See the Northern Lights

A collection of cool northern lights pictures. You can see the northern lights and below we have given some tips on travel companies offering excursions to see the famous aurora.


See the Northern Lights!

Norway
When cruising the coast of Norway with Hurtigruten, passengers get wake-up calls to see the aurora. A three-night cruise from Tromsø to Trondheim starts at £566 including flights, transfers and half board. Packages coinciding with Tromsø’s Northern Lights Festival in late January are also available. 


Iceland
The smart option for a fun weekend break, Iceland offers a fair chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Discover the World has packages to Reykjavik from £308 including flights and breakfast. Excursions out of the city to look for the aurora in a superjeep cost £89.

Canada
Frontier Canada offers tailor-made trips to snowbound retreats such as the Inn on the Lakeoutside Whitehorse, with every chance of spotting the aurora. A seven-night package via Vancouver costs from £1,775 including flights, transfers, all meals and activities.


Alaska
Fairbanks is a city of aurora-watchers and its university posts useful aurora forecasts.Alaska Tours.com arranges trips to viewing points such as Bettles Lodge. A five-day package costs from £720 including two nights in Fairbanks, two at Bettles Lodge, transfers, taxes, hire of winter gear and most meals. KLM has flights to Fairbanks via Seattle from £434 return. Prices are per person for travel in February 2009, flying from London.


Six tips for seeing the Northern Lights

1. Go for several days; if the aurora appears, there is a good chance it will be seen on subsequent days.
2. Get away from urban areas – ships, wilderness lodges and remote camps are good locations.
3. September to October and February to March are good months for aurora spotting. The optimum time to visit will depend on local conditions; telephone ahead for advice and consult a lunar calendar to find darker nights.
4. Ice hotels look their best at the start of the season. At busy times, book activities in advance.
5. Wrap up, but don’t buy lots of kit – many hotels will provide or rent it.
6. Read up beforehand to get the most out of the experience. Aurora: The Mysterious Northern Lights by Candace Savage (Firefly, £10.15 ) is a superb introduction; The Northern Lights by Lucy Jago (Penguin, £6.99) tells the life story of Kristian Birkeland; Lapland (Bradt, £13.99) is a useful guide to Arctic Scandinavia.

Original Source: Travelphant Travel Blog

Nature Photos by Marcin Sacha

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