The Northern Lights
On multiple surveys of top bucket-list experiences, people have consistently put seeing the Northern Lights at number one. Here are a few the best places to experience this natural phenomenon.
Northern Iceland
Iceland has boomed as the expensively hipster destination of choice in recent years, but most visitors don’t get out of the south-western corner. Head north, just underneath the Arctic Circle, though, and the Aurora Borealis season is longer. Around Akureyri, where several viewing tours depart from, and countryside hotels provide perfect in-your-own-time sighting opportunities, the season runs from September to April. That means you can head there slightly off-peak, and still have enough daylight hours to properly take in the country’s weird and wonderful landscapes.
Svalbard, Norway
While good chunks of Norway are inside the Arctic Circle, the islands of Svalbard to the north are deep, deep inside it. Don’t expect to see any daylight during the depths of winter – although this doesn’t stop snowmobiling and husky-sledding adventures or the chance of polar bear encounters. And, also, this means more time in darkness for the celestial twinkling.
Jukkasjärvi, Sweden
If you wanting a big helping of novelty gimmickry served up alongside your Northern Lights experience, however, you may as well stay at the Icehotel in Sweden. Recreated by ice sculptors every year, this art-packed modernist take on the igloo offers lights-viewing experiences and conventional “warm” hotel rooms as well as thermal sleeping bags, reindeer hides and balaclavas for sleeping in the “cold” ice-carved rooms.
The Norwegian Coast
There’s taking a boat trip, and then there’s living on a boat for a few days so you can stand on the deck every night and look to the heavens. The problem with most cruises in northerly climes is that they only run during the summer months, but Hurtigruten in Norway runs the shipping services that connect towns on the Norwegian coast – and that means it still runs cruises in the winter months. Its 12 night Northern Lights special offers guaranteed sightings as it heads north into the Arctic Circle.
Rovaniemi, Finland
In what has to be one of the most audacious marketing successes of all time, Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland has managed to brand itself as the home of Santa Claus. Which means a surprisingly large winter tourism infrastructure, plenty of flights and hotel rooms, and great opportunities to head slightly out of town to watch the Aurora in action.
Galloway Forest Park, Scotland
As a general rule, the further north you are, the better your chances of seeing the northern lights is. But if you’re not wanting a special trip around the world purely to see the light show, then Scotland is a decent shout. The Galloway Forest Park – 90 minutes’ drive from Glasgow – has been designated a Dark Sky Park – with the lack of buildings and light pollution making for near-perfect skygazing conditions.
