Aqsarniit Hotel
It was a very short drive to the Aqsarniit (Northern Lights) Hotel. Built in 2019 in China and shipped to Iqaluit for final assembly, it appears to be the nicest hotel in the city. We had booked the highest room category, executive suite, which has a regular rack rate of $475 plus 5% government sales tax per night. The regular rack rate for the base standard rooms is $400 plus tax per night. We felt the rates charged by the hotel are very fair given the size and local market. There was lots of parking and we were assigned a room on the 5th floor - the highest floor. It seems that executive suites on this floor have a view overlooking the airport. From our room, we were regularly able to watch planes land and take off as we had a view of most of the runway.
Our room was very large at 755 square feet, especially considering the small size of most homes in Iqaluit. There is a kitchen with living area, separate bedroom, walk in closet, and 4 piece bathroom.
Kitchen amenities included a microwave, dishwasher, minifridge, kettle, tableware and cutlery. There was also a Keurig machine for the provided Tim Hortons coffee. Toiletries included small bottles of lotion, shampoo, and conditioner. There are unlabeled refillable containers in the shower which we assumed had body soap. The hotel also has vending machines with reasonable pricing. There are some prepackaged and packaged food options at reception. In fact, one of the first things we saw were out-of-date chocolate bars being offered for $1.
The hotel has a large connected conference facility. There is also a restaurant, lounge, and small fitness centre. We have seen warnings that the lounge can be noisy, but we did not experience this from our room. There are bottle refilling stations near the conference centre and this helped us avoid pricey bottled water. We did not have any meals at the hotel. The hotel can be reached with a short drive or taxi ride. It was also not uncommon for guests to choose a 15 minute walk from the airport. There is a complimentary airport shuttle van, but it only runs at designated hours. There are small issues with slightly-stained furniture and some needed TLC on areas like peeling wallpaper. Our main annoyance was a very slow-draining sink in the washroom. Otherwise, the only other issue we had is that it's not an Autograph Collection hotel so that we could collect Bonvoy points.
Day 1
It was 5pm and an hour to sunset by the time we finished settling into our hotel. We drove 5 minutes to the Nunavut Brewing Company in an industrial part of town. Beers appear very reasonably priced. We had a small flight of beer and purchased some merch. For dinner, we drove into town and went to Asian Kitchen for takeout.
At around 8pm, we left the hotel to try and see the Northern Lights. The first spot that we tried, near Iqaluit Port, had far too much light pollution. We then drove into one of the deeper parking lots in Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park and waited. After half an hour of waiting, we finally saw faint Northern Lights.
We had heard that Apex was one of the most recommended spots for viewing the aurora. Therefore, we drove about 10km across town to near Apex Hill. The sky was clearer and we continued seeing faint Northern Lights. As the Kp-Index was only about 2, the aurora looked very much like light clouds. While the stargazing was much more impressive, we were just glad to have seen the Northern Lights for the first time.
Day 2
The next morning was quite cloudy. In the late morning, we headed several kilometers out of town on the Road to Nowhere and found the beginning of a trail. Hiking on the tundra was quite unique as the ground was very spongy. There were no flying insects in late September.
Vegetation is short and we made our way to 2 ridges guided by small inukshuks at the top. The hike was very pleasant and we did not encounter any scrambles or notable water crossings. Our only minor obstacle was navigating some small boulder fields. Further away from Iqaluit, it was very quiet and we could see no other people or animals for miles. We ended our hike on a ridge about 700m away from Acid Ridge and headed back. It took 2.5 hours for a leisurely 4km hike with an elevation change of 500ft.
We once again headed to Asian Kitchen for takeout. For a light meal for 2, it’s around $30 without drinks. Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped by Northmart for an obligatory look at a northern grocery store. Northmart, the largest store in Iqaluit and which looks like a run-down Walmart, sure has weird pricing. While we understand that transporting goods to Nunavut makes them much more expensive, our tiny brains are flummoxed by how uncompetitive Northmart pricing can be with even other local stores. A local gentleman told us that the groceries that he gets elsewhere are about half the price of Northmart.
Before sunset, we visited Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park again and walked on the banks of the Sylvia Grinnell River that flows through the park. Located just west of the airport, we caught sight of this Canadian ATR-42, registration C-FTIZ, landing after a flight from Igloolik. We then headed to the upper part of town to watch the sunset.
We decided to view the Northern Lights again from Apex. While we considered the Road to Nowhere as an option, the drive to Apex is easier in the dark. With a Kp-Index of 4, we immediately saw the aurora after getting to the parking lot. We were recommended to look towards the southwest for Northern Lights viewing. It was a much more impressive show and the lights continuously danced in the sky.
On both nights, there were never more than 1 or 2 other cars in the area and we never found ourselves with immediate neighbours. Unfortunately, there is a lot of trash (mainly beer cans) all around Iqaluit from our hike to the beach.
Day 3
For the final day, hotel checkout was at 11am, our car rental was due to be returned by 4pm, and our flight wasn’t until after 8pm. We began our day by visiting the Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre, which had small exhibits about Nunavut and was free. The gregarious host provided a lot of information and recommendations of Iqaluit. As a tourist memento, Iqaluit provides certificates for being north of 60°N (Iqaluit is a bit below the Arctic Circle at around 63°N). We had planned on visiting the next-door Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, but it was unexpectedly closed for the day.
We then drove to Apex to see it for the first time with daylight and hiked a portion of the Apex Trail. We expected that the old Hudson’s Bay Company buildings would be more interesting than they turned out to be.
For lunch, we visited the Black Heart Café, which seems to be the most recommended restaurant in Iqaluit. We ordered two of the PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) bowls, one with caribou tataki and the other with Arctic char gravlax. They turned out to be excellent and similar to poke bowls. We both preferred the caribou more. With our meals, we also ordered an iced americano. The cashier corrected us that it was an iced canadiano. Looking at the menu, americano was crossed out with canadiano/mexicano in its place, but the iced version wasn’t. Seems like Canada now has our own version of the “freedom fries” saga. Our meal with tax and tip came out to just under $100.
After lunch, we got caught up in the mini lunch traffic rush. Iqaluit does not have any stop lights and there are only a few intersections with 4-way stop signs. We ended up at Carvings Nunavut in the centre of town. There was a large selection of carvings and prints ranging from one hundred to thousands of dollars. Mrs. Schweden found a small dancing bear carving to bring home for a few hundred dollars.
As we still had time before having to head to the airport, we visited a smattering of sights around town including the Legislative Building of Nunavut, the igloo-inspired St. Jude’s Cathedral, and the old terminal building of Iqaluit Airport.
