This remote lodge is the best place in the world to see the Northern Lights

To shine a light on Canada’s most incredible weekend destinations, we partnered with Chevrolet to create the Blazer Index, an exclusive lineup of our favourite luxury experiences. Blachford Lake Lodge is just one of these essential excursions for when you’ve regained a sense of freedom in your life and you’re ready to explore the absolute best our country has to offer.

Looking for a unique, off-the-grid adventure that takes you deep into the Canadian wilderness to experience the Aurora Borealis? You can’t go wrong with Blachford Lake Lodge & Wilderness Resort in the Northwest Territories. The remote resort even hosted Prince William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on their royal visit to Canada in 2011.

“We are an off-grid luxury wilderness lodge—not luxury as in the Four Seasons, but luxury for the wilderness,” says Katherine Johnson, the sales and marketing manager at Blachford Lake Lodge. “We’re family-friendly and open year-round, and I would definitely say we’re the best place in the world for Northern Lights viewing.”

Situated a short trip from Yellowknife, the lodge is the perfect place to go to disconnect from the world, even just for a few days. “We are in complete wilderness. The Canadian Shield is our main ecosystem, so you’ll see a lot of rock face, spruce trees, birch trees, and generally just some beautiful, untouched wilderness,” says Johnson, adding that animals such as black bears, lynx, wolves, wolverines, and muskrats may be spotted in the area.

The lodge is an intimate, eco-friendly property that also offers plenty of creature comforts that aren’t always found at many northern resorts, such as Wi-Fi, freshly-made bread, and hot running water. There is a cozy-rustic main building, with five guest rooms, and five nearby cabins that offer more privacy and space. Four sets of solar panels and a wind turbine provide for a majority of the lodge’s energy needs, there are composting and grey-water processing systems, and only 100% recycled paper is used at the resort.

Guests sign up for a luxurious, all-inclusive experience, which generally includes looking for the Northern Lights at night and seasonal activities during the day. In the summer and fall months, those can include active pursuits, such as canoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, mountain biking, hiking, and trophy fishing. There’s also an on-site northern library, handicraft lessons, yoga sessions, an all-season hot tub, and a wood sauna.

Chasing the Aurora Borealis

One of the biggest draws for guests heading to Blachford Lake Lodge is its prime location in the Northwest Territories, one of the best areas for Aurora-watching in the world. “The Northern Lights, if you are in a location like ours, we see them on average 220 days of the year, which is pretty incredible,” says Johnson. “It’s because we are right under the Aurora oval, and the sun doesn’t stop.”

Thanks to the resort’s Far North locale, there are actually two seasons for seeing the Aurora Borealis here: Summer/Autumn, from mid-August to mid-October, and Winter/Spring, from Christmas to mid-April. Plus, the remoteness of the lodge means that there is little to no light pollution and therefore no real need to leave the grounds to “chase” the lights.

“It’s all in one location when you come visit us. You can see the Aurora from your bedroom window, you don’t need to go outside,” says Johnson. “You could sit in the hot tub, have a glass of wine, and enjoy the light show, or go for a walk on one of the trails and look up.”