The northern lights have captured our attention for thousands of years, inspiring endless myths and legends across the Arctic and beyond.
Seeing them dance across the sky is on many a traveler’s must-see list, but because they’re a natural phenomenon, their appearance is never guaranteed. However, there are certain places in the world, and times of the year, where the odds are more likely to be in your favor.
Generally visible from late August through mid-April in locations close to the Arctic, spotting the northern lights requires clear, dark skies.
But after years of traveling around the Arctic in search of the elusive green lady, I’ve learned that you can do everything “right” and still not see them. For this reason, I prefer to narrow the window down to October through March when long cloudless nights create prime conditions around the auroral oval. I also head to any of the following seven places for the best chances.
From Arctic cities to remote villages, these destinations embrace Aurora tourism, making it relatively easy to book a tour or strike out on your own in search of those beautiful green, pink, and purple ribbons that weave across the sky.
In this article
Tromsø, Norway
Known as the Arctic Capital, Tromsø is the largest city in Northern Norway. It’s ideal for Arctic adventurers who want to experience a thriving city while still having easy access to seeing the aurora. In other words, you won’t have to trek out to far remote stretches of land to spot the northern lights.
Tromsø is set up for tourism better than most Arctic towns with plentiful lodgings and restaurants. You can spend your days whale-watching and visiting museums, reserving your nights for hunting the lights.
The Fjellheisen cable car takes you up to the top of Fjellheisen mountain and offers an incredible bird’s-eye view of Tromsø. If you can catch the lights from up there, even better.
Yellowknife, Canada
Canada’s Northwest Territories provide some spectacular opportunities to see the northern lights. Yellowknife, in particular, is a favorite of mine.
The capital of the Northwest Territories hosts the annual Snowking’s Winter Festival every March, a month-long festival held in a snow castle that’s built on either Yellowknife Bay or Great Slave Lake. During the first week of the festival, the best snow carvers from around the world come together to build some of the most spectacular snow sculptures you’ve ever seen, which may be beautifully framed by the aurora, if you’re lucky.
Reykjavik, Iceland
The Land of Fire and Ice captured my soul in 2021, and I’ve made it a priority to return every winter since.
Since Reykjavik is the northernmost capital in the world, you’re already where you need to be to spot the aurora, unlike cities further south such as Oslo, Stockholm, or Helsinki, which all require another 100+ mile journey to see the lights.
While you can sometimes see the lights in Reykjavik, it’s a smarter strategy to drive 20 minutes outside of the city to escape light pollution. Just know that Iceland tends to have more cloud cover than other locations, which can obscure the phenomenon, even if the time of year is correct.
Fortunately, many northern lights tours in Iceland offer to rebook you for free if the conditions don’t cooperate on the night you booked, or if you don’t mind driving in complete darkness, you can rent a car and keep going until you find them. Vedur.is is an excellent resource to track the clouds in Iceland on any given night.
Rovaniemi, Finland
Sitting pretty right on the Arctic Circle, Rovaniemi is the capital city of Lapland and offers excellent northern light viewing opportunities.
For a fun, adrenaline-boosting tour, book a snowmobile adventure chasing the lights through Lapland Winter Park. Led by a professional guide, you’ll set off across snowy trails, and some even culminate with a fireside BBQ meal. There are also husky-and reindeer-led tours for a memorable ride that’s particularly family-friendly.
Once you’ve spotted the borealis, you can celebrate with a joyous trip through Santa Claus Village (this is the official hometown of Santa Claus, after all).
Fairbanks, Alaska
Thanks to its history of clear skies, Fairbanks is often recognized as a premier destination for chasing the northern lights within the United States, and even North America.
For a more remote getaway, consider staying at Chena Hot Springs. It’s only about 60 miles east of Fairbanks and offers the chance to relax in a natural hot spring. If you’re lucky, you might even get to see the aurora dance overhead while you soak.
Not far from Fairbanks, North Pole, Alaska, embraces the spirit of Christmas all year long and gives you the same Santa vibes as Rovaniemi without traveling quite as far.
Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
In my experience, Kangerlussuaq offers one of the most reliable places to see the Northern Lights if you visit in winter on a clear night.
Getting here can be somewhat tricky, but worth it. Copenhagen offers the only direct flights; you’ll otherwise have to connect through Nuuk, but the microclimate typically sees about 300 clear nights per year, so the odds are certainly in your favor.
Pair that with the minimal light pollution, and you could easily see the aurora outshine the moon. Even if there’s no solar activity, the night-sky stargazing is typically phenomenal.
Abisko, Sweden
Admittedly, I saved the best for last. Abisko is a tiny village in Swedish Lapland that’s known to aurora chasers like me as one of the best places to see the northern lights.
Home to Abisko National Park, this remote village sits in a low-precipitation microclimate called a “blue hole,” resulting in clearer skies than you’ll find in surrounding regions. Of the four winter nights I spent in Abisko, I saw the northern lights every single night, and they included incredible auroras. I also saw my first polar stratospheric clouds, which are rare, high-altitude clouds that form in the stratosphere above polar regions during winter months, and they can be harder to spot than aurora.
As with many remote destinations, getting to Abisko is half the battle. Most travelers fly into Kiruna and then take an hour-long bus. If you’re of the mindset that the journey is part of the experience, consider taking the night train from Stockholm.
The Shortcut:
New to this? Start where the tours and hotels already exist: Tromsø, Rovaniemi, Fairbanks, or Reykjavik. Less time problem-solving, more time looking up.
Go October through March. Long, dark nights beat the shoulder-season odds, and the equinoxes tend to spike solar activity.
Book multiple nights, never just one. Clear skies matter as much as solar activity, so one cloudy night shouldn't sink the trip.
The real edge is clear-sky microclimates: Abisko's "blue hole" and Kangerlussuaq's roughly 300 clear nights a year are why they punch above the bigger names.
Nobody can promise you the lights. Anyone who says otherwise is selling a tour.
