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A conversation held late one night as a first year student in St Andrews demonstrates the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights in the UK:
Jenny: Look, the aurora borealis!
Me: No Jenny, you're drunk!
Jenny: I'm not drunk I'm an astrononomoner... an astronomy student!
Me: You're drunk. You'd have to have awfully good eyesight to see the aurora from here... oh wait... the sky is unusually green...
I recommend the Botanical Gardens or the beaches and coastal walks as good viewing places, because of the lack of light pollution and the general good atmosphere.
The Polar Light Center is situated inside the Arctic Circle, in the fishing village of Laukvik on Austvagoya, one of Norway's beautiful Lofoten Islands. It's run by Rob and Therese who are both passionate about the Northern Lights - that's why they moved here! It's not that easy to get here but it's well worth the effort - the scenery is fantastic and the people are truly friendly. Rob is able to make Polar Light forecasts and can send a text to your mobile to warn you when the Northern Lights are visible.
We stayed at Viva Lofoten where owner Vibeke gave us a warm welcome.
www.polarlightcenter.com
www.laukvik-lofoten.no
www.viva-lofoten.no
Straumnes, 8315 Laukvik, Lofoten, Norge
+47 752 12 234
Google map: tinyurl.com/yf3g27e
Having lived in Sweden in the early 1980's seeing the northern lights was a regular event. I didn't expect to see a stunning display on Iona, wild camping on a cycling trip around the west coast of Scotland on a September night in the mid 1980's. The stunning display of ribbon lights around the horizon was so fantastic that I dragged my sleeping bag out under the stars and was awestuck for hours. I've had two trips to Finnish Lapland the past two februaries and seen nothing so don't ignore the far north of this land!
Off the coast of the Isle of Mull in the far north west of Scotland.
www.isle-of-iona.com/
Google map: tinyurl.com/yllzxtw
The best way to avoid disappointment is to combine hunting for the Northern Lights with something else that's fun and different. Tromsø, Norway, is a great place to do just that. I went dog sledding which was so much fun I nearly forgot why I was there in the first place. With seven Huskies dragging you into the quiet wilderness on a sledge, the Northern Lights is an added bonus if it shows up, but even without it you would not go home feeling left out. My best night however was the cheaper option of renting cross country skis from the Intersport shop in town and heading for the free, open 24hrs, floodlit slopes on the island, just a short walk from the town centre! The calming feeling of sliding along on the skis, taking in the fresh air, makes the northern lights even more spectacular. Best of all, you wont have to 'share the experience'with anyone else, which often is the case on organised tours. And the downhills provide an added thrill!
The city itself is known in Norway for being one of the most hospitable – with a buzzing nightlife.
Tromsø also benefits from twice weekly direct flights from Gatwick with budget, but decent, airline norwegian.no. If you book early enough you can get returns for under £100. Stay in the Clarion Hotel Bryggen to get access to their rooftop heated jacuzzi!
There are loads of good (and cheap) ideas on what to do in Tromso and other tips here: www.iglobetrotter.com/norway/northern-lights/northern-lights-activities.
Ski-rental: Intersport Sportshuset, Storgata 87, phone +47 77661100
Husky-rides: Tromsø Villmarkssenter, www.villmarkssenter.no
Google map: tinyurl.com/yl8w4vp
It is a hotel a two hour drive from Reykjavik. I went in 2007 with a school trip and stayed for a few nights to experience the Northern Lights. It is set within the amazing landscape of Iceland and offers a 360 degree view to capture the incredible displays. It is singly placed meaning there is not a disruption from other hotels or settlements.
Hotel Ranga
Address: 851 Hella, Iceland
Telephone: (354) - 487-5700
www.hotelranga.is/
Google map: tinyurl.com/yd3p475
The best place to see the Northern Lights is Chena Hot Springs, in the middle of an Alaskan winter. During the day you can explore the Alaskan wilderness by cross country skis, snowmobile or dog sled (why not learn to mush your own dog team?). To appreciate the scale of the vast empty space you can even take to the air in the ski plane. Nearby is the city of Fairbanks and the downhill ski-resort at Moose Mountain.
Night time, however, is set aside for one thing only – the Northern lights. The purpose built viewing room is ideal to enjoy the light show in comfort, but to get the best views you can take a snow-cat tour which provides ideal opportunities for taking some stunning photographs.
Finally, the ultimate experience, absolutely the best way to experience the surreal phenomena that is the Northern Lights, is to run through the snow at -40oC, plunge into the warm outdoor spring pool and admire their ethereal beauty while floating in the healing waters – Incredible!
www.chenahotsprings.com
Chena Hot Springs Resort
P.O.Box 58740
Fairbanks, AK
99711
Phone: 907-451-8104
Google map: tinyurl.com/ydolx6p
Where's the best place to see the the aurora borealis? During your next camping holiday in the UK. Never mind a trip to Scandinavia, Canada or Alaska, there are rare occasions when the Northern Lights can be seen in the night sky here. No need to look out of the tent every night though, just subscribe to the free Aurora Alert email service run by researchers at Lancaster University. They will automatically send you an email when geomagnetic activity indicates that there may be chance of seeing the lights in the UK. If it's dark enough, with clear skies and you are far enough away from street lighting look for red and green lights in the northern skies.
Basic cheap log cabins with bunkbeds in a very remote and strange flat place without any light or noise pollution - a perfect spot to enjoy the Northern Lights where you can, in the horizon of the ocean, still see the reflection of the midnight sun (and where the next land you would meet would be the North Pole). We saw the Northen Lights already in late August, which is very unusual. The three of us, just sitting in our sleeping bags in chairs enjoying a cold beer and the Northen Lights - isn't life beautiful?
Drive East from Husavik along the beatiful coast of Northen Iceland - on the No. 85 road. After 50km you drive through a rather strange and landscape. Along the road you'll find a few farm house of which some of them rent out - look for signs.
Google map: tinyurl.com/ydlbrls
Yukon territory is a spectacular place to view the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. Located on the border of Alaska and British Columbia in the Canadian Northwest Territories, its population of 31,000 has remained constant since 1900. The capital, Whitehorse, is a welcoming yet remote destination that is the best place to view the lights. Warm your cockles by a log fire with a steaming cup of tea in preparation for sunset. Once the sun goes down, the bright stars come out, and during August and September, so do the ripples of green sulfurous gases and oxygen emissions that form the Northern Lights. The impressive sight illuminates the sky in dancing patterns on certain nights of the year. So wrap up warm and head to Yukon to catch a sight you will never forget.
Fly to Vancouver, Edmonton or Calgary from London Heathrow then get a connecting flight to Whitehorse International Airport.
www.auroraborealisyukon.com/
Google map: tinyurl.com/yayzn8t
Way up in the far reaches of northern Finland, amid the snow cloaked forests of lapland, there lies an igloo village. I had travelled with my girlfriend to the home of Father Christmas for a winter break at the Kakslauttanen holiday village; a cluster of cosy log cabins and ice and glass igloos deep within the arctic circle.
We never did see Santa, though lying in bed beneath the glass roof of our igloo we were treated to a phantasmagoric light show like we’d never seen. Shimmering between stars that I never even knew existed was the spectacular aurora borealis, a sight more magical than seeing the old man himself!
Sightings of the Northern Lights can never be guaranteed, though in one week in winter we were treated to six nights of this spectacle.
Hotel and igloo village Kakslauttanen, 30 minute transfer from lvalo airport.
www.kakslauttanen.fi/index.php
If you are able to travel to see the Northern Lights at short notice, you have a much better chance of seeing a dramatic display when the sun is active.
The current and predicted activity of the Sun can be found at spaceweather.com A two day prediction of auroral activity is given at the bottom left of the home page.
250km north of the Arctic Circle, Abisko Mountain Station is an up-market hostel with fantastic food, a glorious location and comfortable, reasonably priced accommodation (including a self-caterring option). It's a short walk to the 20 minute chair lift to the Aurora Sky Station near the top of Mt Nuolja, the driest spot in Sweden and one of the world's best places to see the Aurora Borealis. There's a good chance you'll have a 360 degree show right over your head. One legend has it that the shimmering lights are swans frozen to the sky, struggling to break free. Duck into the sky station cafe every so often for a warm up by the wood stove, hot chocolate and the aurora exhibition. There are guided tours and it's possible to stay up there overnight. By day there are many cross-country ski trails, as well as snow shoeing, ice climbing and the chance to learn about Sami culture and the local flora and fauna.
Details of Abisko Mountain Station on www.abisko.nu/vinter/englishpages/index.asp
www.auroraskystation.se/ for the Aurora Sky Station.
There is a dedicated railway station, 19 hours from Stockholm or one hour from Kiruna.
Google map: tinyurl.com/ylks5b4
These are apartments at the lake at the edge of the village, so we could see the Northern Lights at our footsteps! Just walk outside and stand in awe at this wonderful phenomenon. The owner Patricia is a native English Northern Lights photographer, so she is into this also. There is also a free alert service when the Lights are visible. You can book dogsledding and snowscooters at the apartments or in advance. We used the free langlauf skis that came with the apartment.
Inset is a tiny hamlet in northern Norway, well inside the Arctic Circle, and when I say tiny, the central area has four buildings, and three of them belong to Regina and Bjorn who own and run the Husky Farm.
Go in December and as you touch down in Bardufoss, 60km or so from Inset, you will notice as you leave the plane that you are walking not on tarmac but on a solid sheet of gritted ice. The first thing you feel is the cold, as suddenly the reason so many brightly coloured Puffa jackets peppered the plane becomes clear. Ask a local what the temperature is, "15 C" they will reply - to have to say "minus" every time would just be a waste of breath.
When you turn off the two track road that leads all the way back to Oslo, you leave street lights and civilization behind you, and enter the astonishing black of the arctic night. One hour later and you pull into the Husky Farm, a warming glow permeating through the little windows in the wooden buildings whose roofs are covered with grass; a chorus is there to greet you as the 70 or so husky dogs howl to mark your arrival.
Bjorn and Regina have an amazing log cabin which you can rent by the week. It is entirely made of wood and has a wood burning stove which must be permanently lit as the flue travels through the bedroom and kitchen making sure the heat is distributed around the whole building. It is a picture of comforting isolation, nestled in a valley with hills becoming mountains on either side, snow drifts come up to the windows. There is no sound other than the dogs and the wind, and no light bleeds into the sky, so undisturbed views of the aurora borealis are possible. Indeed on the second night of our visit I opened the front door and saw beams of light coming from behind the mountains and flooding the sky with dancing hues of blue and green. The lights performed for me for 20 minutes and then disappeared, quite suddenly and quite mysteriously.
The few hours of twilight that the sun offers at these latitudes must be used to the full. If you book for the Husky Farm Holiday you will get to experience leading your own team of dogs as you sledge over the frozen lakes into the abyss of the arctic landscape. The sky is one hundred colours at the same time, the light is ethereal, and the seclusion is absolute. You come to trust and rely on your dogs as only they hold the key to unlocking some of the secrets of the scenery and beauty of this most remote of locations.
If you are looking for glorious isolation, and some private time with nature, look no further.
Inset, Bardu, Norway
www.huskyadventure.com
My choice for this would be somewhere in northern Finland, somewhere like Utsjoki or even better Ivalo.
In northern Finland, which has very low levels of air pollution, the Lights ( in Finnish "revontulet", which means "fox's fires") are visible up to 200 times a year.
I have seen them as far south as Kirkkonummi, 30 km west of Helsinki, but only very rarely.
I have been on the Norwegian Coastal Cruises twice and the first time I saw the Lights. They were wonderful to watch as we sailed silently between the snow-clad islands. Try a smaller boat as I enjoyed it more being on my own and they do trips with no single supplement.
Although I'm a bit biased (I'm a Finn), I would still suggest people to go watch the northern lights in north Finland, Lapland.
I've spent most of my life living in Oulu, and even though Oulu is not all the way up north, we are treated every year with a magnificent display of Northern Lights. The more up north you go, the chances of seeing increase. Rovaniemi is the capital of Lapland so check for flights to there.
Since the lights occur during the night, there are hotels in Lapland which will offer wakeup calls for people wanting to see them.
We went to Kiruna in northern Sweden in late January. Kiruna is an interesting little mining town and was under about 10 foot of snow which made for a wonderful wintry experience. Actually seeing the Northern Lights is somewhat of hit and miss process. Don't believe the places that 'guarantee' you will see them - as they are as dependent on the rest of the weather and there actually being sufficient solar activity that night to see the Lights. You have to get a little out of Kiruna (just get a taxi to the other side of the ski slope hill at night) to see the Lights, as Kiruna has a surprising amount of light pollution.
I saw the Northern Lights in Svalbard. It’s a wonderful place where you can see many of them. The landscape there is stunning and being over 78°N, you live the experience of the polar night which is perpetual darkness - where else to watch Northern Lights?
The Northern Lights are pretty fickle, you might take a trip and see nothing.
What you may be able do very inexpensively is see the film "Pictures of Light"
by the Swiss-Canadian film maker Peter Mettler. He travelled to northern Manitoba in winter and used then newly-developed technology to film the aurora borealis.
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