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Best northern lights tour in Inari, by the night you want

A green aurora band low over a dark line of spruces at the far edge of a flat, snowy field

Illustration photo: the aurora over a snowy field, not taken on one of the evenings compared here.

Lapland Handbook Staff How we research this

The short answer

If seeing the aurora matters most, book a hunt by car from the village: Visit Inari goes out every night of the winter and takes a traveller on their own, where the hotel's version needs two. With children, choose a sleigh ride to a camp, where they sit wrapped up and the evening is worth having under cloud. If you want to drive, take a snowmobile evening; if you want to walk, the snowshoe night is the cheapest guided evening in the village.

How the operators compare

Prices are the operators' own published starting prices as of the date this guide was updated, and they change through the season.

Visit Inari: hunt by carWilderness Hotel: aurora campVisit Inari: snowmobile eveningVisit Inari: snowshoe night
Price per adult €169 €145 €179 sharing a machine €106 – the lowest adult price
How you look for it Drives to clear sky Sleigh to one camp You drive to a viewpoint On foot to a fire
Runs on Every night Not stated Mon, Wed, Fri Tue, Thu, Sun
Youngest All ages 4, or 3 on shorter trips 12 7
Length 3 h 2.5 h 3 h 2.5 h

Highlighted figures are the best in that row: the lowest adult price. Prices are per adult as each company prints them, for the winter season. Only price is marked: a longer or faster evening is not a better one for everybody.

Where these figures come from
  • Visit Inari: hunt by car: Three hours from the village, driving towards the clearest sky in whichever of five directions the guide picks. Every night from December to March.
  • Wilderness Hotel: aurora camp: A sleigh towed by the guide's snowmobile to a camp away from light pollution, with hot drinks and snacks while you watch the sky.
  • Visit Inari: snowmobile evening: You drive a shared snowmobile away from the village glow to a viewpoint and a campfire with a picnic snack.
  • Visit Inari: snowshoe night: A guided walk on snowshoes into a quiet forest, with a picnic snack by the fire while you wait for the sky.

The aurora evenings the booking platforms file under Inari start at a lodge you drive to. Most of what starts in the village is sold on two companies’ own sites, and it covers four quite different nights.

If the aurora is the whole point

A hunt by car is the only kind of evening here that moves to find a gap in the cloud. Visit Inari runs one every night from December to March, and says its location lets the guide choose between five directions.1 Wilderness Hotel Inari’s version also lasts three hours and drives further out when the sky is closed, but its booking system asks for at least two people.2 A traveller on their own books Visit Inari.

If there are children

A sleigh to a camp is the evening a child is most likely to enjoy whatever the sky does. The hotel’s aurora camp tows a sleigh behind the guide’s snowmobile to a spot away from the village lights; Visit Inari’s kota camp does the same with pancakes by the fire, four nights a week. Which suits which age, and how late each one ends, is on the northern lights in Inari with children.

If you want to drive or walk

The snowmobile evening puts you on the machine, sharing it with one other adult, and it is for twelve and over. The snowshoe night is the slow version: a walk into a quiet forest, a fire, and the lowest price of any guided aurora evening in the village.3

The two evenings at Muotkan Ruoktu, a sleigh and a smoked salmon workshop, are compared on northern lights in Inari. What each evening costs a family, and what happens to your money on a cloudy night, is on northern lights tour prices in Inari.

Tours you can book

Questions people ask

Where do the evenings start?

Visit Inari collects its guests from hotels in Inari village at a time agreed before each safari, and its safari office is at Inarintie 38. Wilderness Hotel Inari's aurora listings do not say where they start; the hotel stands at Inarintie 2 on the same road, and its reception takes bookings. Both companies' evenings begin at eight or half past eight.

Which evening suits someone who wants photographs?

Wilderness Hotel Inari sells a one-hour aurora workshop in the afternoon, where a guide explains the science and sets up your own camera for the night sky, and it asks guests on its evenings to bring a tripod. Visit Inari's guide at the kota camp helps you find the right camera settings. None of the evenings says photographs are taken for you.

Is there anything in September and October?

Yes, before the snow. Visit Inari runs a shorter autumn hunt by car and an autumn camp from September to November, and a two-hour cruise on Lake Inari in its fishing boat, on three evenings a week until 20 October. Wilderness Hotel Inari has an autumn camp from September and an autumn hunt by car until mid-November, each a little cheaper than in winter.

Written by

Lapland Handbook Staff

Lapland Handbook is written by its editorial staff in Rovaniemi. Every price, age limit and group size in a comparison is read from the operator's own page and marked "Not stated" when the operator does not publish it. Each guide names who should not book, and names the operator that suits each kind of group, whichever it is.

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