Northern lights in Finland: where and when to see them in Lapland?

Where is the best place to see the northern lights in Finland?

All of Finnish Lapland sits on the southern rim of the auroral oval, the ring where auroras are most frequent. The further north you go, the closer you get to it, so a clear night shows an aurora more often.

Auroras: Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). Prices: our offers, private tours excluded.

Rovaniemi: the cheapest base

More than one northern lights tour in four in Finland leaves from Rovaniemi. They are also the cheapest in the country: €70 to €145 for most of them, half under €110. With Santa Claus Village, it is also the simplest base for a family.

Its limit: it sits on the Arctic Circle, further south than the ski resorts. The FMI gives no figure for it, but it lies between Oulu, an aurora on one clear night in four, and Sodankylä, one in two. Here, a tour that drives north makes the difference.

Fill your days with a snowmobile trip, dog sledding or a reindeer sleigh ride. See the northern lights tours from Rovaniemi.

Levi and Ylläs: the ski resorts

At Levi and Ylläs, a dark, clear night shows an aurora one time in two. Most tours cost €100 to €160, with a wide choice: minibus, snowshoes, campfire or floating on a frozen lake.

Choose these resorts if you want to ski by day and hunt the aurora by night without a long drive. See the tours from Levi and Ylläs.

Saariselkä, Ivalo and Inari: the far north within reach

Saariselkä, Ivalo and Inari are only a few dozen kilometres apart, with the same odds. Tours cost a little more there, €125 to €165 in Saariselkä and €135 to €180 from Ivalo, often in small groups with photos.

Saariselkä has the most services. Inari is the centre of Sámi culture. See the tours from Saariselkä, Ivalo and Inari.

Kilpisjärvi: the best odds, few tours

At Kilpisjärvi, at the north-western tip of the country, three clear nights in four show an aurora, the best figure in Finland. But only one tour is offered there, at €158. The village suits those who come for a few quiet nights, ready to head out on their own. See the tours from Kilpisjärvi.

Oulu and the coast: a stopover rather than a destination

On the coast at Oulu, only one clear night in four shows an aurora, according to the FMI. The town is a good stop on a trip already planned in the region, not a northern lights destination. See the tours from Oulu. A few tours also leave from Kemi, Kemijärvi and Pyhä.

What is the best time to see the northern lights in Finland?

The season follows the dark nights. In Rovaniemi, the Sun sinks more than 12 degrees below the horizon from 23 August to 19 April, at Kilpisjärvi from 30 August to 11 April.

Dark night: Sun more than 12 degrees below the horizon (astronomical calculation). Sky: clear nights compared from month to month at the FMI stations of Rovaniemi, Kittilä and Ivalo, winters 2015 to 2025². These automatic sensors see clear skies more often than a human observer, so we give no percentage. Active nights: Kp index of at least 3 between 8 pm and 5 am Finnish time, same winters³.

The table tells you three things.

• The Finnish sky opens in late winter. At all three stations it clears about twice as often in March as in November. On the Norwegian coast, in Tromsø, the month matters much less.
• Solar activity rises around the equinoxes. The level at which, according to NOAA⁴, the aurora becomes "brighter and more active" is reached on four nights in ten in February and March, three in ten in December and January.
• Nights shorten fast in spring. A little over 8 hours of darkness are left in March in Rovaniemi, under 3 in April.

For a first trip, aim for late February or March: the clearest skies of the winter, strong activity and still enough night. The FMI itself names March and early April among the best times. December has the longest nights, but a sky that clears less often.

According to the FMI, auroras mostly appear around midnight, from about 9 pm to 1 am. According to NOAA, a full moon dims them.

Which northern lights tour should you book in Finland?

In Finland, most tours cost €100 to €155, private tours aside. That is about €20 less than in Norway for a tour at the median price. The gap comes mostly down to the format.

Camp or chase: what changes

A camp waits for you in a fixed spot, around a fire, often with a meal. It is comfortable, but if the sky is overcast above the camp, the evening ends there.

A chase by minibus or car heads instead to wherever the forecast is best. Several tours from Rovaniemi, Levi or Ylläs promise unlimited mileage, as far as Sweden or Norway if the sky is clear there. Small groups that state their size usually take 8 people at most.

"100% guaranteed": what it really covers

No aurora is guaranteed. Finnish "guaranteed" tours promise something else, which you need to read:

• Polar Lapland, Lapland Explorers, Experience Tours Lapland, Arctic GM Experiences, BookLapland, Into North and Safartica refund you if the guide's camera captures no aurora. A camera sees faint auroras the eye cannot make out: a tour can "succeed" without you seeing anything clearly.
• Light Hunters Lapland and Aurora Monkeys refund you if the aurora was not seen. Lapin Taivas refunds only 75%.
• e-Coach and Soma Adventures cancel and refund before departure when the odds are too low. Safartica confirms its tour by 4 pm at the latest.
• Experience Tours Lapland offers a choice between a refund and a new tour the following night. At Wild about Lapland, the guarantee is a paid option.

A money-back guarantee protects your budget, not your evening. It has one merit: an operator who refunds has every reason to set off only when the odds are real.

The best-rated operators

In Rovaniemi, the best-rated tours are also among the cheapest. Polar Lapland scores 4.9/5 from 504 reviews for €69, BookLapland 4.8/5 from more than 2,600 reviews for €71, Lapland Explorers 4.8/5 from more than 1,300 reviews for €69. All three refund you if the camera captures nothing. Also in Rovaniemi, Into North holds 4.9/5 from 352 reviews, in groups of 8 people at most, for €149.

For a first stay in Rovaniemi, a minibus chase at around €70 with a refund guarantee is the best value. In Levi or Saariselkä, expect €100 to €165 for a similar tour.

Tour or self-drive?

A car lets you go wherever the sky opens, and the drive pays off. Around Rovaniemi, at least one of the four places we measured within two hours on the road (Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi, Sodankylä, Kemi) is clear about one and a half times as often as Rovaniemi alone. Around Saariselkä, with Utsjoki and Sodankylä, the gain is similar.

The trade-off: you drive at night on snowy roads, far from any town. Three tools are enough to decide whether to go out:

• For cloud, yr.no, which covers Finland too.
• For activity, the FMI's "Auroras and space weather" page, which shows the current magnetic activity over Finland.
• For the moon, any calendar.

If you have no experience of driving on snow, a tour remains the safer choice. The guide knows the roads and follows the forecasts all evening.

Finland, Norway or Iceland for the northern lights?

Finland costs a little less than Norway and sees just as many auroras at the same latitude.

On cloud, no comparable measurement separates Finnish Lapland from Tromsø: Finnish stations are automatic, while those in our Norway and Iceland guides have a human observer. One difference is certain: in Finland, late winter is clearly clearer, whereas in Tromsø the month matters little.

Choose Finland for a Lapland of forests and frozen lakes, cheaper tours and activities for the whole family. To compare: the northern lights in Norway and the northern lights in Iceland, or all tours in Finland.