Fred Henne Territorial Park sits on Long Lake at the edge of Yellowknife, a sandy beach with a boat launch on the same shore. After dark the aurora over the lake is what you came for. The sky goes black here, and the lake stays a simple dark foreground.
NWT Tourism places the Northwest Territories directly beneath the Auroral Oval. Autumn over open water and winter over frozen lakes are the two seasons, and from this beach autumn is the window that still overlaps the camping season. Winter is the same sky over ice, after the campground has closed.
Keep camp here and Old Town is a parked afternoon, with the Ingraham Trail as the drive when you want a second lake.
Fred Henne runs powered and non-powered sites plus tent pads from mid-May through mid-September. Tent pads are for tents, so a campervan wants a vehicle site. If you need more sleeping space than a van, look at Yellowknife RV rentals.
Prelude Lake, Reid Lake, and the Ingraham Trail
The Ingraham Trail is Highway 4 east of Yellowknife, a road trip of lakes out of town. Prelude Lake Territorial Park is the first campground along it, with a sandy beach, a dock, and a boat launch. The Panoramic Trail is a boardwalk lookout over that lake, and a Nature Trail runs in the trees. Sites are non-powered, with walk-in tent sites and no hookups.
Sleep at Prelude Lake, or day-trip it from Fred Henne if you want to keep power.
Farther east, Cameron Falls is a well-marked 20-minute walk from a day lot, about 45 minutes from Yellowknife. The trail ends at a viewing bridge over the drop on the Cameron River. Hidden Lake Territorial Park beyond the falls is backcountry only, with no established facilities and no vehicle camping.
Reid Lake Territorial Park is the last campground on the Ingraham Trail. Sites are non-powered, tent pads included. Sleep at the end of the road, then turn around in the morning.
Old Town and Houseboat Bay
Old Town is the gold-rush side of Yellowknife, on Great Slave Lake. Painted houseboats moor in Houseboat Bay, a line of floating cabins on the water. Ragged Ass Road climbs the hill, and the Pilot's Monument is the viewpoint that puts the bay and the boats in one look. You park and walk it, then sleep at Fred Henne.
The road south is an Edmonton campervan trip, and beyond that Alberta. The rest of the Northwest Territories is the Highway 1 corridor, Wood Buffalo, and the Dempster.