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Each time, my main reason was not actually relating to the Northern Lights, but daylight in general. Lapland is lovely throughout the year, and the experiences are fantastic regardless, but in March the winter weather is generally more settled, and the daylight hours extend by around 10 minutes every day. I am from a family of people who are incapable of sitting still for more than 10 minutes, so relaxing indoors during free time is not really our thing. Having the additional hours of daylight always means we can explore until the evening, renting cross country skis or snowshoes in between activities.
Now comes the Northern Lights bit! Scientifically, March is one of the best times to see the Aurora Borealis. The extended daylight hours conveniently darken around dinner time to reveal pitch black skies, which are often clear of cloud cover in my experience. As recent research has proven too, there is an increase in solar activity around the equinox, and so in my experience, things tend to align pretty well. My parents saw the lights on 3 of 7 nights, and last year my husband and I saw them 3 nights out of 4.
This year topped it off. We saw the most amazing lights on the first three nights of the holiday at Nellim in Finnish Lapland, had a two-night break due to cloud cover (a welcome chance for an early night in all honesty!) and then were lucky enough to have a Northern Lights finale like no other on our last night at Menesjarvi. This display was the kind where everyone in the hotel was on the lake and making involuntary 'oooh's, 'ahhh's, shrieks and whoops as Mother Nature provided an incredible 360-degree show of colour and movement. 4 out of 6 nights we were treated to epic displays.
Of course, we are not tied to school holidays and we have the luxury of being flexible with dates. If you can’t then don’t worry, like I said, each month has their merits, I’ve never experienced a bad time to travel in Lapland. The lights can still be seen from the end of August to early April.
If you ask me when we’ll be going next year though…………the answer will start with March the….
Click here to find out more about March.
Click here to plan your March Northern Lights holiday.