Itinerary
Limited to just 12 photographers, Photo Expedition guests travel with an Expedition Leader who is both an Arctic naturalist and an accomplished photographer adept at helping you capture outstanding images of the northern lights. The aurora can be a challenge to photograph, and your guide provides expert advice for improving your images. In this highly personalized setting, ask all the questions you want!
Day 1: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Our northern lights photo expedition begins in Winnipeg, the capitol of Manitoba. Once a fur-trading hub and later a Canadian Pacific Railway boomtown, today Winnipeg is a vibrant cultural and commercial center on the eastern edge of Canada’s vast prairies. On arrival, you are met and transferred to the distinguished Fort Garry Hotel, one of the city’s most prestigious landmarks. Built in 1913 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in the style of a French chateau, it remains the grande dame of Winnipeg hospitality.
This afternoon, head to the "gear room" at our hotel to get equipped with all the cold-weather clothing you'll need for our Arctic adventure. We provide heavy parkas, insulated snow boots, snow pants, fleece jacket, mittens, fleece hat, fleece neck gaiter, and hand and toe warmers. No need to buy and haul your own! You can also borrow our tripods, to eliminate packing hassles. This evening, enjoy a welcome dinner with your Expedition Leader and fellow adventurers.
Day 2: Fly to Churchill—Town Tour & Northern Lights Watch
This morning, board a private chartered flight to Churchill and transfer to our hotel on arrival. Discover Churchill's colorful history on a tour of this historic hamlet that was originally a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post established in the early 1700s. As night falls, we head out in hopes of our first view of the northern lights. Also called the aurora borealis, meaning "north wind of the dawn," the display often begins as a pale glow low in the northern sky that slowly begins to shift and undulate. Wavy patterns evolve, and the lights most often emerge as shimmering curtains of green. Sometimes other colors appear, too: pink, red or even purple. For centuries, the phenomenon of the northern lights was a mystery, inspiring a host of mythical explanations. While we know now the aurora is caused by the interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field, more poetic stories of their origin linger, including the Hudson Bay Inuit’s belief that the lights are the mystical display of their ancestors’ souls dancing in the sky.
Days 3–5: Aurora Photography & Winter Adventures in Churchill
On these dark, icy nights in the Canadian North, we head to optimal photography locations away from the lights of town, where views of the aurora are best. Yet you won't stand outside in the cold as we wait for the lights to appear: each evening includes a different vantage point from which to photograph the phenomenon in warmth and comfort. Our collection of aurora viewing locations is unsurpassed, and during your trip, you will visit a selection of the following: Nat Hab's custom-designed Aurora Pod® features a 360° view on the night sky through a glass ceiling and half-walls. Our private Aurora Sphere is a geodesic dome tent whose interior, heated by a wood stove, serves as a cozy lounge throughout the evening. Aurora Domes with circular Plexiglass roofs offer another angle on the heavens—climb the ladder to the upper level for a view in the round, or head outside for a totally clear vista of the sky, then come in and warm up on the ground level with comfortable sofas, snacks and hot drinks. We may also visit a local dog musher’s camp where sit by a fire in a traditional tepee as we wait for the lights to appear. New for 2025 are our Aurora Yurt and Aurora Lodge. One evening we will make an overland journey into the boreal forest by custom snowcoach, traveling atop a frozen creek to reach our isolated Aurora Cabin where we gather around the wood stove as we anticipate the auroral display above the spruce trees. In every instance there's a chance to practice our photography skills, guided and inspired by presentations and personalized tips from our Expedition Leader, who is an expert instructor adept at helping you capture this challenging phenomenon.
While our nights are devoted to capturing images of the aurora, daytime excursions focus on the beauty of our tundra environs and the traditions of local people whose heritage here goes back for millennia. On a snowshoe outing, we hope to photograph other hardy northern wildlife such as Arctic hare and Arctic fox, artfully camouflaged by their winter-white fur coats. The town of Churchill is also full of interesting photography subjects, with historic buildings, hardy people and roving sled dogs. Though the Hudson’s Bay Company established a fort here in 1717 as part of its fur-trading network across the Canadian North, Indigenous cultures had already been flourishing in the harsh climate for thousands of years. We explore their heritage on a dog sled ride through the forest, on a visit to the Itsanitaq Museum, and via cultural programs featuring the arts and traditions of the Inuit, Dene and Metis peoples.
Day 6: Churchill / Winnipeg
The morning is free to wander Churchill’s main street, where several locally owned shops sell authentic local handicrafts, from traditional mukluks to sculptures made of caribou hair. We then transfer to the airport for our chartered flight back to Winnipeg, gathering for a farewell dinner this evening.
Day 7: Winnipeg / Home
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for flights home.
Please note: Scheduling for all activities in Churchill is flexible in order to accommodate varying weather conditions and other contingencies. Your itinerary may vary slightly and activities may happen at different times from what is listed here, but inclusions are the same. Please also be aware that each group will visit a sampler of aurora-viewing sites, but not all of them, and we do not know in advance which locations will be included on which departure...but be assured that every spot offers an outstanding viewing opportunity, enhanced with heat for your comfort.
Day 1: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Our northern lights photo expedition begins in Winnipeg, the capitol of Manitoba. Once a fur-trading hub and later a Canadian Pacific Railway boomtown, today Winnipeg is a vibrant cultural and commercial center on the eastern edge of Canada’s vast prairies. On arrival, you are met and transferred to the distinguished Fort Garry Hotel, one of the city’s most prestigious landmarks. Built in 1913 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in the style of a French chateau, it remains the grande dame of Winnipeg hospitality.
This afternoon, head to the "gear room" at our hotel to get equipped with all the cold-weather clothing you'll need for our Arctic adventure. We provide heavy parkas, insulated snow boots, snow pants, fleece jacket, mittens, fleece hat, fleece neck gaiter, and hand and toe warmers. No need to buy and haul your own! You can also borrow our tripods, to eliminate packing hassles. This evening, enjoy a welcome dinner with your Expedition Leader and fellow adventurers.
Day 2: Fly to Churchill—Town Tour & Northern Lights Watch
This morning, board a private chartered flight to Churchill and transfer to our hotel on arrival. Discover Churchill's colorful history on a tour of this historic hamlet that was originally a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post established in the early 1700s. As night falls, we head out in hopes of our first view of the northern lights. Also called the aurora borealis, meaning "north wind of the dawn," the display often begins as a pale glow low in the northern sky that slowly begins to shift and undulate. Wavy patterns evolve, and the lights most often emerge as shimmering curtains of green. Sometimes other colors appear, too: pink, red or even purple. For centuries, the phenomenon of the northern lights was a mystery, inspiring a host of mythical explanations. While we know now the aurora is caused by the interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field, more poetic stories of their origin linger, including the Hudson Bay Inuit’s belief that the lights are the mystical display of their ancestors’ souls dancing in the sky.
Days 3–5: Aurora Photography & Winter Adventures in Churchill
On these dark, icy nights in the Canadian North, we head to optimal photography locations away from the lights of town, where views of the aurora are best. Yet you won't stand outside in the cold as we wait for the lights to appear: each evening includes a different vantage point from which to photograph the phenomenon in warmth and comfort. Our collection of aurora viewing locations is unsurpassed, and during your trip, you will visit a selection of the following: Nat Hab's custom-designed Aurora Pod® features a 360° view on the night sky through a glass ceiling and half-walls. Our private Aurora Sphere is a geodesic dome tent whose interior, heated by a wood stove, serves as a cozy lounge throughout the evening. Aurora Domes with circular Plexiglass roofs offer another angle on the heavens—climb the ladder to the upper level for a view in the round, or head outside for a totally clear vista of the sky, then come in and warm up on the ground level with comfortable sofas, snacks and hot drinks. We may also visit a local dog musher’s camp where sit by a fire in a traditional tepee as we wait for the lights to appear. New for 2025 are our Aurora Yurt and Aurora Lodge. One evening we will make an overland journey into the boreal forest by custom snowcoach, traveling atop a frozen creek to reach our isolated Aurora Cabin where we gather around the wood stove as we anticipate the auroral display above the spruce trees. In every instance there's a chance to practice our photography skills, guided and inspired by presentations and personalized tips from our Expedition Leader, who is an expert instructor adept at helping you capture this challenging phenomenon.
While our nights are devoted to capturing images of the aurora, daytime excursions focus on the beauty of our tundra environs and the traditions of local people whose heritage here goes back for millennia. On a snowshoe outing, we hope to photograph other hardy northern wildlife such as Arctic hare and Arctic fox, artfully camouflaged by their winter-white fur coats. The town of Churchill is also full of interesting photography subjects, with historic buildings, hardy people and roving sled dogs. Though the Hudson’s Bay Company established a fort here in 1717 as part of its fur-trading network across the Canadian North, Indigenous cultures had already been flourishing in the harsh climate for thousands of years. We explore their heritage on a dog sled ride through the forest, on a visit to the Itsanitaq Museum, and via cultural programs featuring the arts and traditions of the Inuit, Dene and Metis peoples.
Day 6: Churchill / Winnipeg
The morning is free to wander Churchill’s main street, where several locally owned shops sell authentic local handicrafts, from traditional mukluks to sculptures made of caribou hair. We then transfer to the airport for our chartered flight back to Winnipeg, gathering for a farewell dinner this evening.
Day 7: Winnipeg / Home
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for flights home.
Please note: Scheduling for all activities in Churchill is flexible in order to accommodate varying weather conditions and other contingencies. Your itinerary may vary slightly and activities may happen at different times from what is listed here, but inclusions are the same. Please also be aware that each group will visit a sampler of aurora-viewing sites, but not all of them, and we do not know in advance which locations will be included on which departure...but be assured that every spot offers an outstanding viewing opportunity, enhanced with heat for your comfort.
