16 Days · 15 Nights · Helsinki to Tromsø to Oslo
Across Lapland by land, then south along Norway by sea
- Duration16 days, 15 nights
- RouteHelsinki to Oslo
- ShipMS Trollfjord
- SeasonNovember and December 2027
- From£4,959 pp
Most Northern Lights trips pick one place and hope for clear skies. This one keeps moving north and then south, which gives you around nine nights in the aurora zone, from Lapland up to the North Cape and back down the coast to Narvik, and plenty to do in the daylight hours between. It starts gently, with two nights in a five star hotel in Helsinki and a guided look round the city. A train then takes you up the length of Finland to Kemi on the frozen Bothnian Bay, and from there you travel by coach through Lapland to Levi and on to Kilpisjärvi, in the far north western corner of the country where Finland, Sweden and Norway meet.
On the eighth day the coach crosses into Norway, through the Lyngen Alps to Tromsø, and you board MS Trollfjord for the southbound half of Hurtigruten's North Cape Line. Over eight all-inclusive nights the ship goes up to Honningsvåg for the North Cape, then down through Alta, Narvik, Åndalsnes, Bergen and Kristiansand before arriving in Oslo. You unpack once in each hotel and once on the ship, and somebody else does the planning.
£4,959per person, from
Two departures from Helsinki, on 18 November and 2 December 2027
The cabin category you choose refers to your cabin on the ship. The price covers the whole package as described below, including seven hotel nights in Finland, the train, coaches, the included Lapland activities and the eight night voyage, per person sharing and without flights.
Why This Tour
Two countries, two styles of travel, one long look at the aurora
The first week is an escorted tour. An English speaking tour manager meets you in Helsinki and stays with the group through Finland, handling the train, the coaches and the hotels, and taking you out after dark on the evenings in Kilpisjärvi to look for the lights. The hotels have been chosen with the aurora in mind: a seafront glass villa on the Arctic coast near Kemi, then two nights in private glass accommodation outside Levi, well away from town lights, so that on a clear night you can lie in bed and watch the sky.
The days are full without being rushed. You visit an old Finnish icebreaker and can float in the frozen sea in a survival suit, ride behind a team of huskies, and either meet a Sámi reindeer herding family or cross a frozen lake by snowmobile sleigh to the cairn where three countries meet. Which of these you do depends on your departure date, and we have set out exactly what Hurtigruten lists for each date in the day by day below.
The second week belongs to the sea. MS Trollfjord is one of Hurtigruten's Signature ships, run on an all-inclusive basis, and the North Cape Line gives you long days in port rather than brief stops. The northern part of the voyage, from Tromsø up to the North Cape and back down through Finnmark, is spent in the heart of the aurora zone, and the Expedition Team will call you on deck when the lights appear. After that the coast softens, the mountains of Romsdalen and the old Hanseatic port of Bergen take over, and the trip winds down to its finish in Oslo.
It suits travellers who like a structured trip with good company and an expert on hand, and who want the Northern Lights to be a thread running through a holiday rather than the only reason for it. If you would rather start in Oslo and finish in Finland, the northbound Savour the Northern Lights runs the idea the other way round.
The Ship
MS Trollfjord, from Tromsø to Oslo
Both departures sail on MS Trollfjord, which joins the tour in Tromsø on the eighth day. She was built in Norway and entered service in 2002, and Hurtigruten refurbished her in 2023 for its Signature voyages. The style on board is quiet and Scandinavian, with a lot of wood, wool and glass, and the two storey observation lounge with the 1893 Bar at the front of the ship is where most people end up on a clear evening. There is a panoramic sauna, a fitness room and a lecture hall where the Expedition Team give their talks.
Meals and selected drinks are included throughout the voyage. Breakfast is served in Flora, which also offers buffet and à la carte lunches and dinners, while Brasserie Árran serves more casual dishes with a rustic Norwegian touch. Røst, the à la carte fine dining restaurant, is included for suite guests and available as an upgrade for other cabins. Selected beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks are included in the restaurants and bar during opening hours. Hurtigruten's own video tour is a good way to see her before you go.
Video from Hurtigruten's official YouTube channel.
Your Journey
Day by day, Helsinki to Tromsø and down the coast to Oslo
Seven nights in Finland, then eight on board. Some of the Lapland activities change with the date, so where Hurtigruten lists different arrangements we show both. Optional excursions during the voyage are listed under each day; they are booked and paid for separately, and we can add them when you book. Several of the Lapland experiences depend on snow, ice and weather, and Hurtigruten may adjust them on the day.
Day 1 · Helsinki, welcome to Finland
Overnight · A five star hotel in Helsinki · Welcome dinner
You make your own way to Helsinki and check in to a five star hotel in the city. The afternoon is free, and the centre is compact enough to see on foot. Walk down the Esplanadi, the tree lined boulevard that runs to the harbour, and on to the Market Square on the waterfront. A few minutes away is Senate Square, laid out in grand neoclassical style by the German born architect Carl Ludvig Engel after Helsinki was made the capital in 1812, when Finland was a Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire.
The white, green domed cathedral at the top of the steps is also Engel's work. Building began in 1830 and it was inaugurated in 1852 as St Nicholas's Church, a name it kept until Finland became independent in 1917. In the evening you meet your tour manager and the rest of the group over a welcome dinner.
Day 2 · Discovering Finland's capital
Overnight · A five star hotel in Helsinki
After breakfast a local guide takes you on a three hour tour of the city, taking in the City Hall, the Market Square, Senate Square and the cathedral. The visit includes entry to Temppeliaukio, the Rock Church, one of the most unusual places of worship in Europe. The brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen won the competition to design it, and the church was blasted and carved out of the granite bedrock and consecrated in 1969. The rough rock walls were left exposed, they give the hall excellent acoustics, and daylight falls in through a ring of windows beneath a copper lined dome. It is often used for concerts.
Time and weather permitting, the tour also stops at the Sibelius Monument, Eila Hiltunen's tribute to Finland's best known composer, unveiled in 1967 and made from more than six hundred welded steel pipes. You are back at the hotel at around 1pm, with the afternoon free. The design shops of the city centre and the island fortress of Suomenlinna, a short ferry ride from the Market Square, are both good ways to spend it.
Day 3 · By train to Kemi on the Arctic coast
Helsinki · Kemi · Overnight at Experience 365 · Dinner
A private coach takes you to Helsinki station for the mid morning train north. This is a long, restful day watching Finland go by: farmland and small towns at first, then mile after mile of forest and frozen lakes as you head up towards the top of the Gulf of Bothnia. Lunch can be bought on board. You reach Kemi in the afternoon and a coach takes you to Experience 365, where you stay in a seafront glass villa with glass walls and a glass roof.
Kemi sits at the head of the Bothnian Bay, the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea. The water here is so low in salt, fed by the great rivers of Lapland, that it freezes over every winter, and the ice can last for up to six months. Dinner is at the hotel, and after that it is a matter of turning off the lights and watching the sky.
Day 4 · The Bothnian Bay, then on to Levi
Kemi · Rovaniemi · Levi · Overnight in glass accommodation near Levi · Dinner
You wake to views across the frozen bay. On the 2 December departure, Hurtigruten lists a private guided visit to the icebreaker Sampo, followed by the chance to float in the icy water in a full body survival dry suit, which is far more comfortable than it sounds. Sampo was launched in 1960 at the Wärtsilä yard in Helsinki and kept the Finnish shipping lanes open for nearly thirty years. The town of Kemi bought her in 1987, and she began carrying visitors through the ice the following year. Hurtigruten's day by day does not list the Sampo visit for the 18 November departure, so if it matters to you, ask us and we will confirm the programme for that date.
In the afternoon the coach heads inland to Levi, with a short stop at Santa Claus Village near Rovaniemi if time allows. The village stands right on the Arctic Circle, so this is where you cross into the Arctic. Your next two nights are in private glass accommodation on the edge of Levi, chosen to be well clear of light pollution, and dinner is in the restaurant in the main building.
Day 5 · Huskies and an aurora hunt
Levi · Overnight in glass accommodation near Levi · Dinner
Today is about dogs and the dark. What you do with the huskies depends on the date. On the 18 November departure you visit a husky farm and ride through the forest in a wagon pulled by a team, about four kilometres and twenty to thirty minutes, with up to four guests per wagon and a professional musher in charge, followed by warm berry juice in a traditional kota hut. If the temperature is above about 7°C the dogs cannot run, and the visit becomes a farm visit instead. On the 2 December departure, when there is usually snow on the ground, you go on a five kilometre husky sleigh safari through the forests around Levi, two guests to a sled, with one of you driving.
The rest of the day is free, and reindeer or snowmobile safaris can be arranged locally if conditions allow, at extra cost. Levi is the largest ski resort in Finland, built around a fell 531 metres high in Kittilä municipality, and it usually hosts World Cup slalom races in November. After dinner you set out on a three hour aurora hunting trip by bus, weather permitting, heading for open country and dark skies by the lakes and rivers of the area, with a stop on the shore of Lake Äkäslompolo.
Day 6 · Kilpisjärvi, the fells of the far north
Levi · Muonio · Kilpisjärvi · Overnight at Santa's Hotel · Dinner
The coach heads north west, following the border river between Finland and Sweden through Muonio and up into the long arm of Finnish territory that reaches between its two neighbours. The forest thins as you climb, and by the time you reach Kilpisjärvi you are among the bare, rounded fells that make this corner of Lapland look so different from the rest of the country. Your hotel for two nights is Santa's Hotel, where the rooms are serviced apartments with big panoramic windows, a short walk from the frozen lake.
Above the village rises Saana, a fell of 1,029 metres with a distinctive flat topped profile. It was a sacred mountain in ancient times, when its spirits were thought to bring luck to hunters. Further out lies Halti, where Finland's highest point, at 1,324 metres, sits on the shoulder of a peak whose summit is just over the border in Norway. After dinner your tour manager takes you out to look for the Northern Lights.
Day 7 · Reindeer, or the border of three countries
Kilpisjärvi · Overnight at Santa's Hotel · Dinner
On the 18 November departure you visit the Tornensis family's Sámi reindeer farm. You meet the animals in their corral and feed them lichen, then sit round an open fire in a log cabin with biscuits and berry juice while your hosts talk about reindeer herding, which has shaped Sámi life across the north of Finland, Sweden and Norway for generations. A taste of grilled reindeer meat is included.
On the 2 December departure you head out instead on the Border of Three Countries safari, by snowmobile or sleigh, across the frozen lake and through snowy birch forest to Koltavuoma. The trip covers about 30 kilometres in around three hours. Your goal is the Three Country Cairn, a concrete marker completed in 1926 that stands just off the shore in the lake known as Goldajärvi or Koltajärvi, where the borders of Finland, Sweden and Norway meet. With the lake frozen you can walk round it and stand in three countries within a few steps. Thermal clothing, guiding, photographs and a warm drink with pastry are all included. On both dates the afternoon is free, and after dinner there is another chance to go looking for the lights with your tour manager.
Day 8
Through the Lyngen Alps to Tromsø, and aboard
Kilpisjärvi · Lyngenfjord · Tromsø · Joining MS Trollfjord
The morning coach crosses into Norway and drops down towards the coast, travelling through the Lyngen Alps with local ferry crossings along the Lyngenfjord. These are some of the most dramatic mountains in northern Norway, running for about 90 kilometres down the Lyngen peninsula, with around 140 glaciers and the ice capped summit of Jiehkkevárri, at about 1,833 metres the highest mountain in Troms. In the low winter light the peaks glow pink and blue above the fjord.
You have time in Tromsø before boarding. The island city is the largest in northern Norway and has been the launch point for Arctic expeditions for well over a century, a story told at the Polar Museum on the old quayside. Across the bridge stands the Arctic Cathedral with its tall, triangular glass end. On the 2 December departure you arrive in the polar night, the weeks from late November to mid January when the sun does not rise here at all. On board you meet the Expedition Team, and the evening begins with a welcome toast in the panoramic lounge.
Day 9
Honningsvåg and the North Cape
Ports today · Honningsvåg
The ship arrives early and stays all day, which leaves plenty of time for the North Cape. The cliff stands 307 metres above the Barents Sea on the island of Magerøya, and it was an English sailor, Stephen Borough, who gave it its name in 1553 while searching for a sea route to the east. In winter the road across the island is often closed to ordinary traffic, so the excursion reaches the plateau by snowmobile or in a convoy behind a snowplough, which is an adventure in itself.
If you stay in Honningsvåg, the Expedition Team lead a snowshoe walk across the open snow. The town is a small fishing port that was burned by the retreating German army in 1944, when only the church survived, and it is a good place to try red king crab, a species introduced to the Barents Sea by Soviet scientists in the 1960s. The ship turns south in the evening.
Optional excursions
- The North Cape To the plateau for the views and the globe monument, by snowmobile or winter convoy. About 3 hours. All seasons.
- Arctic ice fishing Out to a frozen lake to fish through the ice. About 2 hours 30 minutes. November to March.
Day 10
Alta, the town of the Northern Lights
Ports today · Alta
Alta, at about 70 degrees north, has a long scientific connection with the aurora. In 1899 the physicist Kristian Birkeland set up an observatory on the summit of Haldde, a mountain above the fjord, to study the Northern Lights, and in the town centre the spiralling, titanium clad Northern Lights Cathedral, consecrated in 2013, takes the theme into modern architecture. Inland, dry winter weather gives the area a good reputation for clear skies.
The town's other great treasure is its rock art. Since 1973 more than 6,000 carvings have been recorded around the fjord, showing reindeer, elk, boats and hunters, made over thousands of years, and they were added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1985. Alternatively, join the Expedition Team for a hike on Komsa, the hill above the town that gave its name to the Komsa culture, some of the earliest known settlers on this coast, who followed the retreating ice at the end of the last Ice Age. Dog sledding is popular here in winter, and the Igloo Hotel on the Alta river, rebuilt from snow and ice each season, is open to visitors.
Optional excursions
- UNESCO rock art and the Northern Lights Cathedral The prehistoric carvings and the cathedral's aurora exhibition. About 3 hours. September to May.
Day 11 · Narvik, iron ore and the battles of 1940
Ports today · Narvik
Narvik grew up at the end of a railway. The Ofoten Line opened in 1902 to carry iron ore from the Swedish mines at Kiruna to a harbour that stays free of ice all year, and the ore trains still run today. That ice free port made Narvik a prize in the spring of 1940, when British and German warships fought two naval battles in the fjord, on 10 and 13 April, and the land campaign that followed lasted into June. The Narvik War Museum tells the story clearly and movingly.
For a change of scene, the cable car up Narvikfjellet lifts you high above the town for a view over three fjords and the mountains around them.
Day 12 · The inner coastal route
A day at sea
Today the ship sails south along the sheltered channels inside the islands, the route Norwegian seafarers have used for centuries to avoid the open sea. There are no ports to visit, just a steady procession of islands, bays, lighthouses and fjord mouths, with the Expedition Team on hand to point out what is passing. Sea eagles are common on this stretch of coast, so keep binoculars close. It is a good day for a lecture, a long lunch and the sauna.
Day 13 · Åndalsnes, beneath the Troll Wall
Ports today · Åndalsnes
The ship docks in the centre of Åndalsnes in the morning, at the head of the Romsdalsfjord, with mountains rising straight up behind the town. The Romsdal Gondola climbs to Nesaksla at 708 metres, where you look across to the Romsdalshorn and down the valley of the Rauma river. A little further up the valley is the Troll Wall, a rock face roughly a thousand metres high and usually described as the tallest vertical cliff in Europe.
The Rauma Line, opened in 1924, runs up the valley from here, and in April 1940 it carried Norway's gold reserve down from the interior to Åndalsnes, from where it was shipped out of reach of the invading Germans. That journey is the story behind the Golden Train excursion.
Optional excursions
- The Golden Train, winter A ride on the Rauma Line through Romsdalen, with the story of the 1940 gold transport. About 2 hours 40 minutes. September to May.
- Åndalsnes town walk and Romsdal Gondola A short guided walk, then the gondola to Nesaksla. About 2 hours 30 minutes. All seasons.
Day 14
Bergen, between the seven mountains
Ports today · Bergen
Bergen, Norway's second city, sits between the sea and a ring of mountains. For several hundred years it was one of the main ports of the Hanseatic League, whose German merchants controlled the trade in stockfish from the north, and their wharf at Bryggen is a row of gabled wooden warehouses along the harbour, rebuilt again and again to the same plan after fires. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979, and the narrow passages behind the frontage are well worth exploring.
The fish market by the harbour is the place for lunch, where the stalls will cook your seafood on the spot. The Fløibanen funicular, running since 1918, climbs Mount Fløyen for a view over the city and the fjord.
Day 15 · Kristiansand on the south coast
Ports today · Kristiansand
The last port is an afternoon in Kristiansand, the main city of Norway's south coast. King Christian IV founded it in 1641 and laid it out on a strict grid, the Kvadraturen, which still shapes the centre, and the old quarter of Posebyen is full of small white timber houses. The newest attraction is Kunstsilo, an art museum that opened in 2024 in a converted 1935 grain silo on the waterfront. The city has put real effort into becoming a greener port, and the island of Odderøya, once a military area, is now a park with walking trails by the sea.
Back on board, the evening brings the farewell dinner as the ship heads east for the Oslofjord.
Optional excursions
- Kristiansand WWII history tour The city's wartime story, including the German coastal fort at Batterie Vara. About 2 hours 30 minutes. September to May.
Day 16
Arrival in Oslo
Oslo · End of tour
The ship comes up the Oslofjord and you disembark early in the morning. If your flight is later, Oslo rewards a few hours. Vigeland Park, with more than two hundred sculptures by Gustav Vigeland, is a short tram ride from the centre. The marble roof of the Opera House at Bjørvika slopes down into the water and you can walk right up it, and Akershus Fortress and the restaurants of Aker Brygge are close by on the harbour. On the Bygdøy peninsula the Fram Museum holds the polar ship Fram, used by Nansen and later by Amundsen, a fitting last stop after two weeks in the Arctic.
Northern Lights
Your chances of seeing the aurora
November and December are among the darkest months of the year in Lapland and northern Norway, and on this tour you spend around nine nights, from Kemi to Narvik, under or close to the auroral oval, the band around the Arctic where the lights appear most often. The glass accommodation near Kemi and Levi, the bus hunt on Day 5 and the evening outings in Kilpisjärvi are all designed to make the most of it, and once at sea the ship's crew keep watch and will wake you if the sky lights up. As ever, cloud is the deciding factor, and no one can promise a display on any particular night.
Hurtigruten's page for this package does not say that its Northern Lights Promise applies, so we do not include it here. If it is important to you, ask us and we will check the current terms for your date.
Video from Hurtigruten's official YouTube channel.
Fares
Savour the Northern Lights South departures and fares 2027
There are two departures from Helsinki, both in late 2027 and both joining MS Trollfjord in Tromsø a week later. The 18 November departure boards the ship on 25 November and finishes in Oslo on 3 December; the 2 December departure boards on 9 December and finishes on 17 December. The cabin category refers to your cabin on board the ship. The price is for the whole package as described on this page, including the seven hotel nights in Finland, the train and coaches, the included activities in Lapland and the eight night voyage, per person sharing and without flights.
Fares are per person in pounds, based on two people sharing, and were checked on 3 November 2026. They are subject to availability and may change at any time before booking. Where a fare shows Call, that category was not available when we checked. Single supplements are available on request. Call 0333 405 0194 for the current price on your preferred date. See our guide to Hurtigruten cabins for the difference between the categories.
Your Package
What is included
The inclusions come in two parts: the escorted land tour through Finland, arranged by Hurtigruten, and the all-inclusive Signature arrangements on board MS Trollfjord.
| What's included |
|---|
| On land in Finland |
| English speaking tour manager With you throughout the journey, leading the land tour from Helsinki to Tromsø | Included |
| Two nights in Helsinki A five star hotel, with a welcome dinner on the first evening | Included |
| Helsinki city tour About three hours with a local guide, including entry to the Rock Church | Included |
| Train from Helsinki to Kemi Second class, with private coach transfers at each end | Included |
| One night in a glass villa Experience 365, on the coast near Kemi, with dinner | Included |
| Two nights in glass accommodation near Levi With dinner each evening | Included |
| Two nights in Kilpisjärvi Santa's Hotel, with dinner each evening | Included |
| Coach travel through Lapland First class coach from Kemi to Levi, Kilpisjärvi and Tromsø, including the Lyngenfjord ferries | Included |
| Husky experience Husky wagon ride on 18 November, or husky sleigh safari on 2 December, weather permitting | Included |
| Aurora hunting trip by bus About three hours from Levi, weather permitting, plus evening Northern Lights outings with the tour manager in Kilpisjärvi | Included |
| Sámi reindeer farm or Border of Three Countries safari Reindeer farm visit with a grilled reindeer tasting on 18 November; snowmobile or sleigh safari to the Three Country Cairn on 2 December | Included |
| Icebreaker Sampo and sea floating Listed by Hurtigruten for the 2 December departure; we will confirm the 18 November programme when you book | Included |
| On board MS Trollfjord |
| Eight nights in your chosen cabin Tromsø to Oslo on the North Cape Line | Included |
| All-inclusive meals Breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, including the farewell dinner | Included |
| Unlimited selected drinks Selected beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks during opening hours | Included |
| Expedition Team Lectures, on deck guiding and activities such as the Honningsvåg snowshoe walk and the Komsa hike in Alta | Included |
| Free WiFi, sauna and fitness room | Included |
Not included: flights, the optional shore excursions listed during the voyage, optional reindeer or snowmobile safaris in Levi, lunches on land (including on the train on Day 3), meals not mentioned above, travel insurance and anything else not listed. You can arrange travel insurance online here.
Flights & Extra Nights
Getting to Helsinki and home from Oslo
Flights are not part of this package, and Hurtigruten does not list a flight inclusive version of it, so the fares above are for the tour only. You fly out to Helsinki and home from Oslo, and both cities have direct flights from several UK airports. We are happy to help you plan them so that the times work with the tour.
With a winter trip we suggest building in a little slack. Arriving in Helsinki the day before the tour starts means a delayed flight will not cost you the welcome dinner, and an extra night in Oslo at the end turns an early morning disembarkation into a relaxed day in the capital. We can quote hotel nights at either end.
| Package | Starts / Ends | Included in price | Price |
|---|
Savour the Northern Lights South
Tour only | Helsinki / Oslo | Everything listed under What is included | See fares |
| Extra hotel nights | Helsinki or Oslo | Hotel nights before or after the tour | Call |
Prices for extra nights are per person, two sharing, and depend on the date and hotel. Call 0333 405 0194 for a quote.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is Savour the Northern Lights South a guided tour?
Yes, on land. An English speaking tour manager leads the group through Finland, from the welcome dinner in Helsinki to the arrival in Tromsø, and local guides run the activities. Once you board MS Trollfjord, the Expedition Team look after you for the rest of the voyage.
Are flights included?
No. The fares cover the tour from Helsinki to Oslo without flights, and Hurtigruten does not list a flight inclusive version of this package. Helsinki and Oslo both have direct flights from the UK, and we can help you plan them and add extra hotel nights.
What does the cabin category in the fare table mean?
It refers to your cabin on MS Trollfjord for the eight nights from Tromsø to Oslo. The hotels and activities in Finland are the same whichever cabin you choose, and the price covers the whole package as described.
Which activities depend on my departure date?
On the 18 November departure you have a husky wagon ride and a visit to a Sámi reindeer farm. On the 2 December departure you have a husky sleigh safari, the Border of Three Countries safari by snowmobile or sleigh, and Hurtigruten lists the icebreaker Sampo visit with sea floating. We will confirm the full programme for your date when you book.
Does the Northern Lights Promise apply?
Hurtigruten's page for this package does not say that the Promise applies, so we do not include it. If it matters to you, ask us and we will check the current terms for your departure.
What are the glass villa and glass accommodation like?
Near Kemi you spend one night at Experience 365 in a seafront glass villa with glass walls and roof. Near Levi you have two nights in private glass accommodation away from light pollution. In both, on a clear night you can watch for the aurora from your bed.
Which meals are included?
On the ship, breakfast, lunch and dinner every day with selected drinks during opening hours. In Finland, Hurtigruten includes the welcome dinner in Helsinki and dinner at your hotel each evening from Day 3 to Day 7. Lunches on land, including on the train, are at your own expense.
Are the shore excursions included?
The excursions listed under the voyage days, such as the North Cape trip, ice fishing, the Alta rock art tour, the Golden Train and the Kristiansand history tour, are optional and paid for separately. We can book them for you. Expedition Team activities such as the snowshoe walk in Honningsvåg and the Komsa hike in Alta are part of the ship's programme.
How dark will it be?
Very. Days are short in Lapland in November and December, and Tromsø has polar night from late November to mid January, when the sun does not rise at all. You still get a few hours of soft blue twilight around midday, which is beautiful for photography.
What should I pack?
Proper winter clothing: thermal base layers, a warm mid layer, an insulated windproof outer layer, a hat, gloves or mittens, a scarf and warm, grippy boots. Thermal outer clothing is provided for the Border of Three Countries safari, but you will want your own warm layers for evenings outside watching the sky and for time on deck.
