Northern Lights

Must do it. Here are some notes! I fancy Lapland rather than Iceland. I fancy going back to Norbotton. When’s best, this wasn’t so helpful about timing but otherwise quite up beat about the area.

2025

Camp Brandon is not cheap. I did a google query, q=trip+to+northern+lights and it came up with a couple of tour firms, the TUI page is interesting, Iceland is cheaper than Scandinavia and may be worth checking out. When I checked out Tromso with Tripadvisor, they recommend or advertise Safari’s

Shortlisting a tour

When I checked with the Aurora app the probabilities on 4th Nov 25 were low and in Iceland, some distance from Reykjavik. This will take some thought.

1. Best Served Scandinavia, who have some interesting and more varied trips this year.
2. Northern lights in Finland from 50^o North
3. Northern lights holidays from Love Holidays, not sure lights viewing is central to their offer.

Maybe check out the links at https://davelevy.info/wiki/glacier-safari/ on this wiki. See https://www.extremeiceland.is/en/northern-lights-tours-iceland, the northern lights, but they describe these as hunts.

Tromso

I think I’ll do the Best Served Scandinavia, trip to Tromso, possibly with an extra night in Kiruna, or possibly not.

Trip Advisor don’t have much to say about Tromso, apart from the Cable Car and getting in a car/bus and leaving it. The cable car, fjellheisen, can be reached by the Bus H20, and takes about 20 minutes from central Tromso. I have made a trip advisor trip page. The commune has its own site. BSS offer a stay in the Hotel Clarion the Edge which looks fab. Two nights in Tromso, 1 night in Narvik, one night in the Ice Hotel in Kiruna, maybe an extra night. Tromso is at 69.6492° N, 18.9553° E, the furthest North I will have been. Accuweather have a Tromso page.

NB not in the Eurozone, ~15 NOK: 1 GBP and ~14 SEK: 1 GBP. Both Norway and Sweden are in Schengen.

2024

I found Best Served Scandinavia, who have a number of tours offering stays at the Ice Hotel, or Tree Hotel. I fancy something a bit more normal (and cheap) and found this tour, the Luleå & Haparanda rail adventure, 4 days, fly (from Heathrow) to Luleå, where day one & three are spent, and a train to Haparanda, Finland where one stays at the Haparanda Stadshotell with its magnificent history and dining room. From £870. I did this. Haparanda is in Sweden but on the Finnish Border. I spent the last night at Camp Brandon, again, fab food, but the lights were a no-show. I flew SAS who have an app. I’ll hopefully use the bus to get from Lulea airport to the City Center. They have a card and app. I screwed up the bus on the way in, but they take cards. I got myself a money card as Sweden seems virtually cashless.

While looking to see how to do this, I came across the idea of travelling to the Tromso (Norway) film festival, which is a bit earlier than I want next year, but Tromso has a good reputation as a viewpoint for the lights, but in 2024 it seems advisable to book a safari. Also this one, from Kiruna to Narvik, by the Baltic Travel Company, called the Polar Express!

I am back, had a fab time, and here are some of my pictures.

There are at least two bridges from Haparanda to Tornio in Finland, one is a dual gauge railway bridge, which may or may not be open; I couldn’t get to it.

Frustratingly, the train loops north, via Kalix, I was hoping for Sea views, but with the snow, it’s hard to tell the difference between a fjord and a field.

Otherwise

Hotel * ratings vary by country, here is a page which describes how they work in Scandinavia. For me, wifi is a must, but bed & breakfast seems to be standard offering; the 3/4 step includes a restaurant, and internet, but with hotspots and a decent roaming price, maybe it’s not so important. If I go to Stockholm, I need to go to some of these viewpoints.

The train from Stockholm to Luleå takes over 13 hours according to rome2rio. The train from Narvik takes 7½ hours.

Winter is best for the Northern Lights, Visit Sweden says from Dec to March and so I will likely need an ETIAS form, next year it seems. I was OK for Jan 2024.

Norwegian Airlines fly to Lulea & Narvik from Gatwick. Does it snow? Yes it snows a ton load, I am amazed the plane got off on the way back.

Expedia can get me to Kiruna or [here] for four days/ five nights by Lufthansa at Camp Ripen for £905 at the end of Oct., which is too early