Northern lights tours from Narvik

6 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Narvik lies at 68 degrees north on the Ofotfjord, with mountains rising straight behind the houses. That makes the town easy to leave: a short drive in any direction takes you away from the street lights. Visit Narvik describes the region as having short distances from town to darker areas with an open sky over mountains and fjord. It also says plainly that the northern lights can never be guaranteed, and that cloud cover, weather and activity in the sky decide what you get to see.

Every tour on this page deals with that in the same way. The guide checks the forecast and drives towards the clearest patch of sky, along the fjords or east over the mountains into Sweden, where the weather is often different. What changes from tour to tour is the vehicle, the size of the group and how far the guide is prepared to go.

When the nights are dark enough

The aurora appears in the dark half of the year, which in Narvik means roughly September to early April. By late August the nights are dark again after the midnight sun. In spring the evenings grow long quickly: on 1 April the sun sets at 19:51 and twilight lasts until 20:52, and by the start of May the sky no longer gets properly dark at all.

In midwinter the opposite happens. The sun stays below the horizon from 6 December 2026 to 6 January 2027, and because the mountains block the low sun, the town loses direct sunlight even earlier. On 21 December there is twilight from 09:16 to 14:21 and darkness for the rest of the day, so an aurora tour can start in the late afternoon. Our page on the polar night covers those weeks in more detail.

Temperatures by the fjord are milder than many visitors expect. At Evenes airport, the nearest weather station with long-term averages, January and February average around minus 3.5 to minus 4 degrees. You still spend much of an aurora tour standing still in the snow, often at a viewpoint inland where it can be colder.

A private car with a second chance

The private option is a trip in an electric car. The guide collects you from your hotel in Narvik or in Harstad, and the tour can begin before dark with a stop at a waterfall or a spot of fishing. Once it is dark the search starts. Reviewers describe drives of 100 to 150 kilometres in about four and a half hours, often over the border into Sweden, so the tour page asks you to bring a passport or ID card. There is a glass of wine under the sky and help with camera settings, which guests mention often. Food is not included; a barbecue can be arranged on request. The tour page also mentions a mountain tour on request in September and October but does not describe it, so ask the operator.

If you see nothing on the first night, a second night is free. On that second night you may share the car with other guests. The operator can also cancel because of the weather. A few older reviews from 2024 describe a night with only a couple of stops and a promised replacement activity that never took place, so agree on the second date before you leave the car.

Small groups with photographer guides

Arctic Moments runs an evening trip from its base at Dronningensgate 51 in the town centre, every day at 19:00 from October to March. Groups are between two and twelve guests. The guides are professional photographers, and after the evening you receive a set of edited photos and portraits. Depending on the forecast, the route follows the fjords of northern Norway or crosses into Swedish Lapland, and there is a campfire with snacks and warm drinks. The trip lasts three to five hours and is not for children under eight. Warm clothing and winter boots are your own job.

Arctic Loop, a locally operated transport company, uses a minibus for up to 16 guests. It collects you from hotels in central Narvik, and from the cruise port by arrangement. Departure times move through the season to follow the hours of darkness. The guides light a fire pit when weather and safety allow and lend headlamps with a red-light setting. Photography is not part of this tour, and it is not suitable for wheelchair users or children under eight. The tour lasts three to four hours.

Coaches and cruise passengers

Cruise ships call at Narvik every year, and Hurtigruten stops here on the southbound leg of its North Cape line with about five hours in port. For their passengers, Finnmark Adventure runs a coach tour that departs directly from Narvik Harbour. Look for the grey meeting point in the port and guides in yellow vests. The route changes with the weather, the guides tell stories about Sámi tradition on the way, and a back-to-ship guarantee covers the return. The coach takes four hours and accepts children from ten.

A second coach option uses a large bus with Wi-Fi and a toilet on board. It leaves at 18:15 from Basecamp Narvik and at 18:30 from the Quality Hotel Grand Royal, and comes back between 23:00 and 02:00. Hot chocolate, coffee or tea and a snack are served, the guide takes photos of the group and lends tripods, and you can download the pictures afterwards; files in high resolution without a logo cost extra. Children from four can join, which makes this the option for younger families. The bus is not accessible for wheelchair users.

The aurora gondola on Narvikfjellet

Narvik also has an aurora option without a guide. Norway's Best, which sells tickets for the gondola and ski area on Narvikfjellet, offers a northern lights gondola ticket: a return ride from the lower station from 20:00, a hot drink and a waffle, and up to two hours on the mountain with a fire outside or a view through the panorama windows of the restaurant. There is no guide and no driving, so if the clouds sit over the mountain that night, you stay under them.

The old gondola is closed. A new one is due to open in January 2027, with an eight-minute ride to the upper station at 656 metres, and until then the gondola and the restaurant on the mountain stay shut. The operator page does not say whether the aurora ticket runs in winter 2026/27, so check the northern lights gondola page before you plan around it. Our Narvikfjellet page has the latest on the reopening.

Choosing between the tours

If you only have one night, the private car gives you the most flexibility and a second try. A photographer-led trip makes sense if you care about the pictures and do not want to fiddle with settings in the cold. The minibus and the coaches pick up at the harbour or in town and suit groups and families with children.

All of these tours can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours ahead. Book early in your stay, so that a cloudy first evening still leaves room for another attempt. Wool layers and insulated boots make a long wait outside much easier; our page on what to wear in Narvik has a packing list, and the best time to visit sets the aurora season against skiing and the husky months.