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Going to do a year of locum work and hoping to smash out some of my bucket list. Quite near the top are the northern lights. I had thought going to Norway/Iceland and we're free from mid September onwards. Thoughts, opinions and experiences welcome!
Saw them quite a few times in Finland, Oulu is a nice city in the north, pretty much garanteed to see them. Northern Sweden Kiruna but wouldnt want to live there.
My parents went to Iceland last month, unfortunately over 5 nights they never saw them. A week later they were visible in North-East England.
I love in Trondheim in Norway and have seen them quite a few times from the city. Have spent about 3 weeks around bødo in the north of Norway and saw them almost every night. Friends that have travelled north to places like tromso and the lofoten islands have all said they saw them on their trips. It is totally by chance if you see them of course. I would recommend a trip to the lofoten islands as it is absolutely stunning, only downside is the cost, Norway being rather expensive.
I guess the sensible thing to do is find somewhere amazing to travel to and take the lights as an incredible bonus. In which case where would people recommend?
Old Aberdeen. Means home sweet home to me.
google it but there is a website aurora watch. I've not had any announcements this year but they have been visible in Northern England before. Easier for me as I start in Newcastle so could just drive up in the evening.
Otherwise Iceland is nice (if expensive) and woudl be a good place to go even if you missed them.
been plenty of announcements this year! northern-isn Scotland can be feasible, depends how much of them you hope to see.
LOL @unknown BTW..
I saw an advert in Private Eye for cruises up the coast of Norway with a guarantee of the northern lights being visible at some point - a free cruise was compensation if they weren't. Sadly, can't remember the contact details, but a search should find out who is offering the cruise.
Or just head to Northumberland.
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"Ha! See that faint green smudge? Northern Lights. No free cruises for you!"
Go somewhere you fancy going anyway, you might not see them, it might be cloudy the whole time, or just no activity. Iceland, Lofoten, Tromso, Hammerfest... I've just come back from skiing in the Lyngen Alps near Tromso, and we saw decent displays 3 times in 9 days. Great skiing too!
Pretty good up here in Orkney.
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To your second question then I recommend lofoten islands again!
The cruise is one in Norway but I've forgotten the name, I've seen ads for it. Pretty sure it's not the hurtigruten though
Go somewhere you fancy going anyway, you might not see them, it might be cloudy the whole time, or just no activity.
That ^^ They depend on solar activity. IIRC Aurorawatch does mention at what point we are on the solar activity cycle but even that's a rough guess. the times I've gone out to see them have hardly ever worked and the times I have seen them they weren't expected.