Northern Lights Cruise Holidays

It tops so many travellers’ wish lists: to experience the Northern Lights. These mysterious dancing arcs, ripples and rays of light that cast an eerie glow across the Arctic sky are caused by collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The Sámi people, indigenous to Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, believed the lights were magic, that the ‘fires’ in the sky were the souls of the dead. In Norse myth, the rainbow colours were reflections of the shields of Valkyrie warriors marching into battle.

Seeing the Northern Lights is on many people’s bucket list. But as a natural phenomenon, they can be elusive, and catching sight of the mesmeric light show in all its glory can be down to luck as much as time of year, location and weather. It’s best to be above a latitude of 60°N, and although solar activity occurs throughout the year, the light summer months render the northern lights invisible to the eye. So between September and April can be the best time to go on a Northern Lights holiday

The Northern Lights are one of the most incredible – and elusive – natural wonders on earth. They’re most likely to make an appearance in a remote place at a high latitude in the depths of winter, and Alta's In Search of the Northern Lights shore experience fits that description perfectly.