Home >Activities > Northern Lights Viewing

Watching the Aurora Borealis dance across the northern skies is a highlight for many visitors to the Yukon. The northern lights shimmer, pulsate, slide, arc, spike and change, never repeating a pattern. Some nights they are a frosty glimmer of white light; other nights, they are red and green rays and swirls. Whether you can hear them is a subject of much scientific debate. But there is no question that they are beautiful,
mysterious and magical.

The northern lights can be seen anytime it is dark in the North. At Takhini Hot Springs there have been intermittent sightings in August and September. The best aurora viewing is from October to the end of March, late at night and into the early hours of the morning. The aurora is a solar powered light show, the visible evidence of electromagnetic disturbances around the earth.

Takhini Hot Springs is far enough from Whitehorse to be free of the city’s light pollution. Hotsprings Valley Retreat is an ideal place to view the northern lights. Guests can step out the front door of their cabin to see the aurora on the nights they are visible.

For information about Aurora forecasts click here