Minimum 2 nights – Remember that you can profit from our Aurora warranty to book a 2nd tour at 50% discount if you do not see the Northern lights in the first tour. This makes it one of tromso budget tours.
Extra info: Please note that the weather in Tromso can be quite harsh at times. It is recommended to reserve 3 to 5 nights in Tromso to make sure you get to experience the Northern lights.

We recommend you book your tours in advance with NorthernShots, especially during high season.

High season can be varied at times, but in general the months of December and February are considered High season.

You get 50% discount on a new tour if you do not see the northern lights with us. Not all agents have this agreement in place. This applies for both Tromsø and Alta.

If you can’t get a booking for your desired date, contact us and we will put you on a waiting list and we often get a place for our guests last minute. You can also meet at departure time and if someone fails to show up we can try to book you their seats.

There are a number of safety concerns when driving this region in Winter and you are advised against doing so if you do not have experience driving in icy condition. You will be safer and have a better chance of seeing the northern lights by joining our professional hunters. The tours are often conducted in a comfortable bus with toilet facility onboard. If you or your family is cold they can always go back in the bus to warm up.

Yes, private tours are available at Northernshots Tours and can be customized to suit your particular needs. You can book online directly for a tour of 2-7people. If you are a larger group, contact us via email to check availability.

A phone camera is generally not enough to capture good quality photos of the northern lights, unless uncommonly bright auroras should appear. Given that some lenses and cameras are better than others, any reflex camera, regardless of which lens it mounts, is good for night/aurora photography. However, many modern compact cameras can capture fairly good photos in dark conditions. A solid tripod will be in any case practically essential. (2023 update: we are noticing that more and more phones are able to capture the Northern Lights, both video and photos. In general, if you have a recent phone, it is very likely that you will be satisfied with the quality of it.)

Keep in mind that all our guides are professional photographers and, after helping everyone set their own cameras properly, they will be there to make personal professional “Aurora Portrait” taken (the service is not included in the price of the chase, high resolution JPEG files will be available for purchasing from our web site).

Yes, upon availability. Check price and availability by email. Please consider also that, apart from some relatively rare circumstances, the temperatures in Tromsø are not so extreme and most of the times a good and complete winter clothing will be enough on our excursions.

Our criterion to state whether the Lights are spotted or not during an excursion is that the Lights have to be visible with the naked eyes for at least 5 minutes. Whenever the Lights are visible only through the lens of a camera or anyway for less than 5 minutes, they will be not considered as seen.

Some of our tours offer premium portraits taken by our professional photographers. This is not mandatory and most guests can capture the Northern Lights with their phones. If you have requested the guide to take a photo of you, you can then decide later if you want to purchase it or not. If you add more than 1 photo the the cart, you get a discount automatically applied.
NorthernShots was the first offer photo services back in 2012. While this has been copied by other companies, and even offered for free in some of them, the quality of our product remains at the top, providing you a life-time memory that you can print in large formats.

We do NOT pick up our guests at their hotel (unless you booked the Aurora Top Comfort tour). However, our meeting point /office is located at no more than 3 minutes’ walk from 95% of Tromsø’s hotels, in Roald Amundsensplass 1A

Our tours are carried out with a big and comfortable tour bus (except the Aurora Top Comfort tour), with toilet facilities and Wi-Fi on board. We believe this to be the most suitable vehicle to comfortably head out the long journeys which are often needed to reach the areas with the best weather / northern lights conditions. Also, should the temperatures on a sighting spot feel very cold, the bus will always keep available for you to take a break, sit down and warm up.

The number of participants varies quite unpredictably between days with 10 and days with 40 people.

Granted that the local weather forecasts are generally very accurate, there will always be a margin of error that makes impossible to predict with 100% accuracy whether there will be or not a chance to find some clear skies during a tour. Our experience on the field proved that, statistically, even in the worst weather circumstances, a 5 minutes totally unpredicted opening in the clouds can turn a hopeless night into a successful chase.
For this reason, we stick to the rule that, as long as the driving/road conditions are considered as safe, we never cancel a tour.
With this said, it is our policy to always inform our guests about the actual weather and solar activity conditions, for them to feel free to ultimately decide themselves whether to join us on a specific day or not.
Remember also that, thanks to the particular position of Tromsø, we always have several different areas to choose where to carry the excursion on, and each of them has peculiar and independent micro-climates. This is one of the main reasons why, even if many of our excursions start with apparently hopeless conditions, we boast a tremendous average of 80% of success in spotting the clear skies and, consequently, the Northern Lights!

No. If you miss the bus departure, you cannot get a refund, just like any other bus, train or flight. Our tours have strict departure times. If you are late for whatever reason, you will not be allowed a refund or rebooking.
We advise you to get a travel insurance to cover such events during your whole travel.

No. But you can join a 2nd time for 50% discount. The Aurora borealis is a natural phenomenon and as such it cannot be guaranteed. We do our best to ensure you experience the Northern lights but sometimes the weather can be unpredictable.

• We often see the northern lights, even in very cloudy, rainy or snowy nights. Therefore we run the tours regardless of the weather conditions.
• The tour can be canceled due to extreme bad weather or when driving conditions are unsafe. This decision is taken by the transport company. If this happens, you will be offered to change your tour to another day or get a full refund.

Northernlights are a natural and unpredictable phenomenon and as such, as long they have been visible to the naked eye for more than 5 minutes, our guides will consider the event a success.

Northern lights can be seen as early as September all the way to April. The darker the night, the better they can be perceived by our eyes. Nights will be longer in the period we call the Polar Night (or “mørketid” in Norwegian), which is from Nov.20th to January 20th . But we start seeing the Northern Lights from the end of August until around the 20th of April.

No. This is because Tromso is inside the Arctic Polar Circle and during Summer we experience 24hour daylight, making it impossible to see the Northern lights during that time.

Almost every night. Because of its geographic position, Tromso is one of the best locations on earth to see the Northern lights. As the earth rotates, it puts Tromso directly under the Northern lights “belt” from 20:00 to 23:00, which is typically the time of night where we get the most activity. This fact is based on our 20 years of experience hunting the lights. But you can actually see them before and after this period – just not so often.

Because the Northern lights are a natural phenomenon which depends on a lot of different factors, we cannot guarantee that you will see them. We do however our best to check up on weather conditions and solar activity to provide you with the best chances to see them every night we are on tour.

Although predictions depend on a number of different factors, we use a number of different forecasts that you can find in our forecast page, to evaluate our chances of seeing the northern lights.

Because we do a lot of prep work before going on tour, our success rate in seeing the northern lights has been consistently the highest. There is an average of only 3-4days a month that we do not see them. And you should also know that every season Tromsø and Alta is hit at least 2 times with a severe winter storm. If you are unlucky to travel to the arctic during a period like this, it can happen that all activities get canceled for 3-4days in a row.

For our eyes to properly perceive the northern lights we need to be in a very dark place. In town there is so much light pollution that you will barely see any colour or movement of the northern lights if you do see anything at all. This applies most of the nights. But sometimes, the lights are so strong that you can also see them from town. Even though this rare, it can happen. Look at some of the videos in our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Northernshotstours

Yes, and no. Camera sensors have become much better at perceiving light and colour than our own eyes. Keep in mind that almost every single photo you see of the northern lights on the internet has been enhanced and over saturated to bring out the colours. What we see with our own eyes is a different experience. For example, we can see them moving all around the sky, which is something that photos cannot recreate. The dance of the northern lights is one of the most amazing things to watch in life.

Although recent smartphones have incredibly good cameras, the results will never be as good when compared to professional cameras. Especially if you want to print them. All our guides are equipped with professional cameras and will be happy to take your photo during the tour or teach you how to do it with your own camera or phone.

We offer one type of Northern lights Chase with two different ticket solutions:

1. The Aurora Chase, that includes a 50% discount on a new tour if we do not see the Northern Lights on the first tour.
2. The Aurora PASS, allows you to join our Aurora Chase excursion as many times as you want, during one week, regardless of whether you see the northern lights or not.

Additionally, we also provide private tours. The price of this excursion does not vary with the number of participants and can carry up to 8 pax.

Click here and our guides will explain you:

Northern Lights

Check your ticket to find the correct meeting point and meeting time. Remember to be there 30min before departure. If you are not sure about that, call us the day before. If you call us 5min before departure you risk that the line will be busy and you will miss you departure. No refunds apply.

Some tours include this gear and some not. This should be specified in your ticket. If you do not find it there, it’s a good practice to travel with winter gear. Ski clothes are a good start to enjoy your stay in Tromsø. Here is a video with some tips: https://youtu.be/QPXHRMkFK-M?si=1xx96ZHGhRL_ejph

As this is the Arctic Circle, you are advised to dress your warmest clothes in multiple layers. Remember to include wool socks, winter boots, mittens and your warmest jacket. Thermal underwear is also recommended. https://youtu.be/QPXHRMkFK-M?si=1xx96ZHGhRL_ejph

Hot drinks and cookies are provided on all northern lights tours but no dinner is included. Other tours may include meals if mentioned in their description.

Specific dietary needs can be met if you contact us 48 hours before your tour. This is only confirmed if you get a written reply from our team.

We welcome all ages in our tours. Please have in mind that a northern lights tour can be quite demanding on a child. We recommend families to travel on our big bus as the children will have more space in the bus, a toilet and the bus can be used as a shelter when the weather is harsh outside. Day tours on the other hand are quite suitable for children. Remember to request a child seat 48h before the tour. This is only confirmed if you get a written reply from our team.

Yes, in some tours. On most northern lights tours the photos are available for purchase after the tour. You can do so on our website and the photo gets downloaded to your device after purchase. On other tours you may have access to a low resolution photo free of charge and if you would like you can then purchase the full resolution suitable for printing.

All our guides are professional photographers and will be more than happy to share tips with you and help you with your camera settings, or even your phone.

Our guides can provide you with fully tailored photographic sessions such as marriage proposals, honeymoon celebrations, anniversaries, or just having a good time with a photographer. You can book a photo session on our website and the photographer will then travel with you on the tour.

All our buses have toilets. They are working in 99% of our tours. Some very few days we may experience issues due to the severe weather and negative temperatures which can reach -30°C or -22 °F. If the bus toilets are not available, alternatives will be made possible. Example: by stopping at a gas station or using toilets from another bus.