The Switzerland of the North: A Day Trip to Atlin, BC

Getting there

The only road to Atlin branches south off the Alaska Highway near Jake's Corner, southeast of Whitehorse, and the drive takes roughly two and a half to three hours one way, about 180 km in total. The route itself is scenic, tracking Little Atlin Lake before winding through boreal forest to the shore of Atlin Lake itself, and, quirk of geography, you never leave the road network of the Yukon even though your destination is in British Columbia. By road, there is genuinely no other way in; Atlin has no highway connection to the rest of BC at all.

Getting there is arguably part of the town's identity. The connection to the Yukon runs deep enough that locals sometimes jokingly call the place "Atlin, YT" instead of its actual BC designation, since there's no way to reach it without driving through Yukon first. The joke has enough staying power that North of Ordinary, a shop on Main Street in Whitehorse, sells stickers printed with exactly that.

What makes it special

Atlin's setting is simply spectacular: the deep blue-green of Atlin Lake, the largest natural lake in BC at 137 km long, backed by glaciers and the peaks of the Coast Mountains. The lake's Tlingit name, Áa Tlein, means simply "big water," which undersells it slightly at 791 square kilometres and nearly 300 metres deep in places. The town has a rich gold-rush history of its own: prospectors Kenny MacLaren and Fritz Miller struck gold at nearby Pine Creek in 1898 while en route to the Klondike, and the resulting rush swelled Atlin to as many as 10,000 people at its peak. Today the year-round population is only a few hundred, and many of the buildings from that era, including a 1902 schoolhouse now serving as the Atlin Museum, still stand. The town has also drawn a strong artistic community over the decades, most visibly each July at the Atlin Arts & Music Festival, running since 2003 and opened every year by traditional drumming and dancing from the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, on whose traditional territory the town sits. Despite its remote setting, the festival has drawn genuinely notable Canadian performers over the years, including Gord Downie, Bruce Cockburn, Sloan, Ian Tyson, and Joel Plaskett, alongside a strong lineup of Yukon-based artists. The unhurried, end-of-the-road atmosphere is a big part of why people fall for the place, festival weekend included.

Things to do

Wander the historic townsite, browse the work of local artists, walk or paddle along the lakeshore, and soak in the views. Local operators rent motorboats and kayaks through the summer season. Boat tours and, for the adventurous, access toward the glaciers feeding the lake open up the grander wilderness, much of it protected within Atlin/Áa Tlein Téix'i Provincial Park, more than 3,000 square kilometres of boreal forest, alpine tundra, and glaciated terrain covering the lake's southern reaches. In winter, the area is quiet, snowy, and beautiful, though the road requires winter tires or chains.

Planning your visit

As a long day trip, leave early, fill up at Jake's Corner since it's the last reliable fuel stop, and allow plenty of time for stops and the return drive. Better still, stay a night to enjoy the quiet mornings and evening light; near the summer solstice, Atlin gets close to 19 hours of daylight. Services are limited, so bring supplies, and check that any accommodation or tours are open, especially outside summer.

Why go

Atlin rewards the effort with a sense of discovery few road-accessible places can match, a genuinely jaw-dropping landscape, a warm little community, and the satisfaction of reaching a place most visitors never make time for. It's the perfect add-on for travellers who want to go a little beyond the usual Yukon circuit.