The time we drove to Inuvik, Canada
Inuvik is an arctic town in Northwest territory of Canada situated north of Arctic circle. After crossing the Arctic circle, this town was our next destination. There is only one road that connects this town to rest of the world. Its the challenging “Dempster highway” that starts from Dawson city. We successfully drove the highway, crossed the Arctic circle and arrived into this Arctic town. You can also fly here as this town is a major commercial and transportation center for the Mackenzie delta region. However, we think travelling by road is the way to do as it is one of the most scenic drives we have ever driven. The views of varying landscape is really astonishing.
Inuvik Visitor center
We recommend you to start with the visitor center first as they can given you more detailed information and map of the town. We reached Inuvik late in the evening, so we had to save it for next day. The visitor center has lots of information with visual displays for learning about the community, tradition, history, clothes, climate, flora and fauna. They are very interesting to learn I could say.
[themify_box style=”light-blue info”]Inuvik (place of people) is the homeland of the Inuvialuit and Gwich’in peoples as well as the residence for a wide variety of other people and cultures. It is located on the Mackenzie Delta – Canada’s largest fresh water delta, close to the Arctic Ocean, with a spectacular view of the Richardson Mountains. Inuvik is nestled between the treeless tundra and the northern boreal forest, and overlooks the incredible maze of lakes and streams of the Delta. Source
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Alestine’s
Wherever we travel, we always look for nice places to enjoy authentic local food. There are not many restaurants in Inuvik. But we have read about a famous place called “Alestine’s“. We reached Inuvik only around 7pm on a Saturday. Immediately, we rushed in search of Alestine’s as they close by 8pm. It was already crowded when we reached. There was a yellow bus covered with stickers parked in front of the house, which seemed to be their kitchen. Right opposite to this bus is a wood building with a small indoor dining space and a rooftop dining area. The indoor dinning room was full and so we were asked to sit on the roof top dinning area. Being a very cold and windy day, we soon realized it would be impossible to enjoy to delicious food in the cold and decided to order take away. Reindeer meat chili was the dish that captured both our eyes. Unfortunately they ran out of it 🙁 . So we ordered Fish tacos and Poutine. Both were really good.
How can we leave without having Reindeer chili after all we have made it this far. So, we visited again the next day to have Reindeer chili, Piece of tail (their famous dessert Eskimo donut) and chicken fingers. Glad we had them! Our favorite was the chili and the desert. So yummy guys !!! you should definitely try them if you are here. The owners were nice and friendly couple always greeted us with big smiles.
Exploring the town
We drove through their streets feeling fascinated by their colorful stilted homes, quiet and serene environment. They have few hotels, campgrounds, church, community center, school, college, convenience and craft stores. Having their local food, visiting their traditional craft store and getting pin from Mayor himself were on our “to do” list. Unfortunately, we happened to be there on a weekend. So, Mayor’s office and all the souvenir/craft stores were all closed. We recommend you to visit this beautiful town in weekdays if you want to experience everything.
The Igloo church is very famous and considered as most photographed building in the town. There are tours provided if you like to see the interiors of this church. Since we were already late for our next destination, we had to skip it.
Personal recommendations
- Try Reindeer chili and their dessert (piece of tail) at Alestine’s
- Get souvenir pin from the Mayor
- Visit on weekdays (if you want to visit their traditional craft stores)
After this, our next destination was Tuktoyaktuk to touch the Arctic Ocean 😎. Read more about our experience and things to do while at Tuk in our blog.
