We often recommend that anybody looking to book a Northern Lights trip ensure that any Aurora chases include support from an experienced local guide. This goes beyond finding a great spot for photo opportunities or having the thrill of a snowmobile, jeep safari, or fjord boat trip while you look for the lights!
Instead, local Aurora guides are specialists who often live directly within each region. They ensure guests are safe, warm, and well looked after, avoid dangerous inclines or areas with larger populations of polar bears and other wildlife, and, importantly, get the fully immersive experience a Northern Lights holiday promises.
The Aurora is often considered the world’s greatest light show, but even if you are staying in the heart of the Aurora zone, it’s also subject to weather conditions, cloud cover and light pollution. This is why heading into the wilderness in the capable hands of an English-speaking guide is sure to be the ideal way to enjoy this bucket-list experience.
Aurora Guides and Alarms: What to Expect From Northern Lights Holidays
Much may depend on where in the northern hemisphere you are heading because there are some incredible holidays a little further away from the Arctic Circle, where extra care is needed to ensure you get your chance to see the Northern Lights.
In the latter scenario, it’s usually best to look at one of the many Northern Lights tours that head up to a higher elevation, onto the water, or outside of the larger cities and towns.
In these areas, light pollution can mean that the lights are only slightly visible but become significantly brighter and more captivating further out.
Types of Aurora Hunts and Northern Lights Guides
Otherwise, you might choose a variety of ways to guarantee you have the opportunity to see the lights dancing across the night sky, with beautiful snowy scenery as your backdrop:
- Lodges, resorts, wilderness camps, and hotels often provide Aurora alarms throughout the Northern Lights season. They use accurate local weather forecasting to tell guests on the days when the lights will be at their best and brightest.
- Scheduling a private or group tour with a local guide enables you to combine winter activities with a Northern Lights chase, with the whole experience tailored to what you’d most like to see and do.
- Aurora chases are planned excursions held across the Nordic region. Participants venture out on a snowmobile, husky sled, boat, or jeep to search for the lights. Forests, woodlands, and mountain regions that provide pristine darkness are often prioritised to ensure nothing detracts from the light show.
An alternative is to select a holiday with a great chance to see the Northern Lights with a night or two staying at different accommodation in a more rural area, where the night sky is clear and deep, there is no artificial light for miles around, and you’ll see an explosion of colour when solar particles enter the atmosphere.
Some of the most popular options include a stay in a glass igloo, a night at an ice hotel or snow hotel, lodging in a camp, often with a rustic, comfy cabin complete with a roaring fire and spa facilities, or setting off on an Aurora cruise, travelling quietly through the icy fjords where you’ll have a fantastic time seeing the Northern Lights.
Why Is a Tailored Aurora Experience Always Preferable?
The number one issue we hear about is when travellers have booked a holiday in Northern Europe, the Nordics or Scandinavia and assumed that the lights will be easy to see from anywhere and on any evening during the winter months.
Unfortunately, as we’ve touched on, that isn’t the case, potentially because of the weather and the amount of cloud density in the sky, the artificial light nearby, the elevation of the place you are staying or visiting, and your location in proximity to the Arctic Circle. All of these factors could mean the experience isn’t what you had expected.
For most guests, this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and there is nothing worse than being disappointed if you’ve chosen to visit Norway or spend Christmas in Finnish Lapland or the remote Lofoten Islands, only to see little of the Northern Lights or a muted light show that doesn’t live up to your expectations.
This is why we always suggest holiday packages with a dedicated Northern Lights tour.
In many cases, we can also recommend a holiday with a backup option, which means that if you’ve booked a guided tour or a Northern Lights chase and the Aurora doesn’t appear, you can repeat the activity on another day.
Top Tips on Making Your Northern Lights Holiday Truly Amazing
We are specialists in Northern Lights travel and are always on hand to help you organise your dream holiday, with personalised assistance with every element, including:
- Advice on holidays and Aurora Borealis packages that suit your travel dates, the duration of the holiday you’d like, the ages of your party, and the airport you’d prefer to fly from.
- The types of winter activities, sports, day trips and excursions available, from relaxing spa treatments to thrilling adventure sports.
- The areas close to the Arctic Circle that offer you the best chance of enjoying a full-colour Northern Lights display during your selected part of the autumn or winter season.
Alongside providing input and guidance to ensure your holiday is everything you have hoped for, we’ll also offer ongoing support.
That includes full financial protection as standard, pointers on the optional extras or excursions you may like to pre-book, and what to pack with you to make sure you are well prepared for the cold Arctic air.
If you’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights firsthand, need advice on putting together an itinerary for your adventure, or would like to compare the numerous tours and holiday options we offer, please get in touch with our team at the Baltic Travel Company or browse our packages online to learn more.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2025 at 10:09 am; on the subject of Northern Lights.