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From spectacular waterfalls to national parks filled with wildlife, Canada’s Northwest Territories offer visitors so much to enjoy!
Bordered by Canada’s other two territories (Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east) the Northwest Territories are mostly known for incredible natural scenery, but there are many more things to discover, including a wealth of traditional culture.
In this post, we’ll be sharing our top picks for places to visit in the Northwest Territories, including the best national parks and some man-made attractions.
We hope you enjoy learning about this stunning Canadian region and be sure to let us know in the comments which Northwest Territories must-sees we should add to our list!
Yellowknife
The capital city of Yellowknife is one of the most interesting places to visit in the Northwest Territories, with a fascinating blend of mining history, beautiful nature and cultural attractions to discover.
Yellowknife grew as a city during the Gold Rush in the 1930s and still features a number of wooden heritage buildings from this time period. It was named for the copper knives that were used by the local First Nations people, who had already been living in the area for thousands of years.
The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre is a great place to start understanding the history of the area, including the culture of the Dene First Nations people. The Northern Arts and Cultural Centre is also an excellent theater facility to see local performances plus there are a number of excellent indigenous art galleries in the city.
Yellowknife lies on the banks of Great Slave Lake, the deepest lake in North America and the tenth-largest in the world. It freezes over in winter but also provides plenty of opportunities for fishing and boating in the summer months.
Nahanni National Park Reserve
Even though it’s fairly remote, the gorgeous Nahanni National Park Reserve is one of the most amazing places to go in the Northwest Territories for camping, kayaking and mountain climbing.
The raging Nahanni River flows through this reserve, passing through huge canyons and plunging into waterfalls, like Virginia Falls, which are twice as high as Niagara Falls! A visit to Nahanni National Park Reserve may provide you with glimpses of local wildlife such as Dall’s sheep, woodland caribou, wolves and black bears.
Many visitors come here to kayak on the river but there are also sulphur hot springs, mountain ranges, tundra, and forests to explore. The park was made one of the world’s first four natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978, partly because it’s just so picturesque.
Sambaa Deh Falls Territorial Park
Sambaa Deh Falls Territorial Park is a beautiful spot on Highway 1 with some pretty spectacular waterfalls that surge through limestone gorges.
Sambaa Deh means Trout River in the Slavey language, and the Trout River flows through a narrow limestone canyon here. The most famous sights to see on this river are the Sambaa Deh Falls and the Coral Falls. Both of these beautiful waterfalls can be reached via hiking trails along the canyon rim.
If you do decide to visit the Sambaa Deh Falls Territorial Park there are also camping sites near to the trails, in case you want to stay overnight in the stunning area. It’s definitely one of the best places to visit in the Northwest Territories while on a road trip!
Alexandra Falls
For some of the most beautiful Northwest Territories scenery, head to Alexandra Falls on the Hay River.
These falls are part of the wider Twin Falls Gorge Territorial Park, which encompasses both Alexandra Falls and Louise Falls in the Hay River Canyon. Alexandra Falls is the larger of the two falls, with a 32-meter (105 feet) drop as opposed to the 15-meter drop at Louise Falls.
The local Dene people believed these falls were two spirits watching over the area, called Grandmother and Grandfather. Today, you’ll find some nice hiking trails between the two waterfalls as well as a camping ground at Louise Falls.
Inuvik Igloo Church
Inuvik is a modern town on the Mackenzie River that’s also home to one of the more unusual Northwest Territories places to visit, a church shaped like an igloo!
Our Lady of Victory is the name of this Roman Catholic Church, which also features an igloo-shaped tabernacle inside and beautiful paintings by the Inuit artist Mona Thrasher. Not surprisingly, this unique landmark is the most-photographed building in Inuvik!
It looks particularly stunning in winter surrounded by snow but is also pretty epic at any time really. Check the website for mass times if you’re in the area and want to actually attend a service in this unique church.
Tuktut Nogait National Park
Meaning “young caribou” in Inuvialuktun, Tuktut Nogait National Park is a wonderful place to visit in the Northwest Territories to see the calving grounds of wild caribou, if you can get there that is!
Located to the east of Inuvik, Tuktut Nogait National Park contains spectacular rivers, canyons and cliffs, although it’s also 170 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle so it takes some dedication to get there.
As one of the most isolated national parks in North America, only the very experienced hikers should probably visit.
If you do feel experienced enough to brave this almost untouched wilderness, you could be rewarded with sights of muskoxen, grizzly bears, wolverines, red foxes, Arctic wolves and even Golden eagles.
Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park is easily one of the most popular Northwest Territories tourist attractions, as it’s both the largest national park in Canada as well as the second-largest in the world.
This park, which is bigger than Switzerland, actually covers vast tracts of land in both Alberta and the Northwest Territories plus it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site to boot.
Originally created to protect herds of wood buffalo, Wood Buffalo National Park is now home to one of the world’s largest herds of free-roaming bison as well as the world’s largest beaver dam!
The protected area also holds the last remaining natural nesting area for the endangered whooping crane so you can bet the wildlife-watching is absolutely su-perb here. Visitors can explore via foot or canoe, although it would probably take weeks to see everything…
Aside from animals, there’s also a pretty incredible 380 million-year-old seabed called the Salt Plains, where salt can be seen in weird mounds all over the ground.
Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve
As an Indigenous Protected Area, the Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve is one of the best places to see in the Northwest Territories where the Indigenous governments also share in the management of the park.
Located to the east of Great Slave Lake, this national park covers 14,070 square kilometers of boreal forest, tundra, red granite cliffs, canyons and waterfalls. Like most of the national parks on this list, Thaidene Nene (which means land of our ancestors) provides protected habitat for a LOT of bird and animal species.
Explore this national park for a chance to see lynx, wolves, foxes, bears, moose, beavers, caribou and many more creatures. There are a number of lodges within the park for visitors who want to do some sport fishing while exploring, as well as campsites for those who’d rather rough it.
If you want to visit Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve you can get a flight from Yellowknife to Łutsel K’e, a traditional village where the Chipewyan language is widely spoken.
Did we miss any of your favorite places to visit in the Northwest Territories?
Let us know in the comments!