Inuvik Travel Guide

Inuvik is a town in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The administrative centre for the Inuvik Region has a population of approximately 3,484. It is located in the East Channel of the Mackenzie Delta, approximately 100 km from the Arctic Ocean and approximately 200 km north of the Arctic Circle.

Exact coordinates are: 68 degrees 21 minutes 42 seconds north latitude, 133 degrees 43 minutes 50 seconds west longitude.

Due to its location, Inuvik experiences an average of 56 days of continuous sunlight every summer and 30 days of polar night every winter.

For the majority of the year, Inuvik can be accessed via the Dempster Highway. The highway is closed during the time of freeze-up (roughly late-October to mid-December), for ice to form and allow ice bridges, and thaw (roughly mid-May to mid-June) to allow the ferry to run. At these times, there is air access only.

When the Mackenzie River flows, Northern Transportation Company Limited provides a commercial barge service from Hay River, on Great Slave Lake to the regional terminal in Inuvik. The annual sealift moves supplies as far east as Taloyoak, Nunavut and west to Barrow, Alaska.

Ever since 1989, the Great Northern Arts Festival has been held annually for 10 days in the middle of July. It hosts artists from across the Circumpolar World with additional artists occasionally coming from as far away as the Orkney Islands, the Yucatán, and Australia. Visitors from all over the world attend this annual event each year.

Each year in late March or early April, celebrates Muskrat Jamboree . Most events are held on the Mackenzie River. Several community groups operate concessions in tents, preparing hot soup, bannock, coffee and tea and other warm refreshments.