Created by electrically charged particles from the sun colliding with gaseous particles, the or Aurora Borealis are reason enough to travel to , and this year. Staying at the best Northern Lights hotels is one of those experiences that feature on just about anyone’s , even though it's impossible to predict sightings even with modern forecasting methods. When it comes to increasing your chances of a sighting, the between September and can be very good and comes with the advantage that you don’t have to bundle yourself up in quite so many layers against the cold – although our favourite Northern Lights hotels mostly have accommodation that has been specially designed so you can watch for the epic display from your room, or igloo.
Autumn also gives you the benefit of longer evenings and more compact darkness because the glare of the hasn’t yet arrived, plus the chance of enjoying the lovely of the foliage. But, because it's not well known that you can experience the Northern Lights so early in the year, destinations and places to stay tend to be quieter. There's no denying the charm of a winter trip when you can also immerse yourself fully in spectacular snowy landscapes, on foot or by other means such as husky safaris or snowshoeing – again, most of our listed hotels will organise those activities for you.
Here are our favourite Northern Lights hotels in , Sweden, Finland and for a cold-weather escape...
In Mestervik in the heart of northern Norway, at a meeting point.
