Les meilleurs hôtels à Yellowknife

Huddled on the rocky shores of Great Slave Lake, Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, bills itself as the Gateway to the Arctic. That title may seem incongruous in what appears in many ways to be a typical small city from the south transplanted to a dizzy latitude. But don't be fooled by the apartment buildings and office towers: Look up at night, and if it's the right time of the year you'll see the Northern Lights, a twinkling and shimmering reminder that you're someplace special. The Yellowknife area is the traditional home of various Inuit native tribes - Yellowknife, Dogrib, Dene - and descendants of those groups still dwell among the city's 18,000 residents. Many work in government; others are employed at the Giant or Con gold mines. Winters here are long -- over six months -- and brutal: It's not uncommon for the temperature to hover well under 30 below for weeks on end. But that's no problem for Yellowknifers, whose winter recreation includes hockey, snowmobiling, curling and dogsled racing. In summer, the city becomes a jumping off point for clients heading to fly-in hunting and fishing camps and for wilderness canoeists winging it to Fort Simpson and the stunning Nahanni National Park Reserve.