Tromsø
An Arctic island city under the auroral oval, with two months of polar night and the oldest wooden houses in northern Norway.
Tromsø sits on an island in a strait, well inside the Arctic Circle, and northern Norway lies in the auroral zone, so the northern lights are a real winter prospect from the city itself. The sun stays below the horizon from about 26 November to 15 January, and behind the mountains it isn't seen from 21 November to 21 January.
The catch is the coast: Tromsø is often cloudy, and cloud hides an aurora however strong it is. That's why so many tours here are chases, driving inland towards clearer skies. Between late April and mid-August it's never dark enough to see the lights at all.
The city has had a northern lights observatory since 1927, and holds Nordlysfestivalen, a classical music festival named for the aurora, in January, alongside the Tromsø International Film Festival.
Where to stay in Tromsø
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