Ribbons of brilliance, dazzling displays and ethereal stargazing – the Northern Lights are a lifetime highlight for those lucky enough to witness the intriguing spectacle. Famously, orchestrating a glimpse of the elusive celestial ballet requires that a lot of factors fall into place. Clear viewing conditions, a great vantage point and a lot of patience are a must to watch the lights dance at their most visible between September and March.
To maximise your chances of a rare Northern Lights sighting, you’ll need to head for locations with the latitude to host nature’s best performance, and chances of a successful sighting soar on the remote Arctic Ocean . Forget shivering on city-side snowscapes you were ferried to by coach, and instead float far from light pollution, gliding past giant ice cubes on luxury vessels beneath the dramatic backdrop of the aurora borealis. With cruises bound for Norway , Iceland , Canada and Greenland chasing the cosmic whisps of purple and green, here’s our guide to the sailings primed for illuminated skies.
Read more on cruises : Departs: Oslo, Norway Arrives: Bergen, Norway Hunting the aurora borealis with Hurtigruten entails a journey from capital Oslo to North Cape on the Arctic Norwegian coast, in the hopes of watching the ultimate light performance. Think frost-tipped mountains, icy fjords and some serious snow with stops at Tromsø, aurora hotspot Alta, and Honningsvåg, Norway’s northernmost city, along the way. A voyage on the 1.