City: Haines Junction
Top Things to do in Haines Junction
Top Restaurants in Haines Junction
The 9 Best Things to Do in Haines Junction, Canada
Haines Junction is a village in Yukon, Canada. It is located at Kilometre 1,632 (historical mile 1016) of the Alaska Highway at its junction with the Haines Highway, hence the name of the community. According to the 2006 Census, the population was 589. Haines Junction is east of Kluane National Park and Reserve. It is a major administrative centre for the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.
Restaurants in Haines Junction
1. Kluane National Park and Reserve
Overall Ratings
5 based on 98 reviews
This huge park is well-known for its fantastic scenic landscape and its excellent opportunities for recreational activities.
Reviewed By driftdiver1 - Halifax, Canada
Where to begin? Kluane is a most beautiful and remote National Park. We camped at Kathleen Lake, which has a nice day use area and wonderful unserviced campground. Though technically just outside the boundary of the park, we boondocked (i.e., dry camping) at a roadside pulloff on Kluane Lake just north of Destruction Bay – a wonderful experience. The highlight for us though, was taking a 1.5 hour flight-seeing tour over the Mountains and glaciers of Kluane park. Kluane is home to 17 of the 20 tallest Mountains in Canada, including Canada’s tallest, Mt. Logan. Not only was the flight-seeing a highlight of Kluane, it was the highlight of our three month RV trip through northern BC, the Yukon, and Alaska.
2. Kluane Glacier Air Tours
Overall Ratings
5 based on 49 reviews
Reviewed By driftdiver1 - Halifax, Canada
Last year during our three months of camping in the Canadian Rockies, the highlight was doing a guided hike up the Athabasca glacier. The highlight of this years’ trip along the Alaska highway was doing the 1.5 hr flight-seeing tour over the Kluane icefield; absolutely spectacular! For photographers, request the back seat in the plane that has the two camera portholes. (1 hr=$250, 1.25=$300, 1.5 hr=$360, 2 hr=$480). On a clear day, this is an experience you do not want to miss.
3. Da Ku Cultural Center
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 56 reviews
The Da Kų Culture Centre is an innovative cultural facility located in Dakwäkäda (Haines Junction) in the southern part of Canada's Yukon Territory. Da Kų (Our House) celebrates the culture and traditions of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN) Dän (people). The centre is a teaching, curatorial and interpretive facility, providing programming directed to our Citizens as well as the general public. Da Kų honours our language and stories, our strong connection to the land, and our living culture. Da Kų also connects the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations Dän to the wider community of Dakéyi, our southern Yukon and northwestern British Columbia homeland. These links are illustrated by the other agencies housed in our facility - Parks Canada's Kluane National Park Visitor Centre, with its feature exhibits, and Yukon Government's Visitor Information Centre, which showcases pieces from the Yukon Permanent Art Collection. No admission is charged for visiting Da Kų. We recommend a couple hours be allowed for visiting the centre.
Reviewed By Edward W - Toronto, Canada
Though a good concept, this cultural center is not really fleshed out as there are a few exhibits, and little else. It occupies the same building as two other centers, and might not therefore get the focus that it deserves. IT is nonetheless worth looking around while in Haines Junction.
4. Icefield Discovery
Overall Ratings
5 based on 30 reviews
Reviewed By davidtelos - Toronto, Canada
Icefield Discovery is well known for their sightseeing flights, but you may not know that you can book three nights of camping and cross-country skiing amidst Canada's tallest Mountains.
The company makes it easy. You bring a sleeping bag and some cold-weather gear. The company flies you in and provides an experienced guide. They supply wall tents for sleeping. They provide all the food and do the cooking. You can bring your own skis, or they can arrange a rental. They provide snowshoes for your use.
We went in late June, with two other couples who had booked at the same time. Our guide, Sian Williams, is an accomplished mountaineer who works well with skiers of all levels of ability. Each day Sian led us out twice, on skis or snowshoes, to nearby locations where we learned more about the Mountains and took fantastic photos. Our group was mostly beginner-to-intermediate skiers, but Sian has skied these Mountains for many years and can take you to other locations in the immediate area of the camp.
The dining tent is semi-heated and was a good place to socialize. The sleeping tents are unheated. Temperatures at night were a bit below freezing, but experienced winter campers will know it is possible to stay warm with a bit of extra sleeping gear like mittens and a hat.
When you look out your tent in the morning you will see Mount Logan, Mount King George and Mount Queen Mary surrounding the camp, with snow in all directions. This mountain range is accessible only by plane, so this is really a one-of-a-kind camping and skiing experience.
5. Kathleen Lake
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 51 reviews
Reviewed By driftdiver1 - Halifax, Canada
This is a lovely National Parks Canada campground. The fee for camping is $15.70/night, plus $8 for unlimited firewood if want to have a fire. Unlike at other Ntl Parks, they do a terrible job of splitting the firewood. Bring a massive axe or log splitter, because you will have plenty of splitting to do before you will be ready to light a fire – it is ridiculous; pure laziness on the part of Parks Canada staff.
This is an unserviced campground with spacious sites and very good privacy between sites.
There is water from a spigot but it is not threaded nor accessible by RV, so no tank fills are not possible. There is a permanent sign that recommends boiling water for 5 minutes, so the water is not tested regularly. All sites have a picnic table and fire ring. Beautiful Kathleen is a short .6 km walk from the campground. Recycling is of tin cans only. No cell or WiFi reception in the campground but there is at the Visitor Information Ctre. There is no laundry or dump station in the campground. The closest dump stations are at Kluane RV Park ($5, free with fuel fill-up, and Petro 60 - $10, free with fuel fill up). The closest laundries is at Kluane RV Park and AlCan Motor Inn. There are 4 gas stations in town, the best prices I found were at Source Motors (closed Sundays) and Kulane RV Park, both on the AlCan past the junction heading north, where diesel was 8 to 11 cents a litre less than at the other stations in the community.
TIP: As of 2015 there is a small grocery “Little Green Apple” next to the Fast Gas station that carries the basics.
The Village Bakery sells fresh baked goods and has a Salmon Bake with live entertainment on Friday nights ($32).
6. Yukon Visitor Information Centre
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 35 reviews
Reviewed By toloco98 - Sussex, England
This Visitor Centre is big and beautiful. Its range of tourist information and experts to ask, are both excellent. The cultural centre provides wonderful insights into the First Nations in the area, and such gorgeous items are on display.
Plenty of parking, clean and modern toilets, beautiful and interesting displays.
7. Our Lady of The Way
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
Reviewed By SuzanKen - Illinois
The church was built in 1954 by Father E. Morriset O.M.I., using an old Quonset hut. It's a very distinctive church. You can go inside and they offer pictures for a donation. They have mass on Sunday at 10:30.
I couldn't find the exact address when making the listing as I only see a Box online. When you enter Haines Junction on the Alaskan Highway from Whitehorse it will be on your right before the turn for Tok.
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8. Rock Glacier Trail
Overall Ratings
5 based on 4 reviews
Reviewed By Justine28 - Yellowknife, Canada
Rock Glacier is one of the shorter and more accessible hiking trails in Kluane Park, located just along the highway to Haines, approx. 20min drive from Kathleen Lake or just above 40mins drive from Haines Junction. You can obtain maps for the hike and further information on it in park’s visitor centre in Haines Junction; however it was well signposted and the trail was very easy to follow - therefore you don’t really need any maps etc. The path first goes through a forest and then opens up to rocky remains of an ancient glacier (you will be required to walk partially on the rocks). It offers really interesting views of the glacier’s path to one side and some beautiful views of a Dezadeash Lake on the other side of the highway. There’s also some interpretive panels along the way. Depending on your pace, it could take you between half an hour to an hour to complete that hike. Really pleasant, not very demanding trail and with wonderful and rewarding views. Highly recommended!
9. Kluane Helicopters
We are confident that our abilities and that of our talented staff make us stand out from our competition. We offer a wide variety of services tailored to your needs; we treat each customer with the utmost professionalism and respect. We offer the following services: Mining Forestry Oil & Gas Survey Wildlife Tourism Film Productions Charters
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