Northern Lights

Posted by tant on 01/10/25 03:25 AM

I may be heading to Germany late January (in a few weeks from now) for some family things and am interested in sneaking away to head north early February to hopefully catch the Aurora Borealis in action. So coming from Hanover Germany I am considering a train straight North into Denmark for up to just a few days and am looking for some insight / advice / tips on where a good area to go would be, what else there is do in February and how to best get around and navigate the area using public transit.

thank you !

Posted by broccolihaar

Denmark

01/10/25 11:02 PM

160 posts

Denmark is not far enough to see the northern lights. It's rare we get them, and those rare occurrences it's quite faint, only visible in rural areas and it makes the news. There can be many good reasons to visit Denmark, but if your reason is to see the northern lights I can guarantee you will be disappointed. To have a real shot at seeing the northern lights, you have to head way further north. Think northern Sweden, northern Norway or northern Finland. You can ask of the respective country forums to get advice there.

Without knowing anything about your interests it's difficult to give good recommendations on Denmark. Rural Denmark is pretty much dead in the winter months, but there will still be life and plenty to see and do in the cities (such as Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense). Public transport in and between cities is good (but for rural towns and villages it's a bit more hit and miss), and journeyplanner.dk have timetables for the entire country.

Posted by Badger

Uppsala, Sweden

01/10/25 11:07 PM

7178 posts

Visiting Denmark is always a good idea. However, the chance of seeing the Northern lights is not zero, but very close to it. You need to go quite a bit further north to have a decent chance.

Posted by MarkK

Schwerin

01/11/25 02:37 AM

3223 posts

I agree that the chance to see NL in Denmark and Northern Germany is very low.

The year 2025 is forecasted as a peak year with likely strong sunflares in the up and down cycle of NL.

During the night of August 12, 2024 they appeared strongly and could be seen from various places. This photo series summarizes the best impressions from this night in Northern Germany.

Tip 1: direct flights to Norwegian Tromsø are available from BER, HAM and FRA (easiest from Hanover by train).

Tip 2:check aurora oval status (link) and NL forecast app.