Lights over Lapland AB — Hotel in Kiruna kommun

I booked the Ultimate Aurora Photo Adventure (UAPA) tour with Lights Over Lapland (LOL) for my wife and I and we are completely satisfied with our experience, bucket list item checked! Based on what I read about hunting the Aurora in Abisko I booked four nights of Aurora hunting with LOL, but due to my delayed action I wasn’t able to book all four nights on the UAPA, so two nights were with the Abisko Aurora Chase (AAC). Fortunately for us I kept watching the booking site and found that two slots opened for one of our nights, so I immediately changed our booking with no problem. This change will have a significant impact on our dream to see the Aurora; more on that later. Chris Hodgson was our guide for two nights (check him out he has a website), Chris is an outstanding guide and we were blessed to have him show us the ropes and get us to the right spot at the right time. The first night of our adventure we didn’t “see” the Aurora, it was easily captured by the camera and with a little time we could start to make out the faint wisps, kind of like light clouds/smoke, no color. That lasted for about 30 minutes and at times it was even hard for the camera, that was it for the first night, feeling good and a bit cold also 😉. The second night of our adventure was epic for us and this is where the change in tour from AAC to UAPA made this trip the success it was. Chris was our guide again; we arrived on site and had our cameras set and I took my first test shot at about 9pm and immediately caught the Aurora. It was wispy for a few minutes then about 9:14pm the big show started and lasted until about 9:40pm, then calmed down but still visible for another 10 minutes. After this time is was mostly camera visible but eye visible in spurts in between until we packed up for the night at about 11:20pm. During the calm period Chris gave his presentation on the science of the Aurora, interesting stuff. I would later learn that another group missed this show because that group started later than ours, it’s all unpredictable as our third night would show. Our third night was a bit up in the air, we drove around trying to find a clear sky spot, we ended up heading back to the village to hopefully catch an opening in the sky. We arrived on site around 10pm and I took my first test shot at 10:10pm and caught the Aurora, again only visible by the camera. We waited and waited for the Aurora to show, then when our guide mentioned we would pack up and call it a night the Aurora did show (visible but weak) only for about 8 minutes. We decided to call it a night and as luck would have it a strong Aurora came out and I rushed to get my camera out to snap a few pictures, it was a good show that lasted about 7 minutes of eye visible lights then another 5 minutes of camera visible lights before finally packing up for the night. Our fourth night was a no go, the weather all day was terrible, high winds, clouds, snow, it was so bad that LOL called it off for safety and issued a refund upon request. I kind of wished this night was clear because it was 27 Feb 23, from all reports probably an Epic night for the Aurora as there were reports of the Aurora being seen as far south as France, but our trip was a success anyway. Now I kind of want to see it all again, it was that amazing. If you do plan on going Aurora hunting try to plan multiple nights to give you the best chance of seeing the lights. If you book with Lights Over Lapland, I highly recommend you take the plunge and book the Ultimate Photo Adventure vs. the Abisko Aurora Chase. Also, spend the $30.00 to upgrade your lens to the 14mm lens, it makes a big difference, I’m posting pairs of pics from both lenses with approximately the same POV for comparison. Give yourself the best chance of seeing the lights by planning four nights of hunting. Remember the first rule of Aurora hunting; expect the worst and hope for the best and you won’t be disappointed. Don’t know if that is a rule, but if it isn’t then I said it first, lol. ...

4 days in the Arctic circle chasing Aurora had been planned for 18 months. Now on arrival the autumnal weather we had expected was very much more winter wonderland than autumnal. This had draw backs because snow needs clouds and we wanted a clear sky. So after a night spent in the ice hotel in Kiruna ( warm room, we were not that brave) all arranged by lights over Lapland, we were contacted on WhatsApp by Sara our guide and invited to join a WhatsApp group to ensure we all knew what was going on. At 2pm Sara arrived to drive us through “heavy snow”. (I live in Perth Australia, where snow on our highest peak is newsworthy) so the snow might have been considered “lite” locally. Sara suggested that our visit to the Sami village was best done before leaving for Abisko and on realisation of its location we all agreed, and had a great time learning and patting reluctant reindeer and baking flat bread. We also popped into the church next door for further photo opportunities. Then onto the 1.5 hour drive north through said snow, on arrival to our accommodation, we were travelling as two couples and were surprised at one room with a double bed one with twin singles, we made the best of this with singles pulled together ( it was too late before we mentioned this to Sara, who explained she could get us a double mattress if we wanted, note to other visitors, your guide can only fix things they know about). We were talked through our pantry and what was good for our gluten intolerant guest, and our first night Aurora hunting was planned to start after a quick evening meal. Sara arrived shortly after an announcement from WhatsApp and headed off in search of clear sky’s, it is important to bring your passport as Abisko is close to Norway and it’s probable that you will need to cross borders. We encountered lots of snow and no clear sky’s but with Sara’s help got a few group photos and realised later that behind the clouds Aurora were dancing. Our first 3 days had our individual tailored adventures put on for us by Sara but stubbornly cloudy sky’s but on our 4th day Once again the morning had us walking through stunning landscapes with the occasional sighting of wild reindeer. Sara let us know that the evenings weather was not looking promising and as such we would head to Narvik bay in Norway for a, fire, cooked evening meal and an evening of fun company, even if the weather and Aurora were not going to deliver. So after a road trip with lots of singing we arrived, set up our cameras and sat down to Sara’s excellent cooking. After a while Sara suggested that as the cloud was clearing we should check our cameras and a small amount of Aurora could be seen on our images. The Aurora rose and fell as the clouds slowly cleared to an almost cloudless sky and over the next 5 hours the Aurora put on a slowly increasing show from only visible to the camera to clearly visible with the naked eye to eventually, so good we stopped taking photos and just marvelled at the spectacle. We arrived back at the accommodation, about 3am too elated to sleep, even with our airport pickup scheduled for 6 hours time. Sara had delivered what even she had admitted was an unlikely, spectacular Aurora experience. Which our cameras had great evidence of with my biggest issue, being able to choose from so many great images.

So after my rather long review, would I recommend Lights over Lapland, for Aurora tours, most certainly and we are already talking about when we can...

If you're reading this and still wondering about going with Light Over Lapland, just do it. These guys know what they're doing. While they can't guarantee the aurora or Northern Lights, they'll do everything they can to make sure you have every opportunity to see and photograph it once it shows up.

From the moment we arrived in Abisko, Sara our guide was there to greet us and show us around. Later we had dinner with Sara, and our small group, before heading out see if the aurora would show up. For the first two nights we didn't see anything. Even Sara said she couldn't believe it. Then, on the third night, the magic happened. It really is a amazing experience. Almost like when you still believed in Santa Clause on Christmas morning.

It's recommended to do activites in the morning, since you'll really only see the aurora in the early night, or mostly late at night. We did the morning hike in the national park with a very informative and friendly, Cecilia. It's on an already used trail, so you don't need snow shoes. The wind was howling as we walked close to the lake. Something we probably wouldn't have done without our guide. I also did the photography morning landscape photography adventure. It was just myself. Sara was my own personal photography guide. We visited lots of great locations, which I'd never have found on my own. It was nice to geek out on photography with another photographer. Thank you Sara for listening to me babble on. On our third day we went dog sledding and our driver or musher was Ana. She was nice to agree to my requests to go faster and faster :-)

Having seen the aurora on the third night we set out again on our last night, after dinner, with our guide, Sara. The gods were in our favor again and we saw the aurora for our last night in Abisko. Sara provided a nice surprise with an unexpected visit to Claudio's caravan. Claudio was more than welcoming to show us around his caravan. We couldn't stay because the caravan wasn't made for nine people, but we appreciated Claudio's warm welcome.

If you're still reading this, just do it. It's a once in a lifetime experience and everyone at Lights over Lapland really do fall over themselves to make sure you have a good time. Thanks again, Rachel, Cecilia, Claudio and last, but certainly not...