Things to do in Churchill, Manitoba (And Why Summer is the Best Time to Visit)

In August 2015, I was lucky to get a chance to visit Churchill in Summer.  The following are my suggested things to do in Churchill Manitoba, and when I suggest is the best time to visit Churchill.

Take the Train to Churchill

Flying to Churchill is expensive, unless you have Air Canada Frequent Flier Miles you can use. Your only other option to get to Churchill is the take the train to Churchill. The train costs less than 1/3 the price of a flight, but requires you have 2 full days to go each way from Winnipeg, or the ability to drive to Thompson and go from there which will greatly reduce your total travel time. Taking the train is an adventure and part of any unique visit to Churchill.

And Now for the Best Things to Do in Churchill:

Things to do in Churchill –Check out the City and Beach, But Watch Out For Bears

The city beach, on the shores of the Hudson Bay, is one of the great things you can do with your free time in Churchill. There are some benches, a Inuksuk (rock man statue), and an old historical boat on display. The views are nice and it’s possible to see Beluga Whales if you visit in late Summer. Even within the city limits, it’s possible for bears to be around and there’s a hotline to call the bear patrol if they get too close to town.  The bear patrol with fire warning shots if the bears are too close and will take any problem bears to the “bear jail” near the airport for later release when the Hudson Bay ice freezes.

Things to do in Churchill –Visit the Eskimo Museum – Itsanitaq Museum

The local Eskimo Museum is free museum run by local volunteers.  There are several stuffed animals (a baby and bull size polar bear) along with 100’s of Eskimo carvings. 

Insider Tip:They have the best selection and most reasonably priced souvenir shop in town. Lots of books, magnets, shirts, stuffed polar bears, etc.

Things to do in Churchill –St. Paul’s Anglican Church

You can stop inside the St. Paul’s Anglican Church, and see the famous “Lady Franklin Window” stained glass window, which was named after the explorer John Franklin.  This window was helicoptered in from York Factory in southern Hudson Bay in 1967.

Things to do in Churchill – Visit theNational Park Visitor’s Center

Another good stop if you’re in town without any tours planned is the National Park Visitor’s center that is located in the Churchill train depot.  This visitor center provides information on the area parks of the Prince of Wales Fort National Historic Site, York Factory National Historic Site and Wapusk National Park. There are exhibits on the history and animals of Hudson Bay.  They have several videos on hand so you can ask them to play each in their small video room.  The park rangers here are local kids that go off to college in the fall, but are working in the summer.  They were both very friendly and had good tips on traveling around the area.

Besides the things to do in Churchill listed above, there’s not much else to do in town. There are a few cafes and a few souvenir shops.  There’s one big blue Northern store where the locals buy all their goods, from jackets to craft supplies to groceries.  It was fun to walk around in here, but the prices were outrageous.  Everything has to be shipped in by train.  We were glad we stocked up on extra snacks in Thompson.

Things to do in Churchill –Have a Drink and Hang with the Locals at Tundra Inn

You might meet some friendly locals at the bar. It’s also a great meeting place for tourists – everyone is talking about all the cool things they saw or did that day.

Things to do in Churchill –The Northern Lights

We had missed the Aurora Borealis on our first night in Churchill because I fell asleep early so I decide to set my alarm for each hour overnight to make sure we didn’t miss it.  Luckily, at my 9pm sky viewing, I could see the glowing sky so we all jumped into the SUV and drove up to Cape Merry, at the point where the river flows into the Bay and we watched the Northern lights for some time while making sure there were no polar bears in the area.  What a treat!  It was the first time other than on a plane that I’d see the Northern lights.  I was amazed as the shapes kept on changing.  If you don’t have a rental car or truck, the beach is a great place in Churchill for seeing the northern lights. You might be able to tell that I only did point and shoot photography, next time I see the Aurora, I need to learn how to photograph the Northern Lights.

Things to do Outside of Churchill

If you have time and money, the other things to do in Churchill are all tours that head out of town to do activities like polar bear or beluga viewing, or dog sledding.  All tours provide transportation from an office in town or your hotel. An alternative to some tours is renting a Truck or SUV and doing your own exploring.

Beluga Snorkeling Trip

In Churchill, it’s possible to snorkel with Beluga Whales with Sea North tours. I love snorkeling with weird stuff and was hopeful for this tour, having seen some great pictures online of snorkeling with beluga whales.  We started out by squeezing into full body wetsuits.  I’m a big girl, and was given the largest women’s size.  I weighed about 40 pounds more than the advised weight limit.  This may not have been the best choice… we’ll get to that later.

We headed down to the port and boarded a zodiac.  One guide & 5 passengers.  Our guide got a message on the radio and started motoring out the river and into Hudson Bay.  There we watched a Polar Bear come in from swimming…one of the greatest wildlife encounters I’ve ever seen.

After the bear got back in the water for another swim, we went off to go snorkeling.  We had strict rules to hold onto a loop on two ropes that trailed from the zodiac.

I got in the water and it was cold.  It was also murky and impossible to see any of the 100’s of Belugas that were feeding around us.  On a good day, the water is clearer and the belugas are playful.  I decided to switch loops with a woman who was lucky enough to see one of the belugas underwater but I lost hold of the rope and the swift current of the Churchill river was pushing me out to the Hudson Bay.  It was scary!  The boat kept on trying to pick me up but he was going thru a small rapid section.  Eventually I was pulled into the boat – I had lost my strength to climb up the rope ladder myself and I could only lay on the floor of the zodiac.  They unzipped the chest piece of the my wet suit and I couldn’t barely breathe.  It was frustrating to see so many whales circling the boat.  The other passengers stayed in the water a bit longer but no one saw anything other than a single beluga swim by closely but very quickly.  I kept on trying to get a breath – the mini panic attack and tightness of the suit was still limiting my breathing.  We got back to the port and walking up the small boat landing was making me breath like I had just ran up a 200+ foot high hill.  I took of the suit and drank as much hot tea as I could, before we drove back to town.  The bear was cool but the snorkeling was so disappointing.

Things to do Outside of Churchill –Kayak with Belugas

Sea North Tours also offers a kayaking with beluga whales trip.  It was kind of cool to kayak with whales so close by.  It was nerve-wrecking as they swam so close.  We needed to stay with the pack of other kayaks as the current of the Churchill river was very swift.  I didn’t really enjoy this excursion either.  It was lucky I had a trip planned on the bigger boat later that day…

Things to do Outside of Churchill –Prince of Wales Fort and Beluga Tour

Our main activity in the afternoon was a tour to the Prince of Wales Fort, again with Sea North Tours. If you are only going to do one tour, this one is highly recommended. This ride was on a large medal boat as opposed to their tours in the Zodiacs. This boat is much recommended for those who might have mobility issues and is more difficult to get in and out of the Zodiacs.  The fort was built by the Hudson Bay Company in the 1700’s and was eventually overtaken by the French.  The excellent national park ranger told us stories about the harsh Churchill winters at the fort.

After the fort tour, we got back on the boat and took a detour to see the cutest mother & baby polar bear.

Next we rode out to the middle of the Churchill river.  Eventually we found ourselves in the middle of many beluga whales.  They put a sonic detector in the river and we heard all the sounds of the whales – from low grunts to squeaks, it sounding much like farting ?.

Things to do Outside of Churchill –Polar Bear Tour – aka Tundra Buggy Tour

The next day was our summer Polar Bear Tour on the Tundra Buggy.  Even though at booking we were warned that wildlife wasn’t guaranteed, we thought this would be our best chance to see polar bears in the wild and were excited to schedule the 6 hour tour.  We rode a bus to the end of the nature reserve and then boarded the huge tundra buggy.  This big vehicle had school bus seats on each side with a big aisle down the middle.  My parents and I grabbed the front two rows on the passenger side.  The huge wheels let us drive into the tundra area and we drove for over 4 hours.  Unfortunately, the most exciting things we saw were a few sandhill cranes and snow geese.  We didn’t see a single mammal – bears, foxes, or even arctic hares.

That being said, we talked to some people that did this tour a couple days after us and they had an extraordinary tour – a polar bear walked all around the Tundra Buggy and seemed to pose for the passengers that day.

Things to do Outside of Churchill – Rent a Truck or SUV and Have Your Own Adventure

Tamarack Rentals is only truck rental place in town.  For $150+ a day, you can rent a truck, SUV, or van. If you’re traveling with several people, or pick up people in town that are interested in riding along, this can be the most economical way to see Polar Bears. They gave me a map of all the roads in the area that we were and were not allowed to drive on, there’s not more than 50 miles worth of roads in the area. The following are things we were able to see and visit with our rental SUV. There can be polar bears anywhere among these sights, so please be careful.

Polar Bear Viewing

Don’t get me wrong – there are not abundant polar bears in the Churchill area, but there are some. You are not guaranteed to see a polar bear if you rent a vehicle. I met one couple that rented a truck and didn’t see a single Polar Bear in two days, so it’s a lot about luck and patience. With luck and patience, we saw 4 polar bears in 2 days. You will most likely see them along the coastal road that connects Churchill to the Northern Studies Center. Enter the various driveways, and two of the bears were seen there. Here are the exact places we saw bears in Churchill: (1) at the beach to the east of the MV Ithica shipwreck (2) taunting the sled dogs at a dog sled farm (3) two bears were along Thompson Road between the airport and town.

A Cautionary tale of searching for bears… As we were driving around in the SUV, no polar bears had been seen all morning, nor on the tundra buggy two days before so we was beginning to think there were no bears around.  We got up to a beach overlook of the MV Ithaca shipwreck and I got out of the SUV to walk to the ledge above the beach only to spy a HUGE male polar bear just walking along and minding his own business.  It was clear he saw us, and since polar bears can run at 30 mph in just a few seconds, he easily could have had a human lunch that day but we were glad we could stand up the hill and take his photo as he walked along.

Eventually he disappeared behind a big bluff and we drove further to see him come out the other side in an area of long grass.  Eventually he disappeared into some brush.  It’s easy to see why you can’t just go walking around even though you don’t see a bear.  Bears could be hiding in the tall grass or bushes.

Other Wildlife Viewing

If you’re into larger birds, there is some good bird watching along the same routes where you might find bears. Common birds you might see in the summer are Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes, and Bald Eagles.

“Miss Piggy” plane wreck

The “Miss Piggy” airplane was a Lamb Air cargo airplane that crashed just before touchdown at Churchill Airport in 1979. There were no fatalities. At the “Miss Piggy” plane wreck, you can still climb on the wreckage.

Enjoy the Scenery

There are get views of rocks, trees, and the Hudson Bay that can be visited if you have a rental vehicle. We stopped at a very beautiful beach on the bay, being very careful to not have a run in with bears.

MV Ithaca shipwreck

The MV Ithaca (Ithaka) was carrying nickel when it was caught in a storm and grounded in 1960. You can go on a hiking tour with armed guide, but you can also see the ship from the road (just don’t walk to it as there might be bears around.

Churchill Northern Studies Centre

You can visit the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, a laboratory in the tundra.  We were hoping to get lunch here but they told us we should have called ahead if we wanted lunch.  They were gracious enough to give us a tour of the laboratory facilities for a $5 donation each.  Different groups come here to do research if they need arctic conditions.  The dorms and facilities were really nice.  I wouldn’t mind volunteering here sometime.

Canadian Rocket Program

Just behind the Centre is the Canadian Rocket launching pad.  Who knew Canada had a Space Program?  I didn’t either.  You could walk around the launch pad and hangars around here which was also fascinating.

Best Time to Visit Churchill Manitoba

I highly recommend a visit in late summer (July-August) as this is the only time of the year you can see all of the main three reasons to visit Churchill – Belugas, and Borealis, and Bears, Oh My! It’s also much more economical. For example, a Tundra Buggy in July or August costs $219 CAD, but in October or November costs $499 CAD. Hotels are also much cheaper if you visit Churchill in the Summer.

Where To Say in Churchill

There are several motels to stay around Churchill. Most are locally owned, with no national or international chains. Prices vary widely, from $75 USD and up in Summer to $120 and up in the high season of October and November. It’s wise to book in advance, especially in high season. It’s also possible to arrange pick-up at the airport or train station if you book in advance. Check the Price and Availability of Churchill motels here.

Where to Eat In Churchill

We ate several times at the bar/restaurant at the Tundra Inn. I especially liked their Elk burger and chicken wings. The beers are reasonably priced and there’s entertainment on some evenings. If you’re looking for groceries (many motels have a microwave and refrigerator), you can shop at the Northern store in the center of town.

Want to learn how I got to Churchill?  Click here to learn more about the train ride.

If you happen to stop in Winnipeg, it’s worth checking out the “Journey to Churchill” exhibit.  Click here to see the swimming bears at the Winnipeg Zoo.

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