Practicalities
Getting to Baffin Island is only feasible by air . First Air (tel 1-800/267-1247, or 979-5810 in Iqaluit) and Canadian North (tel 1-800/665-1430 in Keewatin, 1-800/665-1177 in Nunavut and the eastern Arctic or 979-5331) make the trip from Montreal (1-2 daily; 3hr) and from Ottawa (4 weekly; 4hr). Ticket prices can get as low as $400 return, but are usually nearer $700. First Air also link Yellowknife to Iqaluit (5 weekly; 3hr 50min) for around $700 return. Remember to ask about cheap pass deals and other prebooked flight deals if you're making international flights into Canada: these are often much cheaper bought beforehand in conjunction with the carrier you're using to fly to the country. Within the island, there is a daily one-hour First Air flight during the summer from Iqaluit to PANGNIRTUNG , the gateway to Auyuittuq National Park. There are also scheduled flights to the various small communities and chartered sightseeing flights. Consult the Arctic Traveller Vacation Planner or contact the Iqaluit visitor centre for details of flights and other information on outfitters, guides and accommodation. However, hiking maps should be bought in advance from The Canada Map Office, 615 Booth St, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E9. Information on the Auyuittuq park is available from Auyuittuq National Park Reserve, Pangnirtung, NWT XOA 0R0 (tel 473-8828). In summer many of the Inuit families of Iqaluit abandon their homes in favour of tents, and your best accommodation option is to join them, although there are no fixed campsites. Iqaluit's four main hotels charge more or less similar rates - around $140 per person per night - for similar facilities: The Navigator (tel 979-6201, navinn@nunanet.com ; $125-175), Discovery Lodge (tel 979-4433, disclodge@nunanet.com ; $125-175), Frobisher Inn (tel 979-2222 or 979-0427, frobinn@nunanet.com ; $125-175) and Toonoonik (tel 979-6733; $125-175). In Pangnirtung there is an established free campsite , Pisuktinee Tungavik , and a church that will let you sleep on the floor for a donation if you are desperate. The only commercial accommodation is the Auyuittuq Lodge (tel 867/473-8955, fax 473-8611; $125-175). The lodge has good but expensive meals and they usually allow exhausted hikers to use their showers for a few dollars. Each of the following remoter settlements have single and highly expensive hotels: Arctic Bay, Broughton Island, Cape Dorset, Clyde River, Grise Ford, Hall Beach, Igloolik, Lake Harbour, Pond Inlet, Resolute Bay and Sanilkiluak.
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