Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon:

Arctic tundra in Nunavut and polar temperatures in Yukon and the Northwest Territories, are not all the far north of Canada has to offer, with some temperate summer weather giving an opportunity for well-planned exploration.

Nunavut only has one city, its capital Iqaluit, or “place of fish”, also once known as Frobisher Bay. The territory is the newest in Canada, officially separated from the Northwest Territories in 1999. It has a polar climate, with winter daytime temperatures between -20 and -30ºC depending on where you are. In the summer, highs in the mid-teens are the warmest on offer. By September, highs in Iqaluit are back down to 3 degrees.

The vast Northwest Territories stretch for more than half a million square miles, so have a varied climate depending on how far north or south you are. Long, cold winters and more intense summers can be found here, and in next-door Yukon. The territory holds the record for the lowest Canadian temperature ever recorded; Snag, Yukon, right on the Alaska border, recorded a low of -63ºC in 1947.

But summers can be very warm, with highs in the south of the Northwest Territories and Yukon into the 30sC. The territories are known as some of the best places in the world to see the Northern Lights, with a tourism infrastructure built around Aurora spotting trips.