Are you planning an epic adventure to see the Northern Lights in Sweden, but wondering how to get there? Where to stay? How to book a tour, etc? Well, you’re in the perfect place! We had an incredible time seeing the Aurora Borealis in Swedish Lapland this winter, and we’re going to share our favorite Northern Lights Sweden Tour with you!
In this post, we’re sharing the absolute best Northern Lights Sweden Tour that you can’t miss!
Let’s start with the basics, shall we?! In order to see the Northern Lights in Swedish Lapland you need to have darkness and clear skies (ie no cloud coverage). Given that, the best time and place to see the Northern Lights in Sweden is March in Abisko! We’re getting into it below:
Which month is best for Northern Lights in Sweden?
After doing a ton of our own research, and speaking to locals, we learned that MARCH is the best month for seeing the aurora borealis in Swedish Lapland. That’s because you still have plenty of darkness (though not as much as December) but March also has the least precipitation & clouds, typically.
What is the best place in Sweden to see the Northern Lights?
The best place to see the Northern Lights in Sweden is Abisko National Park! It has a unique microclimate that leads to very clear skies, and it’s far north enough to provide some great light shows! Best of all?? It’s very remote which means no light pollution!
We couldn’t believe how much even a little light pollution can decrease the visibility of the Northern Lights. After traveling all throughout northern Sweden, we can confirm the lights looked best in Abisko by far!
You can get to Abisko by flying into Kiruna airport and renting a car or taking a train to get up to Abisko. You could also fly into Luleå airport, but the drive up to Abisko will be longer.
Where to stay in Abisko to see the Northern Lights?
Wondering where to stay in Abisko? We strongly recommend Abisko Mountain Lodge. We loved that it was easy to get to, had plenty of parking, a delicious included breakfast, and had its own restaurant. By the way, every single dish we had at Abisko Mountain Lodge’s restaurant was SUPERB!! We ate there two nights in a row, and we agreed the Arctic Char and Reindeer Stew were life-changing!
This lodge is ridiculously cozy (think wood burning stove, authentic saunas, and wool blankets). We would stay there again in a heartbeat.
If you’re traveling to Abisko to see the Northern Lights, please consider staying at Abisko Mountain Lodge!
Which is the best Northern Lights Tour?
Okay, now for the reason you’re really here … this is the actual Northern Lights Sweden Tour we took to successfully see the Northern Lights!
They picked us up promptly from our hotel in a small bus, and we ended up with a group of 15 people on our tour bus. Our guide and our driver took us to 3 different spots around Abisko where there was little to no light pollution, minimal cloud coverage, and amazing views of the Northern Lights! Here are some of the pictures we took there.
What made our tour so special? Our guide was excellent!! Not only did he and our driver know exactly where to go to get great aurora sightings, but he also ran around between all the guests offering to take pictures, teaching us how to get the right settings on our phones to get best photos, and setting up lighting around the bus for us to get great pictures.
There were also a lot of small touches … for example, our tour guide popped out a thermos of warm lingonberry juice and gingerbread cookies in the middle of tour (Larry was thrilled!!)
Pro tip: Larry dropped a pin at every place our tour took us to see the Northern Lights. Then, the following night, we were able to drive ourselves in a rental car to all the same spots and we saw the lights all over again!!
Wondering what to wear on your Northern Lights tour, or what to pack for Lapland in general? We’ve got you covered! Check out our guide on what to pack for Lapland here!
Other Northern Lights Tour options!
We also took this combination snowmobile + tipi dinner + Northern Lights tour. It was great fun, and the dinner was delicious! But unfortunately, the tour is too close to the town of Kiruna which meant there was light pollution. Though we DID see the Northern Lights, they were simply not as bright as they were in Abisko.
But again, the tour itself was excellent! The snowmobiles were in great condition, the dinner in the tipi was a delicious reindeer stew, and our guide was hilarious!
So, if you are only able to make it to Kiruna but can’t get all the way up to Abisko, we would strongly recommend this tour and guide based in Kiruna. But if at all possible, please try to make it to Abisko!
How much does a Northern Lights tour cost?
The answer to this question depends on the length of the tour and whether you’re combining it with another activity like snowmobiling or dog sledding.
If what you’re looking for is a pure Northern Lights tour without those additional features … the costs usually run between $90-200 per person.
Not only is a “pure” Northern Lights tour cheaper, but you also have a better chance of seeing the Aurora if you DON’T combine it with an additional activity!!
Why is that? Simple! In order to hunt the Northern Lights, your guide needs to be able to drive around to chase them … either to get away from certain clouds or lights, or because their tracker changes its recommendations. For example, our tour bus drove between several different spots, each 15-20 minutes apart, in order to chase the best Auroras.
If, instead, you’re stuck on the back of a snowmobile or dog sled, you cannot actually chase the lights. You just need to hope the lights show wherever you are!
Day-time tours we loved in Swedish Lapland!
If you’re going to Swedish Lapland, you need to do a Dog Sledding tour! We also made this booking through Get Your Guide. They picked us right up from the hotel in Kiruna and took us to their impressive farm.
The dogs were so playful, healthy, and unbelievably well-trained. Our guide gave clear directions and helped us manage the 3-hour dog sledding tour without any issues. They provided us with excellent cold weather gear that was clean and new.
This was one of the biggest highlights of our entire trip to Swedish Lapland, right up there with seeing the Northern Lights!
The exact tour we did is no longer available, but here is a very similar looking tour!
Another tour we loved was this snowmobiling tour through Abisko National Park! It’s easy to think that Abisko is only good for seeing the Aurora, but it is actually a stunning park in the daytime as well!
We loved getting to see a lot of the territory safely with our knowledgeable guide. Larry particularly loved the lingonberry juice and cookies our guide passed around half-way through! The snowmobiles were in great condition and the cold weather gear they provided kept us perfectly warm.
We hope this post about the Best Northern Lights Sweden Tour was helpful!
Next, check out our complete guide on What to Pack for Lapland or our Extremely Detailed Review of the ICEHOTEL in Sweden!
