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Glowing midnight sun resting on the horizon over a still Arctic fjord, dark snowy peaks, and a lit red shore cabin.

Experience · Norway

Polar / Midnight Sun in Norway

Norway's polar belt runs from the Arctic Circle to Honningsvåg, the mainland's northernmost town, where midnight sun and polar night trade places. Light is the whole calendar. Tromsø grew on polar expeditions remembered at the Polarmuseet, Hammerfest hosts the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society, and Bodø takes the ocean weather head-on from its exposed headland.

Where to stay →

Best places to stay for polar / midnight sun

Ranked by global recognition — how widely each place is read about across Wikipedia's language editions. Never paid placement, prices, or reviews.

Aerial view of Narvik, Norway, its iron-ore harbour and peninsula reaching into the fjord below snow-flecked mountains.

Narvik

Nordland · NorwayNarvik is a fjord port in northern Norway, set in the north-eastern part of Nordland on the Nord-Norge coast.Where to stay →Aerial of Tromso on Tromsoya island with its bridge, airport strip and fjords ringed by snow-capped peaks, Norway.

Tromsø

Troms · NorwayTromsø is an Arctic island city on Tromsøya, in the northern part of Troms, in northern Norway.Where to stay →Kirkenes

Kirkenes

Finnmark · NorwayKirkenes is a border port in Sør-Varanger, near the Russian frontier in northern Norway.Where to stay →Bodo marina full of boats with the modern waterfront and distant mountains behind

Bodø

Nordland · NorwayBodø is the seat of Nordland, a coastal city in northern Norway set above the Arctic Circle on the Nord-Norge shore.Where to stay →Mo i Rana waterfront with the Havmannen granite sculpture standing in the Ranfjord below the town and forested hills

Mo i Rana

Nordland · NorwayMo i Rana is the administrative centre of Rana, an inland town in the Helgeland region of northern Norway.Where to stay →Honningsvag's colorful harbor houses and fishing boats below a snow-patched Arctic hill in Finnmark, Norway

Honningsvåg

Finnmark · NorwayHonningsvåg is the northernmost town of mainland Norway, the port of Nordkapp in Finnmark.Where to stay →Waterfront town of Hammerfest, Norway, below barren mountains with harbour vessels and a radio mast

Hammerfest

Finnmark · NorwayHammerfest is a far-northern coastal town in Finnmark, set on the island of Kvaløya in northern Norway.Where to stay →Aerial view of Henningsvaer fishing village spread across small islets linked by bridges in Norway's Lofoten islands under a clear sky.

Henningsvær

Nordland · NorwayHenningsvær is a fishing village spread across small islands in Lofoten, in the north of Nordland.Where to stay →Elevated view over Ulsteinvik, Norway, spread along the blue fjord with islands and forested mountains behind.

Ulsteinvik

Møre og Romsdal · NorwayUlsteinvik is a town in the south-western part of Møre og Romsdal, in western Norway (Vestlandet), the centre of Ulstein Municipality.Where to stay →Broad sandy river bend below the tundra plateau with the settlement of Kautokeino, Norway beyond.

Kautokeino

Finnmark · NorwayKautokeino is an inland town on the high plateau of the south-western part of Finnmark.Where to stay →Town-square shops beneath a bare Finnmark mountain in Lakselv, northern Norway.

Lakselv

Finnmark · NorwayLakselv is the main village of Porsanger, set at the head of its fjord in Finnmark.Where to stay →Aerial view of Vadso on its harbor peninsula with the Vadsoya bridge and Finnmark hills, Norway.

Vadsø

Finnmark · NorwayVadsø is the seat of Finnmark, a Kven harbour town on the Varanger coast in northern Norway.Where to stay →
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When to go

Midnight sun May–Jul · Aurora Sep–Apr

Common questions

When is the best time for northern lights or midnight sun?

They are opposite seasons: aurora needs long darkness, roughly autumn through early spring, with clear inland skies; midnight sun is the weeks around midsummer above the Arctic Circle. The same northern base serves both — but never on one trip.