[Travel] Travel Tips: Aurora Borealis

[pasty]

A rather significant birthday is looming large this year for Mrs P, so planning a trip to see the Aurora Borealis which she's always wanted to do.

Been looking around and Rekyjavic in October looks a good bet, especially as that's the month of her birthday. Anyone been and able to give some tips / info?

 

[Stat Brother]

I've been the local 'Spoons in Aurora does a cracking all day breakfast.

 

[Bakero]

Best enjoyed with steamed hams.




(Sorry. Useful tips will be forthcoming I'm sure )

 

[Wilko]

A rather significant birthday is looming large this year for Mrs P, so planning a trip to see the Aurora Borealis which she's always wanted to do.

Been looking around and Rekyjavic in October looks a good bet, especially as that's the month of her birthday. Anyone been and able to give some tips / info?

The only issue is you cannot guarantee seeing it but Iceland is wonderful whether you are lucky enough to see it or not.

 

[Official Old Man]

BBC Rip Off Britain - Holidays. Simon Calder done a bit about where to go.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0c0vv2y/rip-off-britain-holidays-series-7-episode-12
Fast forward until you see him. It's a 5 minute segment but informative.

 

[Weststander]

Friends of ours visited Iceland on a specific trip for this and didn’t see a thing due to its extremely cloudy north Atlantic weather.

Bite the financial bullet and go to Lapland.

 

[Driver8]

I saw it in Iceland in January. It was OK.

Be warned though Iceland is hideously expensive.

 

[Silverhatch]

Tromso (Norway) is great but eye-wateringly expensive. Get the AB App as soon as you land. Don't do the "Chase the Lights" tours if the App says no activity. If it's cloudy in Tromso do the skidoo safari up to the frozen lake. Do a dog-sled safari too. And where ever you go, hire the cold weather gear when you're there. Don't take your own gear - it will not be warm enough! Get booze from airport. Stunning scenery.

 

[Surf's Up]

If you can afford it and you could postpone the trip by a couple of months I can recommend the trips that Hurtigruten do from Bergen to Kirkenes up the Norwgian coast. Their ships are extremely comfortable, not too big, you are seldom in open sea so the trip is for the most part smooth and Hurtigruten give you a guarantee that if you don't see the AB they will offer you a free additional trip.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Friends of ours visited Iceland on a specific trip for this and didn’t see a thing due to its extremely cloudy north Atlantic weather.

Bite the financial bullet and go to Lapland.

Do you have any figures about the various success rates? I went to Iceland and saw a little bit of them but would love to see them fully...

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I got back from Rovaniemi in Lapland last night. Easyjet flight got delayed by a day as runway was too slippy to land.Can't understand why, it was only a bracing minus 25 degrees with clear skies. Should have been ideal aurora weather but the bugger's refused to come out and play despite there being a strong aurora forecast and very little light pollution looking away from the town. Just the luck of the draw I suppose. Would recommend Rovaniema on grounds of price (Easyjet flights were £50 return!) and the cost of living, although not cheap, is not Norway-levels of expensive. A beer can be had for 5-7 euros, a meal in an american style diner for about 15 euros tho you can pay up to 40 euros for, say, a reindeer steak! There's snowmobile safaris, husky sleds, and of course Santa Claus Village just out of town. Fascinating place, but wickedly cold.

Went to Tromso a couple of winters back. Even saw a thin green unmistakeable streak of aurora. Tho the real star of the show is whale-watching. They take you out on a big catamaran with a heated galley, hot drinks, and arctic survival overalls if you want to go on deck - which you will do - to a fjord where the orcas and hump-backs are feeding on shoals of fish. They feed there all winter so your practically guarantee to see some. We saw literally dozens. As others have said, horribly expensive tho.

Wherever you decide on, my number one tip be to ensure a hearty hotel breakfast is included in the deal!



Here's a good aurora forecast link with predictions updated hourly

http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/

 

[The Clamp]

Make sure you wear professional, properly graded, cold weather gear. It is cold. COLD. Like nothing you’ve ever known.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

as people have said it's expensive, and also depressing and cold, other than that, a riot. I'd never go again, waste of money in my opinion.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

We went at the start of November this year for a week and saw the Aurora on the second night we were there and again to a lesser extent on our last night. As mentioned it is hideously expensive, but you can keep the cost down by self catering. We stayed in a cabin on a hillside about an hour's drive from Reykjavik. Highly recommend it - its like visiting another planet. Top tip: avoid the Blue Lagoon - major ripoff. There are many better hot pools at a more reasonable price - see 'Secret lagoon' at Fludir for example.

 

[Wozza]

A rather significant birthday is looming large this year for Mrs P, so planning a trip to see the Aurora Borealis which she's always wanted to do.

Been looking around and Rekyjavic in October looks a good bet, especially as that's the month of her birthday. Anyone been and able to give some tips / info?

I think Joanna Lumley's BBC show - in Norway? - raised expectations. (In fact, wasn't it faked/enhanced?)

I love the place, but if you go on a coach trip to see the Northern Lights in Iceland, you'll be with loads of other tourists, potentially just looking at mild colouration in the sky, rather than vast, incredible vistas with colour all around. Or nothing at all.

My missus preferred the NY fireworks.

(Thread with Iceland tips here: https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/showthread.php?342645-Reykjavik-Iceland-Places-to-stay-things-to-do)

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Make sure you wear professional, properly graded, cold weather gear. It is cold. COLD. Like nothing you’ve ever known.

The extreme cold makes for very weird and surprising stuff that you might never expect to eperience anywhere else. It was minus 27 in Rovaniemi on monday. The difference between sea temperature and air temperature is so great that steam comes off the few bits of river that aren't frozen. There's odd gistening ice particles in the air with no obvious source. Mobile batteries drain from full to zero in a matter of minutes unless you keep your phone in an inside pocket. After 30 seconds outdoors your nose starts running. 30 seconds after that your nostrils develop ice crystals. You can put your scarf over your mouth and nose but if you're wearing glasses, your breathe quickly makes them frost up in the manner of a car windscreen. It's all quite mental. Great fun for a few days, but couldn't live like that.

 

[Arthur]

Whatever happened to our Icelandic Wonderkid?

 

[vegster]

Came under considerable pressure from Mrs V to see the Lights a couple of years ago, we found a "capsule " type cabin place in Finland with a glass roof so you can lie in comfort gazing upat the stars. Only trouble is, there were various cost multipliers as you looked in to it so that a 3 night stay ( minimum booking ) would cost pretty much £2k allowing for flights etc. which rather blows me out on my salary.

 

[pasty]

Thanks so far everyone.

So basically:

A: It's 'kin expensive
B: It's more than just a bit brass monkeys
C: No guarantee of seeing the lights.

I'm going off the idea

 

[vegster]

Thanks so far everyone.

So basically:

A: It's 'kin expensive
B: It's more than just a bit brass monkeys
C: No guarantee of seeing the lights.

I'm going off the idea

On occasions you get a really good view from Scotland, however that is dependent on the Solar Wind and local weather conditions and atmospherics, so you have to be lucky.