See the Northern Lights in Finnish Lapland

The world’s greatest light show is Mother Nature’s own – the famous ‘Aurora Borealis’ – or more commonly known as the ‘Northern Lights’. It’s an extraordinary natural spectacle, caused by shifts of magnetic energy in the ionosphere, and it’s magical to watch them dance across the heavens, ethereal shapes in shimmering colours forming and dissolving. No wonder seeing them features on so many travel bucket lists.

If you haven’t already, see our round-up of the best places to see the Northern Lights that also explains why they happen, and when you’re most likely to see them (NB the best viewings are spring and autumn).

Lapland is in the so-called ‘Aurora Belt’, where Northern Lights are at their most intense and colourful. Its vast wilderness is about as far from civilisation as you can get in mainland Europe, with star-studded, inky black skies – making it one of the best places in the world to see the Lights.

Still, there’s no specific one best place or time to see this notoriously fickle phenomenon, so we always recommend to pair it with another experience as part of a broader holiday adventure. See below for our recommendations of other great bucket list experiences in Lapland, where you’re also likely to see the Northern Lights along the way.