If seeing the northern lights is on your bucket list and you are searching for the perfect place to view them, you can stop searching! Tromsø, Norway is the perfect spot to chase the northern lights. Because of its location in the center of the northern auroral oval, the northern lights are seen more often and more intensely in Tromsø than anywhere else in the world.
Auroral ovals form when solar winds or flares interact with Earth’s magnetic field, deflecting charged particles toward the magnetic north and south. When those particles hit Earth’s atmosphere, they produce energy that we see as the Northern and Southern Lights. The northern auroral oval spans most of Northern Scandinavia, including Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland. There are several spots you could visit that put you in the path of the northern lights, but you’ll have to decide whether you value the remote destination or the comforts of a hotel. Tromsø is the sweet spot—you can enjoy the benefits of the city, but the clear skies of the wilderness are never far away.
Tromsø sees most of its visitors from late August to early April, when the sky gets dark enough to see the northern lights. You can spend your days exploring all Tromsø has to offer, including dogsledding tours and whale watching, and spend your evenings in the tundra watching the aurora. Alternatively, if you visit during the roughly six weeks of “polar night,” when the sun never rises beyond the horizon, you can catch a glimpse of the northern lights during the day. Regardless of when you visit, if you want a guaranteed sighting of aurora borealis, your best bet is to sign up for the Northern Lights Chase.
In a Northern Lights Chase, you’ll pile into a car, van, or minibus with other excited passengers, as well as a guide whose only goal is for you to experience the northern lights in person. Most hunts start around 7 p.m. and continue several hours into the night, stopping at different destinations along the way, searching for the clearest skies. There are many guides to choose from, each boasting successful sightings 95–99% of the time, so you can rest assured that your guides are qualified. Enjoy a thrilling chase through the dark to find the brilliant green lights of the aurora borealis!
—Ellie Taylor
Sources
www.visittromso.no
www.theaurorazone.com