Northern lights trip: The best places for your Northern Lights vacation

They dance in bright colors on the horizon and attract many people to the far north every year. The Northern Lights are a natural spectacle that simply looks magical.

We have tracked down the best places for your Northern Lights trip and tell you when and where you should go to experience unforgettable moments.

Aurora vacations: What are auroras?

In the past, there were many myths surrounding auroras: the indigenous people of Scandinavia said that the lights were signs of the dead. They waved white scarves to their deceased relatives. Others believed the red lights to be a prophecy from the heavens - an omen that a gigantic fire would soon break out.

Today, the auroras are much better understood. We now know the physical explanation behind them:

The origin of the lights is our sun. The glowing, hot ball of gases is bubbling. Again and again, it hurls tiny energetic particles into space - mainly electrons and protons. This so-called solar wind also blows towards Earth. However, it has a protective shield - a magnetic field that we cannot see. It successfully deflects the solar wind. The charged particles only manage to enter our atmosphere at two weak points. Namely at our poles. Here they collide with various atoms and molecules and release energies that we see as auroras.

The color of the dancing lights then depends entirely on which of the Earth's own atoms the electrons and protons from the sun hit. And at what altitude they do so. If they encounter oxygen at an altitude of 100 kilometers, the result is a bright green. At an altitude of 200 kilometers, we see a bright red. Blue is created when nitrogen is excited

Would you like to see the matching images? On YouTube Terra X Plus has captured the spectacle wonderfully and explained it again.

Polar lights journey: The most beautiful places for it

As we have just seen, the solar winds only hit our Earth's atmosphere at two points - at the North and South Poles. At the North Pole, they are referred to as the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. At the South Pole, they are called southern lights or aurora australis. For us, it is easiest to take a polar lights trip to the north. After all, the journey from Germany to the North Pole is much shorter - and therefore a little more environmentally friendly.

The most beautiful places for an aurora vacation are in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland. You can also admire the northern natural phenomenon in Canada. However, we would have almost six times the CO2 emissions* on our journey there. And we want to save as much CO2 as possible. (*with myclimate we compared the flight routes Hamburg - Oslo, and Hamburg - Yellowknife)

So where is the best case scenario for our trip to see the Northern Lights?

1. Norway: All of northern Norway lies in the auroral oval. The northern lights belt runs across the Lofoten archipelago, along the coast via Tromsø to the North Cape. The most beautiful spots are: Uttakleiv Beach, Haukland Beach, Skagsanden Beach. On the island of Andøya there is even an aurora research center where everything is explained to you. Things are quieter on the island of Senja.

2. Finland: Northern Lapland is particularly suitable for your aurora trip. The top tips are: Rovaniemi (the home of Santa Claus), Ivalo, Inari and Kuusamo.

3. Sweden: The Abisko National Park is one of the best places in the world to admire the Northern Lights. Kiruna and Åre are also wonderful destinations for you if you want to do winter sports or go snow hiking during the day.

4. Iceland: If you want to combine your aurora vacation with excursions into the most impressive nature, the Thingvellir National Park is your dream destination. This is where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, resulting in rock formations, crevasses and gorges. Less touristy, and almost more beautiful: the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.

By the way, you can also take your aurora trip to the Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands or Greenland. Here, however, the tourist offer is still quite limited.

When is the best time for an aurora trip?

The Northern Lights do not occur 365 days a year. In northern Lapland, the spectacle can be seen on around 200 nights. The Northern Lights season begins at the end of August and runs until the beginning of April. It is best to plan your Northern Lights vacation for September, October, February or March. These months offer the best chance of seeing the dancing lights in the sky. But if you want even more winter action, December and January are also great.

What makes the timing even more perfect: a clear, cloudless sky and as much darkness as possible. Of course, you also need to be lucky to be on an aurora vacation when these conditions are present. However, there are now also many apps that can help you find the best time. For example Aurora Forecast, Hello Aurora and Norway Lights for Norway.

Polar Lights Journey: 3 extraordinary tours

We've already talked about the best places for your trip to see the Northern Lights. Now we're getting even more specific. We have picked out three extraordinary tours and aurora trips for you:

Norway - aurora borealis vacation with huskies and whales

There is plenty to experience in Tromsø and the surrounding area. Norway's largest city above the Arctic Circle invites you to stroll through its charming streets, take the cable car up Mount Storsteinen or go snowshoe hiking.

Of course, you can put together your own trip, but there are also providers who will plan all the highlights for you. For example, you can book a Polar Lights Tour with "Experience Lapland", which includes various excursions. Whale watching, husky sledging, aurora tours - you can experience all of this in just five days and only have to worry about your own arrival and departure.

You can make this quite sustainable. You don't have to fly to Norway for your Northern Lights vacation. A Color Line ship sails from Kiel to Oslo once a day. The shipping company has received several awards in recent years for its commitment to sustainability (source: Color Line). Norway is generally very keen to preserve the beauty of nature. In 2019, the capital Oslo was named European Green Capital. Tromsø is one of Norway's eco-labeled destinations.

Finland - Northern Lights tour through the wilderness

Provided with the "Sustainable Travel Finland" label, "Visit Finland" offers a Northern Lights Tour through the wilderness tour. You start in Rovaniemi, directly at your individual accommodation. (Our tip: the Santa's Igloos, where great importance is attached to saving energy and water, offering local food and avoiding waste). Then it's 100 kilometers to the north. The experienced guides will take you to three places where they know the northern lights are best seen. What is particularly beautiful about this is that you not only experience the natural spectacle in the sky, but also around you. You walk in the snow through forests and across meadows. The air is clear, the horizon endless

Would you like the all-round Rovaniemi package? Then the 6-day trip "Best of Lapland" including a visit to a reindeer farm, an ice fishing excursion and a dog sledding trip is the one for you.

Sweden - Aurora Sky Station vacation with the family

Would you like to go on an exciting aurora trip as a family? The Aurora Sky Station in Björkliden is the best place to see the Northern Lights with children - without having to travel any further towards the Arctic.

A lift will take you up the 900-metre-high mountain to the observatory. You glide through the silent night, with the snow below and the northern lights above, and can sit back and relax. At the top, a viewing tower and a large terrace await you with a view of the mountains and - of course - the northern lights. In the Sky Station, you can then learn more about the Northern Lights and visit great exhibitions.

Nearby is the family-friendly hotel "Hotell Fjället" with the option of combining your Polar Lights vacation with day trips to the ski slopes, taking the children to the kids' club or sledging together.

For all trips to the Northern Lights, we recommend that you plan a generous travel duration. Not only because you then have much more time to enjoy everything and see even more. But also because it is more sustainable. The rule of thumb is: The further away you go, the longer you should stay at your vacation destination.

For an aurora trip, many recommend at least 10 days, two weeks is better. This also increases your chances of seeing more auroras

Polar lights vacation: How much does a trip to see the auroras cost?

How much an aurora trip costs depends entirely on your requirements, the duration of the trip, the destination and all the other activities you want to do.

If you plan your vacation - for example 7 days in Tromsø - yourself, the costs start at around 875 euros. Comparable individual trips start at 1,700 euros. So it's entirely up to you how much you spend on an aurora vacation.

In any case, we can tell you: A trip to the Northern Lights is worth every penny.