The Best Time to See the Northern Lights: the Month, the Hour and the Moon

The best time to see the northern lights is from September to March, between about 10 pm and 2 am, on a clear night away from a full moon. Of those months, the weeks around the September and March equinoxes are the most active: across the European destinations on this site, 30% of dark hours in September and 29% in March had a Kp index of 3 or more in 2015 to 2025, against 18% in January. Midwinter has the longest nights and, inland, often the clearest. If you cannot choose the week, choose a tour that covers a blank night: Arctic GM’s Rovaniemi tour refunds you if the guide’s camera captures no aurora.

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The month

The aurora is there all year under the oval, but you can only see it in the dark. On this site a month counts as in season when a destination gets at least four hours a night with the sun more than 12° below the horizon. That rules out the far north from about mid-April to late August. Within the season, the equinox months bring more activity and the solstice months more darkness, and the cloud decides between them. The month picker on the home page shows every place for every month.

Checked October 2026. Clear dark hours: dark hours times the cloud-free share of the night, NASA POWER 2001 to 2025.

For Tromsø alone, the clearest months on our measure are November, December and January; tromsonorthernlightsexcursions.com covers the Tromsø season and its tours in more detail. The months one by one: September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April.

The hour

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center says the best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight, between 10 pm and 2 am local time. Tours are timed for that: most leave in the evening and stay out past midnight.

The moon

A full moon lowers the apparent brightness of the aurora, though not its actual brightness, NOAA notes. Strong displays still show through moonlight; faint ones fade. The darkest nights are within a few days of the new moon.

The best time in Iceland and Norway

In Iceland the season runs from September to March, best on our measure in November, December and January. In northern Norway it runs from September to March, best in November, December and January. See Iceland and Norway.

Why a tour still matters in the best month

Even in the best month, most nights on the coast are cloudy, and the forecast that matters most is the cloud, which is free to read. A guided tour adds the reach: guides who read the radar each evening and drive to the clear sky, sometimes into Sweden from Rovaniemi, and on Arctic GM’s tour a 100% refund if the camera catches nothing. That turns a badly timed week into a safe booking.