Whitehorse, Canada

True, North, Strong and Free… but not too North!

North of Ordinary is what the tourism board calls Yukon, and the capital certainly delivers. I cannot get enough of Whitehorse, and I’ve only ever been in the winter – so far! Normally I’m not much of a foodie, but for some reason I loved all the restaurants in Whitehorse and they prominently feature here. There’s a lot more to be seen in the territory that I haven’t done, but it mostly involves going further afield.

Favourite places and activities

Sanchez Cantina

Remarkably good Mexican food, with a laidback and friendly attitude.

I wandered in without a reservation, expecting it not to be too busy. They were able to seat me immediately but did note I only had one hour until I had to leave, as they were fully reserved for later in the evening! That took me by surprise but then having the food, I understood why. Hilariously, they also do accept American Express but after getting an approved payment on my Cobalt card, they chased me down because they don’t like paying Amex interchange fees and requested I pay by a different card, after they refunded the Amex transaction.

Burnt Toast Café

Breakfast and lunch, even when breakfast is entirely in the dark!

This is a must do breakfast place that I visit every time I’m up here. It’s honestly nothing that you can’t find anywhere else, but the staff are very friendly, the food is good, and it’s one of the only options!

Horwoods Mall: Baked, The Collective Good, and Bullet Hole Bagels

In the mall downtown, we've got a great coffee shop, a fun gift store, and excellent bagels. I really like the strong connection to aviation you can feel in this town, with the airport up on a hill overshadowing the town. This is then emphasized with the Air North model airplane hanging in the coffee shop, Baked. They've also got tasty pastries!

Further in the mall, there's fun Yukon merchandise in The Collective Good, which complements the other couple gift stores in town. They all have their own unique vibe, but I liked The Collective Good best. It's a more modern, less tacky feel that some of the other stores don't have.

Last but not least in the mall is the bagels! I don't think they actually shoot the holes out, but it'd be cool if they did. However they form the bagels, they are all freshly cooked and extremely tasty, plus at a reasonable price point for a simple takeaway lunch option.  

Fish Lake

I did't have a lot of time to see the sights while I was up in Whitehorse, but I did manage to take the little drive out of town to see Fish Lake. I went up a couple times, once in the day and then twice at night to try to see the northern lights. The aurora borealis sightings were a total failure, unfortunately. However, the drive up in the day was very pretty, with one well marked pull out to look out over the town. Ice fishing is apparently popular here, as I saw a couple people cutting holes in the ice and trying their hand at it. I spoke to one of them, and he was quite the character in describing how it worked and how he was putting tobacco into the water, to give back to the earth. In many First Nations beliefs, tobacco is one of the gifts from The Creator and it was important to him to give it back while he was taking fish.

Accommodation suggestions

There’s not a lot in the way of hotels up here, so don’t be expecting too much. There are a few options, but I always stayed in the Best Western Gold Rush Inn which was absolutely adequate and comfortable enough.

There’s also the Days Inn, and uh… that’s a bad place from what I’ve heard. Friends who stayed there said they felt as if the shower floor was about to give way and fall through into the suite below, the staff were not helpful in any regard, and then one was walking out the door as the entire police squadron stormed the attached restaurant to arrest an alleged sex offender.

So, back to the Gold Rush Inn. At one point while I was there the elevator was broken which made for a fun walk up and down the four flights of stairs, but that’s not a huge problem. Other than an intermittent elevator, the rooms were good in my experience, and the staff were great for anything I needed. As a plus, when I stayed I got some excellent Best Western Rewards promotions, which wound up being about $100 of value in only five nights stayed. The Gold Rush has an attached diner, but the menu did not seem appealing so I never tried it. It’s so central that walking to somewhere better is easy, even in -30 weather.

Well, the definition of easy at -30° is perhaps contentious, but it’s doable!

Logistics

Whitehorse is served by Air Canada Express and Air North, Yukon’s Airline. Air North provides a more complete economy experience for all passengers, including free hot meals for all passengers on the BC-Yukon routes and their legendary hot cookies. Air Canada of course connects to the rest of their network, which can be a bit more convenient for connections. Air North does have a deal where you can get an add on flight to Yukon from YVR with proof of a flight into Vancouver for $99, which is very reasonable.

Once in Whitehorse, it’s over to the taxi rank, at least if you’re arriving late in the evening. The airport does get hourly bus service, but it stops at 9:30 before the last flights, and going from downtown to the airport takes a rather milk run route. Within the city and during the day everywhere is accessible on transit, though with such infrequent schedules the $20 cab fare from the airport to the hotel becomes worth it.

Getting out of the city is an excellent idea, and there are car rentals available at the airport.

In terms of food, there’s all the major stores and they aren’t as unreasonable as you might expect for the North. Keep going North, however, and that will change.

A pass from me

Days Inn Whitehorse

I know I already covered it in the accommodation section, but really, really, do not stay here. It’s just not good.

Additional notes

This list doesn't contain any information on the territory during the summer months, which I hope to remedy soon!