Northern Lights In December

I want to do a surprise trip for my wife’s 50th to see the Northern lights in mid December (taking the kids too).  Where could we go for a reasonable chance that has other good things to do if they are a no show?  Iceland, Norway?  Would they be enjoyable in December?  Is there anywhere in Scotland that would give us a fair chance of seeing them…I like the idea of big winter walks, roaring fires, whisky and then a light show.

We went to Finland, Ruka. Which is 20 miles from the Russian Border but inside the Arctic circle. From Ruka we went on Skidoo’s to some remote forest with a wigwam, fire and hot drinks. Along the way we could see the Northern Lights.

My daughters at the time would have been about 11 and 12. Loads to do in Ruka as well. Normal ski lessons, XC ski-ing, Fat Bike hire.

We went on an organised package trip, as non skiers with limited equipment, we found it much easier to use the provided kit.

The town area has ten pin bowling, bars and restaurants . I’m pretty restless on most holidays but this was really good. And wife and kids enjoyed it.

To add some balance to this went to Finland, ideal timing over Xmas (plus bonus no family to see) with just me, Mrs and kids.

Had a fabulous time, North Finland is great, but did not see the Northern Lights at all, not once, however, would go back in a heartbeat (and not just to ride the fat bike in the woods).

James

I love winter in the arctic, but I would chose a destination where there’s plenty to do and seeing the aurora is a kind of bonus. Closer to home, the Moray coast is probably your best bet from a UK perspective – but the further north you go, the better your chances. Also, when they’re directly overhead, there’s a greater variety and strength of colours rather than a green iridescence on the northern horizon. I’ve been to Rovaniemi in Finland which is right on the Arctic circle and has lots of attractions, XC and downhill skiing, snowmobile tours, dog sled tours – you can fly direct from UK.

We went to nellim in Finland. Long way north and little light pollution.
Going to ruka this year for the snow, but hopefully see the northern lights again

I’ve been to Iceland in December and again in March. December has lots of dark hours – perhaps more than you might enjoy – but the weather is often poor, to the exclusion of clear skies when you might otherwise expect to see the aurora.

March was better .

lots of stuff to do in & around Reykjavik while you’re not chasing the lights.

Aurora Borealis

It can be a bit hit or miss. Aurora have been visible in the South of England several times this year, for example, but you had to be somewhere with clear, unobstructed skies and no light pollution to see them properly. I’ve seen them, parked by the side of the A4 London Road just outside of Avebury, at around 1am. Completely unexpected, me and my mate, stood outside of my car, mouths open, not quite believing what we were seeing. No photos, this was around 1982-ish we had a particularly cold and snowy winter, and I didn’t carry a camera around back then; who did? We were actually on our way home from Basingstoke after visiting our girlfriends who were trainee nurses, so pure luck.

It’s possible that the sun might be entering a more active phase, or maybe the atmosphere is more receptive to charged particles, I have no idea, but it’s a great holiday if you’re in the right place, so why not.

They were on up here (Orkney) last night – sadly too light a summer sky..

It’s a lottery.  We went to Ruka in December and didn’t just not see the lights…we didn’t even see the sky once.  And locals said this was not unusual – just grey murk 24/7.  It was an amazing holiday, we’d do it again in a heartbeat, and the lights would just have been a bonus.  But even if it’s worked out for other people, I wouldn’t be organising a lapland trip in December which revolved around clear skies.

I’d still go somewhere good, where you might get lucky. So Lapland resorts, Iceland etc.  But don’t bank on the aurora.

Also, go looking for them with an appreciation that they won’t look like the photos….or even close. I live just inland of the Moray firth and have probably seen them 20 odd times in the last 3 years – every time I have been underwhelmed in person but the photos I’ve taken have got the usual “OMG, wow” responses on social media. Truth is most of the time (in the UK at least) to the naked eye you might well be just looking at a bit of lit up haze and it’s only when you take a long exposure photo (or your phone does some wizardry) that you get to see it like you expected to. I ‘think’ it’s more impressive when you travel to the within the Arctic circle but knowing what I know now I wouldn’t be basing a trip around it. It would be a happy bonus if it happened.

Saying that a skiing (xc and downhill) trip to Finland or Northern Norway is definitely on the bucket list.

And to add – as above, the number of daylight hours in the winter months that far north can take people by surprise. As in – you know what to expect, because google, but it’s only when you are there that you appreciate what 4 hours of daylight or less a day feels like. It’s not for everyone. We rented a cabin in Iceland in a December as a base for exploring – never saw what it looked like from the outside.

We did Iceland in January and would recommend it to anyone but our Northern Lights trip was postponed on the first night due to weather, same on the second night, finally went out on the third night only to stand around in the freezing cold looking at cloud for 3 hours. So as above, not a given and summer months probably better.

We went to Iceland in February, saw the lights from our hot tub (filled fresh every time with volcanically heated water, not a fetid sex pond) in Akureyri. The locals said we were lucky since they hadn’t seen the sky for more than 6 weeks.

Take a look at Artisan travel. I went on their dog sledding trip this year. The place we started from was great – loads of family snow activities. It was in Finland but they have a whole series of trips centred on the northern lights. Plan a trip where it is not the only thing. We were lucky to get a really good display on 2 nights. It was cloudy on the rest! But we went for the huskies!

In december it might be dark all the time! We went Feb.

It’s a lottery.

This is a factor – we went to Iceland in February about ten years ago and booked to go on a Northern Lights watching trip while we were there. A couple of hundred quid and a very cold, late night in the middle of nowhere later, no lights. The following night, looking out of the window of our apartment in the middle of Rekyavik, full lightshow….

We had success in Finland (early February so you get a decent bit of daylight but still a long dark night and before the Finnish holidays). As mentioned, above the arctic circle in December is going to be very little daylight. You can improve your aurora lottery chances by:

Choose somewhere very far north.

Maybe choose somewhere away from the coast (watching the webcams last winter, coastal Norway seemed to be clagged up a lot of the time compared to further inland). For the same reason maybe avoid very high mountains that might hold the clouds in an area. But this is all very hit and miss so don’t let it be a deal breaker.

Choose a time when there isn’t a full moon.

Stay somewhere with dark skies very near your accommodation. That way if it all kicks off at 11pm you can just walk 5 mins into the dark and watch it. It also avoids needing your own transport / booking aurora watching tours / trying to get a taxi out of a ski resort at the same moment everyone else wants one.

Stay for a decent number of days. There was some aurora action every night but only 50% of the time when the clouds and moon were favourable.

We stayed here which was very different to a conveyor belt package holiday, with top notch fatbike singletrails ploughed out by proper mtbers. Almost guaranteed crazy deep snow with skis, snowshoes, fatbikes, sauna and smoke sauna  on site and skidoos, dogsleds etc nearby if you need that kind of thing.

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I was in Rovaniemi and got a ‘red alert’ on the aurora around midnight. Walk north along the river, there was a big group of people standing outside on of the hotels staring up at the sky with cameras etc and seeing very little. I continued walking for about another km, beyond the glare of the streetlights and got to enjoy the light show.

Taken outside my house in Tobermory earlier this year.

We went to Abisko, Sweden. Good excuse to get the sleeper train from Stockholm.

We saw them over a Christmas/NY break north of Rovaniemi on Finland – bunch of us in a log cabin in the woods so totally dark skies. Out of the 4 nights we were there, we only had one night of northern lights but it was spectacular. And **** cold!

Rovaniemi is the nearest tourist town (we were 50+ km north of there) but they have the usual bars, restaurants, activities etc – snowmobiling, loads of XC skiing, trips up to the Arctic Circle…

We flew to Helsinki and got the train to Rovaniemi but you can fly there direct now.

I’ve done 3 trips to Finland skiing trips around Christmas/New Year (Ruka and Yllas) and not managed to see them. Barely had a squeak out of the alerts whilst we were there.

So all I can recommend is go when we aren’t there. But Ruka and Yllas are nice places to go in their own right.