Visiting Norway during Christmas

Hi - I only just found this site and stumbled across your posting, so apologies if this comes too late! However, if not (or for other intrepid Aurora-seekers) there are some bits of info you might find useful. First off - don't drive. It's easy to underestimate the size of Norway but at 900 miles from Oslo to Alta, the E6 is not to be taken lightly even in summer. Add to that distance the speed limit - 80kph (50mph-ish) and figure in the winter your average speed will to maybe 30mph or less. You'll be driving on snow and often on ice a lot of the way once you get into the wilds north of Trondheim and after a few hours you'll be fried from the concentration - figure 5 hours is good going for a day (excluding stops for fuel). That means allowing at least 6 days each way just to get there. Fuel is expensive in Norway even by UK standards and with the severe conversion rate reckon on over $2/litre. If you hire a car big enough to drive for 12 days reckon the fuel alone will be a minimum $540 not allowing for emergencies. Add the cost of nightly stops and you could take a coastal cruise for less. Don't underestimate the damage 6+ hours in a car, concentrating hard, with nothing but Norwegian radio for distraction, will do to a relationship! Second - trains stop a long way south of anywhere good for the aurora. You could train + bus up but as the buses are as fast, comfortable and reliable (i.e. very) you might as well take buses the whole way. Still going to take days each way though! Third - Christmas is a touch early for seeing the aurora in Tromso or the Lofotens reliably (Feb/March is best for weather). The weather is hit-and-miss so you could be there a week and see nothing but cloud. Instead, go further up - at least to Alta or Kautokeino. (out of characters - this has turned into a mini-epic! - so will continue below...)

"Does anyone have any recommendations on best places for northern lights during end of December time?" Yes, the interior of Alaska. Norway has too damp of a climate to reliably see the lights. You could possibly get lucky, but your chances of seeing them are probably pretty low unless you budget yourself A LOT of time and make a concerted effort. For a comparison, I spent a month near Fairbanks several winters ago. Even in this area, the "Northern Lights Capital of the World", I saw them exactly twice, and each time I had to place myself in a situation that maximized my chances- ie, clear sky, clear horizons, low level of ambient light, and a prediction of high aurora activity (see this website for an aurora forecast :http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast)... and then I had to sit and wait... and wait...and wait... Out of 7 attempts sitting outside in near darkness in the arctic cold, I was only rewarded twice. And it was definately worth the effort! Enjoy Norway, but don't bank of seeing the aurorae.

For some reason the rest of my reply keeps throwing an error here! Maybe it doesn't like long posts :-s I shall try again later...

OK going to try this in itty bitty little bits! So... Head to southern Germany for Christmas - their Christmas markets are so good, a lot of German traders are now coming over to the UK and setting up their style of market because they are massively popular. Really traditional feel and give a properly Christmassy feeling. Stay in Germany over the New Year too, as the week between Christmas and NYD, flights into Norway are hugely expensive and booked up months in advance... Plus nothing (and I mean nothing) is open; Norway doesn't do much in teh way of public entertainment for NY - it's a family time & almost everything shuts down.
tbc...

After NYD, fly over to Oslo. Most of the traffic will be out of the country then as a large part of the population studies or works abroad, so getting over is fairly easy. Stay in Oslo a couple of nights - 1 day is about as much as you need to see everything worth seeing barring the museums. The museums are pretty good so if you want to potter 'round a few add another day there. Tbh, the best thing in Oslo is the pay-per-ride toboggan run - but I could quite happily spend 2 days on that alone :-) Once you are done there, fly from Oslo to Alta. Forget anywhere further south or west as you need to be away from the cloud-inducing warm atlantic current - which means Alta or Kautokeino. The best time by far is February but Jan and Mar are OK if you're patient. tbc...

As Tom above said, allow plenty of time there to be sure of seeing the Aurora. It is sort-of predictable (forecasting uses the geomagnetic field strength, solar flare activity etc) but only a day or two in advance and even then, the magnetic field can drop in strength suddenly and the expected aurora will fail to materialise... There are a few sites that will give you an idea: http://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast
and I believe there's even an iPhone app now, so rather than sitting out in -30 when an appearance is unlikely you can wait for a high-probability night before filling the thermos with hot coffee!

Tom is also correct that Norway, even Alta, can have a lot of snow. At -20C it's hardly damp but the cloud cover will ruin Aurora watching. If you could wait for mid-March you'd have the best chance of lots of clear skies but you do get extended periods of open skies in January if you're lucky. Now, Norse as I am, I have to say - Toms advice is good. I put all the stuff above in so anyone already with plans to go to Norway could add it to their trip. However, Fairbanks is rightly regarded as about the best place in the world, outside of the high arctic, to see the northern lights and it makes little sense to travel all the way to Norway which has less ideal conditions, is difficult to get around in the winter, and is ruinously expensive in the current economic climate (the NoK is very very strong against the $, £ and €). OK that was a bit of an epic and apologies for the tl;dr crowd, but hopeful the info will be useful to someone, at some time!