitaq Museum

We had heard good things about the Arctic Trading Company, where you can purchase artwork and local crafts. Unfortunately, the hours of the shop did not align with the free time we had outside of our scheduled tours, so we were unable to visit.

The Seawalls of Churchill

In 2017, as the town struggled due to a flood-damaged section of the rail line, Travel Manitoba sponsored a mural project in partnership with PangeaSeed Foundation and SeaWalls: Artists for Oceans. The artwork promotes ocean conservation, and its creation gave the town a much-needed morale boost during a difficult time. (The rail line has since been repaired.) The large-scale artwork is stunning and makes a walk around town as a tourist a kind of treasure hunt to discover them all.

Our Five-Day Ultimate Summer Safari

We booked our trip with Lazy Bear Expeditions, which offers a five-day package that includes accommodation at the Lazy Bear Lodge, daily breakfasts, several tours and optional additional activities.

There are several tour operators and a variety of hotels in Churchill at different price points. It’s possible to coordinate your own itinerary by booking tours and experiences separately. We chose Lazy Bear for our trip because it has a stellar reputation and was early to establish COVID-compliant offerings once travel north was permitted in Manitoba.

Lazy Bear Lodge and Expeditions is an eco-friendly, family-run operation. Its log structure, handcrafted from reclaimed wood as the result of two forest fires, imbues a warm and cozy feeling throughout.

The rooms are simple but comfortable and come furnished with two fluffy white robes, an in-suite coffee system, and an ample supply of personal toiletries.

 

Lazy Bear Cafe

The Lazy Bear Cafe offers an extensive menu that reflects local cuisine (e.g., Arctic char) as well as international favourites (chilli and burgers). In place of a spirits menu, the restaurant has an extensive specialty coffee selection.  The wait staff is friendly and attentive, although we did find they were a bit overwhelmed at times, I suspect because they didn’t have a full bench due to COVID. We found the food to be above average and especially liked that their produce is from the lodge’s organic greenhouse, which we got to visit.

Arctic Char

Daily Tours

The tours that are part of the Ultimate Summer Safari package highlight the most amazing aspects of the Churchill experience. Our guide Sarah, who was with us from airport pickup to dropoff, provided us with a knowledgable interpretation of Churchill’s environment, culture, flora and fauna. She also kept us safe, making sure to patrol areas in advance for bears. 

After settling into our rooms, Sarah took our group of about 15 out to tour the town while briefing us on safety, local landmarks, history and culture. All very interesting, but the thrilling adventures started the following day. 

Venturing out on the water for our Beluga Whale Boat Tour was the first opportunity to see these abundant and curious animals in Hudson Bay. There was no danger of disappointment as can be the case on wildlife tours; there are thousands of belugas that surface frequently. Not to be upstaged, a polar bear on the lam from conservation officers who were nudging it away from town, swam so close to our boat that we could hear it breathing as its huge furry paws paddled along.

The Whale tour also included a visit to the Prince of Wales Fort, built by the Hudson Bay Company at the mouth of the Churchill River in the 1700s to protect its cargo ships.

The Parks Canada interpretative guide led us through the site, giving us a sense of what it was like for the men posted there back in the day. One of the realities that didn’t take any imagination to conjure was the vast and relentless flying insect population. We were very glad that we had purchased bug nets for our heads. That, alongside a generous dousing with insect spray, mostly protected us. Remarkably, our Parks Canda guide (who had grown up in Churchill) did not use any protective equipment. That’s hardcore (or maybe we’re just wimps)!

Next up was the 8-hour Hudson Bay Coastal Boat Tour, which cruises about 160 kilometres north of Churchill to Hubbard Point.  A traditional hunting and stopping point for Inuit people, Hubbard Point is located near the Nunavut-Manitoba border. Before disembarking from the boat, we were reminded that we were likely to come across old animal bones and other archeological remnants and that we should not remove anything. Scientists continue to research the area for evidence of past inhabitants dating back 1,000 years or more.

Pristine Hubbard Point

Between the sea journey and a walk-around at the Point, we saw three bears (one was a mom and cub), a golden eagle, a female caribou, Arctic hares, Arctic ground squirrels, a couple of seals, and (of course) many belugas. The groundcover and rock formations were nothing like I’d seen down south.

The Summer Tundra Tour on our final day took our group out in an infamous tundra buggy, which is massive and comes equipped with a wood-burning stove, expansive windows and a large outdoor platform. These bad boys are best suited to roving the frozen landscape in winter months to get up close to polar bears making their way back out to the ice.

We didn’t come upon any bears during this summer journey, but we did venture out to the remains of the SS Ithaca shipwreck, which ran aground in 1960 after its rudder broke as the result of gale-force winds. The wreck is located in Bird Cove and is surrounded by water during high tide. We wandered the vast expanse near the wreck while the tide was out, which was very cool to experience.  The landscape looked almost lunar.

We added two optional Lazy Bear tours to our trip, and I strongly recommend them both. One was kayaking in the Churchill River, and the other was something called aquagliding, which involves a Kodiak boat pulling a dense foam platform behind it. Participants sit or lie on the platform while plunging their heads into the water using a snorkel and mask. 

Wow! These options offer an unforgettable beluga experience—truly once-in-a-lifetime stuff. Note that belugas are curious and engaging. They WILL approach you– particularly while aquagliding. I was equal parts thrilled and daunted by getting so close to these beguiling animals. 

Verdict on a vacation in Churchill, Manitoba

Despite it being in our home province, we held off on visiting Churchill for years. We are so happy that we finally made it happen. Its remote location comes with a 5-star price tag, which might deter the average visitor, but it’s worth it! This trip offers the rare opportunity to experience a unique natural environment and a remarkable intimacy with the wildlife that inhabit it. We’ve been to destinations around the world, but this trip in our own backyard is unsurpassed.  

Next Up: We delve into what we learned about polar bears and belugas and how they fit into Churchill living.

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