I’ve been chasing the Northern Lights for the last three years. I finally managed to see them somewhere along the Norway-Finland border in the Arctic Circle. Since then a lot of friends have asked for advice on how to do this tour. Here are my pearls of wisdom.
- Tromso is one of the best places in the world to try and see the Northern lights. That’s largely because it is in the Arctic Circle and is a small town with decent infrastructure to travel and stay there. There are probably far better places further North, or in Russia and Finland, or Greenland, but most don’t have daily flights, a range of affordable hotels and tour operators. You'd have to mush it out there with a pack of dogs and stay in an igloo and go without room service. That way Tromso is really nice.
- Chasing the Northern Lights is a lot like fishing. Even if you are in the best spot, you need a lot of luck. There are a multitude of factors that determine if you get see the Lights. How active the sun has been as that determines the level of magnetic activity that causes the Aurora. How many hours of darkness will there be and how much light pollution since this affects visibility, If there’s a lot of cloud cover, the show may be pretty mild. And finally patience. You just need to hang around outdoors in the night sky and wait for the magic to happen.
- Given that it’s not a sure shot, it’s probably best to plan for a 2-4 day trip to Tromso to make sure you get to see the lights. I did 2 days and 2 nights, but I would have liked to spend another day just to wander around the area and see the fjords and countryside.
- If you want to see the Lights – don’t go in the summer. Remember it’s the Arctic Circle so it never get’s dark in the summer so you can’t see the Aurora.
- Since the Northern Lights are only visible late in the night and most of the chases only start after 6pm, you have a lot of time in the day to do other stuff. Use that time well. There’s a lot to see and do in and around Tromso if you plan ahead.
- Be aware that from October a lot of the tourist infrastructure closes or slows down since this is considered the off-season so you will need to check websites to find out what’s on.
- There are plenty of Northern Lights chase groups. I used the Chasing Lights group which is run by Trisha and Thomas who were simply fantastic. There are however plenty of other operators and it’s likely that your hotel will have a tie up with one of them. Some friends went with the Green Fox group. They all offer the standard fare which includes a pick up at your hotel, a drive that could go as far as northern Finland to see the lights. Winter gear, shoes and gloves, a camp fire and reindeer rugs to sit around the fire, tripods for your camera and help with photos, a dinner and hot drinks out in the middle of no where as you wait for the lights. I had booked two night trips, but since we managed to see the lights on the first night and the outlook for the second night was not that great, they were kind enough refund the second trip.
- One tip is to avoid going with the tour operators who have the highest ratings and may end up being the ones with the largest groups. In a larger group of 10-12 people you’re bound to find some who can’t stand the cold, some who are impatient to see the lights, some who are sleepy and want to get back to their hotels, some who get travel sick, and some who are just not fun to hang around with. Two friends who used a smaller tour operator ended up having the entire van, driver and guide all to themselves. As a results their group did not get rushed and probably had a better sighting than my group. The size of the groups is probably related to their rating on Tripadvisor or other travel advisory sites.
- There are a ton of hotels in Tromso and across a wide price range. I stayed at the Comfort Xrpress Hotel. It’s very comfortable, cheap, stylish and with really small rooms, so if you are travelling alone (and you have a small suitcase) it’s fantastic. I got a tiny room with an attached bathroom, a really comfy bed that had a view of the snow capped mountains.There’s a small cafe at the reception, plenty of restaurants in the same block and a very friendly team that runs the place. There’s free wi-fi in the hotel (I found that most of Norway had free wi-fi) but what was really neat was that you could pick up a pocket size mi-fi device from the hotel reception – for free!!! With this I was able to to connected to the net even when I was a 100 miles from Tromso, at no cost. They also have a bunch of new cycles that you can rent for about NOK 150 for the whole day that are great to get around town but also for day trips to see the fjords. I did a short ride to a place about 15km from Tromso where I got amazing views of the fjords and countryside. There are very few shops out in the countryside so be sure to carry water, snacks, rain wear and gloves.
- There’s an Ice Cathedral on the outskirts of town. Beware. It is not made of ice and it’s not much of a cathedral. It’s nice to look at from a distance, but a bit of a let down when you actually get close (which involves a long hike over the bridge that spans the bay).
- There is another older chapel right in the middle of the town square and as we passed the place on Sunday evening we stuck our head inside and found that a choir was singing. We checked the posters and learned that a group had flown in from Oslo to sing Mozart’s Requiem. I realized that there is a lot going on in Tromso that does not fall on the Tripadvisor top 10 list of things to do. The locals are generally friendly, so ask around and talk to people. Frankly I found the cycle ride along the coast and the choir singing to be even more spectacular than the Northern Lights.
- The strength of the Northern Lights can vary a lot. Sometimes you see the colours dancing right in front of you with the naked eye. Sometimes it’s a gentle glow in the sky that shows up when you take a looooong exposure photo. Don’t expect to get good pics through a phone camera. You will need a proper SLR or a high end compact camera that can manage a 25 second exposure with a 1.4 f-stop aperture. Don’t worry if you don’t have one. The tour operator will have one and will take your pics and email them to you.
- Things are super expensive so pack all the warm clothes you need from home or buy them before you get to Norway. I found everything was about 50% more costly than even London!
- There are daily flights to Tromso from Oslo and probably from other places in Scandinavia. The airport is connected to the town center by taxi and a more affordable bus service that leaves about 15 minutes after every flight lands takes you to most hotels in town. It's a sleepy airport, so if you miss the bus or the small line of cabs you may end up waiting till the next flight lands and the cabs and buses come back for their next round of passengers, to get another ride into town.
- If you are there on a weekend, beware that most shops and restaurants are shut on Sunday so your options will be limited.
In the end, I actually felt a bit sad that I had seen the Northern Lights and checked off a big item on my bucket list. After all it was only because of this crazy chase that I had ended up going to such out-of-the-way places like Tromso, or the Isle of Skye, or trekked from Glenfinnan to Mallaig in the Scottish Highlands. My next plan had been to get to Greenland to try and see the lights. I guess I don't need to do that now. Or do I?
Good hunting!
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