With our visit to Japan for cherry blossom season in 2024, we ticked off a huge bucket list trip which got us thinking “what next?”. I created a bigger travel bucket list to keep us dreaming. We have always wanted to see the Northern lights and thought the obvious destination was Iceland over the winter months. After a considerable amount of time spent researching this, I wanted to share what we learnt to help you plan your dream trip! A little spoiler – Iceland isn’t necessarily the best choice and you don’t want to visit during the peak winter months! We visited Tromso in March and we were lucky enough to catch the lights on two of our three nights away. More details about the Tromso trip can be found over here.
Everything I learnt about the Northern lights ahead of our trip
The key purpose of our trip was hopefully to catch the Northern lights. Everything was co-ordinated and planned around improving our chances. We didn’t start with a destination in mind but an activity that led us to Tromso. I thought it might be helpful to share what we learnt so you can make an informed decision. These are the following key factors to consider when booking your Northern lights trip:
1. Daylight hours – longer daylight hours means less dark hours and significantly lower chance of catching the lights. Avoid the summer months.
2. Clear skies – if you have clouds, you won’t be able to see the Northern lights. So surprisingly – the core winter months (December and January) are not great for spotting the lights as the sky is full of clouds bringing rain and snow.
3. Moon cycle – as with longer daylight hours, the full moon phase of the cycle brings too much light and reduces your chances of seeing the lights. Try to plan your trip around the new moon when the night sky will be darkest.
4. Light pollution from larger cities – bright city lights will increase the light pollution and reduce your chances of seeing the lights. Think about the stars you see in the sky in remote locations vs out the windows in a busy city. If you can, try to spend some time away from the main cities.
5. Brightness of the aurora – this is dependent on the solar activity. Solar activity is year dependent (with 2024/2025 being a peak year) and can be higher during the spring or autumn equinoxes. This article was helpful on working out the peak solar activity years.
This link is brilliant and helped me work through point one to five above. They also walk you through each month explaining the pros and cons. If you only read one post – I would suggest this one.
From all of the above we took March and September to be the best time to visit. In September, you will have more Autumnal vibes and in March you will have snowy winter vibes. Which one you go with depends on you. We went with March – googled the moon cycle and the spring equinox and booked a weekend that made the most sense.
6. Latitude – the best places to see the Northern lights are above 65 degrees north latitude. My initial Northern lights thinking was Iceland. However, I think that is down to their fantastic marketing and not that it is necessarily the best location. The top locations in Norway – Tromso and Alta are at 70 degrees. The next recommendations are Sweden, Greenland, Alaska and Finland. Iceland is on the list but only at 64 degrees for Reykjavik. Here’s the list of where to go if you’re interested in considering options.
From here I let go of Iceland and decided to get on board with Tromso, Norway. We briefly considered Alta but the flights get complicated. During peak Northern lights season you can fly direct from London to Tromso (without detouring through Oslo). This is perfect for a long weekend break. If you are looking to build out a bigger trip in Norway – we absolutely love Oslo and my Oslo email can be found here.
What we learnt about the Northern lights on our trip
Reading up about the Northern lights you think the levels of solar activity are really important. With Tromso being so far North – this really doesn’t matter. 2024 to 2026 being a solar peak will increase your chance of seeing the lights from North London. But this is largely irrelevant to seeing the lights in Tromso. What I would take from this is – pay attention to the peak solar information if you’re looking at locations around about the 65 degree latitude mark. Don’t worry too much about it when considering locations at 70 degrees North! (Ultimately – just go more North!)
Suggestions for maximising your chances of seeing the lights
– Implement the suggestions from the lists above
– Stay a minimum of three nights to give yourself a better chance of catching the right conditions
– Spend a night or two outside Tromso city centre to escape the light pollution
An overview of our accommodation and recommendations for Tromso can be found in The Tromso Email.
– Book a tour
You will 100% need a tour to explain the lights to you. I went in thinking we would be spotting bright green streaks in the sky. Nooo! Make sure you google “Northern lights to the naked eye” to temper your expectations. The Northern lights to the naked eye kind of look like the blurry haze within The Milky Way. If you’re lucky – you’ll see the haze breath and pulse and dance – and it is magical. If you’re super lucky you’re catch pale artisanal mint gelato streaks across the sky. But if we hadn’t done the tour on the first night, we would never have been able to find them on our own the third night. We would 100% have been driving around thinking we were under a wispy cloud sky and not an incredible display of the Northern lights!
– Book the tour for your first night to give yourself a chance to rebook for another night if you don’t see anything. Many of the tours will let you rebook a second night at a discount if you had no luck on the first night.
A really basic guide on taking photos of the Northern lights
A big part of the magic of the Northern lights is taking a photo of the lights to see what colours are there that your eyes can’t see! If you’re a budding photographer, you’ll know what to do. If you’re an amateur living your best point and shoot light – then I can help!
- Switch your phone’s camera to manual – for a Samsung / android user that means switching to pro
- Maximise your ISO – the higher the ISO the more light your camera will let in. I went with ISO 3200 but potentially should have been lower at about 1600.
- Increase your shutter speed – I went with either 4 or 8 depending on how much light there was. The longer the shutter speed, the more light will be let in.
It is widely recommend you use a tripod. This is due to the longer shutter speed where you wobbling during the photo taking translates to wobble in the picture. It’s a good idea but sounded like a hassle to us. In hindsight, I may have gone with one of those little 10cm high tripods but it wasn’t a big deal to us. We leaned on cars or fences to try to anchor ourselves still as we took the photos. They’re a little wobbling and that is completely okay!
Tromso specific information
Of course, I have opinions and suggestions on which Northern lights tour to take in Tromso and other recommendations for other things to do and where to eat. You can find the Tromso email here.
Have the best time catching the Northern lights!
with all my love, Tahlia
