Figuring out how to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba in the most economical way felt like a huge challenge when we started out. Churchill is the Polar Bear Capital of the World. This seemed to surprise even some Canadians when we told them of this claim to fame in their own country. 

Of the five countries in the world, Greenland, Russia, USA, Norway and Canada, Churchill is considered to be the best place in the world to see polar bears. 

There’s a few reasons for this. 

The town of Churchill was inadvertently built essentially along the polar bear migration path. Polar bears are generally solitary animals. No where else in the world do they congregate on land together as in Churchill. 

They are waiting for the ice to freeze over on the Hudson Bay. As soon as the ice is frozen, the bears are gone! They truly haven’t eaten since around July. Seal fat and blubber are their main food source. Once the ice freezes over, the bears go out and stay out for feeding. 

Polar bears are so amazing and I could write a lot more about them. (Check back for updates to see if there are further posts linked in.) I wanted to keep the focus of this post on:

How to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba

When we were doing our research people would talk so broadly about Churchill. Searches brought up a lot of packaged tour options or posts talked about visiting Churchill for other reasons. There are very distinct seasons and reasons to go and visit Churchill (beluga whales, northern lights, polar bears, and just because it’s awesome.) 

It got confusing trying to shift through all the various info. Our reason was how to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba. This is how we did it.

Where is Churchill?!

Beautiful Moment Driving Down Trans-Canada Highway:

Getting there:

The big thing to know is: there are NO ROADS to Churchill.

This means you either take a train or you fly to Churchill as the final destination. 

Flying is the quickest and will be the most expensive. 

Taking the train is cheaper and longer. 

The other big question travelers seemed to spend a lot of time trying to figure out is: 

Where to take the train from?

Train station in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada.

Most people choose between Winnipeg or Thompson as their train hop on point. 

Thompson > 1 over night. 

Winnipeg > 2 over nights. 

Train Station in Churchill.

The people that we talked to that drove to Thompson were happier they took the train from Thompson for the time and cost savings. 

Glimpse Out the Train Window:

The drive from Winnipeg to Thompson is about 8 hours + overnight train to Churchill. 

The train from Winnipeg to Thompson is about 24 hours + overnight train to Churchill. 

The plane from Winnipeg to Churchill is about 2 hours.

If you are flying → GIVE YOURSELF A BUFFER DAY

It would be an absolute terrible shame to miss your tour day if your flight were to be delayed. If you are choosing to fly to Churchill and arrive on say a Tuesday, I would schedule your ‘big tour’ day on Thursday. 

Schedule a town tour or something less expensive on Wednesday just in case you get delayed. 

When do I go to Churchill to see polar bears?

This was perhaps one of the most nail biting things when researching how to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba. There is of course no cut and dry answer. It will and does change every year.

The whole wild card is towards the end of October the bears will be hanging out more around the shore lines of the Hudson Bay waiting for the ice to freeze. 

Sometime in mid-November the Hudson Bay will ice over and the bears will be gone! They head out on that ice to hunt seals and end the long period of walking hibernation they have just gone through. 

So, having now gone there and if I were going to return and plan this ahead I would choose to go roughly between:

October 25th and November 8th as my choice date range.

My peak date choice would be Nov 1 – Nov 8 – which overlaps with polar bear week.

The exact dates we were in Churchill were October 27 – November 2, 2022 and we had an absolutely fantastic experience. 

Given the very short window of time that is why it is to your advantage to book this trip a year in advance if you can. 

Every single day is a dice roll on how the wildlife viewing and experience will go. 

The true best way to increase your chances of viewing wildlife is to stay as long as you can and spend every minute you can out there viewing wildlife. 

What Tour Should I book in Polar Bear Season?

This was perhaps the next hardest question to get an answer for in understanding how to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba. 

Plenty of tour companies offered packaged deals, which again made it harder to shift through the basics of the tour options. We did a ton of research and had a bit of luck in booking and planning what we did. 

The big thing to know is there is a difference between a TUNDRA BUGGY TOUR and a VAN TOUR or RENTING YOUR OWN VEHICLE.

I didn’t really get that until we went. 

This was a map we got from the visitor center for some perspective.

In the wildlife management area adjacent to Wapsuk National Park, there are three companies permitted to operate the big tundra buggy’s in sections that area. (And technically each companies vehicle is termed something different from tundra buggy to rover to whatever the other company had to call theirs.) 

Van tours and rented cars are permitted to drive in sections of the wildlife management area too. 

There will be certain roads just for tundra buggy’s, tour vans and then some roads rented cars are not supposed to go down. 

Both van/independent operator tours and buggy tours are excellent.

If you are going all the way up there I would have it in your budget to do both a van type tour AND a buggy tour.

Even now, having been there done that, I have been looking around at some of the tour companies websites to write this and I still think it can be confusing to shift through it all. 

Tundra Buggy Tours

This means you are going out in those giant machines where the tires are as tall as me.

Great White Bear – Easy to book. $500 CAD. 

Frontiers North – Finding their individual buggy tour option to book was not easy with their SEO and we didn’t even realize they offered it. They do and it’s $529 CAD. We ended up adding this on and booked directly at the office in town.

(Lazy Bear – this will come up in search engines and can be confusing. They go, but only for their in house guests booked on the package tours. You can however go to their restaurant (not licensed to serve alcohol) and gift shop.)

We went with Great White Bear and Frontiers North and both were excellent and I could not recommend one above the other. 

Great White Bear had a much bigger emphasis on education and was a little shorter in time. 

Frontiers North was a little longer. 

Both were great and we wish them each well. 

What a tundra buggy looks like.

Van Tour

I’m saying ‘van tour’ and I am basically referring to any other tour besides a tundra buggy. There are trucks, vans and other types of vehicles operators use.

*I am sure the other tour operators are fabulous too. These two are the ones we personally talked to people who used them. The chamber of commerce lists the tour operators here.

Discover Churchill Tours – we talked to several people that went with them and had positive things to say.

North Star Tours – we talked to several people that went with them and had positive things to say.

Sub-Artic Explorers – this is a guy named Leroy and he hired someone else named Stanly to help guide as well. Heard rav reviews about him as he guides you around and helps give you all sorts of information and appreciation about the animals and land.

A moment from a van tour spotting a polar bear off in the distance.

Independent Tour

I have to give a shout out to a new friend, professional photographer, tour leader and bear expert Zac Mills from The Wildlife Collective. You can check out his Churchill polar bear tour offering and feel confident you will get a top notch experience.  

Renting a Vehicle Yourself

Oh boy. So this feels like it is going in the direction of being a bit of a contentious issue. I heard reports of some van guide companies giving self driving visitors a hard time by saying, ‘You can’t be here or don’t be so close to us.’

I also heard reports of everyone, whether self guided or on an organized tour all together and had a great time. 

If you have never been there before it will be difficult for you to know which roads you can actually go down. And independent travelers renting vehicles it is absolutely imperative they understand the very real dangers of never getting out and going far from a vehicle in polar bear season. 

Safety is paramount out there and no one, no one wants anyone to be hurt, a bear to be harmed nor does anyone want any unfavorable press in that way.

For the vehicles, keep in mind, getting to Churchill, getting vehicles to Churchill, living in Churchill, repairing vehicles in Churchill is all difficult and expensive. 

It’s hard to know the roads, where the animals are and ultimately, you don’t want to get stuck or have a problem out there. 

We rented a car for two days. Two other couples at the place we stayed also rented a car for a few days. We all had a grand time.

If you should rent a vehicle is going to largely depend on travel style and comfortability in driving in remote areas.

Chris and I certainly missed out on some good bear photograph opportunities because we just could not take our vehicle down sections of roads the other tour 4×4’s went. 

Joys of your Own Vehicle

That said, we loved the freedom of being able to drive around at our own pace and look at things and we still saw bears and other wildlife each day we went out. 

If you are a landscape photographer – I would say rent a vehicle for at least one day. I would have not felt satisfied without having rented our own vehicle at least one day.

Sunset on the drive back after being out all day looking for wildlife.

If you are like, oh no, this all sounds stressful and you are just going to be fretting the whole time – book a town surroundings tour day. That will get you to all the sights and give some chances to get photos of the other sights in town. 

Rental Options

Tamarack Rentals is the only official vehicle rental place in town. It will be about $200 CAD a day to rent a vehicle from them. Keep expectations low and just hope and be happy if you don’t have anything major go wrong with your vehicle. 

As I said, maintaining a fleet all the way up there is difficult. 

Treat the vehicle as best you can. 

When we beat up on things, more repairs are needed, we all lose. It takes a lot of resources to keep vehicles running. The roads up there are extremely rough. Take care and treat things the way you would if you had to deal with the expense of flying or training in every item you need.

Ask around and see if you can find a vehicle to rent from the place you are staying or see if you can find someone else who will rent their vehicle in town. 

Where to Stay:

The thing to know: You can’t go wrong booking this trip one year in advance if you can when planning how to see polar bears. Despite what looks like a decent amount of options in town, what we didn’t realize was a lot of these accommodations are essentially booked out for years on a rolling basis by packaged tours. 

Very quickly accommodations for individual travelers get booked out and become sparse. 

Book and plan ahead. 

The chamber of commerce has this list of the accommodation options.

We stayed at:

Sipi River Inn

Sarah’s Dream House

Both excellent and would recommend.

(Just a small note in case you have travelers’ shock. Remember, you are in a remote and harsh environment. Many structures are simple and built to withstand the extreme winds. Don’t let any outward appearances alter your impression that a place isn’t warm and cozy on the inside. You are above the 53rd parallel and container type and prefab buildings are normal. You are in the subarctic!) 

Most buildings looked like this on the outside – very structurally sound and cozy on the inside.

Food

The building on the left is the grocery store.

After all the talk and hype of how expensive Churchill was and all the what if’s on food…it wasn’t that bad compared to all the hype. 

Yes, for sure, fresh fruit and vegetables are certainly more expensive. And yes, definitely bring as much food as you can with you. 

But.

If you must buy something in town, it’s not a colossal end of the world. Normal people do live in town year round and buy groceries there. 

We got burger meals at the Tundra Pub for ~$20 CAD each – pretty typical price. And the food was excellent!

Plan ahead on Eating Out:

Go early or go late!

Tour groups will be filing into restaurants from usually 5pm onwards. If you do wish to eat out and go at 6:30 pm it could take well over an hour to get your meal. 

Aside from the cost, the convenience of being able to eat simply and quickly at home was appealing to us. We then had more time to shower, look at photos, socialize and go to bed early to be ready for full days of looking for bears. 

Also, especially on days we were renting a car, we stayed out for sunset photos. We did not want to alter our schedule just trying to beat the rush at restaurants or wait and eat at 8pm. 

Cost Cutting Food Strategies:

Book a place with a kitchen – huge cost and time savings.

If you are taking the train, you should have no problem bringing one bag for your things and one bag with most of the food you will need. 

Prioritize fresh fruit and vegetables if that is important to you. 

Keep it simple. 

We went with super easy but tasty enough meals with hardier and shelf stable vegetables like onions and carrots. 

We kept it easy and prepared backpacking meals (I wrote this post a long time and it has a bit of ideas in it.) One meal was instant mashed potatoes (surprisingly good!) with cheese, peas and a packet of tuna each. This is still a delicious meal, filling, nutritious and ready in minutes. 

Drink mostly water. Obviously huge savings. Drinking water is fine in Churchill. No reason to buy any water in plastic. Refill a cool bottle like this!

Putting it all together:

So now what? After reading all that, how do you structure your time and how much time do YOU spend in Churchill?

There are some things to keep in mind as the train does not come and go from Churchill every day. As of this writing in November 2022 the trains depart Winnipeg to Churchill on Sunday’s and Tuesday’s at 9am. 

Trains depart Thompson on Friday, Monday and Wednesday.

Trains depart Churchill on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

When we were making this plan I lined everything up > do we have tour availability, train availability and lodging availability? Then I booked and paid for everything within the same hour. 

Here are our bare minimum recommendations. 

Sample Recommended Itineraries: 

If you are going all the way to Churchill to see polar bears you owe it to yourself to have the best experience possible. This is not a weekend trip. Or if you try to stay the bare minimum time possible and there just happens to be bad weather or a poor wildlife viewing day, you might leave disappointed. 

We took the train there and back, so that meant we stayed 5 nights and 6 days in Churchill based off that schedule. In hindsight, we could have taken the next train out of town, but there is no way we would have wanted to spend any less time than we did.   

There’s no beating around the bush that this trip to see polar bears isn’t really classified as a budget trip. I know us and a lot of other travelers spent a lot of time debating on how much money to budget and spend on this trip. I tried to use the Bronze to Platinum ranking system of what would be the absolute bare minimum to do and spend if you are going and up from there. I would say our trip was about Platinum level as went on two buggy tours and rented a car for two days. 

Here are the breakdown with bare minimum onwards we would recommend doing.

HOT TIP: Keep in mind, if you are taking the train out of Churchill, as of this writing it departs at 7:30 pm. That means your train departure day is an excellent day to also book a tour on. Also sign up for VIA’s newsletter and make your booking on Tuesdays and you should save 10-20% off your ticket price!

Bronze

3 Nights / 4 days minimum amount of time needed if going to Churchill

Arrival day and explore town and get cool passport stamp from post office

Van Tour x ½ day

Town Surroundings Tour x ½ day 

Tundra Buggy x 1 day

Night sky x 1 of your nights

Dinner out x 1 time

Silver

3 Nights / 4 Days

Arrival day and explore town and get cool passport stamp from post office

Tundra Buggy x 1 day

Full day Van tour x 1 day

Town Surroundings Tour x 1 day

Night sky x 1 of your nights

Dinner out x 1 time

Gold 

5 Nights / 6 Days

Arrival day and explore town and get cool passport stamp from post office

Tundra Buggy x 1 day

Full day van tour x 1 day 

Town Surroundings Tour x 1 day

Rent car for a day x 1 day (see if you can keep it long enough to go out for northern lights on your own to save money) 

Night sky x 2 of your nights

Dinner x 1 time

Platinum

5+ Nights / 6+ Days

Arrival day and explore town and get cool passport stamp from post office

Tundra Buggy x 2 days

Full day van tour x 1 day

Town Surroundings Tour x 1 day

Rent car for a day x 1 or more days 

Night sky x 2 of your nights (see if you can keep it long enough to go out for northern lights on your own to save money) 

Dinner x 1 time

Big Balling

All the above on repeat as many times and days as you can. 

Add in a helicopter ride.

Book with either Frontiers North Tundra Buggy Lodge or Great White Bear partners with Natural Habitat and stay out overnight in the Tundra Lodges.

Overall Ambience and Attitude to Have as a Visitor:

The town is small and there are short windows of time in a year when businesses (the tour operators, hotels, restaurants, and other) can actually make money. 

Generally, everyone in town is trying to do a good job because they want a good reputation and to please customers. 

And. 

Churchill is just a cool and unique place. 

So I’m sure wherever you go, whomever you stay with, you will have a fantastic time.  

We enjoyed everything we did.

Be a kind and open minded visitor – don’t judge a book by its cover. Remember the appearance of most things are constructed for longevity in the harsh environment. 

Shown here are two hotels, a business and the hardware store. This style of building can withstand the harsh winters.

Tips & What Gear to Bring:

This was another area where it was like, what should we really bring. 

The good news was there wasn’t anything that we truly wished we had that we did not bring. 

The biggest thing is, perhaps it goes without saying is: warm clothes!

Or just bring a dinosaur costume like this boy! It was actually Halloween and everyone still needed plenty of warm clothes!

Specifically we were glad we had these items:

Warm boots with removable liners. (the removable liners ensure you can take them out at night if snow gets in them and always have dry boots to start the day.)

Snow pants/insulated pants/rain pants to layer with. The wind can whipping through town or if you do step outside vehicles for photographing. Having windbreaker pants was key to comfort. 

Warm liner gloves – essential for holding onto cameras or phones while photographing polar bears. Then your hands won’t freeze and you won’t drop your phone or camera. 

Bigger gloves or mittens – once you are finished photographing a scene, then you just slip your hands back into your warmer gloves. This way you avoid having exposed skin out there and getting cold.

Yak Traks and/or Walking Stick – if you are prone to or worried about falling on slippery roads. We heard reports of several people going to the hospital because they fell on ice – so take care with that.

Fleece Neck Warmer – this style is our personal preference, but again, make sure you have something to keep the chill of the wind out. 

Sunglasses – not only for sun and the reflection off the white snow, but also for wind. 

Reusable bags – if you want to help polar bears and any other wildlife, a reusable bag is key. I love this style when traveling because they are so small and can bundle them up and take as many as you think you will need. 

Travel Kettle & Coffee Press – both places we stayed had a kitchen with a kettle so just check on the amenities where you book. But if you are like us, we love coffee and tea whenever we want. This was particularly great for the early mornings. By having our own press we didn’t have to worry about sharing a coffee pot with someone. We have carried that coffee press with us all over the world for years now and I love the quality. Plus with a kettle for hot water you can make yourself oat meal, ramen, instant mashed potatoes, instant soups and a bunch of other random quick and easy meals if you need to. 

Rechargeable Headlamp – I love these styles of rechargeable headlamps and hardly spend any money on batteries. I know most phones have great flashlights on them now, but rule of thumb, we always have flashlights with us. If you go out for the aurora night shooting in a vehicle, when it’s over and your exiting vehicle, you can shine your light around and make sure you didn’t leave anything in car. 

What we wished we had done differently:

It might sound so obvious and I am embarrassed to even write this. But. I always try to give a real and true review of our experiences. 

We were so focused on just getting to Churchill safely and hoping for good bear sightings we put very little thought into what other opportunities Churchill might provide. 

Like seeing the night sky and aurora. 

February and March are peak times for viewing the aurora borealis. But…

…it still happened!!!

Prior to going out our first night to shoot the aurora we had never done any night time photography. Within 5 seconds we realized we were idiots for not researching and practicing absolutely zero night time photography ahead of time. 

We went home that first night completely deflated and upset with ourselves. But. 

Chris researched and read some how to articles specifically about shooting the night time sky for the aurora borealis. 

We were so fortunate to have a second clear night and we were able to photograph the night sky!

So our very first night time photography was of the borealis aurora. You know, no big deal. 😉 

But in general, practice with your equipment whether that is a phone or a camera ahead of time! Your phone might have night sky settings you’ve never tried. Try them. Use them ahead of time and figure them out as part of your preparation for a trip to Churchill. 

That is what we wished we had done differently. 

Money:

You also don’t need a lot of cash. I was very uncertain about this after reading other blog posts from times past. So as of November 2022 almost every business we talked to will accept credit cards just like normal (no additional fees or anything.)

The one business said as long you had a card that could be used as a debit card they did not charge you a fee. 

Most everywhere just took credit cards like normal. 

There is a bank and ATM in town. 

You will need some cash for tipping or if you are making an agreement with someone one on one for a service they might provide. Otherwise don’t worry about needing a lot of cash. 

What else for how to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba?

What else? Do you have more questions about how to visit Churchill Manitoba to see polar bears? Any other questions left out there unanswered? 

I hope this post is informative and helpful (and exciting) for going to Churchill! Especially now after being there, it is so exciting to think about anything that has to do with Churchill and going there to visit. 

Please let us know any questions you still have in the comments. 

Figuring out how to see polar bears in Churchill Manitoba was certainly a process. But now we’re hooked. We want to go back so bad. Especially if you are a wildlife enthusiasts there is an energy to draw you back. 

Churchill is a remarkable place and I hope anyone who wishes to make it their goal will have the ability to see polar bears roaming around waiting for that sea ice to form. 

Want to help polar bears?

The Polar Bears International Churchill Learning Center.

Check out Polar Bears International and consider a donation or gift from their shop. 

<Or>

Mend your socks. 

So often we think of conservation as something for other people to do, unattainable or we have to donate money in order to make these big impacts. 

Sometimes the best conservation we can do is to use up what we have.  

Have kitchen towels that are getting a bit old but you are <gasp> worried about what others will think of you if they come over and see your old towels? Who cares. Swap out stuff if you have company coming and use up what you have to the very end of it’s life when it’s just you and your family. 

The self imposed pressure of impression can be one of the most damming wastes to resources. 

You can do great and wonderful things for the world by using your kitchen towels, mending your socks or using whatever items you have on hand longer.

Ok, with that, thanks for reading. Onwards to a world with polar bears remaining in it for our lifetime and future generations!

*Some of the links are affiliate links. That means at absolutely no additional cost to you, we might earn a very small commission. All gear that I listed we personally bought ourselves, use and enjoy the product. Thanks so much if you use our links!