There are two ways to see the northern lights. Travel to where the aurora lives, up near the poles where it glows most nights of the year, or wait for the aurora to travel to you, on the nights a geomagnetic storm pushes it far south. This guide covers both, starting with the places where your odds are best.
The best countries to see the northern lights
- Iceland sits right under the oval. Dark winters, open country, easy to reach from both sides of the Atlantic.
- Norway, especially Tromso and the far north, is one of the most reliable places on Earth for the lights.
- Finland and Swedish Lapland pair high aurora odds with clear inland skies and long dark winters.
- Canada, from Yukon to the Northwest Territories, sits under the oval with some of the darkest skies anywhere. Yellowknife is a classic base.
- Scotland and northern Scandinavia catch strong displays when activity picks up.
- Alaska, around Fairbanks, is the premier aurora destination in the United States.
The best US states to see the northern lights
Beyond Alaska, the northern tier of the lower forty eight catches the aurora whenever a storm pushes the oval south. The farther north and the darker the sky, the better:
- Minnesota and the Boundary Waters, some of the darkest skies in the country.
- Michigan, especially the Upper Peninsula and the Keweenaw, looking north over Lake Superior.
- Montana, North Dakota and Idaho, wide dark northern horizons.
- Washington and the North Cascades.
- Maine and the northern New England sky.
- Wisconsin and the northern Great Lakes shoreline.
On a strong storm, the lights push much farther still. In the 2024 storms the aurora reached the southern United States and beyond, which is the whole point of the next section.
How to pick the spot, wherever you are
Three things decide whether you see it from a given place: get away from city light, get a clear view low to the north, and get a clear sky with no cloud. A lake shore, a hilltop, a dark rural road facing north. That is the recipe anywhere on Earth.
Let the aurora come to you.
You do not have to fly to Iceland. Several times a year a storm brings the lights to ordinary skies, usually with a day or less of warning. Magna Earth watches the auroral oval over your exact coordinates and tells you the hour it crosses into your sky, so you catch it from home instead of reading about it the next morning.
Know the night it reaches you — from $14/mo