In search of Aurora – Northern Lights. Final destination to Tromso and nearby areas. Starting from Prague, what’s the best way to travel with minimal hassle for kids(Mid March)?

33 comments

  2. While the Aurora is happening all year around, it is only visible when the sky is dark at night and not during the day. The great thing about the polar regions is that not only do you have the aurora present, you also have the ability to see it for most of the day during the early winter months because of the polar night. (Still not guaranteed; It is not up all the time, and any clouds can get in the way.)

    It is still winter in Northern Norway in mid march but you are almost at the March Equinox, where the polar night and polar day is mid-cycle, meaning that you greatly limit the hours per day where you have a chance of seeing the aurora compared to a few months earlier. It will only be dark outside during the actual night hours when your kids will be asleep.

  3. March is a little late in the northern light season, and a little early for midnight sun and summer fun.

    But as for travle, you have 3 options as i see it:

    – it’s a long drive, but if you take your time and plan activities along the way, it can be fun. Take a ferry to oslo (kiel is a good place for that) and drive from there. We went via trondheim and Røros. You get a lot of fun things for kids along the way.

    – you can probably find a flight to Bergen and ferry from there. It’s a great trip (and famou) with many fun stops and amazing views along the way. Google hurtigruta.

    -fastest is fly to Oslo and then direct flight from there to Tromsø. You get a stressful travleday, but then your there. Maybe this one way and then ferry the other or something if you want the trip.

  4. Travel by plane from Prague to Tromsø, then rent a car and travel around by road. There’s no railroad up there. Yes, there’s long distances (Troms-Finnmark is bigger than Denmark), but you’ll get fantastic freedom using a rental car.

  7. I think there are weather-forecast like websites that show you where and when northern lights are likley to occur. Dont have them right know, but might be helpful to know about. Mabye someone else knows the specific websites.

  8. Minimal hassle is a flight.

    Cheapest connection to Tromsø ought to be from Gdansk with Wizair.

  11. While the discussion here is about wether or not it is possible to see the Aurora in March, I am more concerned about your definition of “nearby”. For example if you plan on driving from Bodø to Vardø, that is 18 hours just driving. In probably snowy conditions on bad roads.

    Even worse if you plan to go to Oslo by plane, rent a car and drive up there. Driving from Oslo to Tromsø is 1750km each way, with an estimated time of 22.5h non-stop driving, through Sweden to make it faster. In practical terms you will use at least 2 full days each way, and that will leave you exhausted, and with the bill for car-rental, overnight stays and expensive fuel (It would be more than 4500NOK just for fuel both ways without any driving around after getting to Tromsø). Then rent a car from there.

    In short – if you are going to Tromsø, take a plane.

  16. Not sure why you have so much places planned. The distances are fairly huge and hidden by the map projection.

    The normal way to travel some of these distances in northern Norway is by plane, but that can be quite expensive.

    If you’re looking for scenery I’d highly suggest either a round trip, or flying to Bodø, taking the ferry to Lofoten and going up through Lofoten, Vesterålen, and then over to Senja from Andøya if that’s doable/drivable this time of year. Make sure you have snow chains.

    Andøya, Senja and Tromsø are all in the *aurora belt*, and if the conditions are good and you had solar activity in the week prior you should get some good stuff.

  17. You can take a train to Narvik, or plane. From there you can take a buss to Tromsø if you still wish. From 16-26th of March there is a winter festival in Narvik. It is called Vinterfestuka. Narvik also has Arctic Kids. It’s activities tailored for kids. The world’s northernmost point on any railway is also there; Arctic train. They have northern lights trips with the train too. Highly suggest checking out Narvik on your way.

  19. I was just in Alta last week and had an INCREDIBLE Light Show. Alta was a simple 2 hour flight from Oslo and we stayed at Flatmoen Natur Lodge. Hope this helps

  20. A train or bus to an airport with a direct connection to Tromsø might be the easiest. Doing a flight search for “Europe to Tromsø” for the period I see direct flights from Munich, Frankfurt, Vienna and Gdansk within realistic reach. London, Paris and Dusseldorf also have direct connections. Gdansk and London are by far the cheapest. I saw a one-way flight up to Finnmark (Lakselv) from Gdansk for $150 on March 16th with a 6-hour layover in Tromsø.

  24. Ahoj! I’m also Czech. Been beyond the northern circle last month and it’s been the best holidays of my life. I can recommend you a few places / accommodations. Feel free to DM me (we drove there)

  25. worked in tourism in that area, Alta is by far the best place to go for northern lights, 6 hour drive from Tromsø, or 30 min with plane if money isnt a problem.

    if you’re there for a week i can garantee 100% northern lights.
    best if you have a car to get out of the light polution and for general norther lights hunting.

  26. I went from prague to norway by train this summer with one stop in hamburg and one stop south west of oslo, the trainride from prague to hirtshals was pretty chill and easy to travel and the boatride to norway was nice, but from there it got expensive and more difficult to travel, a lot of busses, taxis and stuff and if you dont check the website or have tickets with seats you dont get a notice when your train is cancelled.
    Traveling up sweden with train is also tiring as its a very long stretch even with night trains. i havent tried finnland but i think that could be a nice trip.
    If you plan it carefully with a car i think you can get a lot of nice sights traveling up through norway tho

  30. Ferry from Poland to Sweden, and drive E45 as far north that is possible to drive E8 to Tromsoe. This route can connect you to any Norwegian destination in north. And the best of it, you have the good and dry climate, with many clear nights. So risk to see northern lights is high, better roads, cheaper meals, and at least no road tax. They are huge in Norway. Enjoy your trip

  32. I went to Kiruna to go to the Abisko resort to see the northern lights. I was there for two nights. Was successful in seeing the northern lights. Though it was January. Apparently that area has pretty dry winters so less chance of cloudy skies.

  33. Just fly to Kiruna, and catch the train to Abisko. There is a great hostel there which is family friendly. You don’t need a car either because everything is walking distance.

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