Chasing the northern lights in Yellowknife with kids
An aurora tour from Yellowknife runs about four hours in the dark, often around midnight, in cold that small bodies feel fast. Families do it all the same, and the right tour shape makes it far easier. Plan the sleep and the warm-up breaks before you book.
The late night is the hard part
Every tour we compare lasts about four hours, and all of them run in the dark around midnight. Viator gives Aurora Bus Tours a 9 pm start, so look up the start time of the others on their listings.
For a child, that means staying up outdoors long past bedtime, often in deep cold. Families who manage it well plan the day around the night rather than squeezing the tour in after a full day out.
A long afternoon nap helps more than anything else. Treat the evening as the main event, eat a proper dinner before pickup and keep the next morning slow.
Cold and small bodies
Yellowknife winter nights are often between −20 and −35 °C (−4 and −31 °F), colder with wind. Children lose heat faster than adults and do not always say when their fingers or cheeks are going numb.
Check faces and hands at every stop, and learn the early signs of frostbite, like pale, waxy patches of skin. Our guide on what to wear at minus 30 lists the layers, and the same rules apply to children, only more strictly.
Snacks matter too. All four tours include hot drinks, but a hungry child gets cold sooner, so bring something filling in an inside pocket where it will not freeze.
Warm buildings make it easier
A heated building to retreat to changes the night for a family. On the cozy cabin tour, from ~$101, you wait inside a toasty cabin while staff check the sky every few minutes and call you out when the lights appear.
Chowder and warm bannock with jam at midnight make a simple meal that tired kids welcome. Viator lists costumes for fun photos, and the cabin's Wi-Fi can buy a parent some quiet.
A warm cabin for small travelers
The guide takes at least 3–4 good photos per guest on high-quality phone cameras and sends them afterward, so parents can watch instead of fiddling with settings. Viator lists winter clothing rentals as included, and GetYourGuide asks for a minimum of 6 participants per booking, though the operator tries to accommodate smaller groups. From ~$101.
The catch for families is the booking rules. The Viator listing is non-refundable, so book on GetYourGuide if a sick child might force you to cancel, since there free cancellation runs up to 24 hours ahead.
The Destination NWT lodge tour, from ~$98, offers a different kind of warmth. Its lodge near Madeline Lake has board games and arcade games, with foosball plus a basketball shooter. The warm modern toilets matter a great deal with young children.
It is lively rather than quiet, since the group can reach 33 on GetYourGuide or 38 on Viator. For kids who need distraction between sightings, that noise is part of the appeal.
Buses with children
The two bus tours work differently. Yellowknife Vacations, from ~$62, follows the Ingraham Trail to three stops with a photographer on board, while Aurora Bus Tours, from ~$69, drives wherever the sky looks clearest.
On both, the warm place is the heated bus itself. Children spend more time standing in the cold at stops, but they can climb back aboard when they need to, which some kids prefer to a long wait at one site.
Yellowknife Vacations caps groups at 16, the smallest of the four, and its 4.8 from 430+ reviews on Viator is the largest review count on our list. Aurora Bus Tours holds 5.0 from 60+ on Viator, the fewest reviews of the set.
A big family on the cabin tour
GetYourGuide sets a minimum of 6 participants per booking for the cabin tour. That rule is awkward for a couple but can suit a large family, or two families traveling together, who fill the minimum on their own.
The operator says it tries to accommodate smaller groups, so a family of four can still ask. Read the conditions on the listing before you pay.
A big group also changes the cost picture. Our guide to what an aurora night costs compares the four prices per person, which add up quickly for five or six people.
What we cannot tell you
Our notes hold no child prices and no age limits for any of the four tours. Check the listing for each, and message the operator through the booking site if anything is unclear.
Wheelchair users should know that none of the four suits them. Three say so on GetYourGuide, and the Aurora Bus Tours page on Viator says it is not wheelchair accessible.
The aurora is never guaranteed, and that is harder to explain to a seven-year-old than to an adult. Telling kids early that it might not show, and that the warm cabin or the bus ride is part of the night, saves tears later.
A family plan that works
- Nap in the afternoon and eat dinner before pickup
- Choose a tour with a heated building if your kids are small
- Dress children more warmly than yourself, with mitts over liner gloves
- Book with free cancellation in case someone gets sick
- Plan more than one night, as our guide on how many nights to book explains
The months matter too. Milder autumn nights help with small children, and the best months in Yellowknife guide weighs one season against the other. If clouds roll in, our cloudy-night plan has the options.