Marvel at the northern lights

Best time to go: February to March

If you're not too keen on getting woken up at 2am by a knock at your door, you will learn to love it in Churchill, Manitoba. The knock indicates that the sky has decided to turn on – with aurora borealis, that is- and it's not uncommon to have your tour operator wake you up for the show. Throw on your parka and head outside to witness the fluorescent swirls that coat the sky in emerald green. Churchill is one of the best paces on earth to view the northern lights, due to it location directly under the aurora oval. While the phenomenon can be caught at any time of the year, midwinter is known for being particularly great at producing incredible viewing opportunities. Options for viewing the northern lights show include settling in under a 360-degree aurora dome at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, reclining your chair in the Aurora Pod, dining in the historic Prince of Wales Fort at RAW:churchill, or viewing far from civilization at a remote eco lodge.

Study birds in flight

Best time to go: May to June

During the annual spring migration, the Churchill River estuary and the coast of the Hudson Bay sees more than 250 species of Arctic birds and ducks nest and pass over. If you're lucky, you will make it up to northern Manitoba just in time for a guided land tour from outfitters such as Nature 1st. Spot red-throated loons, eiders, sanderlings, plovers, snow geese, gulls and more – with the most elusive bird being the rare Ross's gull. With varying conditions, you may find yourself setting out on a boat tour to dodge ice floes and expand your search for unusual birds of flight.

Swim alongside beluga whales

Best time to go: July to August

The Churchill River is the place to be in the summer months, with droves of a certain white mammal making its way from the western Hudson Bay to feed and breed. The mammal? The beluga whale, of course! With populations of approximately 58,000 in the Hudson Bay, thousands of those enter nearby the Churchill and Seal estuaries where visitors can strap on a snorkel and squeeze into a wetsuit (or drysuit) to enter the sub-arctic waters. It's not long before squeaks, whistles and chirps can be heard and you catch your first, ghostly glimpse of the friendly beluga whale. Alternatively, you can hop into a kayak and paddle out toward the Hudson Bay and start to learn how to distinguish between whitecaps and the pod of beluga whales that playfully nudge your boat. There are a few options to get up close and personal with beluga whales, including Sea North Tours who have recently introduced paddle boarding with the whales.

Set out in search of polar bears

Best time to go: July to November

Curious, paralyzed, emotional and amazed are all adjectives that might describe your emotions upon first locking eyes with a polar bear in the wild. Churchill happens to be the most accessible location in the world to do so. Known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World, your ideal vision of what you want to see in the north will help you to decide when you should visit. If a snowy backdrop is more your taste, go north from October to November, when the Hudson Bay begins its steady freeze and polar bears begin to gather along the coast, eager to head out and hunt seal. Here, they socialize, spar, and wait. The rest is up to you: do you view from the comfort of a tundra vehicle with companies like Frontiers North Adventures and Great White Bear Tours, or do you take the thrill-seeking path of walking alongside bears with Churchill Wild?

Those who shy away from colder temperatures will find viewing polar bears in the summer to be right up their alley. Visiting in July and August is growing in popularity, beckoning guests further out of town and requiring a tad more effort to see the bears. Lazy Bear Expedition's Ultimate Summer Safari offers full day jet boat tours to the famous Hubbard Point, where you can see polar bears lounging at their summer homes where they roll in pink fireweed and hop in the water to cool off. Churchill Wild's experience takes you to a wilderness eco lodge, where you can get out and walk the landscape in search of bears. In general, polar bears are more low-key in the summer months and are often spotted lounging on rocks and living off the fat reserves they built up over the winter.

Find pictures here: http://www.manitobahot.com/2016/03/a-churchill-calendar-when-to-see-what/