# Best place to see the Northern Lights (AURORA BOREALIS)?



## Mpsox (22 Mar 2010)

My wife's 40th is coming up this year and she has always wanted to see the Northern Lights. I can see some great looking hotels/breaks advertised in Iceland and Norway but just wondering if anyone has had any experience in going to see the Lights on such a break or can give any advice as to the best place to go

Iceland is tempting because it looks so different, but it has a reputation for being expensive, is this still correct given the state of their economy?


----------



## callybags (22 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

They're supposed to be fantastic.

The only knowledge I have is form reading a Bill Bryson book where he went to Oslo and then took a 48 hour bus trip to somewhere very north in Norway.

The snag is that there is no guarantee as to when  the Northern Lights will appear. I think he hung around for over a week before the show began.

Can't even remember the name of the book for reference. Sorry.


----------



## RonanC (22 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

I heard that Tromso in Norway is the best spot to catcht the Northern Lights


----------



## hokey32 (22 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

Callybags, I think the name of the Bill Bryson book you're talking about where Olso is referenced is Neither Here nor There.


----------



## pansyflower (22 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

*when is her birthday?*

*From visitnorway.com*

*When to see the northern lights*

Seeing the northern lights is a jaw-dropping and mystical moment. The lights are at their most frequent in *late autumn *and* winter/early spring*.* October*,* February* and* March* are the best months for auroral observations. The highest northern lights frequency is between 6 pm and 1 am.
In order to get full value from the show you should *avoid the full moon* and places with a lot of light as they make the experience considerably paler.


----------



## lisa_eire (22 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

well i was in iceland in january but unfortunately the northern lights could not be seen while we were there as the skies need to be clear. Expense wise it was similiar to here but tours were expensive. We had a brilliant time there.


----------



## mathepac (22 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

No need to go that far, try here -  http://www.rampantscotland.com/songs/blsongs_lights.htm

This crowd can get you there - http://www.ryanair.com/en/cheap-flights-aberdeen-uk/


----------



## sideswipe (23 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

Alaskan cruise?


----------



## Milly (23 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

The northern lights are pretty elusive and there is no guarantee you will see them wherever you go. I didn't get to see them in Norway in February a couple of years ago, but I would stress it was a fabulous trip. Seeing the lights would have been the icing on the cake of an otherwise excellent break.


----------



## ClickityClic (23 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*

I saw the Lights just outside Killarney 4 years ago!!!!  Just Google it and different sites will tell you where they are most visible at the moment.  It might not be too far away from you !


----------



## ajapale (23 Mar 2010)

Northern Lights (AURORA BOREALIS) in Oslo
The northern Lights (AURORA BOREALIS)

Ive seen them in Norway and Canada but I also saw them on the Tallaght Bye Pass in the 1980's.


----------



## myate (24 Mar 2010)

Yep, we've seen them in Sligo before too, back in 2003. I was up in Churchill Canada this past October but because of clouds and then a full moon, we only glimpsed them for about 2 mins! And the photograph I took came out better than what we seen....the long exposure works wonders!! Even the few mins we seen was pretty cool though.


----------



## minion (25 Mar 2010)

*Re: Best place to see the Northern Lights?*



Milly said:


> The northern lights are pretty elusive and there is no guarantee you will see them wherever you go. I didn't get to see them in Norway in February a couple of years ago, but I would stress it was a fabulous trip. Seeing the lights would have been the icing on the cake of an otherwise excellent break.



Unfortunately due to the lights on a ship you can hardly even see the stars at night.  Now if they turned off the lights, it would probably be amazing.


----------



## ajapale (17 Feb 2011)

Visible in NI these nights!

BBC News - Northern Lights: Magical sights high above NI sky

Has any one further south seen them?

I saw them in Tallaght Co Dublin in the late 1980's.

The Northern Lights display of January 1938 was seen all over Ireland and was widely regarded as a portent of war.


----------



## SoylentGreen (17 Feb 2011)

Roses are red , Violets are blue, here are the Aurora Borealis just for you......

Lovely thought, hope you get to see them.


----------



## john martin (17 Feb 2011)

When growing up in Derry I could see them quite often during Autumn mostly. In recent times lights from cities make them more difficult to see so the further north you go and away from large towns the better. It seems with this latest sun flare they might be more visible in Ireland.


----------



## ajapale (1 Nov 2011)

How about space?

[broken link removed]


[broken link removed]

[broken link removed]


----------



## johnno09 (1 Nov 2011)

*lights*



ClickityClic said:


> I saw the Lights just outside Killarney 4 years ago!!!!  Just Google it and different sites will tell you where they are most visible at the moment.  It might not be too far away from you !



I reckon if the missus gets wind of the info that Iceland or Norway was in the equation and ends up Killarney you might not be around for the 41 candles. 

Check out northern Norway, there's a hotel there, can't think of the name of it but it has little bunker rooms with pod shaped glass roofs that you can look at the lights through.


----------

