FareDice / Northern lights trips

Northern lights trips in Europe

€290 per person with a cabin bag buys 3 flights through 4 countries with 2 aurora places: from Budapest on Tue 29 Dec. That trip's oldest price was seen 7 days ago and may be higher now. Below are the two cheapest leaving each month from anywhere in Europe, each stopping at two or more aurora places.

In December, typical highs at the aurora places run from −7°C in Kittila to 4°C in Kristiansund.

Plan your own trip to aurora places

Where do you start?

Type a city or a country, or pick “Anywhere in Europe” for the cheapest start. From Canada or the US, type your home airport (e.g. Calgary or BOS): trips start with a flight from the nearest of 13 big airports there (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and more), and the budget covers it.

Then fly on toFrom Vancouver, Los Angeles or San Francisco, or an airport near them: a few places in Europe, one long flight on to Southeast Asia, a few places there, and home. Three long-haul tickets, all in the budget.

Leavingbetween 16 Nov – 31 Jan

WhenAnytimeA windowFixed dates

Leave and come backto

Give or take

First flight betweenand

In the next

Prices go up to 13 Feb; later dates are added daily.

Trip3+ places, 2–4 nights each

Trip length

Trip length, first flight to lastto

EndsAnywhere

Where it endsBack homeAnywhereIn a city

Total for all flightsUp to €400

Budget for all flights Only a small under-seat bag (leaves out the cabin bag)Only trips low for their dates (under what their flights usually cost)Leave it empty for no cap. Back home counts the flight home. With a cabin bag, each flight counts its airline's usual price for one, or €60 where we don't know it (€65 on a long flight).

Travellers1 adult

TravellersEvery price, the budget included, is for all of you.

Checking visas? Add your passport

Set every detail: nights in each, kinds of place, countries, visasnights, places, countries +2 1 changed

Trip shape

Places to visitto3 or more. Your start and a finish city don't count.

Nights in each placetoAny: from 1 up to 14.

Also start from cities nearbyWhen you start from one city: trips can start from any city this close (straight line), and Back home can end at any of them.Last flight byEmpty: any day.Cities in each countryThe country with most of the trip can have more.Return to a country already on the tripCan a trip leave a country and come back to it later? Never keeps each country's cities in one go. Your start country counts too.

Which places

Places you must visit (up to 3)

Kind of placesCapitalsIslandsBeachesMountainsLakesOld townsSmall townsSkiNorthern lightsChristmas marketsWarm places From our notes on each city. Ski counts from December to mid-April. Northern lights counts from mid-September to March. Start, return and must-visit cities don't count. Mixing them up compares the kinds you pick, or capitals, islands and beaches.

Mix them up: no two of the same kind in a row Warm places onlyEvery place's typical daytime high for the month you're there, from long-term weather station averages. A place without them is left out.

Only these countries

Most of the trip in one countryat leastcities there

Skip countries

You Up to, for one flight

Flight timesandLocal time at each airport. We don't know every flight's times: a flight whose time we don't know stays in, marked for you to check.

Passports you holdLeaves out countries that need a visa.

Visas I already holdSchengen visaUK visaUS visaA valid one opens the countries that take it.

No visa at all: leave out e-visas, ETAs and visas on arrival too Leave each city from the airport I landed at

Prices are for one traveller, flights with a cabin bag, the cheapest seen lately.

Try

Example trips to aurora places

Some of the cheapest we found. They don't change with the search above.

Prices seen, not held: each says how old it is
Each total says what a cabin bag adds
Each flight is its own ticket
Ranked by price alone

We check the onward non-stop fares from each stop, for each number of nights you allow, and string the cheapest we find into a trip through several countries.

November

From London, 30 Nov – 10 Dec €349per person in flights, with a cabin bag

€168 without bags, plus €181 in cabin bags: €61 at the airlines' prices on 2 flights, and the rest our estimate. We count €60 a bag on 2 flights; check the airlines' prices. · prices seen up to 7 days ago, may be higher now

LondonReykjavik4nMilan4nKrakow2nTrondheim

From Helsinki, 18–25 Nov €360per person in flights, with a cabin bag

€179 without bags, plus €181 in cabin bags: €61 at the airlines' prices on 2 flights, and the rest our estimate. We count €60 a bag on 2 flights; check the airlines' prices. · prices seen up to 7 days ago, may be higher now

HelsinkiTromso2nGdansk3nMilan2nReykjavik

Airport change in Milan

December

From Budapest, 29 Dec – 3 Jan €290per person in flights, with a cabin bag

€169 without bags, plus €121 in cabin bags: €61 at the airlines' prices on 2 flights, and the rest our estimate. We count €60 for the bag on 1 flight; check the airline's price. · prices seen up to 7 days ago, may be higher now

BudapestReykjavik2nLondon3nRovaniemi

Airport change in London

From London, 2–10 Dec €339per person in flights, with a cabin bag

€158 without bags, plus €181 in cabin bags: €61 at the airlines' prices on 2 flights, and the rest our estimate. We count €60 a bag on 2 flights; check the airlines' prices. · prices seen up to 7 days ago, may be higher now

LondonReykjavik2nMilan4nKrakow2nTrondheim

January

From Stockholm, 7–17 Jan €346per person in flights, with a cabin bag

€152 without bags, plus €194 in cabin bags: €74 at the airlines' prices on 2 flights, and the rest our estimate. We count €60 a bag on 2 flights; check the airlines' prices. · prices seen up to 6 days ago, may be higher now

StockholmGdansk4nTromso4nLondon2nReykjavik

From Milan, 10–16 Jan €378per person in flights, with a cabin bag

€198 without bags. We count €60 a bag on all 3 flights; check the airlines' prices. · prices seen up to 2 days ago

MilanKittila2nLondon4nReykjavik

One city per country, 2–4 nights in each, non-stop flights only. The start doesn't count as a stop. Updated every night.

The aurora places you can fly to

31 aurora places in Europe, each with its hours of darkness in December. Typical daytime highs in December are long-term averages at a nearby weather station, not a forecast. A linked name has its own page of trips from there. A northern lights place lies at 62° geomagnetic latitude or more, where the auroral oval reaches on a quiet night (NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center: about 66° when the Kp index is 0, 2° nearer the equator for each step up), and stays dark, with the sun 12° below the horizon, for 3 hours or more even on 31 March. A stop counts as a northern lights stop from 15 September to 31 March. Seeing them still takes a clear sky and a dark spot away from town lights, and no night is certain.

Each dot is one of the aurora places you can fly to. Its colour is the place's typical high that month, blue for cool to orange for hot.

Faroe Islands

Sorvágur (Faroe Islands) 15 h dark

Finland

Ivalo 16 h dark
Kemihighs of −3°C 15 h dark
Kittilahighs of −7°C 16 h dark
Kuusamohighs of −6°C 15 h dark
Ouluhighs of −3°C 15 h dark
Rovaniemihighs of −5°C 15 h dark

Iceland

Akureyrihighs of 3°C 15 h dark
Reykjavikhighs of 3°C 15 h dark

22 more places, in 2 countries

Norway

Aalesund 15 h dark
Alta 16 h dark
Bardufosshighs of −3°C 16 h dark
Bodohighs of 3°C 16 h dark
Floro 14 h dark
Harstad-Narvik 16 h dark
Honningsvaghighs of 1°C 17 h dark
Kirkeneshighs of −4°C 16 h dark
Kristiansundhighs of 4°C 15 h dark
Leknes (Lofoten) 16 h dark
Moldehighs of 4°C 15 h dark
Orland 15 h dark
Orsta-Volda 15 h dark
Sandanehighs of 4°C 15 h dark
Tromsohighs of 0°C 16 h dark
Trondheimhighs of 2°C 15 h dark

Sweden

Gallivarehighs of −5°C 15 h dark
Kirunahighs of −5°C 16 h dark
Luleahighs of −3°C 15 h dark
Lyckselehighs of −3°C 15 h dark
Ostersundhighs of −1°C 15 h dark
Skellefteahighs of −2°C 15 h dark

Northern lights trips from your own city

Each start city's cheapest trip above, per person in flights, and its own page of them.