Northern Lights Tip 7: When to Book a Tour

Hello folks, and sorry for have keeping you waiting for so long, but here I am: back and ready to spread critical Northern Lights Knowledge to you all! So, if I remember correctly, I promised to write something about how to book a tour didn’t I? Yes, of course, this is just a rhetorical question so I will cut down this lengthy introduction and present you with my few pence’ worth of opinion on the question of Northern Lights tours booking.

I often get emails from prospective visitors who are planning to visit Iceland, and some of them, unsurprisingly enough ask me if they should book their tours in advance. Well, my answer in short would be:

No

Like: Not a Freaking Way in Hell

Like: Never do that unless someone puts the barrel of a gun on your head

Never

Never

Never!!!

Is that clear folks? I hope so, because I don’t wanna waste more space stating the obvious, I would rather try to explain my position:

As a Northern Lights Hunter, I sometimes guide tourists who have booked their tour weeks or even months in advance and some that partake in a hunt as a part of a package tour. These guests are basically playing with fire: Booking your Northern Lights tour in advance is the Worst possible way to hunt the Lights: It completely minimizes your chances of actually seeing the Northern Lights and could (and will, believe me) lead to a very frustrating night spent fighting snowstorms instead of actually seeing the Aurora.

The reason: well, if you guys have had the privilege and luck to read my previous articles on how to prepare a tour, you will most likely have understood that two of the three critical factors that lead to the sighting (or not) or the Northern Lights, namely Weather and Solar Activity cannot be predicted much in advance. Therefore, by booking a tour weeks, or even days in advance, you might either end up with a very good Northern Lights display or a crappy useless ride into the countryside, and that’d a shame wouldn’t it? Instead of carefully planning your tour and saving both time and money, you, (yes You!), by booking a tour way in advance and without the knowledge of what makes a Northern Light visible, would be actually gambling with the devil, and there´s a tip for you: don’t gamble with the devil, he’s a nasty little well…devil, he can and he WILL cheat you.

Conclusion? NEVER ever book a Northern Lights tour in advance. There’s so much tour operators out there that you’ll almost be guaranteed a tour virtually every night of the winter, given there’s any chance. Instead, plan one, or maximum two days in advance, no more. Check the weather forecast, the Solar activity level and you’ll be able to multiply your chances of seeing the Northern Lights by like, a million time (at least…)

So yes, that’d all for today folks, good luck in your attempts to see the Northern Lights and see you later.