Visiting the Northern Lights (Aurora)

srisport · 18 May 2017 at 9:14PM

We are planning a trip where we are able to view this spectacular natural beauty but are stuck on location.

I have been told that they can be viewed from Scotland but to be honest I quite fancy visiting Finland/Sweden or Iceland but I'm unsure on where to start in regards to best location.

Would either or all of those places listed above be good enough to view the Aurora?

Ive seen a few sites online where you pay for a company to plan the trip for you but to be honest I'm quite happy to plan it all myself and hopefully it will save me a few pennies too.

Anybody done this before who can pass along some helpful guidance on which direction to start looking at first?

Kind Regards.

martinthebandit · 18 May 2017 at 9:18PM

We took a last minute 15 night northern light cruise and saw them three times.
While we were in Alta in the far north of Norway we got chatting to a couple who had flown there and had two nights bed and breakfast in order to do the same.

Unfortunately for them both nights they were there it was cloudy so.

Even more unfortunately for them when they totalled up the cost of their trip, flights, accommodation, food etc they paid more for their two night, three day trip than we did for our cruise!

gettingtheresometime · 18 May 2017 at 10:07PM

You may want to factor in the fact that the cycle is on the downward slope reaching a peak again in 2025

Katiehound · 19 May 2017 at 5:01AM

Or you might fancy a cruise with Hurtigruten which as I recall has a northern lights promise- don't see them and get a free cruise. These were for cruises end of this year.

PeacefulWaters · 19 May 2017 at 5:19AM

There are no guarantees. Make sure you have other things to enjoy besides staring at the night sky for a no show!

srisport · 19 May 2017 at 10:54PM

Thank you all for your helpful tips, we quite enjoy the log cabin experience. usually spend our anniversary wkend in a log cabin in a forrest in North Yorkshire but thought we would step our game up this year and try a log cabin in the snowy climate or finland etc...

Im unsure how successful this will be but you can only try, plus we both would like to see the Aurora so we thought we would combine the two.

martinthebandit wrote: »

We took a last minute 15 night northern light cruise and saw them three times.

Unfortunately for them both nights they were there it was cloudy so.

How last minute was your booking, we were thinking of a 5 day trip so fingers cross the skies can stay clear for atleast one of them :rotfl:

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

You may want to factor in the fact that the cycle is on the downward slope reaching a peak again in 2025

I have read something about this recently, Maybe if we are unsuccessful this year then we can plan again for 8 years time? :T

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

There are no guarantees. Make sure you have other things to enjoy besides staring at the night sky for a no show!

Of course i wouldn't go all the way there for just this activity, we always ensure we take advantage of our trips and try to plan as much as possible, but at the same time leaving a day or so for rest

Regards.

martinthebandit · 20 May 2017 at 7:42AM

srisport wrote: »

How last minute was your booking, we were thinking of a 5 day trip so fingers cross the skies can stay clear for atleast one of them :rotfl:

I think we booked a month or six weeks before we went.

This is who we went with https://www.cruiseandmaritime.com/search/land-of-the-northern-lights

Though a word of caution some people aren't particularly keen on Cruise and Maritime as their ships tend to be older, smaller and less glitzy' though we have done a fair few cruises with them as we like the smaller ships (and the prices)

Oh and be aware your sailing into the Arctic circle in winter.

blindman · 20 May 2017 at 9:04AM

srisport wrote: »

Thank you all for your helpful tips, we quite enjoy the log cabin experience. usually spend our anniversary wkend in a log cabin in a forrest in North Yorkshire but thought we would step our game up this year and try a log cabin in the snowy climate or finland etc...

Im unsure how successful this will be but you can only try, plus we both would like to see the Aurora so we thought we would combine the two.

How last minute was your booking, we were thinking of a 5 day trip so fingers cross the skies can stay clear for atleast one of them :rotfl:

I have read something about this recently, Maybe if we are unsuccessful this year then we can plan again for 8 years time? :T

Of course i wouldn't go all the way there for just this activity, we always ensure we take advantage of our trips and try to plan as much as possible, but at the same time leaving a day or so for rest

Regards.

One word
Tromso

Always under the path of the lights due to its location.
Norwegian fly direct from LGW every We'd.
Otherwise it's SAS from LHR via Oslo.

Hotels expensive so look at AirBnb
Hire a car and stay out of the city.
Gives you freedom to explore during the day and also chase the lights if you have to.

We went in March for 5 nights.

Saw the lights EVERY night
Out of the bedroom window and from otherlocations
Awesome.

nwc389 · 21 May 2017 at 2:37PM

Another vote for Tromso here. We went February 2016 for four nights , we were lucky enough to see the lights from the hotel room literally within an hour of arriving !
We did a lights chase which was a fantastic experience and saw the lights again that evening . There are also other things to see and do around Tromso and it's got some stunning scenery- we went dog sledding on my birthday and it was just a perfect day .
We live in the north of england and booked flights from Edinburgh and sorted our own hotel and excursions. I found trip advisor a great help

donglemouse · 22 May 2017 at 12:07PM

another vote from tromso - went in feb 2013 and saw lights every night for a week

there's plenty to do as well during the day time so trip would be memorable even if you were unlucky and didn't see anything

plenty of different ways to see lights as well - you can walk/bus to the beach at one end of tromso yourself, get the bus up north and come back one stop on hurtigruten on same day in the evening plus go on a lights tour (small group better than 50 seater bus) where they will get you out in the middle of nowhere

AubreyMac · 22 May 2017 at 1:18PM

I visited Tromso in feb 2016 and it was fab.

I spent 3 nights there and booked 2 tours with the same company on consecutive nights in order to maximise my chances of seeing it and I did - on both nights.

I wouldn't recommend DIY as tour guide took us to remote places and where we are taken depends on the clouds (apparently they use the same technology as airlines) so the place was different on both nights. The first night the skies were clear so we ended up about an hour away from our hotel. We hiked through a frozen lake too in order to get the perfect spot. The guide also has professional photography equipment so we were just able to relax and enjoy it (they also provided us with specialist clothing and boots as the ones you get here, even the expensive north face ones will just not withstand -25c weather). The guide also dug a pit and started a bonfire for us and we enjoyed a freeze dried meals cooked by hot water around the fire as well as marshmallows and hot choc. It really was magical.

2nd night was cloudy so we were driven 4.5hrs away to the borders of finland and Sweden in order to get to the less cloudy areas. again, more hiking to get to remote areas which is why I wouldn't recommend DIY.

Visiting the Northern Lights (Aurora)

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