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Northern Lights

The northern lights or the Aurora Borealis is one of the great surprises of the Arctic night, and you can experience this multicoloured light show from September to April.

A BONUS IN THE NIGHT SKY

The northern lights is Greenland’s way of adding an extra bonus to the adventures of winter. It is free, there is enough for everyone and all it takes is for you to dress warmly, wear a sturdy pair of boots, add an ounce of patience, maybe carry with you a thermos of coffee, and then have someone there to share the adventure.

The phenomenon is a source of great interest to many of us living here in Greenland. We keep an eye out for the northern lights through online forecasts, we follow live updates of how the northern lights are spreading across the Arctic, we take lots of photos with great enthusiasm, and we love to take our guests out in the dead of night to view the sky.

Northern lights are part of the visual, physical characteristics of Greenland, and with an Arctic touch, the northern lights reach down from space filling up the night with myths and magic and clear and frosty winter adventures.

“They were moving really fast. They were really dancing! That was quite an experience. It is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. They are so exciting for me!”

Package Tours

Greenland Travel: Winter adventure! Vacation in a snowy paradise

Greenland Travel

Winter adventure! Vacation in a snowy paradise

Sail on Ilulissat Ice Fjord and see the icebergs. Go dogsledding. See northern lights. Walk the Ice Cap. Go explore! Greenland is waiting

FROM €2,095
Greenland Tours: Northern Lights & Icebergs

Greenland Tours

Northern Lights & Icebergs

4 days in Ilulissat incl. dog sledding & Northern Lights tour

FROM €830
Greenland by Topas – Dog Sledding, Igloo Lodge and Northern Lights in Ilulissat

Greenland by Topas

Dog Sledding and Northern Lights in Ilulissat

Sled dogs are in their element under the frosty sky, crackling snow and fluttering Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) of the Greenlandic winter. Overnight stay in Igloo Lodge.

FROM €2,812
Tasermiut Expeditions: Greenland Northern Lights

Tasermiut Expeditions

Greenland Northern Lights

Admire northern lights from mid August to Sept. in one of the best spots: Qaleraliq Glacier camp. Hikes & Zodiac navigation among icebergs

FROM €2,350
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NORTHERN LIGHTS IN GREENLAND

One local area is mentioned again and again, when we want to point out the very best and most easily accessible destinations in Greenland to view the northern lights, and that is the airport settlement of Kangerlussuaq, uniquely located inland in lee of mountains and ice; Kangerlussuaq boasts more than 300 clear nights a year.

The season for watching the northern lights in Kangerlussuaq, which is from the end of September to the middle of April, is the same as in the rest of the country. Heading out on the only gravel road in Greenland leading directly to the Ice Cap, the opportunities for seeing the northern lights are at their best, as there is hardly any man made “pollution light” to speak of, even after travelling just a short stretch on the road.

Although the situation is pretty unique in Kangerlussuaq, the northern lights are none-the-less a common sight in the night sky in many places in Greenland. Even with the many street lamps in the capital city of Nuuk, the northern lights are clearly visible and will often make people stop, pause and look up at the sky on their way home from work.

SCIENCE AND MYTH

What are the northern lights really? Northern lights are electrically charged particles from the sun, which hit our atmosphere, and create a natural phenomenon of light with altering colors, revealing how far above our planet the particles are, when they hit the atmosphere.

But is this scientific explanation of the Aurora Borealis really the reason why we, time after time, stop in our tracks when the northern lights flash across the night sky? Or are we reminded of something greater than ourselves, something almost magical that will even entice Greenlanders, who are thoroughly accustomed to seeing the northern lights, to look up at the night sky.

We know for a fact that the same fascination that we feel and that you will feel while visiting, in a similar manner also challenged the imagination of our ancestors. In a well-known myth, we are told that when the northern lights dance across the night sky, it is the dead who are playing soccer with the skull of a walrus.

Even today people from some nations believe that children will be particularly intelligent if they are conceived on a night when the northern lights are visible in the sky. If that is the case, then one would think that we as a nation must be doing unbelievably well.

  • Northern lights flash across the sky all year, but are most visible from the end of September to the middle of April.

  • Kangerlussuaq, Sisimiut and Ilulissat all offer guided tours during the winter months to see the northern lights.

  • Current updated information on solar activity and the northern lights is available on NOAA's 30 minutes forecasts at the Space Weather Prediction Center.

  • Northern lights are also referred to as the Aurora Borealis in the Arctic (New Latin, literally meaning: northern dawn). In Antarctica, a related phenomenon is known as the Aurora

  • Australis or southern lights. The two events always happen simultaneously as the charged particles that hit the atmosphere move back and forth in a magnetic belt between the poles.

  • The colors displayed in the northern lights fluctuate in hues from green to red to blue dependent on what type of particles are present. On the web site Webexhibits there is more about the colors and the reasons for them.

  • You will probably want to film or photograph the northern lights when you are out viewing them, and therefore, for this purpose we have submitted a blog entry to Flotomalia.dk describing the steps needed in order to obtain successful photos of the northern lights.

Local providers

BOAT. Photo by Greenland Backcountry

Greenland Backcountry

Ilulissat, Mittarfimmut Aqq. 1A
3952,
Phone: +299 53 53 33More information
Camp Kangiusaq. Photo by Nuuk Water Taxi

Camp Kangiusaq

Imaneq 27, 3900 Nuuk
Phone: (+299) 38 87 77More information
Double bed at Nuka Hostel in Ilulissat, North Greenland. Photo by Nuka Hostel

Hotel Nuka

Ilulissat, Kussangajaannguaq 32,
3952,
Phone: +299 94 24 24 / +299 54 24 24More information
Dogs on a dog sledding trip near Ilulissat in Greenland fanning out in typical west Greenlandic fashion. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Albatros Arctic Circle

Kangerlussuaq, Mittarfiit Aqq.
3910,
Phone: +299 84 16 48More information
Frontal view of Sulisartut Højskoleat. Photo by Sulisartut Højskoleat, Visit Greenland

Sulisartut Højskoleat

Qaqortoq, Kamikoorfik B 1021,
3920,
Phone: (+299) 642 466More information
Tasermiut 3

Tasermiut South Greenland Expeditions

Qassiarsuk, B-873 Qassiarsuk
3923,
Phone: (+299) 522 822More information
The Red House, Photo by Ulrike Fischer2

The Red House

Tasiilaq, Napparngummut B 1025,
3913,
Phone: (+299) 981 650More information
Handmade figure. Visit Greenland

Tupilak Travel

Nuuk, Imaneq 18,
3900,
Phone: (+299) 313 218More information
Three men enjoying the sun in front of Nanu Travel Tourist Office. Photo by Nanu Travel

Nanu Travel

Ittoqqortoormiit, Postboks 4  Mikip Aqqutaa B-186 ,
3980,
Phone: +299 99 12 80 More information
Unnuisarfik Accommodation 03

Unnuisarfik Accommodation

Ililussat, Peter Rosingip Aqq. 5,
3952,
Phone: (+299) 944 210, (+299) 546 944More information
Guests at Igaliku Country Hotel having dinner

Igaliku Café

Igaliko, Igaliku
3923,
Phone: +299 66 64 99More information
Greenland Travel 01

Greenland Travel

Copenhagen, Wilders Plads 13 A,
1403,
Phone: +45 33 13 10 11More information
An overview of the Eqi Glacier Lodge camp with the glacier in the background in North Greenland. Photo by Mad Pihl, Visit Greenland

Glacier Lodge Eqi

Ilulissat, B-
3952,
Phone: +299 94 43 00More information
Morning light over Tasiilaq in East Greenland covered in deep snow

Discovery Lodge

Tasiilaq, Jens Emiilip Aqq B-47,
3913,
Phone: +299 98 15 06More information
Blue Iceberg. Photo by Blue Ice Explorer

Blue Ice Explorer

Narsarsuaq, Box 58
3923,
Phone: +299 66 54 99 / +299 49 73 71More information
Sarfaq Ittuk cruising in the Disko Bay outside Ilulissat ice fjord in Greenland. Visit Greenland

Arctic Umiaq Line

Nuuk, Aqqusinersuaq 48 A,
3900,
Phone: +299 34 91 90More information
villarama01

Villarama

Qaqortoq, B-137
3920,
Phone: (+45) 40 24 89 28More information
A view of two Air Zafari flightseeing planes over the Greenland Ice Sheet near Kangerlussuaq Airport

Air Zafari

Nuuk, Box 568
3900,
Phone: +299 58 40 68 / +299 24 85 54More information

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