Northern Lights Honeymoon - Help

Look up "Northern Lights" in the search function for this website. This topic has been discussed previously, but for a preview... it's not as simple as just looking up in the sky and seeing them. Your chances of seeing the lights during any 3-5 day period is low.

This resort in Arctic Finland is geared up for viewing the Northern Lights and has honeymoon written all over it.
http://www.kakslauttanen.fi/en/

The video is wonderful.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhs1qLIjfww

Hi Tom,

Thanks i'll have a look on this website now. Funnily enough i'm aware it's not as easy as looking up in the Sky- I also know that January is a great month to see them so i'm hopeful- thank you for your comments anyway.

And thank you David, will check that place out now. Appreciate your response

Emily

Look at Umeå, Lulea, or Kiruna, Sweden. Personally, I love Umeå. I follow some photographers from Umeå on instagram and they've had some beautiful northern light photographs already. (I'm an amateur photographer.) And, if you are not lucky enough for that, their golden light looks gorgeous this time of year. Keep in mind, this is the darkest time of year, which I believe would be fascinating and I'm heading back for it. This is a lively town due to the university, hence a young population. It is easy by train or flight (flight cost $60.00 SAS). From Stockholm I flew up and took the overnight train (private compartment) down. It is not a touristy type of town. Again, I loved it. There's a lot of outdoor life here as well. They told me the winter is not as dark as one would suspect because of the light reflected off of the snow. Instagram suggestions for visuals: visitumea, johanvallpix, vanerpaddel, and, my favorite, magdamayday. johanvallpix and vanerpaddel are not necessarily right in Umeå, but J... is nearby in Vasterbotten Ian (where Umeå is located) and Vanerpaddel is in Säffle in Varmland, which is much further south.

And my favorite hotel ever (including five star hotels): http://hotelavenyumea-hrez.com/index.htm

We were in the Finland lake area (Voukatti) for 10 days this past February and only had a somewhat clear sky for one day/night. the luck of the draw is combining good night viability with the right electromagnetic conditions. The Finnish Met website is a good start at improving the odds:

http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/northern-lights

According to the statistics compiled by the Finnish Meteorological
Institute, four nights out of five are illuminated by Northern lights
in Northern Lapland (Kilpisjärvi-Utsjoki area) providing that the sky
is free enough from clouds. On the coast of the Arctic Ocean in North
Norway (e.g. in Tromsö) one can see Northern lights almost every
night. Even in South Finland, say Helsinki, one can see them but much
more seldom; in Helsinki only one night out of 20.

The northern parts of Fennoscandia belongs to the maximum auroral
zone. In the coast of Ice Sea in North-Norway you will see auroras
almost every evening when the sky is clear enough. When moving
southwards, the frequency of auroras decreases. In Sodankylä every
second night is an auroral night, in Helsinki every 20th. These are
statistical rules giving the average extent of auroras. When the
Earth's magnetic field is very disturbed, the auroras can spread all
over Europe for a couple of hours.

The best time to see auroras is between 9 p.m. - 1 a.m. local time.
The best months are February - March and September - October. During
summer months you cannot see aurora due to light nights.

AurorasNow is a service which helps watching auroras in Finland: http://aurora.fmi.fi/public_service/index.html

Auroras Now! is a space weather service maintaining by Finnish
Meteorological Institute (FMI) to help watching auroras in Finland.

The service includes auroral monitoring with the all-sky cameras and
magnetic field alarm systems for Northern and Southern Finland
separately . The magnetic alarms are base on the data of magnetometers
measuring the disturbance level of the Earth’s magnetic field at the
geophysical observatories in Nurmijärvi and Sodankylä.

Finnish Meteorological Institute maintains an automatic auroral alert
system for South Finland. It is based on magnetic recordings at
Nurmijärvi station and send an e-mail whenever the derivative of the
magnetic field exceeds a certain threshold value. When the magnetic
field on the ground changes fast we expect a stormy space weather and
probably some auroral activity. The level of magnetic disturbances is
updated once an hour. Thus, a longer event may cause hourly arriving
alerts. Observing the aurora requires dark sky and clear skies in
addition. To see auroras in North Finland is about ten times more
possible than in South Finland.

To prepare yourselves for what it takes to view the Northern Lights, read the Bill Bryson's "Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe".
https://waitingfornobel.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/neither-here-nor-there-bill-bryson/

WFN: You started with Hammerfest because…

Bill Bryson: Because it’s the furthest north point in Europe, known
for occasionally hosting one of the most beautiful phenomena in nature
– aurora borealis, or northern lights.

WFN: And you saw them?

Bill Bryson: Well, I had to stay in Hammerfest longer than I planned,
overhearing conversations in pubs and on streets in a language I
totally didn’t understand, but yes, I finally saw a majestic white
light doing a show in the sky. The long stay was really worth it.

WFN: What do you think, is Hammerfest livable?

Bill Bryson: Despite evidence that it is, since people do a decent job
of living there, I think it is livable only to those pitiful souls
who’ve never tried a good beer.

A few years back our whole family went on a one week trip to Äkäslompolo in Finland Lappland in late January. As part of our trip we booked a guided tour to hunt northern lights. And we did see (a small) one within an hour of the tour while we couldn't see any during all the time we spent through the rest of our stay. The key is to get away from other light sources which we only did on the tour...

I'd recommend looking up when they are going to be the most common. As for hotels, we stayed in a log cabin with our own little sauna so I can't comment on many hotels. We did tour the snow village though which has a cool snow and ice hotel.

If cost is an issue, as an alternative to Scandinavia or Iceland for viewing the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), have you considered Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories) or Alaska for your honeymoon? You may find less expensive casual and laid back cabins or lodges, with optional excursions such as hot springs, dog sledding, snowshoeing, etc. Your profile doesn't say where you are from, but the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Canadian dollar may be in your favour if you are traveling from the United States to Canada.

There is no guaranteed schedule for viewing the aurora, however, locations within the auroral oval with a high percentage of clear dark nights (no clouds or precipitation) will give you the best opportunity over a stay of 3-5 nights. Unfortunately, January 2018 is not at the peak of the solar max on the roughly 11-year period known as the solar cycle. This is not to say that no auroras will be visible in 2018, but they may be weak as the cycle seems to be on the way down after peaking in 2014. If you're interested in Canada or Alaska aurora viewing, you can check out the forecast sites below:

http://www.auroraborealisyukon.com/auroracast/

http://astronomynorth.com/aurora-forecast/#

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

Located at the southern end of the auroral oval, Fort McMurray Alberta Canada (at latitude 56 degrees) has a high per centage chance of viewing aurora and they host many Japanese visitors. Even in my city (Edmonton Alberta Canada), where we often see aurora, there is an Aurora Watch email alert for those who may be interested in viewing or photographing the aurora. http://www.aurorawatch.ca/

Good luck with your honeymoon travel research!

In addition to finding a dark place to watch, the lights are dependent on atmospheric conditions. Like a weather report, there is a short term forecast of conditions that gets less reliable as you go out further into the future.

You will need some luck to see them because they aren't always there and, even when they are, only some nights could be called spectacular. I've seen them too many times to count from the ground and the cockpit of an aircraft. They are always nice to see but I've only seen spectacular once, camping in British Columbia.

I'd suggest planning a stay somewhere and try to build in some flexibility for the seeing the lights on nights that seem most favorable during your vacation time.

Good luck.