How I Used Points to See Polar Bears Up Close

Seeing polar bears is on many people’s bucket lists, but the process involves a significant travel expense since they are only found in the Arctic region (Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway). Polar bear sightings are exceedingly difficult despite paying for expensive cruise tours in Greenland and Svalbard. You may get to see them from a distance (through zoom lenses), but the experience is not the same when compared to a ground experience where you can see them from a few feet away (you are safe in specialized tundra buggies). In this post, I will describe an affordable way to see them in Churchill, Canada.

Churchill Polar Bears

The western Hudson Bay area (Churchill, Manitoba) in Canada is easy to reach from the US and contains around 1000 polar bears. Churchill is considered the “polar bear capital of the world,” where you are almost guaranteed to see polar bears if you stay 3 nights and take 1-2 tours.

Best Months to Visit Churchill for Polar Bear Viewing

When Hudson Bay starts to freeze over during the period from mid-October to mid-November (making it ideal for seal hunting), polar bears start to navigate their way across the tundra and are commonly encountered driving in special vehicles operated by a few companies. There is an age limit of 8 years and above for these companies and I am not sure if it is strictly enforced.

Overall Trip Expenses

The typical cost of a polar bear trip to Churchill per person will be ~$2000 as explained below (if you book 6 months in advance):

• You will first book a roundtrip flight to Winnipeg from your home state and then book a separate flight from Winnipeg to Churchill.
• The typical cost of a roundtrip flight to Winnipeg (YWG) from the United States is ~$600 USD per person.
• The flight from YWG to Churchill (YYQ) ~$1200 USD per person on Calm Air.
• Accommodation in Churchill is ~$500 USD (for a shared bathroom property) for 3 nights. Prices for private bathroom properties can be significantly higher.
• Polar bear viewing trip costs ~$400 USD.

Booking flights to Winnipeg

It is easy to book flights to Winnipeg by paying cash instead of using points.

We stayed the night in the Winnipeg airport hotel to catch the early morning flight.

Calm Air Cash Flights to Churchill

Flights to Churchill always leave early (7-8 AM) from YWG and the return flight times are variable depending on weekday. Flight departure times are frequently changed based on the weather, so closely connected flights should be avoided.

It is best to go directly to the Calm air webpage (calmair.com) rather than using Google flights due to discrepancies in flight availability.

Clam Air Flight Award Booking

You can book a $1200 roundtrip Calm air flight with just 15000 Aeroplan miles (transfer partners of Amex MR, Chase UR, and Capital One points). The only catch is that Calm air charges a nonrefundable fee of $250 USD ($340 CAD) that covers taxes and service fees. You’ll still save ~$1000 per round-trip ticket, and that covers both the accommodations and the polar bear viewing tour.

• This award booking requires a call to Calm Air (800-839-2256). I called them today and was able to reach a representative within 15 minutes.
• Not every flight you see on calmair.com can be booked with Aeroplan points. You must provide the list of dates to the agent, and they will be able to tell you which dates are eligible for point redemption.
• Calm air releases flight availability only 5-6 months ahead of time and by then you should have already booked your Polar Bear Tour since they sell out very quickly (tour companies typically open in March for Oct/Nov bookings).
• Calm air offers daily flights during peak polar bear viewing season (Oct/Nov).
• Polar bear tours are nonrefundable, even if you cannot make it to Churchill due to weather delays, flight cancellations, etc., but the tour companies will try to accommodate you on a different date based on availability.
• It is possible that none of the tour dates you booked match the award flight availability when you call Calm Air. To avoid this issue, I recommend staying 3-4 nights in Churchill and booking at least 2 polar bear viewing tours. I have seen other visitors who booked two to three tours over a 5-night stay from different companies for diverse experiences.
• It’s easy to transfer the required miles to Aeroplan from several credit card points (miles transfer instantly).
• Once you agree on the dates of travel, the customer service agent will place you on hold to call Aeroplan and apply your miles to complete the transaction.

Polar Bear Tours in Churchill

There are 3 major companies that operate buggy tours to see Polar Bears.

• Great White Bear Tours and Tundra Buggy Tours offer services to the public and Lazy Bear Tours offer tours only to the residents of their lodge during the peak season (October & November).
• It is important to know that only the Great White Bear & Tundra buggy tours have special permits to access the wildlife management area which provides unique access to several polar bears.
• Lazy bear tours are not permitted to enter that area and they take their buggies to different areas for polar bear lookout.
• First-time visitors should not miss one of the tours offered by either The Great White Bear or Tundra buggy tours.

Great White Bear Tours, Inc.

Great White Bear Tours (https://www.greatwhitebeartours.com/) offers polar bear day trips ($500 CAD = $364USD) from late October to mid-November (7 am to 4 pm with free hotel pick up) and they post the tour schedule at the beginning of March, making it the ideal time to plan a Churchill Polar Bear trip.

Tundra Buggy tours

• Tundra Buggy tours (https://frontiersnorth.com/the-tundra-buggy-adventure) cost around the same price, but no free hotel pick-up is offered (walk or hire a taxi to meet at the tour location);
• Walking is ~10 minutes and a taxi from the hotel to the site costs ~10 Canadian dollars.

Polar Bear Viewing Experience

We saw around 12 bears during our day tour, and we met a few tourists that saw 30 bears on another day trip. Pictures never do justice to the sheer size of the polar bear until you see them from a few feet away. We waited near a sleeping polar bear for ~45 minutes while our driver served us hot soup, which woke it from its sleep. The polar bear gently walked towards the buggy and stayed for around 20 minutes and kept putting up the front legs on the buggy window (see below for pictures taken from a few feet away).

Churchill Accommodation

Churchill accommodation is hard to find on the common booking websites as not all the hotels and B&Bs are listed there. Booking.com typically lists Bear Country Inn (private bathroom), Dreamhouse B&B (shared bathroom) and Churchill Hotel and Guesthouse (private bathroom). One should also check Airbnb.com and the websites of other popular seasonal hotels in the area (Blue Sky Bed & Sled, Up the Creek, Polar Inn & Suites, Aurora Inn, Inns North, Tundra Inn, Lazy Bear lodge, etc.,). Most accommodations offer free airport pick-ups and drop-offs, and taxis are easily available to go to nearby attractions at reasonable prices.

We stayed in Dreamhouse B&B, and it provides the best value in Churchill if you do not mind sharing a bathroom with other guests.

Churchill Dining

There are several options for dining in Churchill with dishes costing around $12-14 USD in high-quality restaurants like Lazy Bear. These prices should be considered a bargain, considering how expensive everything is in the town’s supermarket.

Other Churchill Tours

• If you are lucky, you may see the northern lights in October-November.
• Beluga whale-watching tours are best done in the summer months.
• Dog sledding tours are available for ~$95 per person.
• Drive with a local guide: Experienced local tour guides (talk to your accommodation host for local numbers) can drive up to 4 people around in an SUV for 3-4 hours ($150 CAD per person). We saw some breathtaking Hudson River scenery and a few polar bears circling around an Inuit dog sanctuary containing ~70 chained snow dogs (https://canadianinuitdogs.com/). Polar bears do not seem to harm dogs, but they compete when the food is delivered to them daily.

Conclusion

If you ever want to see polar bears from a few feet away, your only option is to travel to Churchill in the October to November months (book the tour in March and call Calm air in June). In Churchill, it is rare to see visitors who have not encountered any polar bears during the trip. A typical Churchill polar bear trip costs ~2K per person, but the cost will be significantly less if you use Aeroplan points.