Best Family Holidays for Seeing the Northern Lights

Best Family Adventure Holidays for Northern Lights Spotting

Combine the Northern Lights with wildlife spotting as you cruise Norway’s fjords and Arctic coast on an Arctic Norway Expedition Under the Northern Lights cruise. This all-inclusive trip by HX is packed with cool winter activities from kayaking and snowshoeing to whale spotting and cruising around icebergs.

Explore frozen lakes, snowshoe through forests and catch the aurora borealis in Finland's beautiful Hossa National Park on a Northern Lights Adventure. It’s perfect for older kids and teens, who love learning winter survival skills such as building an igloo and ice fishing, as well as husky sledding through the wilderness.

Or combine winter activities such as snowshoeing and husky sledding with chasing the iconic dancing lights on a Jeris and Harriniva Activity Pick-and-Mix holiday to Finnish Lapland. You can add snowmobile safaris, ice fishing trips and cross-country skiing to your once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

For a classic Lapland Santa experience with added Northern Lights, you can't beat an incredible Santa's Aurora Lapland trip. Meet the big man with the beard, ride snowmobiles across the Arctic tundra and enjoy a jingling sleigh ride through a snowy forest. Meanwhile, the chances of seeing the dancing lights here is higher than most.

Celebrate the festive season with a polar bear in Finnish Lapland on the brilliant Ranua Festive Family Adventure holiday including a meet-and-greet with Santa, plenty of snow-based activities, and access to Ranua Wildlife Park where you can meet moose, lynx and polar bears in their native habitat.

Or spend Christmas in the Arctic Circle on the Brändön Lodge Pick and Mix Christmas Getaway in Swedish Lapland. Stay in a gorgeous snow-draped cabin overlooking the Bay of Bothnia and go snowshoeing and dog sledding and, fingers crossed, watch the polar lights dance across an inky Arctic sky.

With kids aged 10 and over, you may be tempted to venture a little further and explore Canada’s wild north on a Winter Wonderland including Yukon Northern Lights trip. Explore the sights of Vancouver and Whistler before flying to Yukon to see the Arctic wilderness in search of those elusive neon-like lights.

Alternatively, ask us about creating your perfect Alaska adventure holiday for you.

Best Family-Friendly Hotels for Northern Lights Holidays

Finland

When it comes to cosy cabins, glass-topped suites and Arctic lodges, Finland is not short of fabulous places to see the aurora borealis. Our top picks include Northern Lights Village Saariselkä and Northern Lights Village Levi, which both offer glass-roofed igloos and family suites perfect for aurora viewing.

Or Hotel Riekonlinna is a classic Finnish Lapland base for family snow holidays, largely because it's close to Saariselkä’s many winter attractions. Alternatively, on a fell in the far north of the region but still within a snowball's throw of Santa fun in Saariselkä is the Star Arctic Hotel with its Lappish-style suites and gorgeous Aurora glass cabins.

Open all year round, the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort is another good spot for aurora chasing, not least because it has a clutch of glass igloos as well as snow igloos and log cabins – a magical spot for a winter family holiday. Overlooking Lake Ranuanjärvi, the glass igloos at Ranua Resort are great for spotting local wildlife such as Arctic fox, as well as those ethereal ribbons of light.

Sweden

In Sweden, there's only one place to stay when you want the ultimate Northern Lights experience and that's the ICEHOTEL in Swedish Lapland, which is rebuilt each winter from ice and snow. This unique hotel in Kiruna offers plenty of snow-based fun and activities for families, including dog sledding and ice sculpting, while sleeping in a room made entirely of ice makes for the ultimate family adventure holiday.

Iceland

If you yearn to soak in a hot tub amidst a snowy landscape as nature's colourful light show plays overhead, look no further than Brimnes Bungalows on the Tröllaskagi Peninsula in northern Iceland for your next snow family holiday. Here, you can freely hire boats and bikes to explore the area.

Ninety minutes south-east of Reykjavik, the Stracta Hotel Hella is well-placed for chasing the aurora while remaining within easy reach of the city, while Vestri Pétursey, a farm with cabins en route across the south to the lagoon and glaciers of Jokulsarlon is a great base for a family holiday in southern Iceland.

Norway

Northern Norway’s accommodation is largely focused on boutique hotels and traditional lodges. In Tromsø many hotels offer family rooms and can also arrange Northern Lights tours. As the capital of the Arctic, Tromsø is the best base for snow activity holidays for families as it offers plenty of child-friendly attractions and excursions, as well as a heightened chance of seeing the elusive Arctic aurora.

Canada

Whether you want to spot polar bears in Churchill, learn about indigenous cultures in the Yukon or see the polar lights in the Northwest Territories, Canada is a brilliant place for a winter family holiday. The best Northern Lights breaks in Canada are found in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, especially in Yellowknife’s Aurora Village, an Aboriginal-owned tipi village that has been designed to offer comfortable, family-friendly aurora viewings.

By Tracey Davies

Ready to start booking your Northern Lights holiday with kids? Call us on 020 3633 0653 or message us via our enquiry form and one of our family travel experts will help find you the winter family holiday of your dreams.