Frequently Asked Questions

Abisko National Park is one of the driest places in all of Scandinavia. Due to our geographic location in a rain shadow caused by the nearby peaks in Norway we have more clear, cloud free nights than nearly anywhere in the world within the aurora oval. While the likelihood that you will see an aurora during your visit is very high, Lights Over Lapland cannot make any such guarantees. Over the last four seasons 99% of the guests that joined one of our multi day packages saw auroras on at least one of their nights in the Park. We are confident that there is no better place on Earth to see the lights than Abisko! Book a multi day package now to check off this awesome experience from your bucket list!

Yes you can! We have had many great auroras during full moon and it is not an issue. Check out this video as a great example: https://vimeo.com/77213022

Due to our location in a micro climate and resulting rain shadow, Abisko National Park is one of the finest locations for stargazing and astrophotography in the world. Thanks to a very dry and clear climate you will have a minimum of an 80% chance of seeing the aurora if you stay in the area for three nights.

While we can not guarantee that you will see the lights during your trip we can say that you have a very high likelihood of success, especially if you join us for multiple nights.

Auroras can be seen from the end of August to the end of March and most of the season offers the same statistical opportunity to see the northern lights. If you are in Abisko for more than three days you have at least an 80% chance of witnessing the lights!

In the autumn (September to November) you can go hiking and enjoy the quiet season in Abisko National Park. This is also a good time for visitors who prefer warmer temperatures or if you want to take pictures of auroras reflecting in open water. If you want to enjoy fall colors you should visit in late August or September but please know that this is still considered summer season so Lights Over Lapland has not started offering any aurora tours until October. December and January are the darkest and coldest months. This is the perfect time to enjoy the polar night, and the abundance of darkness gives you more opportunity to see the auroras than any other time of the year. From December until the end of March you can also enjoy exciting daytime activities like dogsledding, snowmobiling, snow shoe hiking and much more. If you would like to visit Abisko during the high season when the biggest selection of day trips and other activities are available then February and March is the time to come. Long sunny days allow you to experience all of the great things that the park has to offer and relatively warm nights allow you to enjoy lights in comfort. Book your trip early to ensure your place, as March tends to be one of the most popular months of our entire season.

Abisko offers a range of accommodations to suit different preferences and budgets. Here are some great options:

• Accommodation in Abisko: This is our sister company, offering cozy and comfortable places to stay: 
• Abisko Hostel – Perfect for travelers looking for a budget-friendly and social stay. Available in the spring and summer.  
• Abisko Panorama House – A beautiful private house with stunning mountain and lake views, ideal for couples or small families. 
• Lovely House in Abisko – Another charming option for those who want a bit more privacy and comfort. Ideal for larger families or groups.

Other Recommended Options in Abisko:

• STF Abisko Turiststation – A popular choice for travelers who want easy access to Abisko National Park and the surrounding trails. 

• Abisko Mountain Lodge – A cozy lodge with a welcoming atmosphere, great food, and easy access to outdoor adventures.
  

No matter where you stay, you’ll be surrounded by incredible Arctic landscapes and close to some of the best spots in the world for seeing the Northern Lights! Looking for a complete aurora holiday? Take a look at our holiday packages here!

Most of our guests fly into Stockholm’s Arlanda International Airport from their home country. From Stockholm you can catch a quick domestic flight to Kiruna in Swedish Lapland. Once you arrive in Kiruna, Abisko is a one and a half hour journey along a spectacular stretch of Arctic wilderness that meanders through birch forests, scenic shorelines and a beautiful mountain valley. Bus transfers are available on visitabisko.com and connect with most flights throughout the day. If you arrive with a really early or late flight you may have to book a taxi instead.

For our guests that yearn for a little more adventure, and the opportunity to see a bit more of the Swedish countryside, you also have the option of a romantic train journey from Stockholm all the way to the door of your hotel in Abisko. This is the most environmentally friendly way to travel in Sweden and is highly recommended by the Lights Over Lapland team. There are two train stops in Abisko so make sure to get off at the correct stop. If you are staying at the Abisko Mountain Lodge or any other hotel in Abisko Östra you should get off at the first stop called “Abisko Ö”. If you are staying at Hotel STF Abisko in the National Park, please get off at the second stop called “Abisko Turiststation”. Train tickets usually become bookable 90 days in advance. Please be aware that delays sometimes happen, especially during the coldest winter month of January. In extreme cases trains can be cancelled or replaced by busses during certain stretches of the journey.

Flights, Stockholm-Kiruna: www.sas.se, www.norwegian.com
Trains: www.sj.se
Airport transfers: www.visitabisko.com

Getting to Abisko is easy and there are a couple of great options:

• Fly: Most guests fly into Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport (ARN), then take a short domestic flight to Kiruna Airport (KRN) with SAS or Norwegian. From Kiruna, you can book a taxi (approx. 2,500 SEK each way) or arrange a bus transfer at visitabisko.com to reach Abisko. 
• Train: You can also take the overnight train all the way from Stockholm to Abisko. Make sure you book your ticket to either Abisko Turiststation or Abisko Östra, depending on where you’re staying. Both train stations are just a short walk from the hotels. Train tickets usually go on sale about three months before travel. Please be aware that in the coldest winter months (Dec-Jan) trains can sometimes get cancelled due to the cold.

Yes! To avoid re-entering your details for each booking, you can add multiple tours to one booking. After completing the first booking form, look at the top left of the page for the link that says “Make Another Booking.” Click that, and you’ll return to the homepage where you can add another tour to your basket without filling out the form again. Repeat this process for as many tours as you’d like! That said, some activities are provided by our partners at Activities in Abisko and simply re-sold on our website. Unfortunately you are not able to make a reservation for multiple activities if one of their activities is in the mix (Snowmobiling, Ice fishing and snowshoe hiking).

It is very common to work in an average temperature of -20 degrees Celsius and very possible to encounter temperatures as low as -35. Warm clothes are a must!

You are responsible for providing all winter clothing. However, one piece Arctic overalls are included for most of our activities and all of our multi-day packages. Warm insulated boots are included in just a few activities but are also available for rental upon request. For safety reasons, and to ensure that you get the most out of your visit it is very important that you bring the following items:

• Winter Jacket. A heavy down jacket with a hood is highly recommended.
• Snow pants. Water resistant or water proof (not necessary if you use our overalls).
• Warm hat. A warm hat that will cover as much of your head and face as possible.
• Gloves. One heavy pair of outer gloves and a smaller pair of liner gloves to keep on while adjusting your camera equipment.
• Wool Socks. It is recommended that you wear one pair during the day and a fresh pair during the evening so it is good to bring two pairs of socks for each day.
• Warm insulated winter boots (available for rental upon request). Sorel, Baffin and Muck are example of good brands.
• Multiple clothing layers for top and bottom. Synthetics, wool and fleece are recommended materials. Cotton is to be avoided. For bottom layers, we recommend wearing thermals + one layer of fleece/thick wool pants underneath our overalls.
• Goggles are not a must but if you have some at home we suggest you bring them along as they are nice to use in windy conditions. Clear goggles are the best as they can also be used at night.

Read a blog post about how to dress in the Arctic here

We generally do not cancel any tours due to bad weather. The only exception to this is if we feel that it is not safe for us to take you outside in case of very extreme weather. This only happens approximately one time per season.

You can make changes to your activity bookings up to 7 days before arrival without any problems. If you want to make changes closer than that, please contact us and we will see what we can do. We can generally change reservations to an earlier date without too much problem but we normally do not allow changes to a later date since it will be difficult for us to sell the spaces to someone else on such short notice.

We offer a full catalogue of morning and afternoon activities in Abisko including day hikes, dog sledding, snowmobiling, snowshoe hiking and many more that are designed to take you out into the wilderness surrounding Abisko and to help you enjoy the Arctic wilderness like a true local. We are often asked about what sort of light is available during our activities in December and January and the simple answer is that there is more light available during our morning activities than there is on our afternoon trips. While guests on our activities in the morning often enjoy beautiful Arctic light including glowing hues of pink and purple most of our afternoon activities will take place in pure darkness. While our guests often assume that joining one of our activities in Abisko during the darkest time of the year would be less than ideal, this thought process could not be further from the truth. To see Arctic nature in its pure, dark form is a spellbinding experience and allows you to get a true sense of what it is like to live in the Arctic. The stars will be shining, the lights from your headlamp will illuminate the ice crystals in the air and the silence of the north will be something that you never forget. Book your guided tour in Abisko in the morning or the afternoon and know that you will have the time of your life all while in the hands of top rated, professional guides!

Unfortunately we do not offer a discount if you want to use your own camera during the tour. We always recommend that you use the cameras that are included with the tour due to the fact that we have pre programmed our cameras to perfectly capture the auroras. It is also highly recommended that you use our cameras because we carry a large supply of spare batteries so you will not have to worry about running out of power when you need it the most.

Finally, our guides are intimately familiar with the cameras we provide so they can help sort out any issues that may arise during the tour. Due to the fact that there are so many different types of cameras on the market we can not guarantee that we will be able to help you adjust the settings on your private camera.

Please note that the cameras we use are older model DSLR cameras. We have tested countless different camera systems in the Arctic environment and have come to the conclusion that legacy DSLR cameras from the last 15 years tend to perform the best in the Arctic environment that our tours occur in. The reason for this all comes down to battery life: older models of DSLR cameras use a more robust style of battery chemistry and consume far less electricity than more modern mirrorless cameras which makes them the perfect companion for an evening aurora adventure. While the cameras are slightly older you can rest assured that this is by design and that the image quality is still very modern and will allow you to capture incredible images of the northern lights!

The lens upgrade is a faster wide angle prime lens that will allow you to use a faster shutter speed and capture sharper aurora images. The standard lens on our trip is a 18-55 zoom lens and it does a great job but the upgraded lens is a faster 14mm prime lens designed to work with our Nikons. We have a limited number of lenses available so make sure and book it in advance if you want to use it on one of our excursions.

Our warm overalls are designed to be worn over your warm clothing as a one piece outer layer.

Yes, you can absolutely change overalls when you are here if they do not fit. We just collect your size in advance to be able to prepare for the tour before you arrive. We offer overalls in the sizes XS-XXL (unisex) and they are usually the same size as you would have on a T-shirt.

Our cameras support SD cards up to 128 GB. You need to bring a standard SD card to use in our cameras. Mini SD cards and Micro SD cards will not work. Even if you have an adapter for these, we can not guarantee that they will work in our cameras. Here is an example of what kind of SD card you need to have: SanDisk Ultra 32 GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card. We recommend a minimum of 4 GB/night. We also have these memory cards for sale if you have trouble finding them on your own (250 SEK for an 32 GB card).

• We recommend bringing a digital SLR or mirrorless camera for the best results. Pocket cameras, even high-end models, typically won’t capture high-quality aurora photos.Camera rentals are only available on our Autumn Abisko Aurora Chase. A full camera kit is included in the Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure and in all of our multi-day holiday packages.
• Be aware that battery life can be lackluster in the cold. Bring lots of extra batteries.
• Fast,  wide angle lens. A minimum aperture of f3.5 will work but f2.8 or faster is recommended. An 18mm lens is a good minimum starting point when using a crop sensor DSLR.
• Stable tripod. Inexpensive low quality tripods will fail under the extremely cold conditions present above the Arctic Circle.
• Extra batteries for ALL equipment. Expect your batteries to function approximately one third as long as they would under normal conditions.
• Battery chargers. For camera and flash batteries.
• Memory cards. 16GB/night recommended.
• If you prefer to use a cell phone, modern cell phones can produce incredible images of auroras – especially bright auroras. If you use a cell phone, battery life can be severely affected by cold, so a battery bank and a charging cable is highly recommended.
• If you use a cell phone, we highly recommend a cell phone tripod mount in order to keep the image as stable as possible.

We generally recommend that you book your activities as soon as possible as they often get fully booked closer in time. If there are still spaces available when you arrive, you can book most activities up to a couple of hours before they start.

Both Abisko Mountain Lodge and STF Abisko Tourist Station have hair dryers to borrow from the reception. Some of the rooms also have hair dryers in them so there is no need for you to bring your own.

Cash is usually not needed in Sweden as most places accept credit cards like Visa and MasterCard. However, it is always a good idea to bring some cash in case of emergencies or if you want to consider leaving a tip for anyone who has helped make your trip an enjoyable one. There is no ATM in Abisko, so we recommend using an ATM at the Stockholm airport or in the City of Kiruna.

• Please know that our guides are all very well taken care of and that tipping is not compulsory or expected in Sweden. If you feel a member of the team goes above and beyond to make your trip extra special then it is absolutely acceptable to leave them a tip as a gesture of appreciation for their efforts.

While we would love to squeeze you in, our tours availability are usually connected to the amount of seats available in a vehicle so squeezing extra people in is not always as easy as it sounds. We do offer wait lists for sold out tours so please sign up to our wait list and we will contact you if something becomes available! If enough people sign up to our wait lists, we can look into the possibility of adding another guide to a tour if we have one available.

Our aurora tour season runs from early October until the last weekend of March and we are not operational during the summer months. The season ends in March because daylight saving time begins on the last Sunday of the month, and after the spring equinox, the nights become too bright for successful aurora viewing.

In April, our team takes a well-deserved break, and we reopen in October to start a new season.

If you’re planning to visit Abisko in spring or summer, we recommend staying with Accommodation in Abisko, which offers cozy houses and a hostel. You can find their listings on booking.com.

Drones are not allowed inside the National Park; this includes around the STF hotel as the hotel is situated inside the national park. You can use the drone outside the NP boundary; however, it is worth considering that the very cold temperatures that you may experience when you are here will severely reduce battery life, so you may not be able to fly the drone for very long. We know of at least one person who lost their drone in a very icy waterfall due to the battery running out!

Abisko is located in a unique valley with a micro-climate that often surprises us with clear skies, even when the weather forecast suggests otherwise. For this reason, we don’t rely too much on forecasts since the conditions here can change quickly and often for the better! We will only cancel a tour if the conditions are deemed unsafe for our guides and guests.

Our photo tours are designed with adults in mind, and may not be suitable for younger children. Because of this, we have the following age limits in place:

• Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure –  Minimum age: 10
• 4-night Customisable Aurora Holiday  – Minimum age: 16
• Anytime Aurora Adventure  – Minimum age: 10
  

The only exception is our 4-night 100% Private Aurora Escape, which is ideal for families. Since this package is fully private, we can adjust the experience to suit your children’s needs.

If you’re unsure whether a tour is the right fit for your family, feel free to email us at [email protected]  and we’ll happily help with planning.

Please note: Children under the age of 15 will need to share a camera with an adult on our individual photo tours and holiday packages.