This holiday idea is a great fly-drive for experiencing some of the best of the Yukon, but we can tailor-make the holiday to include areas inside the Arctic Circle, or for you to join a small group multi-day hiking adventure, or canoeing trip.

The Yukon’s capital city, Whitehorse is a pleasant, walkable city with plenty of things to see and do. Walk the Millennium Trail, which takes you to the Whitehorse dam and through boreal forest. An excellent place to view birdlife including eagles, as well as northern wildflowers. Directly across from the SS Klondike is a beaver lodge and a short walk upriver is a bald eagles nest. 

Get a great insight and appreciation of 12+ species of Yukon wildlife in over 350 acres of large natural habitats at the Wildlife Preserve. A 5km trail takes you through various Yukon landscapes such as open grassland, forest, wetlands and cliffs. The facility includes the Wildlife Research and Rehabilitation Center where injured wild animals are cared for by specialists who work to release healthy, capable animals back into the wild. Take a two hour private tour, including behind-the-scenes tour of the Wildlife Research and Rehabilitation Center. 

Back in town, do not forget to check out some of the local art galleries and make some time to enjoy some locally roasted coffee and people watch at one of the city's many busy coffee shops. Stay two nights in Whitehorse. 

Your base for the next four nights is Dalton Trail Lodge, where you will stay on full board, including one guided wildlife hike.  

Explore Kluane National Park, one of the Yukon's great treasures and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. It contains the wonders of the St. Elias Mountains and its icefields, glacial lakes, wild rivers and pristine forests. Interpretive trails and exhibits will introduce you to the wonders of one of North Americas most awe-inspiring wilderness preserves. Canada’s tallest peak is in there, so is the greatest accumulation of glaciers outside the polar regions, so are a bunch of bears, caribou, moose, wolves and foxes, so is one of the most daunting white water rivers on the planet! Day hikes range from an hour to a full day and can take you along rivers, through forests or up mountains and there’s a good chance you’ll see who you’re sharing it with: Dall sheep, mountain goat, grizzly and black bear, ptarmigan, owl and moose. 

 The Yukon grizzly bear population is one of Canada’s largest and most stable in North America (30% of Canada's grizzlies can be found in the Yukon) and the Alsek River corridor in Kluane National Park UNESCO World Heritage Site has been designated a special preservation area. 

A long drive today, but well worth it and there are several small towns to stop in on the way, as well as places to get out a stretch your legs. You may well encounter wildlife on the edge of the road! 

 Home to the 1898 Klondike Gold rush, considered the greatest in world history, Dawson City today is a national historic site, and drips with history. Once home to some 50,000 residents at the height of the gold rush including Jack London, Thomas Edison, and the Guggenheims; today, gold miners and dance hall girls still roam the dusty, un-paved streets and wooden boardwalks. 

 From Dawson City you can take part of the Dempster Highway north to Tombstone Territorial Park. WE have included a guided day tour from Dawson City, but you could choose to drive and spend more time there. Known as the “Patagonia of the North”, Tombstone Territorial Park is a dramatic sub-arctic landscape that offers outstanding wildlife viewing, birding and hiking. The park lies within the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nations people who have hunted, camped and traded here for centuries. The craggy, granite peak of Tombstone Mountain, so named for its striking resemblance to a grave marker, is the most recognizable of the peaks that make up the park’s wind-carved mountain range. 

Tombstone is also notable for its concentration of diverse ecosystems, ranging from boreal to alpine and arctic, all home to a fascinating and varied collection of flora and fauna not commonly found at this latitude. Wildlife lovers will be thrilled at the abundant sightings, including black and grizzly bears, caribou, moose, Dall sheep, wolves and marmots. The park is also home to a unique array of birdlife (numbering almost 150 species, including the formidable gyrfalcon), along with Beringian insect species found nowhere else on the planet. 

Stay three nights in Dawson City. 

Return to Whitehorse today, having discovered some of Yukon’s incredible wildlife and wilderness. Enjoy your final night in Whitehorse or choose to extend your trip at a lakeside lodge for a few more days relaxation.