Northern lights

It's dark, you're outside and everything is quiet. Suddenly, a flicker of light in the sky grabs your attention. Pale and modest at first, soon intense and vibrant, transforming the dark sky into a mighty display of nature's power. It’s hypnotic and impossible to ignore. But perhaps strangest of all: There is complete silence, while cascades of green, yellow, violet and red dance across the sky in silent harmony. It is like a mighty symphonic ballet with muted sound.

Hurtigruten’s Northern Lights Promise

One of your best chances of experiencing the Northern Lights is on a Hurtigruten voyage in the winter season. In fact, we're so confident that we have issued a Northern Lights Promise for our 12-day voyages between October and February. If you are unlucky enough that the Northern Lights don’t occur during your voyage, we will send you to try again next winter for free. This is a great way to experience the magic of the Northern Lights while you enjoy a comfortable journey along over 780 miles of rugged Norwegian coastline.

Beyond science - what causes the aurora borealis?

The unearthly beauty of the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) mesmerises all who stay or travel in Polar Regions. Like most natural phenomena, it has a prosaic explanation: It is caused by electrically charged particles, high in energy, entering the Earth’s atmosphere. But that’s nowhere near explaining the impact it has on your memories and emotions.

The Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights are hypnotic, dynamic displays of light that appear in the nighttime Arctic skies. They are caused by cosmic rays, solar wind and magnetosphere plasma interacting with the Earth’s upper atmosphere. As the charged particles enter the atmosphere from above, light is emitted because atmospheric constituents are ionized and excited. The activity takes place at 100 km or more above the planet’s surface.

Related articles about the Northern Lights:

• The Best Places to see the Northern Lights in Norway
• 10 tips on how to photograph the Northern Lights
• Frequently asked questions about the Northern Lights
• Top 5 ways to see the Northern Lights with Hurtigruten