Northern lights in Norway: where, when and what are your real chances?

Where can you see the northern lights in Norway?

The whole north of the country lies under the auroral oval, the ring where the lights are most frequent. You enter it in the afternoon and travel through it during the evening and the night. Between two northern towns, the difference is not the aurora itself. It is the cloud, the choice of tours and their price.

Tromsø: the easiest base

Close to half of Norway's northern lights tours leave from Tromsø, and they are the cheapest in the north. The core of the market runs from €105 to €165, with entry prices around €60.

A tour usually lasts three to seven hours, in the evening and into the night. The guide does not take you to the same spot every evening. They follow the cloud. When the coast is socked in, several operators drive on into Finland or Sweden, which is why one of them tells you to bring your passport or ID card.

You wait outside, sometimes for a long time, sometimes around a campfire. Often the aurora first appears as a pale glow to the naked eye, which the camera reveals as green. Bring a recent smartphone with a night mode, or a camera on a tripod: it will show you what your eyes cannot see yet.

The city has another advantage for a stay of several nights: you can fill the days with a husky sledding or reindeer sledding trip. See the northern lights tours from Tromsø.

Alta: less choice, higher prices

In Alta, there are fewer tours and they cost noticeably more: €135 to €230 for most of them. Several add another activity to the evening, such as quad biking, horse riding or meeting Arctic animals.

As for the weather, readings at its airport, at the head of the fjord, show a clear sky on 22% of winter nights between 2001 and 2011, against 31% in Tromsø over the same period. They say nothing about the inland plateau.

Choose Alta if you want to combine the aurora with another activity. For a first trip focused on the northern lights, Tromsø gives you more evenings to choose from on a smaller budget. See the northern lights tours from Alta.

Lofoten Islands: the longest season

In the Lofoten Islands, most tours from Svolvær cost €120 to €160. Further south than Tromsø, the archipelago keeps its dark nights until 14 April, four days longer. It is the place for travellers who want the aurora and the fjords and beaches in the same trip. It is also the best choice for a trip in early April, when true darkness disappears in Tromsø.

One limit to be aware of: we found no reliable long-term cloud measurements for Lofoten. So we cannot put a figure on your chances there. See the northern lights tours in Lofoten.

Bodø and Svalbard

Bodø has clear skies almost as often as Tromsø (27% of winter nights between 2011 and 2021), but less choice and higher prices, €160 to €230 for most tours. Its season is the longest of the towns in this guide, from 25 August to 16 April. That makes it worth it only for a trip very early or very late in the season. See the tours from Bodø.

Svalbard, at 78° north, is a world of its own. Its weather station has the clearest skies in our records, 34% of nights and up to 42% in March. True darkness lasts 21 hours a day in December.

But the archipelago is so close to the pole that strong solar activity, which pushes the aurora further south³, does not guarantee a better show there. Keep Svalbard for the experience of the polar night. For a first trip focused on the northern lights, Tromsø is simpler and cheaper. See the tours in Svalbard.

If your trip already takes you further afield, a few towns also offer a small number of tours: Hammerfest, Kirkenes, Skjervøy, Børselv and Vesterålen.

When is the best time to see the northern lights in Norway?

The season opens in early September and closes in mid-April, as long as the sun sinks low enough below the horizon at night. In Tromsø, true darkness lasts from 1 September to 10 April. The table below compares, month by month, the length of the night, the weather and solar activity.

True darkness: sun more than 12 degrees below the horizon (astronomical calculation). Clear nights: at least one reading of 2/8 cloud cover or less, at 7 pm or 1 am (winter time, 19:00 or 01:00), Tromsø city station, winters 2015 to 2025. Active nights: Kp index of at least 3 between 7 pm and 4 am, same winters⁴.

The table tells you three things.

• The weather barely separates the months: from October to February, one night in three is clear. Only March drops back, to 24%.
• Solar activity rises around the equinoxes. The level at which, according to NOAA, 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 shrink fast in March. Less than eight hours of true darkness remain, against sixteen in December.

Your chances of at least one clear night in Tromsø, by length of stay:

Every possible arrival date in the month, checked night by night over ten winters (2015 to 2025).

For a first trip, February has the most going for it. Nights are still long, activity is high and the days are bright enough for a sledding trip. December will appeal more to those who want to experience the polar night, at the cost of slightly lower activity.

Two more settings complete your choice of month, according to NOAA: avoid the full moon, which dims the aurora, and go out between 10 pm and 2 am (22:00 to 02:00), the most favourable hours.

Which northern lights tour should you book?

In Norway, most tours cost €115 to €190, excluding private trips. The difference comes mainly from the format.

Coach, minibus or boat: what changes

The boat is the cheapest format, but it stays on the fjord. It cannot drive a hundred kilometres to find clear skies. Coaches and minibuses can, and that is their whole point when the coast clouds over.

A minibus costs more than a coach for a simple reason: fewer passengers, more flexibility. When a tour states its group size, it gives anything from 2 to 25 people. Before booking, check what is included as well: just over half of the tours mention photos, more than a third a meal or a hot drink, nearly one in five warm clothing. A mention is not a promise, so check the details.

If the aurora does not show

No tour guarantees an aurora. A few operators in Tromsø do make up for a blank evening.

Jeshua lets you come back for free, under conditions, and Rødne Fjord Cruise gives you a second chance on its catamaran cruise. Polar Adventures offers 30% off a new trip and Spirit in the Sky 50%. As for Arctic GM Experiences, it refunds you if no camera has captured an aurora.

Read the conditions before you book. They change from one operator to the next.

The best-rated operators

Among operators with more than 1,500 reviews, Snow-travels scores 4.9/5, ahead of Arctic Breeze, Northern Horizon and Spirit in the Sky at 4.8/5. The most reviewed, Northern Lights Safari, holds 4.6/5 from more than 8,000 reviews.

For a first time, with three or four nights on site, a minibus with photos and a no-aurora policy gives the best balance. On a tight budget, a coach will do. Book it for your first evening: you will have nights to spare if the sky closes.

Tour or self-drive?

A hire car gives you freedom over your timing. It also leaves you alone with winter roads and with choosing the spot, which guides handle for you by following the weather all evening. If you go on your own, look for a north-facing coast, away from city lights.

Three tools are enough to decide whether to go out:

• For the cloud, yr.no, the service run by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the public broadcaster NRK.
• For activity, NOAA's thirty-minute aurora forecast.
• For the moon, any calendar.

Without a car, a tour remains the safest choice for a first trip. From the centre of Tromsø, you can sometimes make out the aurora above the rooftops. The city lights wash much of it out.

Norway, Finland, Sweden or Iceland?

A tour costs a little more in Norway than in its neighbours: around €150, against €140 in Sweden, €130 in Finland and €120 in Iceland.

Solar activity, for its part, knows no borders. An active night in Norway is just as active in Finnish or Swedish Lapland, at the same latitude.

So you do not choose Norway for the price. You choose it for its fjords and for Tromsø, the town with the most tours, and so the most evenings to try again. If budget matters more than scenery, Finland and Iceland cost €20 to €30 less per tour.

Compare the tours in Finland, Sweden and Iceland too.