northern light land excursions from Tromso

Posted by marmorboys on 03/14/24 09:35 PM

We're planning a family trip to Norway in early Sept and will be arriving in Tromso in time for the new moon. I hope to sign up for 2 different land excursions the two nights we are there to try to maximize our chances to see the Northern Lights. Can anyone recommend a company they really enjoyed? Clearly it's not the company's fault if the weather conditions aren't favorable but some groups may try harder than others to seek out better locations.

Also, where have people recommend staying if we do not plan to use a car in Tromso?

And, from Tromso, what would be the best way to get to the Fjords?

Posted by Dutch_traveler

The Netherlands

03/14/24 10:13 PM

1613 posts

Early September is rather early in the year to try and see the northern lights. This is because early September still has very long days and therefore no long periods of darkness. And darkness is what you need most to see the northern lights. The moon phase isn’t as relevant as some think it is.
Early September the sun doesn’t set until 8pm and comes up again at 5am, which means it’s only completely dark for just a few hours. Can you postpone your trip until later in the year?

I was in Tromso for 5 days/4 nights in February this year. When we were there sunset was at 2:30 pm already and sunrise wasn’t until 9:30 am. This meant we had lots of hours of darkness and therefore lots of hours to potentially see the northern lights.
On 2 nights the sky was completely overcast, so we didn’t go to look for the light. On the other 2 nights we went and found the northern lights. On the first night it was very faint and very briefly. On our second night we were blessed with a glorious 3 hour long display of the northern lights. It’s one of the most beautiful things we ever saw.
We went with Best Artic one night and with Northern Shots tour the other night. I can recommend them both.

Posted by Badger

Uppsala, Sweden

03/15/24 11:05 AM

7051 posts

Trying to see the lights in early september is very optimistic. Sunset will still be pretty late and there will not be any night in Tromsø until late September, you will only have twilight between sunset and sunrise.

And, from Tromso, what would be the best way to get to the Fjords?

Which fjords?

Posted by MarkK

Berlin

03/15/24 01:26 PM

3084 posts

We had recently the discussion about NL in Spetember in this thread
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/norway/northern-lights-in-svolvaer-mid-september

I do not want to repeat the whole stuff - so please read it up there.
One additional sentence: within the typical 11-year period of more and less sunstorms the next peak is expected for mid 2025 - so the chance of coccuring NL based on this criteria only can be seen as higher than in other years.

And, from Tromso, what would be the best way to get to the Fjords?

Without specifying any fjord you can drive nearly into any direction on E6 because there are fjords and sounds (open on both ends) everywhere. A nice fjord in this area is the Lyngenfjord.

Do not miss to visit Fjellheisen..

Good luck for free sky views.