14 | SEARCHING THROUGH NORTHERN SKIES
www.nitravelnews.com
In search of Tromso’s Northern Lights
BY ANDREA MCVEIGH
IT was the moment I’d been waiting for since arriving in Tromso. What looked like a long ribbon of shimmering clouds started to turn pale green, then appeared to dance across the velvety February sky. It paused, grew stronger and brighter, and was joined by a second pulse of green, brighter than the first, which also made a conga-line dance across the full width of the otherwise cloudless horizon. The irony was that I saw the Northern
Lights, also known as aurora borealis, when I was walking to join a small, escorted group tour, to go aurora-chasing. But there it was, hovering over Tromso Domkirke cathedral in the centre of town, before I’d even stepped on the bus. A good omen, I reckoned, for the evening ahead. If you’re keen to see the Northern Lights, February is a good time to visit Tromso, located 217 miles above the Arctic circle in northern Norway. The sun has only recently returned after the long polar night, and it hangs low and stark until around late-
March 2026
ANDREA MCVEIGH embarks on a solo adventure through Tromso, Norway...
wind, collide with gases in the earth’s upper atmosphere. When they reach earth, our planet’s magnetic fields channel the particles towards the polar regions. I had pre-booked all of my tours before I
left home (just Google tourist tours in Tromso and names such as Get Your Guide will pop up) but since it was a fairly last-minute trip, many of the tours were already full. The same was true of the highly recommended restaurants in town, so if there’s something you really want to experience, book in
afternoon, casting a soft glow across the bay and over the surrounding mountains. The crisp Arctic air feels startlingly clean and fresh, the kind that makes you breathe a little deeper without realising it. Like many people, seeing the aurora borealis (which
translates ‘northern dawn’, as with
borealis meaning ‘north’ in Latin) has long been on my bucket list. Being a natural phenomenon, there is
no guarantee you’ll be lucky, but when the lights do make an appearance, you’ll feel like you’ve joined the most privileged club on earth. Travelling alone as a woman I found Tromso to be incredibly safe, and on my excursions I met many other solo travellers from across Europe, North America and Asia. There’s something about chasing the lights that draws people together and in the minibus we swapped stories as our guide drove us beyond
the city lights, scanning weather reports and cloud maps in search of clear skies. When our
bus stopped in a forest
clearing, our guide was on hand to take photos and nourish us with hot chocolate and shortbread. After about 30 minutes, a pale streak appeared across the sky, like a brushstroke of milky green. Then it began to move. Curtains of light rippled and folded in on themselves, intensifying into luminous greens with hints of purple. There were shouts of delight from myself
and my fellow travellers, as we took photos on our phones, or simply took in the wonder of it all with our eyes as we stood in the snow, faces tingling, utterly transfixed. The aurora danced, twisted and unfurled across the sky in silent waves. And then they were gone, only to appear again in a different location, teasing us with their mercurial nature. The sky felt enormous, and I felt very small and insignificant beneath it. The lights actually show up stronger and brighter in photos, which is why, on most of the tours, your guide will also be your photographer, allowing you to simply soak up the phenomenon which occurs when particles from the sun, known as the solar
advance. Back in town the next morning, the city (although it’s officially a city, it feels more like a small town) revealed another side of itself. The streets were busy with people heading out on dog sledding trips, reindeer- feeding excursions and husky sled rides. But I was heading to Pust, for another ‘first’ for me – a dip into the icy cold Arctic water in just my swimsuit. Pust looks like a geometric jewel bobbing gently in Tromso harbour. Inside, it’s all
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
