Northern lights in Tromso can be seen well between appr mid Sept to end of March. Can also be good early Sept and early April.

All months can be very bad, and all months can be very good. Solar activity and coastal weather are both very unpredictable, so you can not plan ahead which dates that will be good.

The most important for you if you want to see good northern lights, is to have enough days in Tromso, waiting for a good day with lights activity and clear skies.

All months have advantages, and all months have disadvantages. We have northern lights in average every second day, so our answer is; have enough days. It does not matter which month you come, as long as you have enough days here.

Many read online that moonlight is bad for seeing good northern lights. This is a myth, and it is wrong. Most local photographers prefer some moonlight, because mountains, fjord, snow, and the ocean are incredibly beautiful in moonlight.

Our nicest pictures are normally from northern lights trips with half to full moon. Yes, the faintest northern lights gets a bit fainter with a full moon, but the nicest pictures are often taken in full moon.

Choose new moon if you want to see more stars, shooting stars, satellites, and the milky way. Choose moonlight if you also want to capture our world class landscape on your northern lights pictures.

Northern lights in Tromso can be seen well between appr mid Sept to end of March. Can also be good early Sept and early April.

All months can be very bad, and all months can be very good. Solar activity and coastal weather are both very unpredictable, so you can not plan ahead which dates that will be good.

The most important for you if you want to see good northern lights, is to have enough days in Tromso, waiting for a good day with lights activity and clear skies.

All months have advantages, and all months have disadvantages. We have northern lights in average every second day, so our answer is; have enough days. It does not matter which month you come, as long as you have enough days here.

You can be lucky and see great northern lights on your first trip, or you can be unlucky and get only clouds all places possible to drive for a week or more.

The sun and our coastal weather are both very unpredictable, and can not be predicted weeks ahead. 1-3 days is a gamble, but can be enough.

Normally you see some northern lights during a 5 days stay in Tromso in Sept-April, but not necessarily.

Focus your lens on infinity during the day time and mark an area on your lens with a pen so you know exactly where to turn it in the dark.

Find your settings home, or in the warm car on the way to the spot. Often to cold to do this outside.

Aperture as low as possible.
Shutter as low as possible.
ISO as low as possible but still get good pictures. Normally 800-2500 ISO is best.
Use timer.
Turn off timer sound.
Lens on infinity.
Shoot in RAW format, if possible.
Set LCD Brightness to low.
Remove the filter from your lens, or you will end up with an undesirable aberration on all your images.
White balance best to set to appr. 3000-4000 Kelvin.
Have at least 2 batteries, and recommended 2 flash cards. Change often and keep in warm place.
Use a tall but sturdy tripod.
Use your lens hood to protect against frost/condensation on your lens.
Put black tape over your red processing light under the wheel.
Have some references like mountains, ocean, building, lakes etc.
Have a nice foreground, not only the sky. Be creative.

No, we do not, and we never will.

It is very important to chase lights with a vehicle, not by boat.

It is not good to search for lights by boat, because a boat does not drive away from clouds to clear skies behind the mountain shadows. A boat can not drive away from the often cloudy coastal weather, and into clear skies in Finland either.

Example: March some years ago we had to drive inland and to Finland 29 days during only that month, meaning that all that had booked northern lights cruises with other companies then had totally 29 days under clouds, while guests looking for lights with a vehicle those dates were enjoying them inland or in Finland.

It is also impossible to get good lights pictures from a moving boat. It is impossible since shutter speed often are 5-20 sec.

Also all cruises for lights are near Tromso city, with the city lights pollution reducing the view, making the lights look more faint.

No, we ask you not to do that.

It will not be fair to others we have to say no to, if you book more days than you actually plan to join, and then decide to cancel some trips last minute since you have seen enough northern lights the first day(s).

It creates chaos to us, since we then need to spend hours trying to find others to take your seat(s), and maybe we even need to rearrange vehicles and guides.

We hope people join the trips they have booked. There will always be a new experience no matter what. The northern lights will never be the same. It can be different colours, different shapes, and different brightness. We also drive to different locations, and it it will normally be different people in the vehicle.

LATITUDE
The best places in the world to see northern lights are places between 68-74 degrees latitude. Tromso is on appr 69 degrees latitude, so our location is perfect. This means we can often se northern lights even when the forecast is 0 on the kp-index.

CLIMATE 
We are located in the Arctic, so many believe it is very cold here. Wrong. Normally in Tromso we have around minus 5 degrees celcius in the winter. It can be colder inland. Places in Canada or Alaska on the same latitude are much colder places.

CITY LIFE 
Tromso is in the “middle of nowhere”. You can enjoy city life, and sleep in your hotel bed every night, because Tromso is located close to amazing nature. We have dark places ideal for northern lights viewing only 20 min away from the city.

MOUNTAINS
There are not many places on earth with chances of seeing northern lights, that have as many mountains as Tromso. This is very important, and the main reason we think Norway are better than Iceland for northern lights trips.

The reason is because we some times have the same challenge as Iceland; a lot of clouds coming from the ocean. Iceland are surrounded by ocean on all sides, which means a lot of clouds that can come from all sides. We only get ocean clouds coming from the west.

When these clouds hit our mountain range with mountains up to 1830 meter above sea level, they rise. When rising, pressure changes, and we get condensation. This is called adiabatic process. It makes the clouds dissolve, and on the other side of the mountain range, we have the driest place in Norway, Skibotn. Dry means a lot of clear skies, and often ideal for seeing northern lights.

Wikipedia Rain Shadow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_shadow

And if Skibotn also have clouds, we can chase into the flat areas of Finland, away from all clouds often. But sometimes, of course clouds here too.

Yes, we do on all trips, except our boat trips since the guide there often stands behind the guests, to give guests the best photo opportunities.

We have taken countless pictures of the northern lights, so we know how to get the ultimate picture. We also know the nicest spots, so we do all possible to get the best pictures. Some of us are professional photographers, and all of us know how to get the ultimate picture.

We send you the pictures we take on all trips you join us, as soon as possible, and free of charge.

ormally 17:30, but it can also be earlier or later.

No, Tromso area will not get less northern lights activiy, because Tromso is in the center of the aurora oval. We have the same amount of northern lights activity all years.

Only areas that are not under the aurora oval will get less northern lights activity some years, because the northern lights does not spread that much away from the aurora oval some years.

Yes, we do on all trips, except our boat trips since the guide there often stands behind the guests, to give guests the best photo opportunities.

We have taken countless pictures of the northern lights, so we know how to get the ultimate picture. We also know the nicest spots, so we do all possible to get the best pictures. Some of us are professional photographers, and all of us know how to get the ultimate picture.

We send you the pictures we take on all trips you join us, as soon as possible, and free of charge.

• 360 degrees view, and all see well from the seat in all directions, instead of 5th row bad view in a bigger boat.

• Small boats can turn engines off. Then whales often comes 2 m away to check us out. A big boat can not do that.

• 2-3 times quicker than a big boat, so less time to search for whales, and more time to be around them.

• Whale RIB tours have 3 hours in whale area, while big boats doing long drives from Tromso have around 1 h in whale area.

• RIB boats are lower than big boats, so you get closer to the ocean and the whales.

• More connected to nature, since outdoors all the time. Means you do not miss any of the precious near encounter moments that often last less than a minute.

• RIB boats are located where the whales are, which gives 3 times more whale area time compared to big boats.

• -More personal because only 12 guests pr boat.

A normal day on a northern lights trip with us would be like this:

When we wake up, we check weather forecast and solar activity forecasts right away. If there are any doubt which place that is best to drive to, we call the meteorological institute in Tromso. They check their real-time satellitte images, and tells us which place that looks most promising.

We also check webcameras, call friends around in the county, or call petrol stations, to find which place has most clear skies.

We pick up people in the city center at Scandic Ishavshotel. Then we drive to our warehouse to dress you up in warm clothes. After that we start driving to the area that looks best that evening. It can be 30-40 min to the coast, 90 min inland, or even 2,5 hours to Finland.

We make many stops on the way. If weather permits, we will have one main stop to eat well, drink, relax, maybe a campfire if weather allows, and just enjoy the great outdoors for a while. Sometimes we can stay there under clear skies, and sometimes we have to change location because of clouds coming.

We are back at the warehouse normally after 8-9 hours, often around 01-02 am, but if we suddenly spot good lights late in the night, it can be even later, but normally never later than 03 am. We then drive you to your hotel.

If clouds and difficult weather, we work together to find clear skies. We can call the meteorologist until 10 pm, we have one person back home that can check online forecasts and webcams, we have contact with other tour operators, we can call petrol stations, and friends living in different places. All our cars also work together by spreading out in different directions, and helping each other to search for clear skies.

We pick you up at your hotel, normally around 09 or 10 am, depending on if you are here in the dark season or not. We make sure you have warm enough clothes. We then drive to the coast to Whale Island. We stop at different scenic places to walk into nature, take pictures, maybe walk on frozen lakes, maybe walk on frozen beaches, eat well, and just enjoying the great outdoors.

You spend most of the time outdoors, not in the car. We choose this area because we think it is among the nicest landscapes we have up here.

You can see fjords, mountains, beaches, fishing villages, islands, and if lucky you can even see reindeer, whales, eagles, and seals on this trip.

We can sometimes drive to fjords inland, if bad weather at the coast. In the dark season can we sometimes see northern lights on the way back.

We will drop you off at your hotel appr. at 3-4 pm, but this is not fixed. In the dark season maybe a bit earlier, and if amazing weather, maybe a bit later. Weather, and what people wants, plays a parts in when we finish.

This trip is adapted to the northern lights trip, so you can take both on the same day. You normally get time to relax between the two trips. This is a very popular trip, and a great way to see world-class Norwegian fjord landscapes.

No, we never cancel as long as it is safe to drive, except unforeseen events like blocked road, or similar. If bad weather, but safe, we give you the four options mentioned earlier. The only time we cancel without asking what you want, is when the meteorologist says it is dangerous to drive. It can be because of storm, avalanche risk, or extreme ice on roads. I assume you agree that we have to cancel if dangerous conditions. We can not risk your health, or worse, because you reallly want to see the northern lights, or our nature. Safety above all.

Many people check the weather in Tromso, or the weather forecast for Tromso, before a northern lights chase. No need to do that, since we do not chase clear sky in Tromsø. We drive either to the coast, inland, often to the driest place in Norway called Skibotn, or even to Finland or Sweden. Some evenings we drive in both Norway, Finland, and Sweden on the same northern lights trip.

Often we drive into the rain shadow behind big mountain ranges, and the weather can be completely different there. To check the weather forecast more than 3-5 days ahead is no use, and to check Tromso weather, or Tromso weather forecast is no use either. We have coastal climate that can change within minutes and hours.

Northerh Lights trips: We have a toilet in the place we dress you up, and several toilet stops on the way out, and on the way back. Not all places we stay have toilets, because the best places are in the dark in the middle of nowhere, places with no civilization, and therefore no toilets. We make sure you get enough toilet stops.

Arctic Fjord Landscapes and Whale Watching: Several toilet stops.

Northern Lights Tours:
We serve warm energy-rich expedition food. The main point with this food is to make you warmer, so it is a lot of energy in this food. It also needs to be quick to make, since we sometimes get clouds and have to change location quick. We also have food for vegetarians, gluten-free food, lactose-free food etc.

Other tours: Not fixed, but normally baguette.

You need warm winter clothes in Tromso, when you are not with us. With us you need warm clothes to have under the expedition suit. The best is to have thick wool from top to toe, a warm hat, a warm scarf, and a warm mid-layer, like a small down jacket or a warm sweater.

We provide an expedition suit, and winter boots. For kids we have down jackets, and winter pants.  You need to provide the rest for your kid yourself.

You must bring thick socks, a warm hat, and warm mittens for yourself, together with warm wool clothes to have under the suit.

We have not heard anything bad about any hotels here, so all are recommended. You can book hotels on our front page.

Most guests fly from Oslo Airport Gardermoen to Tromso Airport Langnes. Appr. 1h 45min with a plane from Oslo to Tromso.

From Great Britain, many skip Oslo, and fly straight to Tromso from Gatwick Airport or Stansted Airport with Norwegian Air Shuttle.

From Oslo, or other Norwegian cities, the most normal airlines to use are Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Norwegian Air Shuttle, or Flyr. From some small places nearby Tromso, you can fly with Wideroe.

You can also take a direct flight to Tromso from many European big cities, like Frankfurt, and Helsinki.

No need to book this ahead. There are normally taxis/airport shuttle bus/local bus outside the airport. It takes only appr 10 min with taxi to most hotels.

Preferably a DSLR-camera. New small cameras can also be good enough, but normally not as good as a DSLR-camera. You need to be able to adjust ISO, shutter, aperture, timer, and focus manually. You also need a tripod! That is important. We recommend wide angle lenses, so you can get more nature and more northern lights on the picture.

Just as important is that you know how to operate your camera. We will help you with this, but we don`t know all the cameras in the world, and sometimes it will be too cold to learn this outdoors.

If you don`t know your camera, we will of course try to help you, but then you loose valuable time; time that could be used taking pictures of the northern lights. Maybe you miss the ultimate picture, because you did not read up before the trip.

Yes, we do on all trips, except our boat trips since the guide there often stands behind the guests, to give guests the best photo opportunities.

We have taken countless pictures of the northern lights, so we know how to get the ultimate picture. We also know the nicest spots, so we do all possible to get the best pictures. Some of us are professional photographers, and all of us know how to get the ultimate picture.

We send you the pictures we take on all trips you join us, as soon as possible, and free of charge.

No, our drivers have limited driving time by law, and we need to spend that time on the tour, and not on personal pick up.

To book a trip from us, you must be 18 years old the day the trip will take place. If not, you must be with someone older than 18 years old.

We have same price for all on our tours. Kids need same seat space as an adult, they need much more attention outdoors, extra kids seats, expensive down clothes, often sleeping bags, campfire if weather allows, etc, so no reason to have discount for kids on outdoors trips, because we provide more for them than adults.

With small personal groups with up to 15 guests, we can not have discounted seats, except for the offers we already have.

We have discount for multiple trips.

All northern lights trips are discounted from day two.

Travel agents, tour operators, etc gets 10-20 % off.

No further discounts.