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Shared itinerary · Churchill, Manitoba

Churchill polar bears in 3 days

Three days in Churchill, Manitoba, in the few weeks each fall when polar bears wait on the Hudson Bay shore for the ice: a full day on the tundra in a raised buggy, the Itsanitaq Museum, the Miss Piggy wreck and the polar bear jail, Cape Merry, and dog sledding at the edge of the boreal forest. 8 stops with times and notes. The bear season runs mid October to mid November; there is no road in, so fly or take the train from Winnipeg, and book a year ahead.

Updated

Distance

23.0 km

Parks Canada Visitor Centre → Wapusk Adventures

Days

3

Stops

8

Each day of Churchill polar bears in 3 days: route, stops and distance
DayRouteStopsDistance
Day 1Parks Canada Visitor Centre to Lazy Bear Lodge515.2 km
Day 2Tundra Buggy Adventure11.1 km
Day 3Cape Merry to Wapusk Adventures26.7 km

Day 1: Parks Canada Visitor Centre to Lazy Bear Lodge

15.2 km

The town, in daylight and with a guide or a car: bears walk the streets in season.

  1. 12:00

    Parks Canada Visitor Centre

    Sight

    Exhibits on Wapusk National Park and the bears, in the old train station.

    703 m · 10m walk to next

  2. 13:30

    Itsanitaq Museum

    Sight

    Inuit carvings and tools, some thousands of years old, gathered by the town’s missionaries since 1944.

    6.2 km · 10m drive to next

  3. 15:30

    Miss Piggy

    Sight

    A cargo plane that crashed on the rocks in 1979 and was left where it stopped.

    1.3 km · 5m drive to next

  4. 16:15

    Polar Bear Holding Facility

    Sight

    The polar bear jail, where bears that wander into town wait to be flown north. You see it from outside only.

    6.9 km · 10m drive to next

  5. 18:00

    Lazy Bear Lodge

    Food & drink

    Dinner in a log lodge on Kelsey Boulevard.

Day 2: Tundra Buggy Adventure

1.1 km

The bear day, out on the tundra from breakfast to dusk.

  1. 08:00

    Tundra Buggy Adventure

    Activity

    A full day on the tundra in a raised buggy, out to the bay where the bears gather in fall. The bus leaves from town, and lunch is on board. Book a year ahead.

Day 3: Cape Merry to Wapusk Adventures

6.7 km

The river mouth, and a morning with the dogs before the flight south.

  1. 09:30

    Cape Merry

    Park & nature

    The rocky point at the mouth of the Churchill River, with a gun battery of 1746 facing Prince of Wales Fort across the water.

    3.9 km · 10m drive to next

  2. 11:00

    Wapusk Adventures

    Activity

    Dog sledding at the edge of the boreal forest outside town, with a talk on the dogs.