The package includes roundtrip airfare departing from Ottawa, the capital of Canada, on Fridays. There's also a 10-day, 9-night, package with Monday departures from Edmonton starting at $2,444. (All prices are in US dollars.)
You start with a three-night stay at Kimminut, a traditional Inuit community, where you can see local artists produce fascinating soapstone pieces, unique to this region in color and style. The Inuit people are now in control for the first time of their own land, Nunavut (which means "our land"), a Canadian territory since 1999.
After that, you stay for two nights in the capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit, once known as Frobisher Bay. Among the frontier style wooden buildings, you are likely to find a wide variety of colorful arctic wildflowers from late June through early August. In summer, you may spot ptarmigan, peregrine falcons, snow buntings or the arctic hare. You'll dine on arctic char, perhaps, or Greenland shrimp and steaks from the caribou and musk ox.
Finally, you stay for three nights at Pond Inlet (four nights for guests departing from Edmonton). Here, you can relax, surrounded by scenery of mountains, glaciers and icebergs, or take one of the local tours available, including kayaking along the floe edge among seals and narwhals.
There's a three-day extension for $267 that takes you to Pangnirtung, at the head of a beautiful fjord, where you can hike or just sit and admire the view. You fly in from Iqaluit for this, fare included in the price mentioned.
If you don't have time for the 9- or 10-day trip, consider taking a 3-day Arctic Sampler from Ottawa for just $646. Both the Sampler and the Extension include airfare and hotel accommodations (based on double occupancy).
Another tour called "The Arctic Coast" takes you for 10 days (9 nights) from Winnipeg, Ottawa or Edmonton, for prices starting at $1,929 and going up to $2,364. This trip takes you along Canada's Central Arctic Coast, and includes Pelly Bay (a traditional Inuit community), Cambridge Bay, viewing of the tundra's musk ox and more.
All prices are based on two persons in a room. You can get a catalog from the Great Canadian Travel Company or just make reservations by phoning them at 800/661-3830 or visiting their Web site, www.greatcanadiantravel.com.
