Dawson City
Canada
The Klondike gold-rush town, still on dirt streets and boardwalks, that is half shut for the winter and wide awake all summer
Photos by Patrick Federi, Gabriela, Gabriela and Gabriela on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Canada
Late May to early September, when the town is open, and February to March for the aurora
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 52mm in Jul
Where it is
64.06°N, 139.43°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Come in summer for the town and in late winter for the sky — they are two different places
- Drink the Sourtoe Cocktail at the Downtown Hotel, which is exactly what it sounds like
- Pan for gold at the free public claim on Bonanza Creek
- Drive up the Midnight Dome at midnight around the solstice
- Drive the first stretch of the Dempster Highway to Tombstone Territorial Park
- See a cancan show at Gerties in season
Dawson City travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Canada
ExpensiveCards are taken nearly everywhere. The Yukon adds no territorial sales tax, only the 5% GST at the till. Prices carry the cost of a 530km truck run from Whitehorse, and in winter the choice of where to eat shrinks to a few places.
ATMs & cards
CIBC is the only bank in town and its machine is the one to use. The others are private and add their own fee. Draw what you need for a winter visit in Whitehorse.
Avoid these
- private machines in bars and shops, which add their own fee
Use these instead
- CIBC — the only bank in town
One bank for hundreds of kilometres. The Yukon adds no territorial sales tax, only the 5% GST at the till.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Canada
SafeVery safe as a town. Winter is the serious part: minus thirty-five is ordinary in January, and the Klondike Highway from Whitehorse runs over 500km with long gaps between fuel and no signal for much of it — carry a winter kit and leave word of your route. The Yukon River is fast and cold all summer and its ice is only crossed where the ice bridge is officially open. Bears on the hills in summer. Nobody can promise the aurora.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- The Klondike Highway in winter, five hundred kilometres with long gaps between fuel and no signal
- The Yukon River, which is fast and cold all summer, and its ice, which is crossed only on the official ice bridge
- Bears on the hillside trails in summer
- The cold, which reaches minus forty in a hard January
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Canada visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 180 daysC$7
An eTA is required to fly to Canada and is valid five years. It is not needed if you are arriving by land or sea. Apply only through the canada.ca site — C$7 is the whole fee.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 180 days
Visa required in advanceC$100
A visitor visa, applied for online with biometrics.
How to get it: Apply for the eTA at canada.ca; most are approved within minutes but some are held for days, so do it well before booking anything non-refundable.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA)RequiredCAN$7
Before you book, ideally. Most are approved in minutes.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- a credit or debit card
- an email address
Valid five years or until the passport expires. Anyone flying in needs one; driving across does not.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Travel tipsHealth & emergencies all of Canada
Good but costlyRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
Excellent, and expensive for visitors — there is no reciprocal arrangement with most countries, and an emergency admission runs to thousands of dollars. Travel insurance with a high medical limit is essential. In the Rockies, mountain rescue is coordinated by Parks Canada and is not billed, but the helicopter and hospital that follow are.
Wildlife and weather rather than illness. Carry bear spray on trails and know how to use it. Hypothermia is possible in any month at altitude, and snow closes passes well outside winter.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
DecentSourdough, bison and Arctic char, and in summer a short run of good restaurants that close the moment the season ends. In winter, check what is open before you arrive rather than after.
Travel tipsNightlife
A gold-rush gambling hall with a cancan show, a saloon with a human toe in a glass, and a bar that has looked the same for decades — all of it in summer, and a fraction of it in winter.
- Diamond Tooth Gerties — the gambling hall and its shows, nightly in summer and some weekends in winter
- Sourdough Saloon — in the Downtown Hotel, for the Sourtoe Cocktail
- The Pit — the Westminster Hotel’s bar, and the locals
- Bombay Peggy’s — a pub in a former brothel
Closing: Gerties runs to 02:00 in summer; in winter most of the town is shut by then.
Gerties is a summer business with a few winter weekends — check before you plan an evening around it.
Getting around
Car needed- BoltNot here
No ride-hailing. The town is small enough to walk, and a taxi is a telephone call.
Time zone and your working day
America/Dawson — 3 hours behind you
5 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 12:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–14:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 12:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 12:00–20:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Canada, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Canadian English
- A one-dollar coinA loonieLOO-nee
- A two-dollar coinA toonieTOO-nee
- A knitted winter hatA toquetook
- The last item takenThe last one, sorry
4 more phrases
- A rural cottageA cabin, or a chalet in the Rockies
- Right? / Agreed?Eh?ay
- Bear sprayBear spray — carry it, actually
- Washroom, not toiletWhere’s the washroom?
The language is English; the vocabulary occasionally is not.
Travel tipsReligion
Christian majority, and secular
Christian by heritage with a fast-growing share reporting no religion. Indigenous spiritual traditions are recognised, and their sites carry protocols worth respecting.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Queue properly, hold doors, and apologise reflexively — it really is the norm
- Tip 15-20% in restaurants and for taxis; staff wages assume it
- Carry bear spray on Rockies trails and know how to use it
- Take note of which province you are in — rules on alcohol, cannabis and driving differ
Don't
- Do not assume Canada is a variant of the United States; it lands badly
- Do not approach or feed wildlife, and never get between a bear and its cubs
- Do not underestimate distances — the Rockies are far bigger than the map suggests
- Do not litter or leave food out at a campsite; it is both a fine and a genuine danger
Where to stay in Dawson City
No Holistay rentals in Dawson City yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Dawson City on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Whitehorse YXY
6h 40mfrom the airport· 435 km as the crow flies
Six or seven hours up the Klondike Highway, or an hour on Air North to Dawson’s own airport.
Also worth pricing: Dawson City YDA — twenty minutes from town, with flights from Whitehorse only.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
