Can you see the northern lights in Kiruna tonight?

To see the northern lights in Kiruna, you need darkness and reasonably clear weather. Kiruna Lappland says Kiruna has plenty of darkness and is far enough north that even minimal solar activity is enough to see the northern lights, making weather the most unreliable factor. Moving a little further out from central Kiruna takes you away from the worst light pollution.

When to see the northern lights in Kiruna

Kiruna Lappland says Kiruna's location within the northern polar aurora oval offers fantastic opportunities to see the northern lights from September to March, and that September, October and March usually bring the strongest and most vivid displays. You can check how long the nights are across these months. Kiruna Lappland also says active northern lights can be seen almost every evening during the dark season.

According to Kiruna Lappland, you have the chance to see the northern lights as soon as it is dark enough outside and the weather is reasonably clear, and in the winter season you can often see them as early as 4 p.m. In Scandinavia, the most active northern lights usually appear between 9 and 11 p.m.

Because Kiruna has plenty of darkness and minimal solar activity is enough to see the lights, Kiruna Lappland states that the weather is the most unreliable factor. Kiruna has a subarctic climate, and the weather can change very quickly, from starry skies to snowfall before you have had time to put on all your clothes.

How to get to Kiruna

Kiruna can be reached by air or by rail from Stockholm.

By plane

SAS and Norwegian both fly Stockholm Arlanda to Kiruna all year round, a flight of around 90 minutes. Kiruna Lappland says SAS will operate direct flights between Copenhagen and Kiruna from December to March. If there is no direct flight to Kiruna, Evenes Airport (Harstad/Narvik) in Norway has several direct international flights and is about three hours from Kiruna by car.

Swedavia says Kiruna Airport is about 9 km from Kiruna centre. The airport bus runs daily between Kiruna Airport and the town in connection with all flight departures and arrivals. The airport coach ticket is bought on board, in cash or with most cards, and the airport has no cash machine.

By train

Kiruna Lappland lists SJ's night train among the ways to take the train to Kiruna. From Stockholm you can sleep part of the journey on it; it runs between Stockholm and Narvik, and you choose a seat, a sleeping car or, in first class, your own sleeping compartment with shower and toilet, with breakfast included in first class.

Kiruna Lappland says train tickets should be bought online in advance, because they cannot be bought at the station or on board. A free shuttle bus runs every day, all year, between the town centre and the train station for all train arrivals and departures. It leaves for the station about 15 to 30 minutes before the train's scheduled departure, and still leaves at that scheduled time if the train is delayed; at the station it waits for all trains, whatever time they arrive.

Kiruna Lappland says the town is being transformed because the land is needed for industrial purposes, so that the town and the mining industry can coexist. The new centre is three kilometres east of old Kiruna, and roads and railways have already been redirected.

Where to stand to see the aurora

The lights can sometimes be seen from central Kiruna, but it is better to move a little further out, away from the worst light pollution.

Kiruna Lappland calls Camp Ripan a good location within the town, noting it has specially adapted street lamps with downward-angled screens so the northern lights are more visible. Kiruna Lappland also says the town mountain, Luossavaara, offers excellent opportunities to see the lights across the mountains; walk a little beyond the hill, past the car park, for the best view.

Kiruna Lappland advises turning off the lights and not using your phone, noting that after about 20 minutes you will be almost as good as an owl. Kiruna Lappland suggests a seat pad or reindeer skin, warm clothes and shoes in layers, reflectors, snacks and hot drinks, extra batteries or a power bank, and hand warmers for a night out, because cold weather drains batteries faster than you think.

A local guide knows where the sky is clearest, and Kiruna Lappland says a guided tour can offer more than seeing the northern lights, such as dog sledding, a snowmobile ride, learning photography or a northern lights hunt by minibus. You can compare this area with other places to see the northern lights, or travel on to the mountain village of Abisko.

A trip out to Jukkasjärvi

Jukkasjärvi, home of Icehotel, is about 18 km outside Kiruna, reached on the E10 south then the signs, or by Länstrafiken Norrbotten bus 501, paid by card on board, with limited departures at weekends. Kiruna Lappland calls Icehotel the world's first and largest hotel built of snow and ice; it was first built in 1989 and has been reborn every winter, from mid-December until mid-April.