Northern Lights in Norway

Dynamic Variation:

The best places to see the aurora borealis

Check out the destinations below and get their northern lights recommendations.

What are the northern lights?

Few places on earth offer more ways to witness the aurora borealis than Norway.

Our bold claim is that Northern Norway is amongst the most comfortable and interesting places to see the northern lights, as hundreds of thousands of people live in this huge geographical area. The region offers a vast selection of activities, tours, cruises, restaurants and hotels, which all play an important part in the Arctic experience.

Some media have reported that scientists expect the aurora to fade and appear less frequently over the next ten years. This is not true for Northern Norway though, as scientist Truls Lynne Hansen at the Tromsø Geophysical Observatory explains: “we are past the northern lights climax which means there will be fewer observations around Oslo and further south. But under the auroral oval in Northern Norway, we will not see any difference”.

What are the northern lights? On a very basic level, the northern lights are quite simple to explain. It is created from a collision between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the atmosphere of the earth. The lights come at night when the sky is dark. It’s like a celestial ballet of light dancing across the night sky, with a colour palette (green, pink, violet) reminiscent of a really cool fashion show from the 1980s.

Between late September and late March, it is dark from early afternoon until late morning. This is the best time to see the northern lights. Install the NorwayLights app for iPhone, Android or Windows – a forecast that helps you find the best time and place to see the northern lights.