Best of · aurora
The 10 Best Places to See the Northern Lights
10 places · every one real, mapped, and worth the trip
The aurora borealis is a matter of latitude, darkness, and luck — you need to be under the auroral oval, in a long dark night, with clear skies and a bit of solar activity. These places stack the odds in your favour better than almost anywhere else.
This is our pick of the finest aurora destinations in the atlas — all real, mapped places you can build a winter trip around. The season runs roughly from late autumn to early spring; each guide notes the best window and how to reach it. No sighting is ever guaranteed.
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Abisko Clearest skies
Swedish Lapland, above the Arctic Circle, Sweden
A Swedish Lapland valley whose sheltered position creates a famous 'blue hole' of clear sky even when the surrounding region is clouded in — one of the most reliable aurora spots on Earth.
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Kirkjufell The iconic shot
Grundarfjörður, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, West Iceland
The distinctive cone mountain on Iceland's Snæfellsnes peninsula, whose reflection and adjacent waterfall make it the most photographed aurora foreground in the country.
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Lofoten Islands
Nordland, Arctic Norway
Norway's Arctic islands, where the lights dance above sharp peaks rising straight from the sea and red fishing cabins — dramatic scenery whether the aurora shows or not.
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Finnish Lapland
Northern Finland, above the Arctic Circle
The far north of Finland, land of glass igloos, snowy forests, and reindeer, with long dark nights and plenty of low-light-pollution wilderness.
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Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Vatnajökull National Park, Southeast Iceland
Iceland's glacier lagoon, where the aurora reflects off drifting icebergs and the nearby black-sand beach — one of the most surreal places to catch it.
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Svalbard
Svalbard archipelago, Arctic Ocean
Deep in the high Arctic, the only inhabited place where you can see the aurora during the daytime 'polar night' — a season of true, continuous darkness.
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Lake Mývatn
Northeast Iceland, near Akureyri
A geothermal lake district in northern Iceland with dark skies, steaming vents, and a warm nature bath to wait in while you watch for the lights.
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Denali
Alaska, USA
The great Alaskan wilderness around North America's highest peak, far from city lights and squarely under the auroral oval on clear winter nights.
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Þingvellir (Thingvellir)
Þingvellir National Park, Southwest Iceland
Iceland's rift valley, a short drive from Reykjavík yet dark enough for the lights, where the aurora glows above the very seam between two continents.
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Faroe Islands
North Atlantic (between Iceland and Norway)
Remote, cliff-bound islands in the North Atlantic where, when the notoriously changeable weather clears, the aurora appears over dramatic sea stacks and green slopes.
Aurora hunting rewards patience and flexibility: give yourself several nights, get well away from town lights, and watch the forecast for both clouds and solar activity. Even a blank night in these places is spent somewhere beautiful.
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