What To Expect

What‘s Included

Reviews

• The guide was friendly and jamy.

  HANNA K,,Feb 1, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  The guide was kind and impressed by the effort to find Aurora. And I took good photos, and I explained well and it was fun. Next I want to travel through this travel agency.

  

• Northern lights tours.co Aurora/ice fishing/chateu Nova Yellowknife Jan 2026 Majestic trip

  Compass00534507963,,Jan 24, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  This was a majestic experience with Northernlightstours.co. We did a 3 night aurora hunting package combo with hotel accomodations at the Chateau Nova hotel in yellowknife. The hotel was clean and had a microwave and fridge, and was next to Niven lake which was a beautiful frozen lake to walk around in the mornings. Isaac and Hailey were fantastic guides who helped us bask in the aurora shows from different spots and frozen lakes surrounding yellowknife. We got to see Aurora 4/4 nights between 1/18 and 1/22 and dancing rings of auroras and other meandering majestic shapes of greens and caught as pinks by our iPhones and by our guides cameras. Hailey brings great energy to the experience. Isaac took us ice fishing and cooked pike and chips( from great slave lake as there’s arsenic in many of the other lakes) after my wife caught a huge northern pike on Cam lake from inside our warm tent. Isaac was very kind, inquisitive and accommodating, and we loved his northern lights and ice fishing tour. I cannot recommend enough Northernlightstours.co and traveling to yellowknife in general during the winter or during September or March for aurora and other excursions/activities! Just do it!

• Seasoned operators with a friendly attitude

  Eric D,,Jan 18, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Northern Lights has three buses and seasoned operators. They will pick you up and drop you off around 9:00 ish. The first night we were guided by Mo a seasoned bush pilot but got skunked. Mo and Isaac tried really hard but the clouds did not cooperate. The second night Sheldon took us out and we hit pay dirt on the first stop. He worked his magic with his Nikon and fish eye on a tripod. You can try to take your own pictures but unless you have his kind of gear just enjoy the sights. We stopped at 3 or 4 places and the lights danced on queue with Sheldon's predictions we saw green purple and hints of pink. We got hot chocolate and cookies on the last stop and rolled home around 2:00am. Sheldon pointed out some foxes on the way back. Prepare for up to 3 nights in case clouds move in but your chances of seeing lights are excellent.

  

  

• Such an amazing experience with passionate guides.

  Adrian R,,Jan 15, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  We were lucky enough to see the northern lights. We were driven out to a beautiful frozen lake for the viewing where they took photos of us under Auroa. They had warm tents for us to rest in with hot chocolate when it started to cloud over. Once the sky clouded over, we hopped back onto the bus to head to another location. Unfortunately the cloud cover was quite dense, so the first hour was the best.

• Aurora Tours is really much better

  Nae N,,Jan 4, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  One of the two guides, Sheldon, was awesome. Knowledgeable, helpful, funny. The other individual, Julian, wasn't really useful at all, he was arrogant, rude and disorganized. He took us to two spots on the promise of seeing better lights .... he promised that because he wanted to move us closer to town (ie. to end the tour sooner) - of course the lights at the new location were poor .... There was a big difference between going out with him vs. with Sheldon .... so there - for whatever it's worth .... this company is cheap but has no infrastructure, we stayed in the bus to warm up, no tee pees and no fire ....

• The budget option for aurora hunting with two stops on the side of the highway.

  alsmith523,,Dec 29, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  3.00

  The tour guide was fantastic and very friendly but the tour was not as described. 32 people in a school bus (not a mini-coach) driving to two stops. One was on the shoulder of the highway which meant that passing cars ruined long exposure photos. The description said we would have access to washrooms at every stop, we only had access at the airport which we stopped at halfway through the tour. I am guessing this tour is the cheapest tour for a reason.

• Quick trip to see the Northern Lights in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

  lisampalmer,,Dec 22, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  3.00

  I have put off writing this review as I have been unsure as to quite where to start. Unfortunately, this will be lengthy. It is so much easier to write a positive review. I have travelled extensively around the world and this "tour" with Northern Lights Tours in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories was decidedly the most poorly organized and chaotic in which I have ever participated. I understand that flexibility is key when travelling but we did not appreciate having our plans constantly "rearranged" throughout the duration of our tour. Initially, text messages were promptly replied to, but once they received our payment, good communication started to decline. There were lengthy delays in response to text messages and or emails and information provided on the website did not align with the invoices we received. Eventually, with some perseverance, all that got resolved prior to our arrival there. ALL our prepaid tours got rearranged upon our arrival and we were always given very short notice as to what the revised arrangements were. No explanations were offered until we asked for them. There were numerous misrepresentations of things stated on the website as to what we would get and what was actually provided. We had been told that on our first evening there, we would be met at 5 p.m. in the hotel lobby where the optional rentals of warm clothing would be delivered to us. No-one arrived until 5:25 p.m. There was no text or message advising us that the person coming would be late. We had arranged our dinner around being able to meet them on time at 5 p.m. Once there, we were told that they had run out of boots in my size. They supplied a Size 8 boot when I had requested a Size 10...my feet had not shrunk!! I was therefore unable to fully participate in the first evening's activities (disembarking and reboarding the bus to see the lights) as I did not have appropriate footwear. I had counted on the rental being available as had been promised. When we had not received notification of our pick-up time for the tour that night, after having been told that we would be advised by 5 p.m. each evening, I began sending texts to ask when we were expected to be ready. (I later discovered that they had sent an email and unfortunately, the email had not come through to me until after we returned from our tour that night. I then asked that they add the emails of the two people with whom I was travelling but this did not improve the communication situation moving forward in any way.) At 10 p. m. that first night, we received a call from the hotel's Reception telling us that our guide was there and ready and waiting for us. I told them we had not been told what time we needed to be ready and that we would get down there as soon as we were able to don our warm clothing and get there. In less than five minutes, the phone rang again and Reception was saying that the guide would be leaving us. I asked to speak with the guide...Isaac was kind enough to give us a couple more minutes and wait for us. That was the only night on which we saw the lights...we were fortunate not to have missed that. Upon boarding the bus, I apologized loudly enough for all the other passengers to hear (I have never been "that passenger" who keeps everyone else waiting!) and a gentleman close to where I was standing told us that they had had a very similar experience the day prior. On Day 2, we were told that out dogsledding trip had been cancelled because "there was not enough snow". They also cancelled my son's icefishing trip that had been scheduled for that day and decided that we would do snowmobiling instead that afternoon. Late morning, a replacement pair of boots and a larger size of snow pants (I had originally been given the correct size according to what I had requested but the sizes are smaller than usual...so size up when selecting your sizes!!) were delivered to the hotel for me. Despite being the size I had requested, the replacement boots were still very tight and uncomfortable. We had come to the lobby ten minutes earlier than our designated pick-up time. Our driver was late coming to get us...again. My son decided to run back to the room to get a thinner pair of socks for me to see if that would help with the fit of the boot. Right after he left, the bus pulled up, already ten minutes past the time we had been told to be there. (My son figured he could likely get back before they arrived as up to that point, they had been showing no regard for punctuality.) Julian (the owner of the company and the driver for that pick-up), who had not introduced himself so I didn't even know who he was, said rudely, "Hurry up and get in...you are cutting into everyone else's snowmobiling time!" He started to drive the bus before we were even seated...not very safe!!) When we arrived at the snowmobiling site, Isaac said, "I guess Julian gave you the safety briefing on the bus!" My party of the three and the other couple looked at each other and said, "No!!" The helmets seemed to be one size for all and were very tight (too tight) on all our heads. Four of the five of us had never snowmobiled before. The "safety briefing" consisted of our being told to squeeze the handlebars to start and to release them to stop followed by a warning to stay in a straight line because Julian would charge if there was any damage to his snowmobiles. The information in the brochure said that the helmets were heated so they would not fog up...absolutely untrue. The others had to ride in -27C weather with their visors up so they could see where they were going. I could not see but I was riding on the back of the snowmobile with the guide so it was not compromising my safety. Website also stated that we would get as many photos taken as we wanted and even a video of us riding would be made and given to us...not true!! When my cousin asked Isaac to take a picture of us at a spot, he asked, seemingly annoyed, "Whose phone am I using to do this?!" The website states that lakesides, tents, cabins and teepees would be visited during the Aurora tours at night. We only went to lakesides. On the second evening, after having driven almost an hour out of Yellowknife to get away from the light pollution, we turned around and returned to the city to pick up passengers at the airport! Then we headed back out to try to see the lights. They told us this "would be a great time for a bathroom break"...they had not considered bathroom breaks on the evening prior when they had no airport pickups to do. Website also states that warm drinks and snacks would be provided on these Aurora tours. Be advised that the "snacks" consist of one cookie per person per tour. Upon returning to our hotel at 2:30 a.m., we tried to reach Julian via email and multiple texts trying to get the answer to our question about what time the icefishing that had been postponed from Day 2 was going to take place as it was a potential conflict as they had moved the City Tour to the morning of Day 3. Impossible to make plans to do anything else (I had friends there I would have liked to have met up with "in between") but our programme which had been arranged from early September 2025 was constantly arbitrarily being rearranged for us. (Website states "open 24 hours"...I am not sure what that means when you try for hours to reach someone without any success.) Later that morning, Julian was again late (twenty minutes) picking us up. On this day, he blamed the snowy weather. While we were waiting in the lobby for him to arrive, a van pulled up with "Beck's kennels" on it. We spoke with the driver and their tour guide as well as with other guests who had also been waiting to be picked up for their tours. We heard then that many had gone dogsledding the day before (same day when there had not been enough snow for us to go out). When we finally saw him, we asked Julian why our dogsledding had needed to be cancelled. He told us that not all the kennels treat the animals humanely (I found it hard to believe they would still be allowed to continue to be in business if that were known to be the case) and that in fifteen years of being in business, this was the first year in which the kennels that they use had not been able to operate after November 17th. It was only when we saw Julian, after 11 a.m. on Day 3, that we were able to have the answer about the timing of the icefishing. We had even started to wonder whether it would even end up taking place. Icefishing happened immediately following the City Tour. They did not catch anything but the included lunch, as per the website, was still provided." Lunch" consisted of a piece of "white fish" and some potato chips. Julian was quite knowledgeable about the area and the City Tour proved to be quite informative. However, the two-hour tour described on the website became a 1.5 hour tour. When we asked if we were then going to the Ice Palace (as had been stated in the description on the website), we were told that the Ice Palace is not ready until January to February. For transparency, this should have been stated on the website. One of the main things we had hoped to see during the City Tour had been the Ice Palace. Had we known it would not be there in December, we would have opted to visit later in the winter. We had all been very interested in the Prince of Wales Heritage Museum but had been given ten minutes to rush through that. We should at least have been offered the option of using that "lost half hour" from the Ice Palace portion of the tour to continue looking around inside the Prince of Wales Museum.

• AMAZING

  Gabriel C,,Dec 13, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Amazing experience! I recommend this tour to everyone. Unlike another one I booked that was cancelled, they are punctual and deliver what they promise. It's worth it!

• Extremely terrible and lack of communication

  jingkai x,,Dec 13, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  1.00

  I didnt get on tour bus due to the operator poor communication. I was waiting in my hotel lobby, after not seeing bus coming for a while, I contacted the operator, they said they stopped by my hotel and were outside for 4 mins and departed. Extremely poor service and communication, they just drove by and stayed in their bus, and didn’t even come inside to notify customer or call/text. All other tours I bought had someone coming to find me or call me. Sadly, not this one. Even worse, they refused to refund me without any services provided to me. For those who experienced the same thing, don’t forget to dispute the payment with your bank to get the money back.

• Yellowknife Northerlights, Dog Sled and Snowmobile Trip experience.

  I8692UNricharda,,Dec 7, 2025

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  I stayed for 4 days / 3 nights in Yellowknife and booked 3 days worth of tours with Julian. He helped me secure a hotel booking of my choice as well which was very helpful. Big thank you to Julian and his team was amazing. Sorry for forgetting the other names but to name those I remember... Issac (my guide for 2 events), Sheldon (Newfie bus driver). I had Issac for the Aurora night tour and the snowmobiling tour. He was very enthuastic with the Aurora show which was great to see. Great guide for the snowmobile tour, took us over Kam Lake and into an area with a great view / photo shot with the sunset in the background. Although one of the 2 nights was cloudy and didnt see the Aurora's, the 2nd night made up for the lack of. The dog sled tour was also very fun. It wasn't what I expected at first but nevertheless, a very fun experience sledding on the Great Slave Lake. Those who wish to book this, make sure you are comfortable on doing a little bit of a workout as you will need to help the dogs out a bit when they start to get tired. Julian, the host provided great communication by email and prompt responses. The big red buses transporting us to different areas to view the Northern light was comfy and spacious. They provided hot chocolate and cookies as snacks during layover waiting for the Aurora's to show up. I would definitely book with Julian and his team again in the future. Overall tour spending was about $1200 after tax. (2 Night Northern Light Tour Package staying at the Explorer Hotel [Higher price end] +1 extra hotel night(add on night), 1hr Dog Sledding and 2hr Snowmobile Tour). Excluding the extra add on night the tour would of been ~$975 after tax.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
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