Chasing the Aurora: The World’s Most Extraordinary Winter Escapes
Written By: BOSS Editorial
Reading Time: 4 minutes
The strange thing is that people are willing to fly thousands of kilometers for a phenomenon that no one can guarantee. You can book the best hotel room, book a private transfer, plan the route perfectly – and still look at the absolutely black sky for several nights in a row. But it is precisely this unpredictability that makes the Northern Lights so attractive.
There are many beautiful natural phenomena. Waterfalls roar on schedule, mountains stand still, and the ocean comes and goes with the tides. Aurora behaves differently. It comes when she wills. Sometimes it’s a barely noticeable green line on the horizon; sometimes it’s a whole sky filled with moving flashes of light. And then the phones stay in your pockets. I just want to look up.
The need for the best places to see Northern Lights is not surprising since it is one of the most popular tourist requests for people who have seen plenty. Once you’ve seen a ten-beach resort and the next five-star hotel, you don’t necessarily need comfort, but feeling you’ve seen something special.
Norway: When fjords become scenery
In the photos, the north of Norway looks almost unbelievable. The rocks here literally grow out of the sea, small fishing villages hide between them, and at night a green glow can appear over this harsh landscape.
Lofoten and the Tromsø area are the most memorable. The Northern Lights don’t look like a separate reason to travel here. It becomes part of the landscape. You can have dinner with freshly caught cod in a restaurant by the water, go outside for a cup of coffee – and suddenly see how the sky starts to move.
Many experienced travelers include Norway in the list of the best places to see the northern lights, not only because of the high probability of seeing the Aurora. It’s also about the atmosphere. There is no sense of a tourist attraction here. There is a sense of the real North.
Finland: The luxury of silence
Finnish Lapland offers a completely different experience. There are fewer dramatic landscapes and more space. A real, physically tangible space.
Glass igloos have long been associated with the region, but it’s not all about the glass igloos. Silence is the most beneficial element of these locations. The genuine article, not the one they hawk in the advertising booklets. The snow drowns out the sounds, and there is no place nearby except for the light of the stars, and the forest seems to go on and on.
Over the past few years, numerous travellers have opted for special routes and tours, rather than the typical ones, with local tour guides on board, for instance, by using GetExperience. This format allows you to see the North without crowds and fuss.
Iceland: A contrast that cannot be forgotten
Even the hard-to-please can be surprised by Iceland. You can visit black volcanic beaches, glaciers, geothermal springs, and snow-covered plains in one day.
It’s the contrast that makes watching the aurora so special. Imagine: steam from hot springs is swirling around, the temperature is quite comfortable, and green flashes appear overhead. The picture seems almost surreal.
Iceland is especially suitable for those who do not want to build a trip around a single goal. There is always a backup scenario in case of cloudy weather:
- geothermal lagoons;
- glacier tours;
- trips around the Golden Ring;
- whale watching.
If Aurora chooses to stay home for the day, it won’t be apathy-inducing, that’s for sure.
When a journey becomes a memory
In a few years, few people will be able to remember exactly when the glow appeared or at what settings the best photo was taken. But other details suddenly come to mind. Crisp snow underfoot. The frost that makes cheeks sting. And that rare silence that comes naturally when people around you simultaneously raise their heads to the sky and forget about everything else for a while.
That’s probably why hunting for Aurora will never go out of fashion. In an era when almost any place can be seen on a smartphone screen, impressions remain that cannot be conveyed through photography. The Northern Lights are one of them.
