Best northern lights tour in Muonio, by the people going
Illustration photo: the aurora over a frozen lake, not in Muonio.
The short answer
With a child under seven, take the campfire walk that comes with the resort's family package; the only other Muonio evening open to them is a December snowmobile ride with children in the guide's sleigh. With children from seven, the evening by car is the pick, because it follows the clearest sky. Teenagers from twelve and adults who like to move should take the snowshoe night, and drivers the snowmobile tour. Staying outside the resorts, drive to Ylläs for its all-ages evening by a fire.
Every aurora evening around Muonio shows the same sky; what separates them is who may come and how you spend the hours. So this page picks by party.
A family with a child under seven
The gentlest Muonio evening for a small child is the guided walk to a campfire away from the village lights, which takes children from four and comes with the resort’s family package.1 Two hours, a fire, warm drinks: the right length for a small child in the cold.
Children from seven
Take the evening by car. It is the only one whose guide changes the route from the forecasts,2 and with children in the party that flexibility counts for more than the drama of a snowmobile.
Teenagers and adults who want to move
The snowshoe night starts at twelve and is two hours of walking through forest and open ground in the dark.3 For anyone who would rather drive, the snowmobile tour needs a licence and puts younger passengers in the guide’s sled.
A party staying outside the resorts
Drive 46 minutes to Ylläs, where a two-and-a-half-hour evening by a fire is sold on its own for all ages.4 What each Muonio format involves is set out on northern lights in Muonio, and the Ylläs evenings on northern lights in Ylläs.
Questions people ask
Which evening gives the best chance of actually seeing the aurora?
The one that can move. On the evening by car the guide follows the weather and aurora forecasts and changes the route to find a gap in the cloud, which a walk from the resort cannot do. No evening can promise a sighting, and the resort says so; its own advice is to plan more than one aurora night, which is easier from a week in Muonio than from a single outing.
We have a nine-year-old and a fourteen-year-old. What works for both?
The car evening, which takes both from age seven, or the snowmobile tour, where both ride as passengers in the sled behind the guide's machine until fifteen while an adult drives. The snowshoe night starts at twelve, so the younger child could not come. In Ylläs, the evening by the fire is sold for all ages, which solves the problem at the cost of a 46-minute drive.
Is the Ylläs evening worth the drive from Muonio?
For a party staying outside the resorts, yes, because it is a single evening you can simply buy, with a thermal outfit lent, for 70 euros a head. It runs on a set weekday evening, so check that the day suits you, and allow for about three quarters of an hour on the road each way, at night and in winter conditions.