Abisko Northern Lights Tours

Abisko is a railway village on the shore of Lake Torneträsk, two hundred kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, and its sky has a habit of clearing when the rest of Lapland stays grey. From September to March, small groups head out from the village after dark to wait under the aurora. Five of those evening tours cover every way of doing it, from a camera lent to you in a group of eight to a snowmobile across the frozen lake. Below, each one's price sits next to how you spend the night and the small print the listings tuck away.

  • Aurora season runs September to MarchDark enough for the lights from early autumn. Snow and the snowmobile trails arrive from about December
  • Small groups fill firstThe tours for eight sell out early over Christmas and New Year and in the February holidays

In a hurry? Our top pick is Lights Over Lapland's Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure, at ~$160 a person for four hours with no more than eight guests. A preset camera and tripod come with the price. Book it here.

Book on Viator Book on GetYourGuide Compare all 5

Abisko aurora nights at a glance

  • An evening, not a whole nightThree to four hours, with most starting at about 7 or 8 pm. You are back in bed before the small hours
  • Four ways to go outA bus or car that drives to clear sky. A snowmobile, or a sleigh pulled by one. A snowshoe walk with retired huskies
  • Everything starts in the villagePickups from the hotels in Abisko and Björkliden, or a short walk to the meeting point. Kiruna is about 95 km away
  • The lights are likely but never promisedA quiet sun or a thick cloud can blank a night anywhere, even here. Plan three nights and book the tour for the first

If you only have a minute

Which Abisko aurora tour should you book?

If a friend asked us how to see the northern lights in Abisko, this is what we would tell them over a hot lingonberry juice at the station.

The best northern lights tour in Abisko for most visitors is Lights Over Lapland's Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure, from ~$160. Eight guests at most share a guide, a DSLR already set for the aurora and a tripod each. Depending on the sky, the night goes on foot to a nearby teepee. Otherwise it goes by 4x4 van or in a sleigh behind a snowmobile.

Want the lowest price and a warm seat between stops? The same company's Aurora Chase at ~$100 drives a bus up to 100 km to find a gap in the cloud. Want speed and noise? Experience Abisko's snowmobile tour starts at ~$100. Want a picture of yourself under the lights? Explore Arctic's photographer tour costs ~$146, and the husky hike with a fire in a lávvu ~$140.

No one can promise the aurora. Check what each night costs and which months give the best odds, see how each evening runs, then read what the listings play down before you pay.

Our pick

The Abisko night we would book: a photo tour for eight

Not the cheapest way out under the lights. It is the one that sends you home with your own pictures. The group stays small, and the way out is chosen once the guide has seen the forecast.

A glowing white canvas tent on the snow under a wide sweep of green aurora near Abisko Our pick

The Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure, Lights Over Lapland

★★★★★ 4.9 from 500+ reviews on Viator · 4.6 from 90+ on GetYourGuide · free cancellation up to 24 hours before

Lights Over Lapland is an Abisko company built around aurora photography, and this is its small-group evening. The group is capped at eight. You meet at STF Abisko Turiststation at 7:10 pm, or the van collects you from your hotel in Abisko or Björkliden. Before you leave, everyone gets a DSLR with a lens already set up for the northern lights. A tripod and a backpack come with it. So do warm overalls and a headlamp.

Where the night goes depends on the weather and the aurora forecast. On a clear calm night you may walk to a teepee close by. When the cloud sits low, the 4x4 van chases a gap. Some nights the group rides out in a sleigh pulled by a snowmobile to one of the company's wilderness camps. Coffee or tea and hot lingonberry juice come with snacks to keep you going for the four hours.

Price
from ~$160 per person
Duration
About 4 hours
Start
7:10 pm, STF Abisko Turiststation
Group
Up to 8 guests
Pickup
Hotels in Abisko and Björkliden
Camera
DSLR with lens and tripod lent
Ages
10 and over
Cancellation
Free up to 24 hours; reserve now, pay later
Viator GetYourGuide

Live availability and prices on GetYourGuide

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How the evening runs, step by step

The plan changes with the sky, and the guide decides on the night. This is the outline the listing gives.

In the village

  • Meet at STF Abisko Turiststation at 7:10 pm, or wait for the pickup at your hotel
  • Collect the camera and tripod with your overalls, then a few minutes on how to use them
  • The guide reads the forecast and picks the plan for the night

Out under the sky

  • On foot to a teepee nearby or by 4x4 van; some nights by sleigh behind a snowmobile
  • Hot drinks and snacks while you shoot and wait for the aurora to brighten
  • Back in Abisko about four hours after the start

What the price covers

The camera kit is the reason this tour costs more than a bus chase. What it leaves out is small, but bring it.

Included
  • A DSLR and lens preset for the aurora, a tripod
  • Warm overalls, a backpack, a headlamp
  • Coffee or tea, hot lingonberry juice, snacks
  • Pickup from hotels in Abisko and Björkliden
Not included
  • An SD card (bring 4 GB or more, or buy one there)
  • Heavy arctic boots, which you can rent
  • Dinner before the tour
  • A guarantee of the aurora

Between us, before you go

A word from one cold-handed amateur to another. Pack your own memory card, because the cameras use it and the listing sells a 32 GB one for 250 kronor if you forget. Children under ten cannot come, and the tour is not wheelchair accessible.

Wool under the overalls makes the four hours bearable. The clothing guide for a −25 °C night covers the rest.

Why it beats the bus chase

On the bus, twenty-eight people step out at each stop and set up phones along the same roadside. With eight, the guide has time to fix your focus and frame the shot with you. The camera is the bigger gift, because a phone struggles with a fast-moving aurora. You pay about sixty dollars more than on the Aurora Chase, and our photography guide explains what that buys.

Who we would not send on it

Families with children under ten, who fall outside the listing's limit. Travelers who want to drive a snowmobile themselves, who belong on Experience Abisko's tour. And anyone who would rather be in the photos than behind the camera, who will be happier with the photographer's car tour.

Book it if

You want one well-run night under the aurora and pictures you took yourself. A small group suits you, and so does a guide who knows the camera settings by heart. It works for couples and for solo travelers or groups of friends. Older children who will hold a tripod steady fit in too.

Skip it if

Ready for the dark?

The photo tour is on Viator and on GetYourGuide. Viator shows the higher score from far more reviews; both let you cancel for free up to 24 hours before, so you can watch the cloud forecast before you commit.

Viator GetYourGuide

The night itself

How an Abisko aurora tour works

Every tour on this page answers two questions differently. Do you sit in a vehicle that drives to wherever the sky is clear, or go out onto the snow and wait for the lights to come to you? And how many people stand beside you when the green starts to move?

Style · drive to the clear sky

Chase it by road

Lights Over Lapland photo tour, Aurora Chase, Explore Arctic

3.5–4 hhotel pickup and a drive of up to 100 km to lakeside and riverside stops

The guide studies the cloud maps and drives toward the gaps, which matters on a mixed night. You warm up in the vehicle between stops. The catch is time on the road and, on the bus, a crowd at each stop.

Style · out on the snow

Ride or walk into the wild

Experience Abisko snowmobiles, AbiskoHikes husky hike

3 ha snowmobile trail or a 4 km walk; a fire or a hot drink outside

Out here the trip itself is half the evening. On a snowmobile that means the engine and the cold wind; on foot it means dogs and a lávvu. You cannot go far if the cloud rolls in, so these work best on a forecast clear night.

Abisko weather and aurora odds, month by month

  • Chance of a night with the aurora
  1. Jan−11°C avg12 °F

    Deep cold, long nights, the sun back late in the month

  2. Feb−11°C avg12 °F

    Snowmobile trails at their best, daylight returning

  3. Mar−8°C avg18 °F

    Bright days, still dark nights, often clear

  4. Apr−3°C avg27 °F

    Nights too light by mid-month, the season ends

  5. May3°C avg37 °F

    Midnight sun begins, snow on the fells

  6. Jun9°C avg48 °F

    No darkness at all, hiking season

  7. Jul12°C avg54 °F

    The warmest weeks, mosquitoes, no aurora

  8. Aug11°C avg52 °F

    The first dark hours late in the month

  9. Sep6°C avg43 °F

    Autumn colors, mild nights, open lakes reflecting the lights

  10. Oct0°C avg32 °F

    First snow, quieter village, no snowmobiles yet

  11. Nov−6°C avg21 °F

    Long nights, more cloud on some weeks

  12. Dec−9°C avg16 °F

    Polar night, holiday crowds, the darkest skies

Temperatures are rough monthly averages in Abisko; on a clear winter night it is often far colder, and a snowmobile adds wind chill. The bars show roughly how likely a night is to bring the aurora. It needs darkness and clear sky with an active sun at the same time. Highlighted months are the ones we would pick. The season in detail.

How each evening is spent

  • On the move
  • Out under the sky
  • May run longer

Hours count from the start and come from the listings; the split between moving and standing still is our rough estimate, because every guide changes the plan with the sky. Snowmobile drivers arrive 30 minutes earlier for instructions.

  1. Pick your way outA vehicle that chases gaps in the cloud. Or a snowmobile or snowshoes from the village. The options compared.
  2. Choose your monthSeptember to March, with milder nights in autumn and snow from about December. Month by month.
  3. Book the first nightIf the cloud wins, you still have two more evenings to try again before you leave. Plan B.
  4. Dress for standing stillWool next to the skin and down on top, with mittens over thin gloves. What to wear.

Why Abisko's sky clears explains the rain shadow behind the mountains and why the locals talk about a blue hole. It also covers why a good guide still keeps the van running on a cloudy night.

How to choose

How to pick the right aurora tour

The sky is the same for all five. What differs is how you get under it, how many people share it with you and what you bring home.

How you travel

From a bus or 4x4 van to a snowmobile or your own feet, each way out trades range against warmth in its own way. The ways out compared.

Group size

The photo tour and Explore Arctic take eight, the husky hike twelve, the bus chase up to twenty-eight. Prices against group size.

Photos

Take your own with a lent camera, or let a photographer take them of you. Photographing the aurora in Abisko.

Who is coming

Age limits run from 3 on the photographer tour to 10 on the photo tour; snowmobile drivers must be 18. Abisko with kids.

Where you sleep

All five start in Abisko or Björkliden, and the photographer tour does not collect from Kiruna. Abisko or Kiruna.

Price

From ~$100 a person on the bus chase to ~$160 for eight guests with a camera each. Every price in one table.

Everything else to do in Abisko

The 5 tours

Five ways out under the Abisko sky, side by side

We read every northern lights listing for Abisko on both booking sites and kept the strongest of each kind of night. Each card gives the price and the length along with the tour company. It also names the catch, with a button for each site that sells it.

A green aurora over a glowing tent camp on the snow, with snowmobiles parked in front Our pick

The Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure, Lights Over Lapland

The one we would book for a first night in Abisko.

Four hours for no more than eight guests, each with a DSLR preset for the aurora and a tripod. On the night the guide picks a walk to a teepee or a chase in a 4x4 van. Some nights it is a sleigh behind a snowmobile. Hot lingonberry juice and snacks along the way.

  • Rating4.9 from 500+ reviews on Viator
  • DurationAbout 4 hours, from 7:10 pm
  • Tour companyLights Over Lapland
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before
  • StrengthsCamera and tripod lent; group of eight; three ways to reach clear sky
  • Ideal forCouples or friends, solo travelers too, who want their own photos

Good to know: Not for children under 10 or wheelchair users. Bring your own SD card, and rent the heavy boots if yours are thin. You do not get to pick the way out; the guide does. Camera tips.

~$160per person
Viator GetYourGuide
Aurora over Lake Torneträsk with village lights and snowy mountains on the far shore Best value

Abisko Aurora Chase, Lights Over Lapland

The bus that drives to wherever the sky is open.

The bus collects you from your hotel in Björkliden or Abisko around 8 pm and drives up to 100 km (60 miles) in a loop to the spots with the best forecast. Several sit beside frozen water, so on a still night you get the green twice (in the sky and in the ice). A warm drink and warm clothing are part of it.

  • Rating4.5 from 350+ reviews on GetYourGuide, 4.9 from 200+ on Viator
  • Duration3.5–4 hours, pickup 7:45–8:15 pm
  • Tour companyLights Over Lapland
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, pay later
  • StrengthsThe longest reach on a cloudy night; lowest price; a warm seat
  • Ideal forBudget travelers, families with children of 5 and up

Good to know: Up to 28 people, so each stop fills a roadside with tripods and phones. Much of the evening is spent on the bus, and value for money scores lowest of its ratings. Why a chase helps.

~$100per person
GetYourGuide Viator
Bright green aurora bands above a group of riders and parked snowmobiles on the snow Snowmobile

Aurora Chasing with Snowmobiles, Experience Abisko

For the night you want to steer yourself.

Three hours on the trails around the village. You drive your own snowmobile, share one with a friend, or ride in the sled behind the guide. Depending on the night, the route climbs above the fog, follows the valley toward Abiskojaure or crosses the frozen Torneträsk.

  • Rating4.7 from 140+ reviews on GetYourGuide
  • DurationAbout 3 hours
  • Tour companyExperience Abisko
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, pay later
  • StrengthsDriving it yourself; a snowsuit with boots and gloves plus a helmet included
  • Ideal forAdults with a licence, and families who put the children in the sled

Good to know: Sold on GetYourGuide only. Drivers must be 18 with a licence valid in the EU. They sign a liability form and come 30 minutes early. The from price may not cover driving your own, and the engine is loud. Ways to chase.

~$100per person
GetYourGuide
Two people standing on a snowy lake shore under green and purple aurora curtains Photos of you

Aurora Car Chasing Tour with Photographer, Explore Arctic

The tour that puts you in the picture.

A car for up to eight, driven by a local guide who is also a professional photographer. While you watch, the guide shoots you under the aurora, and the digital photos are yours after the tour. Warm drinks come along for the three and a half hours.

  • Rating4.9 from 80+ reviews on GetYourGuide
  • DurationAbout 3.5 hours
  • Tour companyExplore Arctic
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, pay later
  • StrengthsPortraits under the lights; small group; a car that can move
  • Ideal forCouples, proposals, travelers with only a phone

Good to know: Sold on GetYourGuide only. No pickups from Kiruna, so you need a bed in Abisko. You get the guide's pictures rather than a lesson, and no children under 3. Where to stay.

~$146per person
GetYourGuide
An orange-lit lávvu tent on the snow under a band of green aurora, with a small fire beside it Top rated

Northern Lights Husky Hike, AbiskoHikes

A quiet walk with dogs and a fire at the end.

Three hours on foot through the Abisko valley with a guide and a few retired Alaskan huskies, about 4 km in all with a gentle climb to an open spot. Snowshoes come out when the snow is deep. In a lávvu you warm up by the fire with a hot drink and a cinnamon bun.

  • Rating5.0 from 30+ reviews on GetYourGuide
  • DurationAbout 3 hours
  • Tour companyAbiskoHikes
  • Free cancellationUp to 24 hours before, pay later
  • StrengthsSilence, dogs, a fire; overalls with boots and mittens lent
  • Ideal forDog lovers, walkers, families with older children

Good to know: Sold on GetYourGuide only. No vehicle, so on a cloudy night there is no chase. The climb is gentle but you walk in the cold, and the score rests on few reviews. What to wear.

~$140per person
GetYourGuide

A small heads-up. These are GetYourGuide and Viator affiliate links, so when you book through one we earn a little commission and you pay exactly the same. It keeps this guide going and never touches our ranking or the catches we point out.

Before you go

Eight things about Abisko aurora tours that no listing puts in big letters

None of these sits at the top of a booking page, and each one decides whether you come home with green skies on your memory card or a long cold night of cloud.

What you should know

  1. The blue hole is a tendency, not a promise. Mountains to the west often hold the weather back, but cloud still covers Abisko on some nights. How it works.
  2. A low Kp number is fine here. Abisko lies under the auroral oval, so a quiet forecast can still bring the lights overhead. Cloud cover matters more. Reading the forecast.
  3. No listing offers a free second try. Each of the five can be cancelled at no cost a full day ahead, which is why the first night of your stay is the one to book. If the sky stays shut.
  4. Your eyes see less color than the camera. A faint aurora looks grey-white to the eye and green on the screen. The bright nights look green to everyone.
  5. Batteries die fast in the cold. A phone at −20 °C (−4 °F) can drop to nothing in minutes. Keep a spare close to your body. Camera tips.
  6. The snowmobile needs paperwork. Drivers need an EU-valid licence and must be at least 18. They sign a liability form before they set off.
  7. The age limits differ a lot. From 3 on the photographer tour, 5 on the bus chase and 10 on the photo tour. Check before you book for a family. With kids.
  8. Standing still is the cold part. The air is often −15 to −25 °C (5 to −13 °F) and you wait for long stretches. Overalls help, wool underneath does more. What to wear.

Everything in one table

Five Abisko aurora tours, catch included

The five tours side by side. Each row sets the strength of a tour against its catch.

Swipe the table sideways to see all columns →

Tour Ideal for Price Length Starts from Tour company and rating Strength and catch Book
Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure (our pick) Your own aurora photos ~$160per person About 4 h STF Turiststation, 7:10 pm Lights Over Lapland
4.9 on Viator		 Camera and tripod lent, max 8. From age 10; bring an SD card.
ViatorGetYourGuide
Abisko Aurora Chase Cloudy nights, tight budgets ~$100per person 3.5–4 h Hotel pickup, 7:45–8:15 pm Lights Over Lapland
4.5 on GetYourGuide		 Up to 100 km to clear sky. Up to 28 people on one bus.
GetYourGuideViator
Experience Abisko snowmobiles Driving yourself ~$100per person About 3 h Abisko, 30 min early for drivers Experience Abisko
4.7 on GetYourGuide		 Lake and valley trails, full kit lent. Drivers 18+ with an EU licence; loud and windy.
GetYourGuide
Explore Arctic photographer tour Photos of yourself ~$146per person About 3.5 h Abisko, no Kiruna pickups Explore Arctic
4.9 on GetYourGuide		 Portraits under the lights, max 8. Their photos, not your lesson.
GetYourGuide
AbiskoHikes husky hike Dogs and a fire in the quiet ~$140per person About 3 h Lapportsvägen 32, Abisko AbiskoHikes
5.0 on GetYourGuide		 Retired huskies, lávvu, cinnamon buns. No vehicle, few reviews.
GetYourGuide

About the numbers. Prices are regular "from" rates per person in US dollars; both sites often show them lower on sale. Travel dates and options move them, as do exchange rates, so check the booking page, which has the final word.

Who went

Reviews from travelers who stood under the lights

Fourteen travelers, some who had the whole sky turn green above them and some who watched cloud roll in over the lake, on what won them over and what they would do differently.

★★★★★Photo tour, camera lent

I had never touched a proper camera before. Our guide clipped a preset DSLR onto a tripod for each of the eight of us. Then the guide showed us one button and walked us to a teepee ten minutes from the station. At about nine the sky went green from the lake to the mountains, and by the end I had sixty frames that look like postcards. The lingonberry juice was hot and the overalls were enormous. I never felt cold. Bring a memory card, mine was nearly full.

SKSophie K. · Bristol, UKAurora overhead
★★★★★Photo tour, camera lent

Eight people, one guide who fixed my focus twice without being asked. Worth the extra over the bus.

JWJames W. · Calgary, CanadaAurora overhead
★★★★☆Photo tour, camera lent

Cloud sat over Abisko all evening, so the guide put us in the van and drove until it thinned. We got a faint arc for twenty minutes, grey to my eyes but green on the camera screen. Not the night I hoped for. They tried hard and the photos are still lovely.

MHMei H. · Taipei, TaiwanClouds rolled in
★★★★★Photo tour, camera lent

We rode out in a sleigh behind a snowmobile to a camp with a fire. Quiet, dark, then the whole sky moved.

LBLukas B. · Vienna, AustriaAurora overhead
★★★★★Bus chase, up to 100 km

The bus left Björkliden at quarter to eight and we drove for almost an hour because the sky over the village was white. The guide kept checking his maps and suddenly stopped beside a frozen river. Within minutes there were green curtains reflected in the ice, and the whole bus went silent. Cheapest tour in town and it delivered.

ARAna R. · Porto, PortugalAurora overhead
★★★★☆Bus chase, up to 100 km

Good guide, warm drinks, but a big group. At each stop twenty-odd tripods line up on the same snowbank.

TNTomás N. · Buenos Aires, ArgentinaAurora overhead
★★★★★Bus chase, up to 100 km

We booked this for our first night as a backup and saw more than on any night after. Hotel pickup and a short drive east, then an aurora so bright it lit up the snow around our boots. My phone in night mode coped fine on a small tripod.

HLHannah L. · Seattle, USAAurora overhead
★★★★★Snowmobile chase

I drove my own machine across Torneträsk in the dark, which was worth the trip by itself. The guide stopped every twenty minutes to look up, and on the third stop the aurora broke through over the far shore. They hand out snowsuits with boots and helmets, and you need them, the wind on the lake bites through everything. Bring your driving licence, they check it.

OPOliver P. · Copenhagen, DenmarkAurora overhead
★★★★★Snowmobile chase

My kids rode in the sled behind the guide and laughed the whole way. Hot drinks under a green sky.

RSRiya S. · Pune, IndiaAurora overhead
★★★★☆Snowmobile chase

Great fun on the trails, but on a cloudy night a snowmobile cannot go far to find clear sky. We saw stars, then a little green on the way back, and the noise of the engines takes some getting used to. Come thirty minutes early for the driving talk, they are strict about it.

FMFabian M. · Zurich, SwitzerlandClouds rolled in
★★★★★Photographer, max 8

My partner proposed under the aurora on a frozen lake, and I had no idea the guide was in on it. She photographed the whole thing from behind a snowdrift and sent us the pictures a few days later. He is on one knee, I am in a borrowed hat, with a sky of purple and green above us. We would have had nothing but blurry phone shots without her. A small group in a warm car, with a guide who clearly loves this place.

ECEmma C. · Melbourne, AustraliaAurora overhead
★★★★★Photographer, max 8

Finally a photo of me with the northern lights instead of a dark smudge. Best souvenir of the trip.

DVDaan V. · Rotterdam, NetherlandsAurora overhead
★★★★★Husky hike and lávvu

The retired huskies trotted ahead of us up the valley and stopped to sniff every tree. At the top we sat in the lávvu by the fire with cinnamon buns warmed on a stick, and the guide kept stepping out to check the sky. When he called us, the aurora was right overhead and the dogs did not care at all. A slow, quiet evening, completely different from the chases.

KAKarin A. · Gothenburg, SwedenAurora overhead
★★★★★Husky hike and lávvu

Four kilometers in the snow with friendly old dogs. Then a fire, and a pale aurora over the birches. My favorite night in Lapland.

NBNicolas B. · Lille, FranceAurora overhead

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Mittens on

Book the photo tour for your Abisko night

If you are in Abisko between September and March and want one night under the aurora you will still be showing people at home, we would book Lights Over Lapland's photo tour. A group of eight, a guide who reads the sky for a living, a camera set up for you and hot lingonberry juice in the cold.

Cancelling is free until 24 hours before, so you can wait for the cloud forecast. Bring wool and a spare battery, plus your own SD card.

~$160

per person · about 4 hours · from 7:10 pm

Viator GetYourGuide
  • ✓ Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
  • ✓ Hotel pickup in Abisko and Björkliden
  • ✓ DSLR camera and tripod lent for the night
  • ✓ No more than 8 guests

Good to know

Why the aurora shows so often over Abisko, and what you are watching

Five minutes of reading makes the green arcs far easier to follow, along with the sudden burst when the whole sky starts to ripple.

The aurora is light given off high in the atmosphere, roughly 100 to 300 km up, when charged particles from the sun are steered down by the Earth's magnetic field and strike oxygen and nitrogen. Near the magnetic poles this happens in a ring called the auroral oval. Abisko lies right under it, which is why the lights here often fill the sky overhead instead of glowing low on the horizon.

01Green, then pink

Most of the color you see is green, from oxygen at around 100 to 200 km. On strong nights the lower edge of a curtain turns pink or magenta where nitrogen glows, and a high red can sit above it. A camera picks up these colors on nights when your eyes see only a pale grey arc.

02The blue hole over the lake

Weather from the Atlantic tends to drop its cloud and snow on the mountains along the Norwegian border before it reaches Abisko. The village sits in that rain shadow, and locals call the patch of clear sky that often opens above Torneträsk the blue hole. It raises the odds without ever making them certain. The blue hole explained.

03The gate in the mountains

Look west across the lake and you see Lapporten, a U-shaped valley carved by ice between two rounded peaks. It frames the view from the shore and turns up in many aurora photos from Abisko. On a still night with open water in autumn, the lights reflect in the lake below it.

The moment most guests remember is the silence, when a pale arc above the birches suddenly brightens and starts to ripple from one end to the other.

04Sámi land

Abisko lies in Sápmi, the homeland of the Sámi, who have herded reindeer across these fells for centuries. The lávvu tents you see on some tours follow the shape of their traditional shelter. Reindeer on a trail need room; let the guide lead.

05Darkness and the polar night

The village lies some 200 km (125 miles) beyond the Arctic Circle. In summer the sun does not set and there is no aurora to see. For a few weeks around the winter solstice it barely rises. From September to March the nights are long enough for evening tours, and from about April they become too light. The best months to go.

06Manners in the dark

Switch your headlamp to red or off when the group stops, because white light ruins everyone's night vision and long exposures. Keep flash off, and step out of other people's frames. Stay on the trails in the national park and take your rubbish home. Photographing the aurora in Abisko has more on working beside other tripods.

3–4 hA typical evening tour

200 kmAbisko north of the Arctic Circle

Sep to MarThe aurora season

100 kmThe farthest round trip on the bus chase

Not sure whether to sleep in the village or in town? Our guide Sleep in Abisko or in Kiruna? weighs the darkness against the restaurants.

Questions and answers

Frequently asked questions about the northern lights in Abisko

Fourteen questions we hear again and again, with the full answer.

How much does a northern lights tour in Abisko cost?

The five tours on this page start at ~$100 per person for the bus chase and ~$100 for the snowmobile tour, ~$140 for the husky hike, ~$146 for the tour with a photographer and ~$160 for the photo tour with a camera lent. Sale prices are often lower. Every price and extra is in our cost guide.

Which northern lights tour in Abisko is the best?

For most visitors, Lights Over Lapland's photo tour, because the group stays at eight and you go home with your own pictures. The Aurora Chase is cheaper and drives farther on a cloudy night; the snowmobile tour suits people who want to drive.

When is northern lights season in Abisko?

From the first dark nights of September until the light returns in late March (a week either way). Autumn brings milder nights and reflections in open lakes. February and March bring snow and cold air with more daylight between tours. The season in detail.

Why is Abisko so good for the northern lights?

Two reasons. It lies under the auroral oval, so the lights often appear overhead, and it sits in the rain shadow of the mountains to the west, which often keeps the sky above the lake clear. The blue hole.

Are the northern lights guaranteed on these tours?

No. The aurora depends on the sun and the sky depends on the weather, and no listing on this page promises a sighting. Some nights the whole sky turns green, on others the cloud never breaks. What to do if you see none.

What happens if it is cloudy on my tour night?

The tours with a vehicle drive toward clear sky, the bus chase up to 100 km round trip. The snowmobile and husky tours go ahead with less range. None of the listings in our notes offers a free second tour, but all five can be cancelled for free up to 24 hours before.

How long is an aurora tour and when does it start?

Three to four hours. The photo tour starts at 7:10 pm and the bus chase collects you between 7:45 and 8:15 pm; the other listings give their times when you book. Snowmobile drivers arrive 30 minutes early.

Do I need my own camera?

Not on the photo tour, which lends you a DSLR and a tripod; bring an SD card. On the photographer tour a guide takes pictures of you. On the others a phone on a small tripod in night mode works on bright nights. Camera tips.

Can I drive a snowmobile myself?

Yes, on Experience Abisko's tour. You need to be 18 or over, holding a licence that is valid in the EU. You choose the driving option when you book. Then you sign a liability form and arrive 30 minutes early for instructions. Passengers ride along or sit in the sled.

What should I wear on a northern lights tour in Abisko?

Wool or synthetic base layers under a fleece, then a down jacket inside a windproof shell. Add a hat over the ears and thin gloves under mittens, with warm boots. Most tours lend overalls or a snowsuit on top. What to wear.

Can children come on an aurora tour?

On most of them. The photographer tour takes children from 3, the bus chase from 5 and the photo tour from 10. On the snowmobile tour children ride in the sled with an adult. Late hours and the cold matter more than the rules. Abisko with kids.

Should I stay in Abisko or in Kiruna?

In Abisko if the aurora is the reason for the trip. All five tours start there or in Björkliden. The sky is darker too, and the photographer tour does not collect from Kiruna. Kiruna has the airport and more restaurants, about 95 km away. Abisko or Kiruna.

Do the tours pick you up from your hotel?

Both Lights Over Lapland tours collect from hotels in Abisko and Björkliden. The husky hike meets at Lapportsvägen 32, with a transfer from STF Abisko Turiststation on request. Check the meeting point for the others when you book.

Can I cancel an aurora tour for free?

Yes. All five can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before, and on GetYourGuide you can reserve now and pay later. If the operator cancels for weather, you get your money back.

Read before you travel

Guides to Abisko's aurora nights

Ten questions that keep coming up, each with the long answer instead of the short one.