If you’re thinking about booking a holiday and you’re interested in a unique adventure, a trip to see the Northern Lights should be at the top of your list. This incredible experience takes you into the Arctic Circle, a breathtaking part of the world where you can immerse yourself in the stunning natural landscape.
If Northern Lights holidays appeal to you, now is the time to start planning. While your holiday might be several months away, it’s never too soon to decide where you’re going and what you want to do while you’re there, as getting organized early helps to ensure you’ll be able to book the perfect location.
When you’re going on holiday with the aim of seeing the Northern Lights, it makes sense to stay somewhere close to this stunning natural phenomenon.
The Northern Lights, also known as the aurora borealis, are most visible near the top of the Northern Hemisphere, in the Arctic Circle. This means that one of the best places to visit if you want to see the lights is northern Europe.
Holiday destinations in this region include Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland. The best time to visit these countries to see the Northern Lights is during the winter, between December and March, as this is when the night skies are at their darkest, which makes the lights more visible.
There is a wide range of accommodation options available for holidays in this part of the world, including the chance to stay in unique settings such as ice hotels and igloos. Of course, more traditional hotels are available, particularly if you’re planning to stay in a town or city.
Where you stay is up to you, and mostly depends on what sort of surroundings you’d like to spend time in. Northern Europe has some vibrant and exciting cities to explore, but the rural areas offer some amazing scenery, particularly in winter, when the landscape is covered in snow.
The highest priority on your holiday to-do list is likely to be going to see the Northern Lights. For a good experience, your best option is to join a guided tour. While this is something you can arrange after you have booked your accommodation, it’s often more straightforward to select a holiday package that includes a Northern Lights tour. This means that everything will be arranged for you, including transport to see the lights, so that you can relax and enjoy your holiday.
Trips to see the Northern Lights take place at night, as it usually isn’t dark enough to see them during the day. This means you’ll have plenty of time to do other things during daylight – and the good news is that this part of the world has a lot to offer.
Depending on exactly where you’re staying, you could go on a wildlife tour to see incredible animals such as polar bears and whales, or go hiking through the stunning landscape. Or, if you’d prefer to take things at a slower pace, you can explore historic towns and cities, such as Kiruna, Sweden’s northernmost town. You could also visit Tromso, the biggest city in northern Norway. Its location deep in the Arctic Circle makes it very popular with tourists.
Before you book a holiday to see the Northern Lights, one of the first things you need to do is decide how long you want to be away.
One thing to keep in mind is that adverse weather conditions can affect the visibility of the Northern Lights and make it difficult to travel out to see them. This could lead to Northern Lights tours being rearranged if the weather suddenly turns bad – for example, heavy and unexpected snowfall.
Because of this, some people prefer to book longer holidays, meaning they spend a week or more at their destination. One of the advantages of longer holidays is that they give you more time to fit in everything you want to do. So, if you have a long list of holiday activities that you’re keen to try, booking seven nights or more is definitely something you should consider.
With that said, not everyone likes the idea of an action-packed holiday. If you’d rather have a shorter, quieter break, you could opt to go for a long weekend, meaning you will be away for around three nights. This should give you time to see the Northern Lights and simply enjoy being on holiday. Ultimately, it’s your holiday, and the choice is yours.
