The best times to visit Yorkton for comfortable weather are in mid-May through mid-September. High temperatures are in the 70s in the summer months and dip into the 60s in May and September. Winters are very cold, with high temperatures averaging below freezing in November through March.
Hotel rates will be at their highest in summer, when tourism is also the most active. You can save a little by traveling in spring or fall. Winter may bring lower rates, but it also comes with its own outdoor pleasures, such as downhill and cross-country skiing, hiking, sleighing, dogsledding, ice fishing, hockey, snowmobiling, and a plethora of other activities for hardy locals and tourists.
Seniors, AAA members, AARP members, government employees, and members of the military enjoy discounts at Comfort Inn & Suites. Rooms feature sofa beds, refrigerators, microwaves, flat-screen televisions, and free Wi-Fi. Swim laps in the indoor pool and work out in the fitness center for some exercise, and relax in the spa tub. The hotel provides a complimentary buffet breakfast, a picnic area with barbecue grills, free newspapers, and laundry facilities.
Howard Johnson by Wyndham Melville offers government/military, AARP, AAA, and senior discounts. The hotel is in the historic district of Melville, about 23 miles from Yorkton and one mile from Melville Heritage Museum. Rooms feature refrigerators, microwaves, coffee and tea makers, flat-screen televisions, deep soaking bathtubs, and free Wi-Fi. Upgrading to a suite with a hot tub is an option. Hotel amenities also include a business center, free newspapers, barbecue grills, and free breakfast.
You can find hotels that provide good value for the cost in Yorkton, including Quality Inn & Suites, where your room will be furnished with a pillowtop bed and a sofa bed, with a fireplace there to help you feel cozy. A flat-screen TV will provide entertainment, and free wired internet access (bring an ethernet cord!) will keep you connected to social media so you can share your travel photos. Wi-Fi is available for a fee. A waterslide and a spa tub will provide opportunities for fun and relaxation. The hotel also offers a 24-hour business center and free breakfast.
Also in Melville, Sigma Inn & Suites Melville provides value-rich accommodations that include spacious rooms with kitchenettes, coffee and tea makers, refrigerators, microwaves, flat-screen televisions, and free Wi-Fi. The hotel also provides a fitness center, free newspapers, complimentary breakfast, and barbecue grills.
The Western Development Museum, with locations in Yorkton, Saskatoon, North Battleford, and Moose Jaw, is the largest human history museum in the province, with a collection of nearly 80,000 artifacts. You can see a rare Twin City 60 tractor, the largest and most powerful tractor of its day, and artifacts from Professor N.P. Lew'chuk's Traveling Midway, which was based in Canora, Saskatchewan, and entertained people with fire-eating, escape routines, midway rides, and "freaks of nature" such as a stuffed two-headed calf.
A pair of life-sized carved figures by Victor Humeniuk are among the Yorktown museum's most popular artifacts because of the story behind them. Humeniuk carved the life-size statues of himself and a girlfriend he left behind in Poland when he emigrated to Canada. He was married briefly in the 1969s but lived alone for most of his life. The carving of Humeniuk is wearing some of the artist's clothes.
Visit St. Mary's Ukranian Catholic Church to see one of the most exquisite paintings of its kind in North America in the cathedral dome. Art critics have compared it to the great religious paintings in Europe. It covers the entire dome, with a 62-foot curvature. Stephen Meush, who was trained in Ukraine, painted it between September 1939 and May 1941, along with other paintings. The painting features God blessing the Virgin Mary at her coronation while Jesus holds a crown over her head. The Holy Spirit is shown as a dove. They are surrounded by 157 angels of different sizes.
If you're traveling to Yorkton in late spring, you'll surely want to see the oldest film festival in North America. The Yorkton Film Festival, held each year in late May, dates back to 1947 when it was founded as the Yorkton Film Council. The first festival was held in 1950. The festival is open to Canadian productions or to international productions that are directed to Canadians.
The Godfrey Dean Art Gallery holds small group shows featuring local and regional artists. Gallery 1 has 1,200 square feet, including 123 running feet of wall space. The smaller Gallery 2 has 83 running feet. The art gallery is on the upper floor of the Godfrey Dean Cultural Centre in downtown Yorkton, along with the Yorkton Arts Council and the Yorkton Film Festival.
Be sure to go on some of Yorkton's walking tours. The Yorkton Historical Walking Tour, which takes about an hour at a leisurely pace, goes past 30 private and public buildings that highlight the early years in Yorkton. You pass by beautiful yards and gardens and may enter the public buildings.
The Artwalk highlights murals, monuments, and more in Yorkton, while the Ravine Ecological Preserve and Arboretum offers a 2.5-kilometer trail featuring a marsh and impressive flora and fauna. Several other walking tours celebrate some of the best of Yorkton. Get maps at Tourism Yorktown or online.
You can also get some walking done on the golf course. Enjoy two 18-hole golf courses in Yorkton, the Deer Park Municipal Golf Course in the city and the York Lake Golf and Country Club, which is just 2 miles away.
Winter activities abound in the Yorkton area, as Saskatchewan has some of the best snowmobiling opportunities you'll find in North America, with abundant open land and developed trails. Cross-country skiing is also very popular in the province, with hundreds of miles of groomed and marked trails. You can enjoy cross-country skiing within Yorktown as well as nearby. Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park have extensive networks of trails. You can go downhill skiing at Fort Qu'Appelle, which features novice slopes and longer runs, as well as hills for snowboarders.
Yorkton, Saskatchewan, offers history, culture, art, and recreation for visitors. Consider a trip to this beautiful, peaceful city for a vacation you won't forget.
Below are reviews of the city of Yorkton, SK from an actual visitor's perspective.
Small city easy to get around.
Great location!
Casino
Clean and nice.
Stores and restaurants!
Spent most of the time at the Chuckwagon Races; great choice of restaurants!
Shopping and places to eat.
The swimming complex with the wave pool is great!