Where to Eat, Stay and Explore in Haida Gwaii

Explore

The Haida Heritage Centre

The Haida Heritage Centre at Kay Llnagaay is an indoor and outdoor centre for cultural expression, with a wing dedicated to artist Bill Reid in the planning. Slide open the drawers of artefacts, and you may find Lahal, a betting game of sticks that staff say is “bigger than bingo” around here.

Budgies Backpackers & Sight Seers

Based in a hostel in Port Clements, Budgies Backpackers & Sight Seers will take visitors out for land tours to get intimate with local ecosystems, including the remains of the legendary Golden Spruce. In summer, it’s all about the kayaking.

Sleep

Highwater House

Overlooking the Sangan River and the Pacific beyond, Highwater House is a one-bedroom hideaway (with the world’s nicest outhouse) on stilts in Naikoon Provincial Park. The treehouse structure was built to move with the winds – adding to the feeling that you are floating in another world.

Eat

Keenawaii’s Kitchen

At Keenawaii’s Kitchen, Roberta Olson opens her home to offer visitors a taste of traditional Haida foodways. She’ll share with you what she presented at James Beard House: salmon many ways, halibut chowder, black cod, venison with wild cranberries. Dessert is Indian Ice Cream, a frothy whip of soap berries that puckers the mouth.

Jags Beanstalk, Bistro & Beds

While you sip a Canadiano and eat homemade granola at Jags Beanstalk, Bistro & Beds in Skidegate, Jags Brown will tell you to keep your eyes peeled for humpbacks breaching outside the window – or show you his wildlife photos. The four upstairs rooms get a whiff of morning baking.