Svolvær is Lofoten's main town, the place most flights and ferries land, and it has by far the widest hotel selection on the islands. It's a pretty city, but it’s not the only option nearby if you want something slightly more scenic. Kabelvåg is right next door, and Henningsvær, one of Lofoten's most photographed fishing villages, is about a 30-minute drive away. Here's where to stay in Svolvær and around.

We've spent winters all over the Arctic: Alta, Senja, Tromsø & Lofoten in Norway, Swedish & Finnish Lapland, Iceland and Greenland. So when people write to ask where else to go because Tromsø is booked out, we've usually just come back from one of those alternatives ourselves.

We've even recommended Tromsø before, as a calmer, less commercial answer to Rovaniemi in our Magical Alternatives to Rovaniemi guide. The trouble is, the same thing that made Rovaniemi worth escaping has started catching up with Tromsø: sold-out hotel, tour buses queued at the same handful of viewpoints, and prices that climb every winter the city gets more popular. Here are the alternatives to Tromsø we’d recommend for the northern lights, and what you'd be trading to go there.

We've been to Lofoten several times but we’ve watched the aurora show up over Lofoten from a hotel window exactly once, standing by the pier at Kaikanten Rorbuer in October. Most nights it doesn't work out that well, and you often need to drive for clearer skies. But some bases put you closer to that outcome than others. Cabins with the fjord right outside, villages dark enough that you don't need to drive anywhere if Lady Aurora and Mister Weather decide to join forces. Here are our favorite northern lights hotels in Lofoten. But as usual for the aurora, treat them as a bonus rather than an absolute goal.

We've spent different seasons all over the Arctic: Kiruna, Abisko, Luleå, Alta, Tromsø, Lofoten, Svalbard, and Finnish Lapland outside Rovaniemi too. So, when people ask us to pick between Tromsø, Rovaniemi, and Kiruna, we're quite qualified to answer.

These are the three biggest, easiest-to-reach Arctic hubs in Europe, one in each country, and they're different trips wearing the same "see the northern lights" marketing and Sámi culture. I actually covered this lack of differentiation in my Master thesis on polar tourism! Here's how Tromsø, Rovaniemi and Kiruna compare, and how to get between them if you’d like to combine.

Lofoten, Norway, looks small on a map, but it drives slow. The E10 threads through tunnels and along fjord edges, most side roads narrow down to a single lane with passing places, and the drive from Å to Svolvær takes a lot longer than the distance suggests. Plus, you’ll want to stop all the time to take photos… or just take it all in!

A rental car is how you actually see the islands beyond the villages your bus or tour drops you at, but where you rent one is worth thinking through before you arrive.

You can drive from Tromsø to Lofoten, Norway, in a straight shot down the E6 and E10, and plenty of people do. But we've met a lot of travelers doing this same drive by car or campervan who take the long way through Senja instead, and every one of them said it was worth the extra time. We can only agree!

Here's how to get to Lofoten from Tromsø, detailing both routes, add-ons, what to see in between, and whether the ferry timing lines up with your dates.

We've been coming to Tromsø, Norway, across every season for years now, climbing half-frozen trails with crampons in May, hiking at midnight under a sun that never sets in June, and waiting out a week of clouds for one clear March night before we finally saw the aurora.

There isn't one right answer to when you should visit Tromsø; there's a right answer for whatever you're interested in doing and seeing. Come for the northern lights and you want the dark months. Come for whales and you want a narrower window inside those same dark months. Come for the midnight sun, hiking, or a fjord cruise and you want the exact opposite end of the year.

Here's a seasonal breakdown of the best time to visit Tromsø, based on our different experiences.

Lofoten looks like it should be hard to reach: a chain of islands hanging off the top of Norway, ringed by open ocean. In practice it isn't, and you have more options than you would expect given the remoteness. You can fly straight into Svolvær or Leknes, take the Bodø ferry with your rental car, ride the Hurtigruten in past the incredible "Lofoten wall," or, and this surprises people, drive in without a ferry at all. Here is every way to get to Lofoten — we tried them all!

Alta gets called the northern lights capital of Norway for a reason. Dark skies, low light pollution once you're a bit outside of town, and an aurora season that runs from late September through early April. And, as usual with northern lights, where you sleep matters. This is a rundown of the best northern lights hotels in Alta to optimize your chances.

We've watched the sunset from Mount Aksla, hiked on Runde bird island, tried the floating sauna Svai when the sea was 4 degrees, and almost stayed forever deep in the Summøre Alps & fjords.

Ålesund, Norway, definitely rewards that kind of wandering, and where you stay changes the trip. A harborside room in the Art Nouveau center is a different experience than a night an hour inland with a fjord out the window! Here's our selection of hotels in Ålesund, and in the surrounding Sunnmøre Alps and fjords.

Reine is the name on every Lofoten postcard, but it's not really just one place. What people mean by "Reine rorbuer" usually stretches across a string of small settlements tucked along the same stretch of coastline, Hamnøy, Sakrisøy, Olenilsøy, Toppøy, Andøy, each with its own rorbuer (read fisherman’s houses), its own dramatic view, and its own personality. Here’s our guide to the best rorbuer in Reine and around, because it’s the most authentic and picturesque accommodation you can stay at.

Lofoten isn't one destination; it's a chain of islands strung together by bridges and a single road. And where you sleep decides how much of it you see, especially if you have a short amount of time. Base yourself wrong and you'll spend half your trip driving back and forth for dinner. Base yourself right, and everything from the Reinebringen sunrise to the last ferry out is fifteen minutes away. This is a village-by-village breakdown of where to stay in Lofoten, built around what each area is good for.

For the full list of specific hotels and resorts across the islands, our Best Hotels & Resorts in Lofoten guide has the complete picks; this one is about choosing the right base first. We stayed at a few!

Sommarøy, Arctic Norway, is the kind of place that looks photoshopped until you're standing on it: turquoise water, white sand, and mountains right behind the beach, all an hour from downtown Tromsø. It's earned the nickname the Caribbean of the North for that reason… although the water temperature will quickly bring you back to reality.
We went on a sunny Sunday in May and the place was packed with locals. We did it as a day trip between Kvaløya and Senja, but you can just as easily stay the night. And you probably should. Here are the best things to do in Sommarøy, and everything else you need to know!

Tromsø, Norway, is better connected than its latitude on the map suggests: a busy airport, a long-haul bus that runs all the way into Finnish Lapland, and a coastal ferry route that's been calling here for more than a century. What it doesn't have is a railway, which throws off a lot of people planning a Norway rail trip around it. Here's how to get to Tromsø, whether you're flying in from Europe or working your way up through Norway, Finland, or Sweden.

Do you need a car in Tromsø to go hiking? Not always. Our full best hikes in Tromsø guide covers everything, including the ones you need a car for, but plenty of the best trails are doable in Tromsø without a car at all. This is the shorter, more specific version: the 9 hikes here are reachable on Tromsø's local buses, and we added 4 with an overnight stay.

Some of these hikes are possible year-round (with snowshoes or skis in winter), and some are only accessible from late spring to early fall. Also note that buses are infrequent during the weekends and national holidays (sometimes not running at all). Check on Svipper to plan ahead!

Bodø, Norway, doesn't get talked about as a road trip base the way Lofoten does, but it's often the smarter place to actually pick up your rental. It's a bigger city with more cars and companies; it sits right at the ferry crossing into Lofoten, and its own surroundings are worth exploring by car too, whether you've got an afternoon or a week (or a lifetime?).

Bodø sits right on Norway's coast above the Arctic Circle, which makes it one of the easier places in the country to catch the aurora. It's also the mainland's usual jumping off point for Lofoten, so plenty of travelers end up chasing the lights in both places on the same trip. Follow our guide to see the northern lights in Bodø!

Tromsø, Norway, has more northern lights tour operators than anywhere else in the Arctic. Between Viator, GetYourGuide, and local operators, you're looking at a very long list, and a lot of the listings sound nearly identical: the same campfire photo, the same "expert guides," often the same word "guaranteed" somewhere in the title.

If you haven't already, read our full Northern Lights in Tromsø guide for best time of year, best spots, and forecast tools. This article is just about picking the right tour: what the different types actually mean, what's worth paying more for, and what "guaranteed viewing" really means.

Senja, Norway, gets compared to Lofoten constantly, and the comparison holds right up until you notice how empty the roads are. Same jagged peaks, same fishing heritage, same beaches that shouldn't exist this far north, but far fewer people, far fewer signposts, far fewer villages, and long stretches where you won't pass another car. It's less “developed” as a destination, in the best way. Here are the best things to do in Senja beyond the hiking trails, whether you're not up for a strenuous summit or you just want to fill the days between hikes.

Tromsø, Norway, gets treated as a hiking base camp for the Lyngen Alps or Senja, and a lot of visitors never hike anything closer than the cable car queue at Fjellheisen. That's a shame, because the city itself sits between two mountains, backs onto a forested ridge, and is a short drive from an island (Kvaløya) with some of the prettiest and overlooked trails in Northern Norway. This Tromsø hiking guide covers what's walkable from downtown, what's a short drive or bus ride away, and where to go if you want something bigger.