2026 Will Be the Best Year in a Decade to See the Northern Lights – Here’s Where to Go
Seeing the Northern Lights is often described as a once-in-a-lifetime experience – ribbons of green, pink, and violet dancing across the night sky. While the aurora made rare appearances as far south as England this year, the best chance to witness them usually means travelling somewhere far colder, darker, and much further north.
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And 2026 will be the year to do it. We’re heading into a solar maximum – the peak of the sun’s activity that occurs roughly once every 11 years. As the sun grows more energetic, solar particles collide with Earth’s atmosphere more frequently, making auroras brighter and more visible. This peak will last until March 2026, making the coming winter the best time to book an aurora-hunting trip until at least 2037.
5 Day Northern Lights Tour - Iceland
4 nights from
£1,045.00pp
Where to See the Northern Lights in 2026
- Iceland: Þingvellir National Park and the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon combine dark skies with jaw-dropping backdrops.
- Sweden: Abisko National Park is famed for its clear skies and frequent aurora displays.
- Finland: Lapland offers Santa-filled winter escapes by day and shimmering skies by night. Or head to Oulu, a 2026 European Capital of Culture, where auroras are common.
- Norway: Tromsø, Svalbard, and Reine all promise extraordinary aurora views. In Svalbard’s polar night, the sun barely rises, meaning near round-the-clock chances to see the lights.
- Canada: The Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories deliver some of the world’s most consistent sightings – with vast, unpolluted skies perfect for photography.
- By Sea: Cruises in the far north strip away light pollution almost entirely, so you may even see the aurora from your cabin balcony.
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