Independent travel advice for your Northern Lights trip.
Aurora Tracks is dedicated to helping you see Northern Lights, with reliable travel advice based on aurora borealis science.
We cover everything you need to know to plan your perfect Aurora Borealis trip. With detailed articles, we explain when, where to see Northern Lights and the best times and best places to go, to give you the very best chance of seeing the spectacular Northern Lights with your own eyes.
We are not a travel agent. Rather, we are fellow travelers who want to share accurate information to help you plan the best Northern Lights vacation possible. Aurora Tracks was born out of the noise and confusion of the world of travel information, where it is difficult to tell what is authentic helpful information and what is travel marketing hype.
Whether you are planning a vacation to see Northern Lights in North America or Scandinavia, or even the Southern Lights down under, then our articles will help get you there at the right place and time of year.
About the Editor
Aurora Tracks Producer & Editor: Pentikäinen
Hi, my name is Pentikäinen and I am the producer and editor of Aurora Tracks.
If you have a bit of knowledge about Nordic Europe, you might have recognised that my name is Finnish. The more astute of you may have noticed that I am now using Australian/British English. That is because I am a Finnish-Australian. My family is originally from Finland, but I was born and live in Australia. This places me in a unique position with regard to the Aurora: I have Finnish heritage where the Aurora Borealis has been a part of our culture and spiritual belief system for hundreds of years, yet I live in Australia in relatively close proximity to that rarer phenomenon the Aurora Australis.
In 2015, I planned a vacation to Finland with the primary motivation of seeing the Aurora Borealis. I had never seen the Northern Lights before, but had been yearning to see them my whole life. I planned the best vacation I could with the limited information available to me, but it wasn’t good enough. I spent months anticipating and dreaming of the moment I could sit beneath those mystical lights. I booked some days in Finnish Lapland, and spent a bucket-load of money on a glass igloo, snow hotel and tours to see the lights. But it never happened. During our stay the entire region was covered in snow cloud and it was snowing the whole time. One night, we saw the Aurora vaguely through the cloud cover above, but that was the best we got. I cried for days, at a time when I should have been enjoying the time of my life.
I don’t want you to book an expensive Northern Lights trip and not see the Aurora, because I have been there and I know how disappointing it feels.
In hindsight, I noticed that it was very difficult to find unbiased, practical information about Northern Lights travel. The information is either too scientific or too biased from travel agents. After some later research, I learnt that I chose a bad time of year renowned for heavy snowfall (January) and we did not spend enough days in the right region (only 2 nights in Rovaniemi). The odds were not great.
To stop you from making the same mistake I did, I created this website. I don’t want you to book an expensive Northern Lights holiday and not see the Aurora, because I have been there and I know how disappointing it feels. No matter when or where you go you are never guaranteed to see Northern Lights. But by careful forward planning with reliable information, you can give yourself the very best chance of seeing them. It is that information that I share with you here. While I do not write every article myself, I do personally vet every single article written here, to ensure there is no risk of you getting wrong or misleading information.
Aurora Tracks Mission & Vision
- Our #1 priority is and always will our readers.
- Our #1 goal is to give readers the clarity and information they need to plan a vacation to see the Aurora Borealis.
- Aurora Tracks will never promote a service that does not offer readers a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights.
- Aurora Tracks will always be transparent and honest in our reviews or discussion of travel services.
- Aurora Tracks will only promote services that we would personally feel confident using and booking ourselves.
- Aurora Tracks will promote eco-friendly travel practices and local travel businesses where appropriate.
Financial Transparency
As a reader of Aurora Tracks See Northern Lights we feel it is only fair that you understand and receive transparency around how we make money from this website. Aurora Tracks earns money from the following:
Affiliate commissions
Aurora Tracks has an affiliate partnership with the following travel service providers:
- Trip.com
- Trafalgar
- Get Your Guide
When reading our articles you will occasionally see ‘Affiliate Links’ embedded through articles from our affiliate partners. Readers who click on these links will be redirected to the website of that affiliate partner, where they can learn more about the service, check availability and/or book. Aurora Tracks is not a travel agent, however, we earn % commissions by recommending services from our trusted affiliate partners. As mentioned in our mission statement, we will never recommend a service that we do not believe in and we will always put our readers first. Aurora Tracks is selective and only partners with travel service providers who have demonstrated a high level of customer trust, to ensure high quality recommendations for readers.
Advertising
When browsing the website, you may notice advertisements. Products and services in these advertisements are generally out of our control, and are not necessarily endorsed by Aurora Tracks (unlike affiliate links).
How is money earned from Aurora Tracks See Northern Lights used?
Aurora Tracks See Northern Lights has website running expenses, and earnings from affiliate commissions and advertising go towards covering those expenses. These costs include website technical costs (hosting, domain, web development, marketing), as well as paying the website editor, manager and professional writers to create the amazing articles you enjoy. These costs are necessary to keep Aurora Tracks running, and without them, this website would not be possible. Please support Aurora Tracks See Northern Lights by following the affiliate and advertising links if something catches your eye. If you follow one of these links, there is no extra cost to you, and Aurora Tracks earns a small commission to help us cover these website running costs.
Contact Us
Please feel welcome to contact us regarding any concerns, questions or corrections. We do not offer personal travel advice, but if you have suggestions for future articles please let us know. We also welcome contact from quality travel service operators and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), and guest posters. You can reach us on our contact form here.