Anyone seen the Northern Lights?

[Goldangel]

Sorry posting here for traffic.

Looking to book 4 nights away next February half term to hopefully catch the Northern lights.

Thinking Reyklavik, however wanted to quickly check with anyone that’s been and seen if that’s a good place to see them or is there a better option?

Is 4 nights away enough? Is February a good time?

Any advise, suggestions, experiences much appreciated.

Thanks

Yes, regularly, when I lived in Scotland!

Yes! By accident, on the motorway near Helsinki in the middle of a bitter winter. Was amazing.

I saw them in Alaska, August 2010.
I saw them in December some years ago in Saariselka, Finland, which is perhaps more accessible. I was at the Hotel Reikonlinna (sp) which is very family friendly, and there are also quite a few family friendly activities close by - and a ski run close for the skiers.

Yes. In Northern Finland. February half term is a good time to go because you get 8 hours of daylight. I believe you have to get a bus trip out of Reykjavik to see them, whereas we could see them from the hill behind our hotel in Finland.

It was brilliant and a trip of a lifetime.

The Reikonlinna has a special viewing room upstairs, as well as being able to organise snowmobile trips out to the tundra for viewing if the weather conditions are favourable.

I had a four night break in Iceland at the end of January a couple of years ago. It was a brilliant holiday. I did get to see the northern lights, but there was only one night out of the four that they were running trips as the weather conditions have to be just right. They were amazing to see.

I loved Iceland, I did the golden circle and the south coast tours and had a day in Reykjavik. I wouldn't book to go there with the express intention of wanting to see the lights as you will probably be disappointed, but if you do see them it's the icing on the cake of an otherwise great short break.

Yes, in Scotland, and on one weird and memorable occasion, south of the border. Incredibly beautiful and breathtaking.
Hope you're lucky, Goldangel.

We've seen them across northern Scandinavia.

As a heads up though, many photos of the Northern Lights look much more impressive than what is visible on the majority of days. This is because impressive photos are invariably taken on a very long exposure which means you see several separate effects as a composite in one picture. In reality these occur at slightly different times across many seconds or minutes, so the effect at any one moment to the naked eye can be less intense. It doesn't mean they're not beautiful or amazing, but it's something people seem not to realise. In one occasion a lady stood next to my tripod and bemoaned the fact that they didn't look like pictures she had seen and there were only occasional streaks of colour. 2 minutes later I showed her the photograph I had just captured.... it did look more impressive than the real thing!

Of course you may get lucky and see a truly amazing show on a single night, but this did not happen for me until my eighth viewing.

Thanks for all your replies, very helpful, hope we get lucky to see them too.

Carolan is right about the difference between a camera shot and RL. The ones we saw were white and looked like lace curtains fluttering in the breeze. A hotel guest showed me his shots and they were green.

They were still amazing though.

Yes, I saw them in Iceland last year - massive displays three nights out of four, in Reykjavik and just outside in Thellingvir national park. All the tour buses go there. Absolutely brilliant and the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It all depends on the weather though and whether you're lucky. I went to northern Norway the year before for a whole week and saw nothing but a faint greenish smudge on one night only - very disappointing. Even if you don't see the lights in Iceland, you'll love it -it's a fab country, surreally beautiful and extremely interesting and unusual - like no other place I've been to on earth. You won't regret it.

Many years ago I saw them in Reykjavik, we were walking down the street after visiting a friend and saw ribbons of light across the sky.
Ive also seen them here in Scotland, if you are in a city like I am finding a dark place can be tricky and they mostly look like green cloud ( until you look at your camera images)
I've seen some pictures taken last week from Durness in the north of Scotland
I've signed up for auroa alerts and get notifications when theres high solar activity.