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The city's original historic district, with its first log cabin bank, the Wildcat Café, the Bushpilot's Monument, and a floating houseboat community.
Private Tours
A private, guided fat-bike tour along the shores of Great Slave Lake and through Old Town Yellowknife's historic streets, with full winter gear provided and stops at Ragged Ass Road, Bullock's Bistro, and the frozen Dettah Ice Road's houseboats.
Private Tours
A private, customizable half-day city tour of Yellowknife led by an experienced local guide — the city's history, its famous houseboats, and local flavour, shaped around your own group's interests.
Visitor guide
Old Town is where Yellowknife began, on a rocky peninsula that pokes into Yellowknife Bay on Great Slave Lake. Gold finds in the 1930s drew prospectors, pilots and storekeepers here, and the log cabins, floatplane docks and houseboats that remain give the district a character quite different from the modern downtown. It is easy to explore on foot or from a vehicle.
Yellowknife was significantly settled after a gold rush in 1935, and most early development took place on the peninsula that is now Old Town. Construction around Old Town and Latham Island was moving quickly by 1938. World War II interrupted growth, and development resumed afterwards. The last gold mine in the area closed in 2004, though the city has protected a number of sites from the mining era through its heritage programs.
The Wildcat Café, a log building dating to 1937-38 and built by Willie Wiley and Smokey Stout, is a City of Yellowknife heritage site and was a gathering point for prospectors, miners and pilots. Residents campaigned to save it from demolition. It operates seasonally, so check before relying on it.
Ragged Ass Road is a short, unpaved street of about 150 m in Old Town. It was unofficially called Privy Road because of the outhouses along it. Around late 1970, resident Lou Rocher and fellow prospectors joked that, after a poor season, it should be named for their finances, and they put up a sign. The city did not formally recognize the name for decades, and city signs appeared by the mid-2010s. Singer Tom Cochrane named a 1995 album after it.
The Pilots' Monument (often called the Bush Pilots Monument) stands on The Rock, a hill where the town's original water tower once stood, reached by a wooden staircase. The monument's installation date varies by source, so check the City of Yellowknife for details. The City of Yellowknife says it honours the pilots and engineers who laid the groundwork for modern Yellowknife, and views from the top take in Back Bay, Yellowknife Bay and the lake. The climb is steep and not wheelchair accessible.
Old Town's shoreline is home to a floating houseboat community and floatplane operators. The houseboat life on Great Slave Lake was the subject of the TV series Ice Lake Rebels, and in winter the bay is a frozen road and playground. Weather and ice conditions vary, so confirm activities with local operators.
Great Slave Lake itself is the obvious companion, along with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre and the downtown core, which the city built up as the town outgrew its original waterfront.
See every tour and attraction we cover in Yellowknife.
