Are you looking for the best and longest northern lights tour in Kiruna? This guide will cover everything you need to know about taking the best Kiruna northern lights tour, including how to book and what to expect!
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Why I Booked a Northern Lights Tour From Kiruna With Dinner
While I have seen the northern lights plenty of times, I always tend to take an aurora tour when visiting a new area. The main reason is that the often guides know the best areas to go, are willing to drive long distances throughout the night, or simply have access to places you cannot go.
With this in mind, I searched the internet for the best northern lights tour from Kiruna. As I read my way through tour descriptions, I discovered the Lights of Vikings tour that promised an incredible hunt for the northern lights with no distance limits and dinner included!
With the decision made, I quickly booked a spot on the tour before it sold out, and spoiler alert… this ended up being my favorite thing to do in Kiruna!
Key Tour Information
Below I have detailed the key information for the Lights of Vikings northern lights tour with dinner in Abisko:
Provider: Lights Of Vikings
Tour Length: 8 Hours (length varies depending on distance needed to find clear skies)
Pick-up: Yes (within Kiruna)
Photographs Taken: Yes
Booking Period: September – end of March, this tour will not be canceled due to bad weather
How To Book a Northern Lights Tour in Kiruna
I booked my tour using Get Your Guide. The booking process is incredibly easy and you can confirm your place on the tour within a few minutes.
Start off by selecting the date you wish to take the tour and the number of people, if there is no availability on your chosen date the system will inform you of a day when the tour is available.
Once you have selected your date, choose the number of people you wish to join and add the tour to your basket. You can then decide to shop for more tours from Kiruna or go to the checkout.
Once you are ready to check out you will need to select your cancellation policy and add in all your details, followed by your pick-up location and any dietary requirements you may have.
After this, you will go to the payment section where you can pay with any major card payment type or an online payment like PayPal.
Once you have paid for the tour, you will receive your booking confirmation.
Where to Meet on the Night of the Kiruna Northern Lights Tour
You will be picked up from your hotel on the night of the tour, provided it is within Kiruna.
The day before or the morning of your tour Lights of Vikings will send you a message confirming the pick-up time. It is important to be there waiting at the designated time as they will only wait for a short time to not delay the tour for other people.
When I took the tour, several people did not turn up at the meeting point, and after trying to contact them several times they were left behind. Once everyone has been picked up, you will drive to the restaurant in Abisko.
My Experience On The Northern Lights Excursion From Kiruna
After being picked up, it takes about an hour and a half to reach Abisko. Once there, the tour will officially start with an incredible meal at the Abisko Mountain Lodge. As part of a tour, you can only choose from a limited menu, so I opted for a smoked moose dish. It ended up being the best meal I had during my whole stay in the region.
At the restaurant, you can talk with your guides and meet the others on the trip. We joined up with another group who had started the tour in Abisko. The meal is included in the tour price along with water or a soft drink. You will need to pay for alcoholic beverages, however.
Once you have eaten, you will head out into the night, searching for the aurora. The focus is on chasing clear skies with no set destinations or routes. If the skies are clear in Norway, you will head in that direction. If they are in Finland, you will go there.
However, Abisko is one of the best places in the world to see the northern lights. A unique weather pattern means there is generally a patch of clear skies above Abisko providing a window to see the aurora.
On my excursion, we made several stops along the road between Abisko and Kiruna. The first stop clouded over, but we arrived at our second (and final) stop just in time to watch a huge display of the aurora, which is still one of the best I have seen.
The explosions were so huge you could see the vibrant pinks and greens without the assistance of a camera.
During each stop, the guide set up several cameras, one to photograph the aurora and another to photograph everyone on the tour. There is no limit to how many photos can be taken of you, and you can keep rejoining the queue to have more photos taken.
We spent around three hours at our final spot. During this time, the guides built a small fire behind the van with reindeer skins for people to sit on. There were warm drinks and small snacks available.
During the longer stops, the guides offered snowsuits for those who were worried about getting cold. Towards the end of the night, one of the vans was turned on so people could sit in the relative warmth and sleep if they were tired.
After a while, the vans will be packed up, and you will be driven back to your pick-up location. A few days after the tour has taken place, photographs will be sent to you.
Alternative Kiruna Northern Lights Tour
If you are not looking for a northern lights tour that includes dinner, Lights of Vikings offers a standard aurora tour that departs directly from Kiruna. This tour is largely the same, and you will travel to a place where there is predicted to be a gap in the clouds, be it in Sweden, Norway or Finland.
This a great option for those looking to maximize their time in Kiruna as the pickup times are a little later in the evening, so you can enjoy a longer daytime activity.
Who Can’t Take This Kiruna Northern Lights Tour
This tour is not suitable for those with mobility difficulties as you need to be able to get in and out of a van and may need to walk through some snowy areas to find clear views of the skies.
I would not recommend taking children on this tour either as it involves long nights in the cold searching for the northern lights.
What happens if there is bad weather?
If there is really bad cloud coverage, it is possible Lights of Vikings may contact you to change the day. This is why I always recommend taking a northern lights tour on the first night of your trip.
However, I would not cancel your tour yourself just from looking at the weather. There are numerous unique weather patterns in the Arctic and finding clear skies is often possible, especially as they are willing to cross over into both Norway and Finland to find them!
What to Bring on Your Kiruna Northern Lights Tour
Most importantly you need to dress for the weather. Even if you are taking the tour early in the season, the nights get very cold and it is important to have warm base layers on.
In the depths of winter, I recommend wearing Merino wool base layers, a middle layer, a hefty wool sweater, a long parka jacket, and thick ski pants. Woolen socks and warm footwear are also a must!
Dinner will be provided before the tour, however, I suggest bringing some snacks for the night and a thermos full of tea or coffee to help keep you going into the night.
Camera Equipment
The guides will take plenty of pictures for you but it is always fun to take your own photographs! I recommend bringing the following camera equipment to photograph the aurora!
Camera – You will need a camera that has manual settings that enable you to do long exposure photographs. I use a Sony Alpha 7iii, a higher-end camera that produces the best results.
However, at the start of my photography journey, I used a basic Canon DSLR with which I was successfully able to photograph the aurora. Alternatively, most new smartphones have a night mode that does a good job of photographing the lights, just make sure your flash is turned off! Most guides are adept at using all cameras and will help you set up the required settings to take awesome pictures!
Lens – I use a 20mm prime lens, which I find takes incredible shots. The most important thing to consider when looking for a lens to photograph the northern lights is that you need one that allows for a very low F-Stop, around 1.8 to 2.4.
Tripod – A sturdy tripod is a must, as you will need to take photographs with an exposure of around 3 seconds or so. During this time, the camera must be completely still or your pictures will be blurry.
Remote – I suggest using a remote to control your camera to avoid camera shake. This will allow you to take photographs without touching the camera body. Alternatively, you can set the timer on your camera to 2 seconds which also works well.
Do you have any questions about booking a northern lights tour from Kiruna? Let me know in the comments below and I will happily answer them!