Northern lights in March

Nairn. I'm not even joking

Somewhere along the Moray coast (including Nairn mentioned above). Avoid Elgin though, it’s a dump. However be realistic about your chances of actually seeing them. Not high.

Went to Tromso once for work. Despite it being winter and permanently dark I thought it was a lovely place to visit. Lots of interesting history (polar explorers) very friendly locals and great food. Even in the half light the scenery looked like it would be awesome. Not cheap but a good place for a romantic break and pretty high chance of seeing the northern lights. 

North West coast of Scotland. Don’t waste your money on going anywhere ridiculously expensive for the northern lights. Chances of seeing them is next to zero unless the sun obliges.

I asked a similar q a while back. 

The important advice went primarily along the line of 'Whereever you plan consider the northern lights as a bonus'

I reckon a slow trundle around Northern Norway would be my choice. 

You've got more night hours in Scotland than Tromso, but Scotland is a bit too far south for good odds, and you're of course reliant on clear skies.  Go to Tromso next winter instead.

As far north as you can, even better if you can get a night flight as you’re above the clouds - the aurora looks different when you’re under them, rather than a faint coloured glow on the horizon. The vast majority of those aurora pics from the UK are down to long exposures and software trickery - all you can see to the naked eye is a faint green glow on the northern horizon.

I've seen them several times.

The best advice is head as far North as possible. Stay up late - after 01:00 and definitely after mid-night for the best display.

You are at the whim of the weather but we've had good sightings in Sweden and Finland. Everytime we've seen them we've been North of the Arctic Circle.

We're off to Yllas in Finland in February and we are hoping to see them there again.

MY nephew recently saw them in Northern Finland.  I am hoping to see them in Northern Canada

Scotland is too far south for a good sighting

Thanks all👍

Our small amount of googling so far has lead to Tromso being the favourite. Just need to find a nice hotel/apartment/fishing hut accommodation.

I think we might do a roadtrip to Scotland as well.

I'm jealous. Really must get back there sometime.

I was there in late November. Permanently dark and there was lots of snow on the ground.  My meeting was at the university, around a mile (maybe as much as two) from the hotel. I asked at reception how to get there and the very nice lady got out a map and drew the route that she said I should walk to get there. I've been to hotels in America where they've wanted to book me a cab to get somewhere a few hundred yards away in the middle of the day. I thought that said a lot about the locals and their attitude to the outdoors. It was indeed a lovely walk in the permanent pre-dawn light and I was passed by loads of people on bikes with studded tyres.

Was lucky enough to see them Reykjavik a few years ago at the beginning of March. Was a bonus as my parents have been on several cruises around Norway etc... to try & see them but never have.

Ah man, I'm jealous. It's likely to be a good year for seeing them as it's a solar maximum.

I saw them in Iceland last March. Twelve hours darkness gives a good chance IF the skies are clear AND the sun is being active

https://imgur.com/gallery/DVbeRh2

Tromso itself is great, however electricity is so cheap (price per kWh in norway is proportional to the distance from the source) the local council insist on sticking insanely bright streetlights absolutely everywhere so if you're in town seeing anything above you is nigh on impossible. I used to walk up to the lake and wander around there, but even that has lights on the footpath. By march walking on the lake itself can be dodgy. Best places I've otherwise found in town are on the end of the pier in the main harbour (not the pier with the harbour swimming facility on it) and at the top of Fjellstua, though the cable car usually shuts around 10. There's a great restaurant up there. It might be worthwhile booking a trip with one of the specialist aurora hunters. Get an aurora app, it'll allow you to plan your evening. 

Staying & eating. I usually stay in the Radisson Blu. It's a hotel. Norwegians haven't caught onto the idea that hotels can be nice. It has 4 stars yet is made from shipping containers and prefabricated ship cabins.  Its a place to stay, be warm and get averagely fed. It's clean. Breakfast is good. The Clarion Aurora is the same. Clarion Edge is just bigger and more expensive. Scandic Ishavshotel was always booked out with Americans and Japanese stopping off on a cruise.

Next to the harbour is a pasta / pizza restaurant called Pastafabrijk. It's nice, service is rapid and food cheap enough. Around the corner is a nice bar called Compagniet. you can get bar food in there until about 7 and thimbles of craft ale for about £7. They have a proper restaurant above it which is spendy but food is awesome.

Set back a bit is an Italian called Casa Inferno. Superb home made pizzas. It generally gets quite full of locals. 

Whale. Ok, I'll get flamed here, I took the customer out for dinner and they booked a table at Mathallen. I didn't know they are a whale specialist and I wrangled with the idea for a long time after I found out. But if you are offered whale it is truly outstanding meat. The best leanest steak you've ever had. Truly delicious.

A bottle of wine in any restaurant will easily set you back £50, but beer is closer to UK prices at £8/500ml.

Have a look at flying into Tromso and taking a Hurtigruten cruise up to the north cape - to Hammerfest or even Kirkenes then flying back from there.

Getting there is a pain. I think Norwegian fly direct on random days from Gatwick. otherwise I used to do NCL-AMS-OSL-TOS, stopping off overnight at OSL. Sometimes I'd be lucky and use Loganair & Wideroe to go NCL-BGO-TOS. Generally I'd allow 17hrs for the journey. Because of the weather, as a tourist try and book through-tickets. That way if one leg is cancelled you won't get stranded there or worse at some hole like Bodo and miss your onward leg. TOS is meant to be a dry cleared runway. Often it was pure ice. Landing and more importantly stopping on ice is hilarious.

When it all works out, it is properly gasp-inducingly beautiful.

There was a couple of threads about this last year, as I recall.

I can recommend Finnish Lapland, as someone else has (Yllas). I’ve worked north of Rovaniemi a few times and been treated to some spectacular displays in Feb-March.

There are several ski resorts within a couple of hours travel from Rovaniemi or Levi airports, including Levi, Luosto-Pyha and Yllas, which would make comfortable bases for a short stay and offer lots of outdoor activities as well as Aurora based trips. Decent restaurants, even if pricey.

The days are getting longer by March too, so plenty of time to do daylight activities.

For something more mountainous, maybe Abisko national park near the Sweden-Norway border? I’ve only ever passed through in really brutal weather, but it looked spectacular through the sleet!

but beer is closer to UK prices at £8/500ml.

£8 a pint? **** that.

Have you been in the bar in Newcastle airport lately Drac?

No, but airports have always been more. Which is why I’ve never bothered whenever I’ve flown, not even when I could claim expenses.

'Norwegians haven’t caught onto the idea that hotels can be nice.' Bit rich coming from Britain!

You can also rent campervans - https://arcticcampers.no/   Senja is very close and very recommendable, plus a ton of other places.  Senja is like Lofoten with no people.

Been using this useful app for the last year or so - Finland rather than Norway, but Kilpisjarvi is quite close to Tromso (and that area has generally been the most active so Tromso should be similar).

https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/auroras-and-space-weather

They updated it today and changed the numbers and added extra colours on the chart so I've lost my reference points 🙂. But generally, this winter has so far been much quieter than last year.

There are some good YouTube live streams you can use for reference for what the graph numbers look like (rewind in the morning to see what happened overnight).

Also check when the full moon is as it can  make faint aurora harder to see.

https://www.youtube.com/live/dkLjO4TE634?si=VhE0e4VJQaPmfDlE

Sadly no photos to prove it, it was way before mobile phones, or quality pocket cameras, but a mate and I were treated to a display in the early hours near Avebury on the A4, on our way back from an evening with our respective girlfriends who were training as nurses at Basingstoke Hospital. I’d seen something out of the side window of the car and pulled off the road and turned the lights off. My mate asked me what I was stopping for, so I said get out the car and tell me if you’re seeing what I think I’m seeing. We stood there just staring at this amazing display for several minutes until it gradually faded away. That was around 1982-ish, we had a particularly cold winter with more snow than usual.

Be prepared for a hefty disappointment, even if you do see them.