Short answer
- Aurora season: roughly September to March, whenever the sky is dark and clear.
- Darkest: late November to mid January. Tromsø has no sunrise at all; Rovaniemi gets about two hours of daylight.
- Cancellations: tours are called off for storms and unsafe roads. Aurora tours usually go even when cloudy, and chase the gaps.
Winter in the Arctic is long, dark and, in Lapland, properly cold. None of that stops tours running, but it shapes when you go, how you plan your days, and what to expect when the weather turns.
Darkness and daylight
The aurora needs a dark sky, so the season runs from about September, when nights grow long enough, to March. In Tromsø the sun stays below the horizon from late November to mid January: the polar night. There is still a few hours of blue twilight around midday. Rovaniemi sits on the Arctic Circle and keeps a little sun: about two hours of daylight around 21 December, rising to four or five hours on average in January.
In practice this means daytime tours (snowmobiles, huskies, fjords) are squeezed into late morning and early afternoon in midwinter, and it is dark by mid-afternoon. By late February and March the days are long again, the snow is deep, and you get daylight activities and aurora nights in the same day.
Cold
| Tromsø | Rovaniemi | |
|---|---|---|
| Climate | Coastal, mild for the Arctic, damp and windy | Inland, cold and dry |
| January average | About −2 to −4 °C | About −8 to −10 °C |
| Cold spells | Rarely far below −10 °C | Below −20 °C, sometimes much colder |
| Snow | Wet snow and rain both possible | Dry, lasting snow cover through winter |
Wind matters as much as temperature. On the coast it brings wet snow; on a snowmobile you make your own. See what to wear.
Roads and driving yourself
Rental cars come with winter tyres, and main roads are cleared, but driving in the Arctic winter is not like driving at home: long dark hours, snow and ice, and, in Lapland, reindeer on the road. If you are not used to it, let a tour do the driving at night. In Lofoten a car is the usual way to get around, so drive in daylight when you can, and allow extra time.
When tours are cancelled
- Storms and unsafe roads are the usual reason. The operator cancels, and you are offered another date or a refund.
- Aurora tours rarely cancel for cloud. They chase it: that is what you pay for. A few tours refund you if no aurora is captured on camera; see what the guarantee covers.
- Free cancellation is offered on most tours we list, typically up to 24 hours before. Each listing states its own terms.
Two habits help: book your aurora tour for the first nights of your stay, so a cancelled or cloudy night leaves time for another; and keep a buffer day before your flight home, since winter flights in the north are sometimes delayed by weather.
Plan the aurora early, the flight home late, and everything else around the light.
Choosing where to stay? Tromsø or Rovaniemi. New to booking through us? Here is how it works.
Climate figures are long-term averages from public weather records; daylight figures are for the towns themselves. Tour terms were checked in our catalogue on 8 November 2026.
Links to tours go to Viator. If you book, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Prices and ratings change often.