Flight-Inclusive Holidays From the Northern Lights Travel Professionals
You’ll find diverse trips to see the polar lights, each offering a unique experience and often a once-in-a-lifetime trip. From long weekends to 10-day adventures, advance booking is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment.
Our handy filters enable you to browse destinations that offer pristine conditions to see the lights, including Iceland, Norway, Finland, Greenland, and far-flung locations like the Svalbard archipelago and Lofoten Islands, for an experience less ordinary.
Browse between short breaks, extended Arctic Circle expeditions, Northern Lights cruises, festive family holidays and pampering hot tub retreats, or contact the local experts for tailored advice about the best places, destinations, itineraries and packages for your budget and party – whether you’d love to try steering a husky sled, or want to have a fabulous time stargazing in luxury surroundings.
Each package provides details of pricing, travel dates, booking conditions, and inclusions, as well as ATOL certificate coverage and options to combine itineraries with personalised trips and custom tours.
Frequently Asked Questions: Choosing and Booking Your Northern Lights Adventure
What Are the Northern Lights and How Do They Occur?
The Northern Lights, a stunning sensation of swirling colours in the dark skies, are entirely natural. This is all down to the solar activity in the Earth's atmosphere when electrically charged particles collide.
Officially known as the Aurora Borealis, these polar lights are a draw for travellers from around the world heading to the Nordics, often in search of higher latitudes away from cities and light pollution.
Why Is the Aurora Borealis Called the Northern Lights?
Long regarded as magical, mysterious, and beautiful, the name Aurora Borealis dates back thousands of years. Aurora is the name of the Roman goddess of dawn, and Borealis is the Greek word for north—hence the reason we often call the phenomenon the Northern Lights.
If you’re fascinated by the cultural relevance of the lights, you can also research the varied and often charming names used in other languages. Translated into English, other countries refer to the lights as the light of blood in Sweden and the sea of flames in Estonia.
There are also countless myths and fables that explain the lights, with a Finnish story about a fox whose fur sparkled as he ran through the forests and a rather sad myth in Greenland about the souls of infants playing games with a walrus skull.
What is the Best Part of the Northern Lights Season for Travellers?
We're often asked about the ideal time to travel to see the Northern Lights, but this can vary depending on whether you have a specific destination in mind. Generally, the Northern Lights season starts around the end of August or the start of September as autumn sets in and extends right through to late March and early April, but this isn’t universal.
If you're further into the northern hemisphere and miles from light pollution, the lights naturally appear brighter, more intense, and dynamic. These destinations also enjoy an extended Northern Lights season—with the winter solstice on 21st December often being the pinnacle of solar activity.
The trick is to pick dates and a location during the polar night, when there is very little daylight for weeks at a time in the Arctic Circle. Alternatively, you can travel towards the end of January to a remote destination like Svalbard, where the appearance of the first sliver of sun over the horizon, casting a blue glow over the mountains, is as captivating as the lights themselves after a long, dark winter.
In the summer, the opposite occurs, with the midnight sun, which means there is very little darkness at all—a very different experience than seeing the Northern Lights but something unique nonetheless.
Why Are the Northern Lights Difficult to Predict?
As with any natural marvel, the Aurora doesn't appear on demand or on a reliable schedule because it's all down to solar flares entering the atmosphere, which occur closer to the Earth's magnetic field at the North Pole.
When solar energy travels towards Earth, it is drawn towards the poles, illustrating why the Aurora is far easier to see and appears more often in the northern hemisphere. However, poor weather conditions, heavy cloud cover, obscured viewing points, and inconsistent patterns of solar activity can mean that the lights will appear one night and not the next.
We often recommend tours with secondary Aurora chases or Northern Lights hunts for this very reason -ensuring you won’t miss out if your planned excursion happens to fall on a day when the lights aren’t visible.
Our team can also suggest hotels and lodges with Aurora alarms who will let you know when the forecast conditions are near perfect. This ensures you aren't left searching the darkness for the lights only to be disappointed.
What Colours Can I Expect to See During a Northern Lights Holiday?
The depth and range of colours produced by Aurora are all part of its mystique and charm. Paler greens and pinks are the most common, but they are sometimes accompanied by streaks of blue, yellow, red, and bright violet purples.
If you've seen photos of the lights, you'll also know that they don't conform to a set pattern and can appear as shooting rays, streams and clouds of scattered colours, sheets of lights, or an ambient rich glow.
Travellers heading towards more southerly latitudes, where the richer vegetation absorbs much of the solar radiation, don't typically see those pastel hues, but they can experience intense fiery red sunsets and blue light in the evenings as they head into the darkest nights.
Why Are Northern Lights Tours So Popular With Global Travellers?
Guests often tell us that the Aurora is a must-see experience and something they have always wanted to watch in person—because it's a unique phenomenon entirely created by nature. Whether you’ve long hoped to photograph the Aurora, want to enjoy this beautiful scene with children, or are planning a romantic winter break, the lights add a touch of romance and mysticism.
That said, we also recognise that for most people, the lights are either one excursion within their schedules or something they intend to watch in comfort when reclining in a heated glass igloo or making the most of panoramic glass roofs in a rustic cabin.
The enormous variety of activities available across Lapland, the Nordics and the Arctic region make this an immensely fun holiday for every age group, from spotting polar bears, heading out on a reindeer safari, meeting Santa Claus with little ones, joining in with traditions and festive customs, or trying out the myriad winter sports – from ice fishing to glacier hiking, snowshoeing to driving your own snowmobile.
Where Can I Travel to See the Northern Lights in Person?
The Aurora zone covers a 2,500 km radius around the North Pole, so the closer you are, the more impactful the lights will be – but it’s also important to head away from cities, towns and villages where artificial light can dampen the intensity of the Aurora.
Although far from an exhaustive list, some of the most popular places either to see the lights or as a starting point for your Arctic adventure include:
- Tromso, Kirkenes and Alta in Norway
- Reykjavik, the capital city, Sandgerdi and Kalfafell in Iceland
- Ivalo, Inari and Rovaniemi in Finland
- Ilulissat in Greenland
- Abisko in Sweden – home of the famous Sky Station
Destinations and Northern Lights camps in Lapland are often ideal, and we can advise on the best places to go based on your planned travel days, the types of accommodation and activities you are interested in, the ages of your group, and how long you’d like your Northern Lights holiday to be.
Guests looking for a memorable holiday that includes the natural phenomenon of the lights but who also have a keen interest in history and culture often pick Finnish Lapland. There, they can learn about the ancient Sami traditions, delicacies, and way of life—much centred around caring for their reindeer herds.
Where Can I See the Aurora Borealis Outside of Lapland and the Arctic?
There are some rare occasions when the Aurora is visible outside of the far north, but these tend to be unusual and often have less dramatic colours than you'd expect in Lapland.
However, outer parts of Scotland, like Orkney and the Shetland Isles, have more regular Northern Lights sightings, and we have been able to get a glimpse of the Auroral colours in the UK on a handful of occasions over the last year.
Expert Advice on Planning Your Dream Northern Lights Winter Holiday
Our guests often say that once they've set their hearts on a winter holiday like no other, the range of options and choices makes it tricky to know where to go. Here's a quick snapshot of the considerations we'd recommend you work through:
- Travel dates: The deeper into the polar winter, the more often and more intensely the lights will appear. If you have specific travel dates you cannot change, we can happily recommend the destinations with the best opportunities to see the Aurora.
- Locations: Whether you have one country or destination in mind, there remain countless options, from luxury hotels to wilderness lodges, Aurora camps and rustic cabins, glass igloos, the ice hotels in Swedish Lapland and snow hotels – all of which we can advise on.
- Advance reservations: The lights are extremely popular, and we recommend booking as early as possible to ensure your selected tours, accommodation, and preferred flights are available.
- Holiday duration: In most cases, the standard advice is to plan to spend at least five days in Lapland to ensure you get the most out of the experience, but there are short break packages and long weekends in areas right in the centre of the Aurora zone.
As always, further guidance is available, from taking cameras and adjusting your photography settings to hiring clothing suited to the cold Arctic temperatures, pre-booking activities or guided tours, and organising airport transfers, ferries, connections, and travel links.
Picking the Ideal Northern Lights Holiday for Your Family or Party
A Northern Lights holiday is undoubtedly an adventure, but the experience isn’t reserved for adults. There are ample ways to structure an unforgettable holiday suited to smaller children, active teens, larger groups, solo travellers, and those looking to relax and unwind with easily accessible accommodation.
We work closely with you to ensure you have a comprehensive itinerary, from flights and accommodation to the transfers and day trips you'd most like to include.
For many, a waterside Northern Lights experience is a must-see. Cruises, fjord boat tours, and exciting sea crossings give you a chance to see the lights overhead and reflected in the water without noise, traffic, or light pollution on the land to distract you from the view.
Others love the idea of a Polar Express train journey, engrossing themselves in the wildlife, scenery, and jaw-dropping views while watching the lights dancing overhead, and enjoying the hospitality and comfort of a first-class sleeper cabin and fine onboard dining.
Simply let us know what your dream Northern Lights holiday looks like, and we'll start putting together your personalised schedule with our experienced teams on hand 24/7 through our emergency assistance line should you need any help during your holiday.
Reviewing Average Costs of Northern Lights Holidays
Balancing budgets is a normal aspect of planning a holiday, and we can provide independent suggestions if you'd like to maximise your experience, with options to book inclusive or half-board accommodation, choose packages with all travel, transfers and baggage covered, or pick group-based Aurora tours which tend to be more economical than private guided tours.
Contact the Baltic Travel Company for Dedicated Help Planning Your Aurora Borealis Adventure
Our travel consultants have 20 years of professional expertise and specialise in creating wonderful holidays, journeys and travel experiences far from the beaten path – with exacting attention to detail and advice from people who have travelled first-hand to every Northern Lights destination.
With guaranteed personal service, expert knowledge, and full financial protection through our ATOL scheme certification and ABTOT membership, we get to know every guest, ensuring your Northern Lights holiday is everything you had dreamed of.
Book your packages today, contact us for bespoke guidance, or request access to other services catering to your unique travel requirements, and you'll be able to start planning for your experience in the heart of the Arctic, seeing the Northern Lights this winter.