Tromso, Norway | Northern Lights Paradise

 

If you ever wanted to see the aurora borealis – a.k.a. the Northern Lights – and also be blown away by breathtaking landscapes with snowy mountains and frozen lakes then Northern Norway is the place to be. Earlier in February I spent 7 great days in Tromsø region chasing the Northern Lights and the result is that I’m in love with this city. But wouldn’t you be?

This was the first time I went to the Arctic to chase the Northern Lights. I met my cousin in Oslo and from there we took another flight to Tromsø.
I must say that after reading other aurora hunters frustrating experiences I was a bit concerned. However, for my own surprise, we were lucky to see an amazing display already on the first night in there.

 

THE FIRST AURORA EXPERIENCE

The first location chosen to observe the Aurora was a village called Ersfjordbotn, located just few kilometers away from the center of Tromsø. From the hotel it took 25 minutes to get there. I drove through a narrow road at the right side of the fjord trying to find a good spot to park the car. It was so dark that even the car lights were not helping too much.

Once I thought I had found a good spot I parked the car beside some area under construction on the road and walked towards the shore. At this point I wasn’t sure if I was stepping on icy ground, frozen water or big rocks – even though I had a flashlight with me – until I noticed that there were two other guys in there too with their photo gear haha.

Photo gear out of the car. It was really cold, but at the same time, the sky was so clear and beautiful full of stars that I didn’t even bother. We were prepared for a long wait, with some snacks and hot tea, but in fact we spent 1 hour waiting for the Aurora. It was around 11pm when I noticed a weak shade of green coming from behind the mountain. And suddenly this was how the sky was looking like.

I never had experienced something as amazing as this! You really can’t imagine how blown away I was!

 

THE FJORD OF LIGHT

We would come back every night during the trip to Ersfjordbotn as a starting location. At this point I had found a better location there to park the car and setup our gear. This location even allowed us to wait inside the car, which was much more convenient.

The lights would continue to appear almost every night and I decided to give it a try and shoot my first time-lapse video. Shooting the time-lapse proved to be also very efficient as most of the times you can leave the camera doing its job while you admire the beauty of the Northern Lights.

I learned later that the place was also known as “The Fjord of Light”, which is how I decided to name the time-lapse video that you can see on Vimeo in HD or just by clicking play below. Hope you guys enjoy!