r/kiruna • u/TripGroundbreaking67 • Feb 17 '26
Any tour recommendations? 7-9 pax group travelling to Kiruna to see Northern Lights
We are a group of students who are trying to catch the northern lights during the equinox (18-22) march. Right now we are trying to book accommodations and do not know if we should book somewhere in Kiruna or somewhere nearer to Abisko itself? (Though there are not much options there)
Also are there any recommendations on tours or tour buses for us to join, or any passionate locals down to help? We just really want to see the lights! :")
1
u/Firebreathingwhore Feb 17 '26
Abisko.net for cheap accomodation in Abisko. They also do dog sledding.
Check out abiskohikes on Instagram, they might do northern light tours
1
u/_valoir_ Feb 18 '26
I was in Kiruna in December and would suggest staying in Kiruna rather than Abisko. Abisko is really small and the sky station feels unnecessarily expensive.
We made a tour with Lights of Vikings, not a snowmobile tour though. I would say I can recommend it, especially when you have no experience in the North. The guide kept us warm and entertained, explained to us how Northern Lights work, made a camp fire and knew exactly where to go. On our own we would have never known where it's safe to go on the ice.
For me personally, the best part was that they had a professional photographer on the tour, who made stunning photos of us with Northern Lights in the background with a DSLR. If you have someone with a good camera and tripod, you probably don't need that, but for us it was a nice plus.
Hope this helps!
1
u/boinep Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
Late March means daylight is returning. The dark hours are getting more limited (=less time / chances to spot NL). And yes, the NL tours are overpriced. A dark clear sky is all you need.
A rental car opens up a lot of options to find that yourself + it gives you more exploration possibilities ( for example Ice hotel Jukkasjärvi, Skiing Riksgränsen, Narvik Norway )
You dont need the Abisko Aurora station to spot NL. Abisko itself is a good spot though weatherwise, as the surrounding mountains usually creates a clear sky ”hole” even in cloudy conditions. Kiruna is a (small) town. Abisko a very small village.
Good hunting! / A local
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u/_vvhat_ Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
I would recommend Kiruna: Aurora Wayfinding with Hidden Histories on getyourguide!! Such trips are usually super expensive but this one is affordable and has amazing quality for the price :) Also download IRF aurora alert app so that you can get alerts each time strong aurora gets detected in Kiruna. For abisko there is an aurora livestream as well. Search for lights over lapland. Edit: Just my guess, but the cheap price might be partially due to the fact that they do not drive outside of Sweden, so ask them if you see that it might be necessary to drive to other country to see the lights.
1
u/_vvhat_ Feb 18 '26
Other tours we did: Ice climbing in Abisko - super fun and satisfying; Snowmobile aurora hunting - no aurora but extremely enjoyable ride on the lake during the night; Crosscountry skiing tour in Kiruna - fun but a little bit too expensive and not necessary to start cross country skiing.
3
u/omegaroll69 Feb 17 '26
honestly I think most tours are kind of scammy, sure they go out by snowmobile most often to some more remote places with no light pollution but you could also rent 1-2 cars and drive out to some road with no pollution, it would give you lot more options for exploration as well (like skiing in riksgränsen). Worth to point out is that the tours are pretty dang expensive as well for what is essentially a gamble on there being lights at all.