Want a change from the normal drinks and fireworks this new year? Well, the Telegraph today shows you how to get your own natural light show with a trip to Tromsø in Norway...
Mark Jones writes "What is the most magical way you can think of to celebrate New Year's Eve? This one, I bet, is pretty near, the top of the list: you are outdoors in the snowy Arctic Circle; you have a glass of champagne in your hand; and the sky is clear and filled with the multicoloured waves and fluorescent ribbons of the Northern Lights...
Certainly, the prospect of such an evening draws thousands of British visitors to Scandinavia each December. Their numbers were further swollen last year after the BBC showed a documentary with Joanna Lumley taking a picturesque journey across northern Norway in search of the lights...
Now for the bad news. The best time of year to see the Northern Lights isn't December – it's March, when the skies are clearer (and when Lumley travelled). Not that you'd know that from a quick Google excursion. "Enjoy an exotic Northern Lights Christmas in Norway," says one cruise company; "Northern lights guaranteed," says another family holiday outfit. And so on. Well, I suppose the lights are guaranteed. Solar winds will be doing their stuff in the upper ionosphere, because that's what they do. It's just that the cloud cover lower down may well stop the hopeful traveller from seeing them at work and the sublime visual effects they create. As my friend Knut in Tromsø says, "Aurora is a difficult lady…"
So, sure enough, I went on a New Year Northern Lights trip to Tromsø, and didn't see a thing. Did it matter? A bit. Did it stop me enjoying an Arctic Circle Hogmanay experience? Not at all. Tromsø is well inside the Arctic Circle, so the sun doesn't rise. But it's still a hugely exciting place to be, even if your sightseeing is rather impeded by the fact you may not see much. There are things you need to know before you venture there, however. So here's my survival guide. We'll take it as read that you have plenty of winter woolies and thermal undies..."
For more of Marks hints for how you can follow this journey, go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/norway/6759390/Tromso-New-Year-in-the-Arctic-Circle.html
Barticus.
Mark Jones writes "What is the most magical way you can think of to celebrate New Year's Eve? This one, I bet, is pretty near, the top of the list: you are outdoors in the snowy Arctic Circle; you have a glass of champagne in your hand; and the sky is clear and filled with the multicoloured waves and fluorescent ribbons of the Northern Lights...
Certainly, the prospect of such an evening draws thousands of British visitors to Scandinavia each December. Their numbers were further swollen last year after the BBC showed a documentary with Joanna Lumley taking a picturesque journey across northern Norway in search of the lights...
Now for the bad news. The best time of year to see the Northern Lights isn't December – it's March, when the skies are clearer (and when Lumley travelled). Not that you'd know that from a quick Google excursion. "Enjoy an exotic Northern Lights Christmas in Norway," says one cruise company; "Northern lights guaranteed," says another family holiday outfit. And so on. Well, I suppose the lights are guaranteed. Solar winds will be doing their stuff in the upper ionosphere, because that's what they do. It's just that the cloud cover lower down may well stop the hopeful traveller from seeing them at work and the sublime visual effects they create. As my friend Knut in Tromsø says, "Aurora is a difficult lady…"
So, sure enough, I went on a New Year Northern Lights trip to Tromsø, and didn't see a thing. Did it matter? A bit. Did it stop me enjoying an Arctic Circle Hogmanay experience? Not at all. Tromsø is well inside the Arctic Circle, so the sun doesn't rise. But it's still a hugely exciting place to be, even if your sightseeing is rather impeded by the fact you may not see much. There are things you need to know before you venture there, however. So here's my survival guide. We'll take it as read that you have plenty of winter woolies and thermal undies..."
For more of Marks hints for how you can follow this journey, go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/norway/6759390/Tromso-New-Year-in-the-Arctic-Circle.html
Barticus.
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