Top Places to Witness the Spectacular Aurora Borealis or Norther Lights
One of the things that travelers may want to experience at one point in their life is to witness aurora borealis or northern lights. The spectacular dancing lights are caused by the collision of the sun’s charged particles entering the atmosphere of the earth. Most of the time, it shows a green color, although other colors may also be witnessed including pink, violet, red, blue and yellow. These magical lights can be seen in different countries in the northern and southern hemisphere. If you’re one of the people whose bucket list includes seeing the northern lights, here are the top places where you can see its unbelievable beauty.
Sweden
The Jukkasjärvi village is one of the top places where to witness the northern lights in the country of Sweden. It’s in the norther part, which is remote, although it’s accessible by train and airplane. You may also drive your own car, but it can be a long drive that could reach up to 36 hours if you’re coming from Stockholm. Although the place is remote, what awaits you is worth the trip as you would see the amazing northern lights. Aside from this, you may also experience staying in an ice hotel and enjoy different winter activities including snowmobiling. Abisko is another excellent area for witnessing aurora borealis due to its microclimate. The clear sky gives you a perfect view of this wonderful phenomenon.
Norway
The northernmost part of Norway, Svalbard, is a great place for spotting the norther lights. The higher the latitude the place that you’re in, the higher the chance that you’ll see a great view of aurora borealis and this is where Svalbard is. The best time to visit for the viewing of the norther lights is from November to January. Aside from the northern lights phenomenon, you’ll also experience another wonderful phenomenon called the Polar Night. This is when the sun does not go up, which means that it’s dark 24 hours. If you wish to visit outside of these months, you may still see the norther lights and experience another phenomenon called the Midnight Sun, where there’s light round the clock.
Iceland
If you’re looking for an easily accessible and more affordable destination for viewing the northern lights, Reykjavik in Iceland is the place to go. Thousands of tourists visit the country to witness aurora borealis. There are also other attractions that you could check out like the blue ice, volcanoes, greysers and geothermal spas.
Finland
Go to Luosto and head to Hotel Aurora, which is great place to set up your base for your aurora borealis experience. An alarm would be given to you by the staffs of the hotel, which will beep whenever the northern lights show up. This way, you wouldn’t miss what you came for. Kakslauttanen is also another place in Finland to go. Rent one of those glass igloos so you could comfortably enjoy the view of the wonderful lights. There are also different winter activities to try including dog sledding and skiing. If it’s around Christmas season, you may also visit Korvatunturi, which is Santa’s home.
Other countries where Aurora Borealis can be seen are Canada, Scotland, Russia, Alaska, Denmark and Greenland.
Photo Attribution:
Featured and 1st image by Satoru Kikuchi [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
2nd image by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
