Artic circle

Churchill, Manitoba is known for its polar bears—the first thing to come up if you Google the town are the polar bear tours. I strongly agree with Tigger that the best way to view polar bears is either from several kilometers away or in a controlled environment.

The major hurdle faced by excursions in the far north, at least in Canada, is the cost and effort to get up there. For example, one of my unicorn hikes is a traverse of the Akshayuk Pass in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island (the hike crosses the Arctic Circle), however the cost of a round-trip flight alone exceeds the entire cost of my week-long jaunt in Japan.

That being said, Canada has a half-dozen or so National Parks north of the Arctic Circle to which I'm sure you can find outfitters willing to take you. The Parks Canada website offers information on how to get to any of these parks, what you can expect to do/see/find in them, and any educational programming offered.

I don't believe any of the far-north NPs are road-access, but if you wanted a driving adventure north of the Arctic Circle, the Dempster highway out of Yukon will take you right up to the coast of the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean).

Jumping over the Atlantic, Norway has pretty good access to its northern reaches. One of their national airlines has—or used to have—an unlimited flight pass which can get you to and then around Norway, including way up north, for a decent price (note, going to just one locale may be cheaper than the pass). I'm less familiar with opportunities to backcountry backpack there, however I think they may have freedom-to-roam laws similar to places like the Scotland, where you can hike just about anywhere so long as you aren't being a detriment to the property owners' land.

This is kind of old, but in case you're still planning, I'd recommend Alaska and Gates of the Arctic. You have several options to hike in from the haul road, or you can hire a plane to drop you off somewhere in the middle. Either way you're unlikely to see any other hikers and can enjoy the far north in pristine condition.

I had planned to go in at Wiseman, but locals told me that an aggressive bear was stalking the pass so I went further north and hiked in through a river valley whose name escapes me. I saw zero people, one bear (I was yelling 'hey bear' quite a lot!), and endless amazing scenery. Climbing remote mountains at 11pm because it's still bright out is an experience not to be forgotten.

I'm planning another trip in 2021 and this time I'll fly into the Arrigetch Peaks area.