Visiting the Northern Lights (Aurora)

blindman

AubreyMac wrote: »

I visited Tromso in feb 2016 and it was fab.





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.

With some research On Tripadvisor it's easy to DIY

Plenty of software and web-sites that give cloud cover forecasts etc.

Ebay for buying very cheap clothing-which you can sell on when you return

Sites to stop
Road to Tromvik

Sommaroy just before the bridge

There are others-I do not have the links with me.

Best link to a Blog that shows several locations

AubreyMac

blindman wrote: »

With some research On Tripadvisor it's easy to DIY

Plenty of software and web-sites that give cloud cover forecasts etc.

Ebay for buying very cheap clothing-which you can sell on when you return

Sites to stop
Road to Tromvik

Sommaroy just before the bridge

There are others-I do not have the links with me.

I guess it could be easy to DIY if you know about those sort of things. I am clueless on cloud technology, didn't even know it existed & would never have occurred to me, know nowt about SLR camera (I went with just my iphone as my camera) and neither do I know about clothing materials (apart from hearing people say 'down' keeps you warm), never mind adding driving in thick snow/ice on the other side of the road which I have no experience of doing.


Overall, me going with a guide took the bulk of thinking/sorting off my hands and for me was worth it to be able to just be fully present and enjoy the lights. I got a discount by booking 2 nights in a row and it was personalised instead of a coachful of about 50 people, which Tromso is full of.


Another point someone else made about arranging other activities, I found that Tromso doesn't have much interesting things to do. I went to that sea life place (that looks like toppling dominoes) and the triangle looking church just off the bridge. You can arrange trips like dog sledding, whale watching and fjord tours which I didn't do (regretfully) as I went specifically to see the lights. Still, another reason to return one day.

Miró

Another vote for Tromso and another vote for the Hurtigruten cruises - quite luxurious and not as commercial as the bigger ships. Also they are able to travel up the smaller fjords so you see lots of the very pretty little settlements. We went from Bergen to Tromso and saw the lights several times when on board ship. (Keep the intercom switched on in the cabin and the captain gives a shout out whenever the lights appear and in which direction they are. Great fun leaping out of bed and struggling into warm clothes over your jim jams and then racing out onto the deck in the middle of the night!) We also did the lights chase trip from Tromso similar to the one described by AubreyMac and saw a fabulous display. We found there was plenty to do in Tromso and we were fully occupied for our 3 days there.