How to increase your chances of seeing the Northern Lights in Lapland
Seeing the Northern Lights is one of the biggest reasons people travel to Finnish Lapland.
It is also something people worry about a lot before they arrive.
Every winter we receive questions such as:
“We are coming on 5th January. Will we see the Northern Lights?”
“Which month is best for the Aurora?”
“We are staying for three nights. Is that enough?”
We also meet people who believe they need to stay in a glass igloo, book an expensive Aurora tour every night or travel during one particular month to have a chance of seeing them.
After living in Levi since 2018, seeing and photographing the Northern Lights hundreds of times and spending several winters guiding private Aurora tours, we have learnt that the reality is both simpler and more complicated.
You cannot guarantee the Northern Lights. Nobody can.
But you can do quite a lot to increase your chances of seeing them.
And perhaps the most important things are preparation, patience and being willing to spend some time outside looking at the sky.
First, understand what you are waiting for
The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are a natural phenomenon caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. There is obviously much more science behind it, but for the purpose of planning your holiday, the important thing to understand is this:
Nobody controls when the Northern Lights appear.
They are not an attraction that starts at 21:00. They do not know that you have booked an Aurora tour, travelled thousands of kilometres or only have one evening left in Lapland.
Solar activity, darkness and weather conditions all play a part.
Once you understand that, planning becomes much easier.
Come to Lapland for as long as you can
If seeing the Northern Lights is very important to you, one of the simplest ways to improve your chances is to give yourself more nights.
A two-night stay gives you two opportunities. A five-night stay gives you five.
One night might be completely cloudy. The following night could be clear. Solar activity might be very low one evening and much stronger the next.
We have seen guests arrive when the Aurora appeared beautifully on their first night. We have also seen it appear just before somebody was due to leave. And sometimes the conditions simply do not come together during your stay.
There is no magic number of nights that guarantees anything, but the longer you stay, the more opportunities you give yourself.
Do not choose one particular date because of the Northern Lights
This is probably one of the questions we receive most often.
“We are coming on 5th January. Will we see them?”
We wish we could tell you.
Paul always explains it this way: imagine we told you that we were travelling to London six months from now and asked you whether it would rain on one particular evening.
Would you be able to tell us?
Of course not.
Predicting the Northern Lights months in advance is similar. Space weather is unpredictable, and even if there is excellent solar activity, we also need the right weather conditions here on Earth.
In Levi, the Northern Lights season generally runs from late August until around mid-April, when the night sky is dark enough to see them.
So rather than choosing January instead of February, for example, simply because somebody told you it was a “better Aurora month”, choose the time that gives you the Lapland holiday you actually want.
We wrote a separate article about the best time to visit Finnish Lapland because every part of winter feels different.
Then, once you are here, do everything you reasonably can to increase your chances of seeing the Aurora.
Watch the weather, but do not give up because you see clouds
People often concentrate on Aurora forecasts and forget something much closer to home: the weather above you.
You cannot see the Northern Lights through thick cloud. There could be an incredibly active Aurora happening above those clouds and you would never know it was there.
But this does not mean you need a completely cloudless sky.
If there are breaks in the clouds and you can see stars, there may also be opportunities to see the Aurora if it is present.
And do not necessarily give up because the evening begins overcast. Weather in Lapland can change very quickly. We have experienced completely overcast skies becoming clear in less than half an hour. Sometimes conditions can also be different only a short distance away or at a different location.
So check the local weather forecast, look at the cloud cover and, importantly, keep looking at the actual sky.
Find darker skies when you can
A dark location away from artificial light makes it easier to see the Northern Lights, particularly when the Aurora is weak. Fortunately, in Lapland you often do not need to travel very far to get away from bright street lighting.
But here is another misconception:
You do not always need complete darkness to see the Northern Lights.
When the Aurora is strong, we can see it despite light pollution. We have even photographed it from the centre of Levi with the ski slopes illuminated nearby.
So yes, if you have the opportunity to move somewhere darker, do it. You will usually have a much better view of the sky.
But if you are standing in Levi village and suddenly see something happening above you, do not assume it cannot possibly be the Aurora because there are lights around you.
Look up.
Be outside – and be patient
This might be the most important advice in this entire article.
We see the same mistake again and again.
Someone steps outside, looks at the sky for five minutes, sees nothing and goes back inside.
No Aurora tonight.
But that is simply not how the Northern Lights work.
There are evenings when they are visible for hours. There are evenings when they appear for only a few minutes. Sometimes there is a faint glow for a long time before the sky suddenly becomes much more active.
If you are inside at that moment, you can miss the entire thing.
When we used to guide private Northern Lights tours, waiting was simply part of the experience. Sometimes you had to be very patient before Mother Nature decided to give you anything at all.
This is also one of the advantages of joining an Aurora tour. You are outside for a longer period of time, rather than looking at the sky for five minutes and deciding nothing is happening. A good guide understands that waiting is part of the experience and gives the sky time to change.
If seeing the Aurora is one of the main reasons for your trip, make an effort.
Go outside.
Wait.
Look at the sky.
And if nothing happens, try again the following evening.
Dress much warmer than you think you need to
Waiting for the Northern Lights is very different from skiing, walking or snowshoeing. You are often standing still. And when you stand outside on a cold Arctic night without moving very much, you can become cold surprisingly quickly.
Wear proper winter boots, warm socks, thermal layers, a good winter coat, gloves and warm hat. If it is particularly cold, add more layers.
There is little point finding the perfect dark location and then having to leave after ten minutes because you cannot feel your toes.
Being properly dressed allows you to stay outside for longer. And staying outside for longer gives you more opportunity to see what you came for.
Do not rely too heavily on Aurora apps
We use Aurora information ourselves, and forecasts can certainly be useful. But please do not allow an app to decide whether you look outside.
Aurora forecasting is complicated and predictions are not guarantees. In Our Winter Guide to Levi Lapland we go much deeper into Aurora apps, the Kp index and how to interpret the information they provide.
The important point for your holiday is simpler:
An app is a tool. It is not the sky.
Do not spend your whole evening staring at your phone waiting for it to tell you something is happening. Check the conditions, but also open the door and look outside.
We use an Aurora app ourselves, which sends a notification when the Northern Lights are detected, and we find it very useful. But even a good app cannot see everything. The Aurora might be weak, it might appear in a different part of the sky from where the cameras are pointing, or it might last for only a few minutes. By the time you receive an alert, get dressed and go outside, you might already have missed it. This is another reason why, when the conditions look promising, simply spending time outside and watching the sky can make such a difference.
Should you book a Northern Lights tour?
For many visitors, yes.
A good local guide brings experience. They understand local weather conditions, know viewing locations, can move when conditions are poor and can help you understand what you are seeing.
When we ran private Aurora tours ourselves, a large part of the experience was not simply driving somewhere and waiting for green lights to appear. It was knowing where to go, reading the conditions and making the waiting itself enjoyable.
But there is an important distinction:
A Northern Lights tour can improve your opportunities. It cannot guarantee the Northern Lights.
You may come across Aurora experiences described as “guaranteed”, and we think it is important to be careful with this wording.
A company might guarantee something that they control – perhaps another trip under certain conditions – but nobody can guarantee that the Aurora itself will appear.
Solar activity cannot be controlled. Neither can Arctic weather or cloud cover.
This applies to the Northern Lights just as it applies to wildlife, snowfall and other natural experiences.
Nature can never be guaranteed.
If you decide to book a tour, we recommend choosing an experienced, genuinely local operator with good knowledge of the area rather than simply choosing the company making the biggest promise.
Do you need a glass igloo to see the Northern Lights?
No.
A glass-roofed cabin can be a lovely experience and, if the Aurora happens to appear above you at the right time, watching it from bed can of course be very special.
But staying in one does not increase solar activity or remove clouds from the sky.
You can see the Northern Lights from many places around Levi: from your accommodation if conditions are suitable, from darker areas nearby, from viewing locations accessible on foot, or while out with an experienced guide.
Our Winter Guide to Levi Lapland includes several Aurora viewing locations around Levi that can be reached on foot from the village.
Choose your accommodation because you want to stay there, not because somebody has made you believe a glass roof can guarantee the Northern Lights.
We actually own a glass-roof cabin ourselves, but we are always very clear that seeing the Northern Lights can never be guaranteed. A glass roof gives you a wonderful view of the sky from inside your cabin, but what happens in that sky is entirely up to nature.
Make the effort, but plan a holiday you will love without them
These two pieces of advice might sound contradictory, but they are not.
If seeing the Northern Lights is very important to you, make the effort every night.
Check the weather. Go outside. Find somewhere dark. Be patient. Book a good local guide if you want help. Give yourself every reasonable opportunity.
If seeing the Northern Lights is very important to you, Our Winter Guide to Levi Lapland can help you prepare too. It includes around 40 pages dedicated to the Aurora, bringing together years of our own experience and research: understanding forecasts and apps, what different conditions can mean, when and where to look, photography advice, common mistakes and many of the things we have learnt from living under the Northern Lights and watching them ourselves. Most of this information is useful wherever you are staying in Lapland, with just a small part of the chapter dedicated specifically to viewing locations around Levi.
If seeing the Northern Lights is high on your wish list, we really recommend reading this chapter before your trip and using it while you are here.
But do not make the Northern Lights the only measure of whether your Lapland holiday was successful.
There is so much more to experience here: winter forests, beautiful Arctic light, reindeer, huskies, skiing, snowshoeing, sauna, good food, silence and simply spending time outside in this extraordinary environment.
You can control whether you experience those things.
You cannot control the sky.
Plan a holiday you will love regardless, and then hope Mother Nature gives you one more very special memory.
Do not forget to actually watch them
This sounds obvious.
But when the Northern Lights finally appear, it is very easy to experience the entire thing through a phone or camera.
We understand the temptation. I have photographed the Aurora thousands of times.
But sometimes put the camera down. Look at how quickly it moves. Notice how the shape changes. Look directly above you as well as towards the horizon.
After all these years of living in Lapland and seeing the Northern Lights hundreds of times, they have never become ordinary to us. When they appear, we still stop what we are doing and go outside. And when they are particularly active and colourful, I can still cry watching them.
Are the Northern Lights really green?
You may have heard people say that the Northern Lights are not actually green and that they only look green in photographs.
This is not quite true.
During a weak Aurora display, our eyes do not see colours particularly well in the dark. What your camera or phone captures as green might look to you more like a pale grey shape, a light cloud or just a very faint green. This is often where the idea that the Northern Lights are “grey in real life” comes from.
But that is only one type of Aurora display.
When the Northern Lights become very active, it can be a completely different experience. The green can be clearly visible with your own eyes and, during particularly strong displays, you may also see pink, purple or magenta. The lights can move quickly and sometimes cover a huge part of the sky.
We have seen both many times.
So if someone tells you that the Northern Lights are always grey and only cameras make them green, remember that they may simply have experienced a weaker display. And if that is what you see too, do not be disappointed. Stay outside and be patient. That faint Aurora may remain exactly as it is, or the activity might suddenly increase and give you something completely different.
The Northern Lights are worth waiting for
There is no trick that can guarantee you will see the Northern Lights in Lapland.
But there are things that genuinely improve your opportunities:
stay for longer, make the effort to be outside, watch the weather, find darker skies when possible, be patient and do not rely entirely on an app.
Most importantly, understand that you are waiting for nature.
That uncertainty is part of what makes the moment so extraordinary when it finally happens.
If you would like to understand the Aurora in much more detail, Our Winter Guide to Levi Lapland includes an entire Northern Lights chapter based on our years of living above the Arctic Circle and our experience of professionally guiding Northern Lights tours. We cover Aurora forecasts and apps, the Kp index, viewing locations around Levi, photography with a camera and mobile phone, different conditions you may encounter and common mistakes that can cause people to miss the Aurora.
We genuinely hope that everyone who dreams of seeing the Northern Lights gets to experience them at least once.
And if you are coming to Lapland this winter, we hope Mother Nature is kind to you. 💚
Thank you for reading.
See you in Lapland,
Aggie, Paul & Gooseberry
Every photograph in this article was taken by us in Lapland (mostly in Levi), where we have lived since 2018.
