What is the best time to visit Churchill Manitoba for Hudson Bay polar bears and beluga whales? Chopping at the bit to getaway during COVID lockdowns, I’ve decided to travel to the Arctic town, VIRTUALLY.
Since I’m traveling virtually, I can choose the best time to visit Churchill Manitoba. After hours of research, I’m sharing with you what I found:
The Best Time to Visit Churchill Manitoba
The best time to go to Churchill to see polar bears is between mid-October and late November. That’s when Hudson Bay polar bears pass through town on their annual migration to feeding grounds in the north. Since Churchill is a port town on Hudson Bay, bears tend to gather around town until temperatures drop enough to freeze the waters. Once the ice packs freeze, the bears can walk over the ice bridge and they head out of town.
But What About Beluga Whale Experiences, Too?
However, since I’m after beluga whale experiences, too, the best time to go to Churchill might be late summer when 58,000 belugas descend on Hudson Bay. During the same period, you could experience bear by traveling south of town by helicopter. Hudson Bay polar bears are on the “polar bear highway’ in the late summer as they migrate towards Churchill.
Another advantage to visiting Churchill in the summer is that is when colorful wildflowers fill the coastlands. You might have the opportunity to capture dramatic images of the furry white mammals in fields of purple wildflowers.
For those of you who are eager to see baby polar bears emerge from their winter dens, March is the best time to visit Churchill Manitoba. So as you can see, the best time to visit Churchill Manitoba really depends on what you want to experience.
To learn more about polar bear cubs, check out this DVD available on Amazon: Snow Babies / Polar Bear: Spy on the Ice
So you’re probably wondering, “What is the best month to see polar bears in Churchill?” The answer depends on what you’d like to experience. See below:
Best Time to Visit Churchill Manitoba Calendar
MONTH | BEST TIME TO SEE: |
|---|---|
March | Baby polar bears emerge from dens |
May | Polar bears on the edge of ice floes far out of town | Birds |
June | 58,000 beluga whales, the highest concentration in the world, descend on Hudson Bay. See polar bears on the edge of ice floes far out of town. |
July | AquaGliding with beluga whales Lazy Bear Expeditions (June-August) |
August | Beluga whales | Northern Lights |
September | Northern Lights | Fall colors | Beluga whales | Polar bear helicopter tours |
Mid-October | Hudson Bay polar bears |
November | Hudson Bay polar bears |
Since this is a virtual tour, I could choose any place on the planet. However, I chose Churchill Manitoba because of the many Hudson Bay polar bear and beluga whale experiences offered in this arctic frontier town. The live webcams made us feel like we were there, and an abundance of photos, videos and information made it easy for me to create an at-home virtual adventure.
Come on a long! I hope to give you some tips on how to create your own DIY virtual travel experience. What’s on YOUR bucketlist?
Friday Evening: Fly to Winnipeg, Ontario
The trip to Churchill, Manitoba, was a surprise for my husband Dan. I told him we were “going” somewhere for the weekend, but he did not know where. That means I had to “pack” his bags. I pulled out ski coats to make our “virtual trip” more realistic.
UNSTOPPABLE Tip: The phoney airline tickets and paper sleeve were printed from a free template that I downloaded from Ayleebits.com. Our destination was unveiled when I handed Dan his tickets on Friday night. I printed his name and appropriate carrier on card stock. The resulting “ticket” felt authentic. Notice that I procured “First Class” seats for this virtual trip during the COVID-19 travel restrictions? Nothing but the best for my Dan!
I found props around the house to make this feel like a getaway. Note the snowflake tablecloth and my Mom’s red mittens.
Once travel bans lift, you can fly to Churchill from Winnipeg and on charter tours out of Calgary, Saskatoon and Edmonton.
Live Webcams of Churchill Manitoba Northern Lights
When Dan came home from work, the TV was tuned to Churchill’s live webcam. Live Northern Lights were a pleasant surprise for me. Frosting on the cake for an Arctic Animal Safari! I was surprised because I remember the aurora borealis being most prevalent in the fall during the eleven years I lived in Duluth, Minnesota. Shows how the memory fails!
According to Lazy Bear Lodge, Churchill Manitoba Northern Lights make appearances about 300 of 365 days a year. So if weather permits, there are opportunities year round to see the spectacle.
That evening we sipped cocoa and watched a playlist of YouTube videos about Churchill Manitoba polar bear tours, which I’d assembled beforehand.
The frontier town’s culture is so interesting that the Smithsonian made a series called Polar Bear Town. Check it out!
Saturday: Hudson Bay Polar Bear Expedition
We woke up early Saturday morning eager to experience the upcoming Hudson Bay polar bear expedition. Lazy Bear Expeditions Arctic Crawler™ would take us on a tundra tour to view polar bears.
But first we needed a hearty breakfast of gluten-free blueberry pancakes, pure maple syrup and Canadian bacon.
UNSTOPPABLE Tip: to create your own virtual travel experience, plan a menu of the specialty cuisine of your chosen destination. Contact hotels or restaurants for authentic recipes.
Let’s do this! Recreating Churchill bear tours for "Virtual Travel"
After breakfast, the custom-built Arctic Crawler™ tundra buggy virtually transported us to the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. It is here where bears wait for freezing temperatures to harden up the icepack on the Hudson Bay. During the COVID lockdown we drove our own “tundra buggy” to the forest behind our house, and while social distancing spotted “Manitoba Churchill polar bears.” See below.
Before heading back to our “hotel” we made another stop for some photo ops. Remember when we talked about the best time to go to Churchill to see polar bears earlier? I mentioned that since this is a “virtual” trip, we could see polar bears in any season. In the Arctic Crawler photo above, the season is fall. In the photo below, the season is summer. You decide which is the best time to go to Churchill to see polar bears!
Best Time to go to Churchill to see Polar Bears? Summer, Fall or Winter?
Althought the best time to go to Churchill to see polar bears in town is mid-October to November, there are other seasons to see bears nearby. The photo above shows polar bear expeditions in the fall. Below you can see polar bears in summer. See how the backdrop of the photos change with the changing seasons?
Lazy Bear Lodge Churchill Manitoba
We opted to “virtually” stay at Lazy Bear Lodge Churchill Manitoba, although there are many choices for accommodation in the frontier town. My globetrotting friend Todd stayed at the Polar Inn and reported reasonable rates and friendly staff.
The Lazy Bear Lodge, handbuilt of logs, attracted me because of its tour packages, local expertise and personable folk (that I met virtually.)
UNSTOPPABLE Tip: To turn your bedroom into a “virtual” hotel room, replace your bedding with sheets, blankets and fabrics similar to those you would find at your “virtual” destination. The transformation was another fun surprise for Dan.
Canadian Happy Hour
For Happy Hour I took a stab (no pun intended) at making a Bloody Caesar. The vodka cocktail, spiced up with Clamato juice, is popular in Canada. However my travel writing colleague Traveling Mel says, “I’ve been to Churchill 3 or 4 times, but never had this yummy cocktail. There seems to be a lot of cheap beer and Crown Royale when I’ve been there.” Mel volunteered in Churchill for Polar Bears International.
Good thing I had some Crown Royal up my sleeve. But we used it more as a table decoration — we didn’t imbibe in the Canadian whiskey. Can you find the Crown Royal in the photo of the table setting below?
Dinner in the Great White North
Poutine was our main course for dinner in the Great White North. Cheese curds were definitely hard to find in Flagstaff, Arizona, during COVID-19 shutdowns, but I finally found some. Labatt’s Blue also took a search committee, but Sam at Majestic Marketplace helped me out. He even wiped my credit card with antiseptic after running it through the reader.
Poutine Routine
The Poutine recipe came from a Canadian food blogger. But even though, my Québecois amie Melissa commented on Instagram, “A poutine. Not the traditional one if you ask me, but still a poutine.”
I let Dan talk me into adding mushrooms to the homemade gluten-free gravy. And I’d missed the secret ingredient: ketchup. According to Melissa, who I walked with on Camino Norte in 2018, “Seems like you did everything right, except for the mushrooms and onions which is actually not a bad idea 😉 You even got the cheese curds right which I think is the most important part. Just add ketchup on top of that and it will be perfect!!”
Watching Movies Enhances Your Virtual Travel Experience
Since watching movies enhances your virtual travel experience, we watched “Strange Brew.” The 1983 movie features Bob and Doug Mackenzie, fictional Canadian brothers who wear toques and drink Canuck beer. Although not on my list of the best travel movies, it is a fun spoof on Canadian culture.
UNSTOPPABLE Tip: When creating your virtual travel escape, be sure to include a movie about your chosen destination. Freshen up your watch list by checking out 8 Best Travel Movies.
Sunday: Churchill Manitoba Beluga Whales
Best Time to See Churchill Manitoba Beluga Whales
It is said that the best time to view belugas is during the second half of July through the first half of August. However, my sister and her husband flew a float plane from Minnesota to Churchill in the late 1980s and saw 100s of the white creatures on Labor Day. “We flew over Churchill and saw hundreds of the white whales below,” said pilot George Nix. “They looked like white cigarettes floating in a basin of water, all lined up in the same directions.”
Lazy Bear Expeditions offers the Aquagliding tour from June through August.
UNSTOPPABLE Tip: Invite friends or family for a ZOOM visit sometime during your virtual travel tour.
I told Dan we had surprise guests that would be joining us on ZOOM. That’s when my sister Dena and her husband George joined us to tell stories about their visit to Churchill.
George’s co-pilot had been there before and was anxious to meet back up with a Churchill guy he’d bought drinks for at the local pub. Turns out the local guy was killed by a polar bear since their last get-together. My sister’s version was that the local guy was the town drunk.
Standup Paddleboarding with Churchill Manitoba Beluga Whales
I would have to do standup paddleboarding with belugas virtually — because, well, I’ve never SUP-ed before. Besides, I’m pretty sold on the Aquagliding thing.
Thanks so much for joining Dan and me on our UNSTOPPABLE virtual vacation. I hope you’ve learned a few things so you can craft your own DIY virtual getaway. If you share your creative ideas in the comments below, I may include them in my next UNSTOPPABLE post.
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15 thoughts on “Best Time to Visit Churchill Manitoba for Hudson Bay Polar Bears”
This is such a great series, Stacey. Giving me Fantastic ideas for the future!
Thanks so much, Mary. But hopefully we won’t have to be “virtually” traveling much longer! I appreciate your encouragement so much!
You are so creative, Stacey! Thank you for this “tour.” I really enjoyed it.
Thanks so much, Donna! Let me know if you end up doing a “virtual vacation” of your own! Blessings to you, Stacey
Love your ingenuity and making the best of quarantine! Lots of fun and interesting travels. The Arctic Crawler was so cool, for a Polar bear close up!! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Kelly! I missed you on Sunday evening for the Social Distancing get together (apart). Hope you had a fun Mother’s Day!
Stacey, this is such a clever and creative way to armchair travel during times of lockdown and travel restrictions. I enjoyed virtually traveling with you to several destinations that I wouldn’t otherwise get to!
Thanks for coming along, Tracy! You’re a good travel buddy! Thanks for being part of the UNSTOPPABLE community.
This was so fun! You obviously did a lot of preparation for this exciting “getaway.”
Thanks, Valorie. Yes, I always say half the fun of traveling is the anticipation and planning for it. Did it give you any ideas of where you would like to “go” while staying at home?
Hello all! Lazy Bear Expeditions just released its dates for 2021 Colours & Lights Arctic Adventures. Check out the adventures at https://www.lazybearlodge.com
Stacey, this is brilliant! Churchill is on our list and this made it even more real. I can only imagine the “places we could travel to” following your example.
Thanks so much, Lori! Keep me in the loop on your Churchill trip. It is def on my list! I think we’d all like to hear about the REAL THING! Thanks for taking time to comment!
Good to revisit this article. So fun! But the Covid virtual everything is getting OLD! We welcome the hope of for-real travel very soon.
Love this article tho!
Thanks for taking time to comment, Dena. We all appreciate hearing from each other here at the UNSTOPPABLE Travel community! You are so right–we are ready for some “for-real” travel! Thanks again