Accommodations
More comfort and hospitality than you ever expected
Years ago, travel to the High Arctic meant sleeping in a tent on the tundra, with no electricity or hot water. The Arctic Watch Wildness Lodge is a testament to just how much things have changed and to the level of comfort—even luxury—that today’s Arctic travellers can expect.
Constructed and opened in 1992, the Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge is located in Cunningham Inlet, on Somerset island, in Nunavut, Canada’s largest and newest territory, which formally came into being in 1999. It’s the most northerly fly-in lodge in the world and offers a level of accommodation that’s the equivalent to that of a five-star hotel in Nunavut.
A permanent “Sprung” structure, (www.sprung.com) the lodge’s walls are made of an innovative and incredibly tough and durable fabric that adheres to a tensioned membrane or framework. Modern and comfortable, the main complex houses a dining room, kitchen, lounge, library, an interpretive and museum centre, souvenir shop, shower facilities and an activities/gear room.
Arctic Watch boasts 16 private guest cabins, each with a marine toilet and cold-water sink. Showers are located in the main complex. Every night, our guests receive hot-water bottles to take with them as they bed down under thick duvets that keep them cozy and warm through the Arctic night.
Electricity is generated by a generator that operates from early morning to 10:30 p.m., which means there is no electricity in the cabins at night. Water comes from the Cunningham River. It’s fully potable and is pumped daily into a holding tank on a hill above the lodge. Gravity ensures that fresh water is delivered to the lodge and cabins 24 hours a day.
The great room, which includes our lounge and interpretive centre, is home to an extensive Arctic library. Here guests will find a small interpretive centre, housing regional artifacts, traditional Inuit clothing and 42-million-year-old wood, bones and fossils. Detailed geological and geographical maps are also accessible at the centre.
Come Experience Arctic watch for yourself, we are now taking reservations for this years trips.