Aurora Borealis Tours

Seeing the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, is a highlight of travelling in our northern region in late autumn, winter and early spring.

When will I see the Aurora Borealis?

With a well-planned trip, often yes, but it's worth appreciating that the aurora is a natural phenomenon, and part of its appeal is that it can't be controlled or reliably predicted. What we can do is get you to the best locations at the right time. That may mean planning around common weather patterns, heading inland or out to the coast, and nearly always getting you away from light pollution and into the wilderness, with plenty of daytime activities so the trip is rewarding whatever the sky does.

When is the best time to see the Aurora Borealis?

The main Northern Lights season runs between the autumn and spring equinoxes, roughly late September to late March, when the nights are dark enough for the lights to show. Outside that window there generally isn't enough darkness (although the auroras can be visible as early as August and as late as April). October and November can bring wind and rain, and so cloud, which lowers your chances, while from December the weather tends to dry out and snow settles. The darkest weeks, in December and early January, give the longest viewing windows, and as winter goes on the days lengthen while the evenings stay dark enough for good viewing. Aurora hunting is a late activity, with the lights usually most active between about 9pm and 2am. For more on timing, read our guide to the best time to see the Northern Lights.

What is the Aurora Borealis?

The aurora's ultimate energy source is the solar wind flowing past the Earth and interacting with its magnetic field. It begins with the sun: explosions on its surface send charged particles out into space as the solar wind. When these particles reach the Earth's magnetic field near the poles, where the magnetic shield is weakest, they collide with oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. Those collisions release energy as light, and it's this light we see as the Northern Lights.

The folklore of the Northern Lights

The aurora has awed people for centuries. The name comes from Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn, and Boreas, the Greek word for the north wind. The Finnish word for the lights, revontulet, comes from a Sámi tale in which a fox running across the snow-covered fells sweeps its tail through the drifts and sends sparks up into the sky: revontulet means "fox fires". The Vikings saw the aurora as the Valkyries, who escorted the fallen from battle. Some Sámi traditions held that whistling beneath the lights would draw them closer, while in many cultures people would not stare at or speak of them, for fear of insulting their power.

Plan your Aurora Borealis trip

With a wide range of tours placed to give you the best chance of seeing the aurora, we can help you plan a trip around it. Browse our Northern Lights tours, or for more inspiration, read our articles on the Northern Lights / the Aurora Borealis.