Seeing the Aurora Borealis is hands down one of the most amazing travel experiences someone can have. However, given the unpredictability of the phenomenon, you need to carefully plan your trip in order to maximize your chances of spotting it. But dont worry, Im here to help you with helpful information and tips on what is the best location to spot the Northern Lights in Europe.
Not many might realize but theres a strong connection between the Cycle of the Sun and the Northern Lights. Auroras appear as a consequence of disturbances in the magnetosphere which are in turn caused by the solar wind when it interacts with the magnetic field of the Earth. So basically stronger Auroras appear when theres intense solar activity.
Now, the Sun goes through an cycle. During it, solar activity reaches both a peak and a low. What this means is that if you were to attempt to see the Northern Lights near a solar peak, you will have a high chance of viewing a strong display (though its not a guarantee!). However, this doesnt automatically mean that you shouldnt try to see the Aurora Borealis if the Sun cycle is approaching its low. But you might want to plan more carefully.
Well, the best time to see the lights is obviously during the polar winter, when the nights are long. The ideal conditions include:good position inside the Auroral zoneclear, dark skylow pollutionintense solar activity
So you should look for locations usually within the Arctic Circle, where theres not much pollution and where the weather is usually as predictable as possible. And this last part is the hardest by. Because winter at the North Pole isnt exactly a synonym for good weather.
Iceland and Norway are dubbed as some of the best places in Europe to see the Northern Lights, but both can have pretty crazy weather in winter, even though they are utterly beautiful countries.
For this reason, they were not the best choices for me, since I was only focused on spotting the lights. So I continued my research.
In the end, I decided on Abisko, Sweden. Heres why:Abisko is located about 250km within the Arctic Circleit is a very tiny village, hence it has little pollutionthe proximity of the Tornetrask lake and the mountains all around it has allowed for a microclimate to develop in the area, making Abisko one of the arctic locations with the clearest nights; locals call it the blue hole
The last point is the most important too. Because as I already mentioned, a dark, clear sky is an important condition to be able to see the Aurora Borealis. I mean the most beautiful display could happen, but if its not visible because of heavy clouds, its all for nothing. And in my experience, the blue hole is not a legend, since it even snowed when I was there, but I was still able to see the Aurora.
If you opt to go for the plane and you might need to spend a night in Kiruna, depending on when your flight arrives. From there you can either rent a car and continue to Abisko or take the train. You could also opt for a taxi, but it could get pretty expensive since Kiruna is about 90 km away from Abisko.
To be honest Id the second option even though its a very long journey (about 17 hours) because the train is direct, so you dont have to change transportation with heavy bags. Besides considering the waiting times and all, you might not save so much time if you fly there.
