TAP Air Portugal is celebrating the new year with a new flight sale offering trips to Europe and beyond starting as low as $379 round-trip.
20.12.2023 - 19:03 / nationalgeographic.com
If you’ve been clamoring to see the ethereal northern lights, consider heading to Canada, where they ribbon through the sky 300 days a year in certain regions. Northern Canada in particular offers the best chance to see aurora borealis because much of the region lies beneath the auroral oval, the area around Earth’s magnetic poles that are a hot spot for activity.
Auroras occur when the sun’s electrically charged particles enter the atmosphere on a solar wind, colliding with gases and producing tiny flashes that fill the sky with neon light. The best time to spot them in Canada is from December to March, when there are more hours of darkness and cold, clear nights, or between August and October, when the midnight sun begins to dim but the weather allows for outdoor activities, like hiking and paddling.
For a richer experience, travelers can pair northern lights viewing with cultural and adventure activities in many destinations. Here are five unique ways to catch one of nature’s most breathtaking phenomena.
The Northwest Territories sit above Canada’s three western provinces and is home to the region’s Indigenous Dene peoples. In Yellowknife, North Star Adventures offers a safari-style aurora “hunting” experience with cultural immersion. Travelers ride in an SUV, making multiple stops as tour founder Joe Bailey reads the sky in pursuit of the lights.
“The reason I called it ‘aurora hunting’ is because of the Dene cultural connection to my grandfather, who would take me hunting for caribou, moose, and buffalo,” he says. “I wanted to incorporate that traditional activity into the name of the tour.”
“In the Denesuline language, we call the lights ya’ke ngas, which means ‘the sky is stirring,’” Bailey continues. “We believe the lights are the spirits of our ancestors and loved ones telling us everything is OK.”
For more Indigenous insights, cozy up in an aurora-viewing dome with North of 60 Adventures or inside a tipi warmed by a wood-burning fire at Aurora Village. Both Dene-owned operators also offer dogsled outings, where you can explore snow-cloaked forest trails and frozen lakes.
(These Indigenous women are reshaping Canada’s tourism industry.)
With its sweeping landscapes and dramatic mountain vistas (Mount Logan is the highest peak in Canada), the Yukon is an outdoor lover’s dream. Come fall, when skies darken earlier and the aspen forest turns golden, the province beckons northern lights seekers too.
Local operators take advantage of the brief window between summer and first snowfall to combine outdoor activities like paddling with aurora watching. With Up North Adventures, travelers canoe or kayak the storied Yukon River from the capital city of Whitehorse to the confluence of the Takhini River.
TAP Air Portugal is celebrating the new year with a new flight sale offering trips to Europe and beyond starting as low as $379 round-trip.
Airlines continue to roll out deals to jumpstart bookings in the New Year. Alaska Airlines' «2024 Takeoff Sale» has flight deals available from nearly all of the 115 destinations Alaska flies to. The sale is currently available until tomorrow, Jan. 5, at 11:59pm. The discounted flights vary in departure dates with the top deals including:
It was 2:38 p.m. on August 21, 2017, when day turned to night. That was the precise moment in Greenville, South Carolina, when the moon, passing between the sun and Earth, fully blocked our view of the sun.
In 2019, the Ottawa Airport Authority announced the multi-year YOW+ terminal enhancement program which included a reimagined airport concession program. SSP Canada, the preferred food and beverage concessionaire, was tasked with the ambitious goal of creating new restaurant spaces and introducing local brands and content in concert with tried and true airport brands.
Tickets will be awarded via cumulative sales, with the first two winners being awarded at the end of January, then one new winner each month from February – July.
The brand offers innovatively-designed ships, outstanding service and a focus on active shore excursions and wellness through their signature EmeraldACTIVE program.
Airline launches ad campaign featuring young PWHL hopefuls and Canadian hockey legend Mélodie Daoust.
Safeguarding your digital security while vacationing in Canada is pivotal in ensuring a worry-free and enjoyable trip. By following these five essential cybersecurity tips, you can significantly reduce the risks associated with potential cyber threats.
Flights are again departing from Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) following a runway disaster that left at least five Japanese service members dead and two aircraft destroyed.
If you’ve been conjuring up images of whipping down the ski slope (or simply getting cozy during apres-ski in a beautiful setting), you might also be wondering about the best ski destinations to check off your bucket list. New data from the travel insurance experts at Compare the Market AU has recently revealed some of the objectively best ski destinations in the world to help bring your vision to reality.
The principals of the innovative London and New York-based travel company Black Tomato made their name by assembling detail-oriented and sometimes very out of the way travel plans for exceedingly curious, adventurous clients. Having surveyed the market to ascertain what their clients are interested in now and the changes they see in the travel landscape, they’ve come up with the ways they see that travel happening in the next year and in what parts of the world those ambitious travelers could be.
Travelers now have new options to save them time and headaches when traveling to Europe, thanks to an innovative new Air Canada program.