Northern lights in Levi
By Jani Alakurtti · Updated
Can I see the northern lights in Levi?
- Season
- Every night has dark hours between 20:00 and 02:00 from September to March. Partly: April (49 % of nights), August (17 % of nights).
- Chance of at least one clear, dark night
Chance of at least one clear, dark night, by length of stay Stay March (best month) October (typical other month) 1 night 55 % 38 % 3 nights in a row 87 % 66 % 5 nights in a row 95 % 77 % A clear, dark night means at least one hour between 20:00 and 02:00 with cloud cover at most 2/8 and the sun more than 12° below the horizon. It is a precondition for seeing the northern lights, not the chance of seeing them. Typical other month = median of the other months from September to March. Details and sources below.
To the naked eye most auroras look paler than in photos: often a grey-white or faint green arc low in the northern sky, which a phone camera shows as far greener. Stronger displays move fast, spread overhead and turn clearly green; give your eyes 15–20 minutes away from lights and screens. Most of a tour is waiting outside: the evening (20:00–02:00) averages between −9 and −13 °C from December to February, and one night in ten is colder than −20 °C in those months.
How many nights do you need?
| Stay starts | 1 night | 2 nights | 3 nights | 4 nights | 5 nights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | 38 | 55 | 67 | 74 | 80 |
| worst year | 23 | ||||
| October | 38 | 55 | 66 | 72 | 77 |
| worst year | 23 | ||||
| November | 34 | 51 | 63 | 72 | 78 |
| worst year | 42 | ||||
| December | 34 | 52 | 64 | 73 | 80 |
| worst year | 42 | ||||
| January | 43 | 64 | 78 | 87 | 92 |
| worst year | 68 | ||||
| February | 43 | 62 | 74 | 81 | 87 |
| worst year | 71 | ||||
| March | 55 | 76 | 87 | 93 | 95 |
| worst year | 84 | ||||
| April 1–15 | 46 | 61 | 72 | 76 | 80 |
| worst year | 60 | ||||
| April 16–end | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| worst year | 0 |
Share of stays with at least one clear (cloud cover ≤ 2/8) and dark (sun below −12°) hour between 20:00 and 02:00, in %. This is the chance of at least one clear, dark night, not the chance of seeing the northern lights. Stays are runs of consecutive nights from the historical record, grouped by the night the stay starts; n = 138–309 stays per cell.
April: split by start date because the dark hours between 20:00 and 02:00 run out during the month.
Worst year: the lowest yearly share for 5-night stays, out of 9–10 years with at least 10 stays.
Source: Kittilä airport (FMI weather station), id 101986, 13.1 km, 2015-01-01..2024-12-31, FMI hourly cloud cover + astral (calculated)
Source file: data/monthly_metrics.csv
Read the table as a planning tool, not a promise: a single night gives a clear, dark sky on between a third and 43 % of nights from September to February, and on 55 % in March. Three nights take the odds to 63 % or more in every month from September to March, and five nights to 76 % or more, so adding nights does more than picking a month. Even several nights can fail in a cloudy year, as the worst-year row shows.
Month by month
| Month | Nights with a clear dark hour, 20–02 (%) | Dark hours, 20–02 (h per night) | Night temperature, 20–02, mean (°C) | Night temperature, 20–02, 1 night in 10 colder than (°C) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | 7 | 0.2 | 12.5 | 8.3 |
| September | 38 | 3.4 | 7.3 | 2.4 |
| October | 38 | 5.6 | -0.2 | -6.6 |
| November | 34 | 6.0 | -6.1 | -17.5 |
| December | 34 | 6.0 | -9.4 | -20.2 |
| January | 43 | 6.0 | -12.9 | -26.1 |
| February | 43 | 6.0 | -10.6 | -22.7 |
| March | 55 | 4.9 | -7.0 | -16.9 |
| April | 23 | 1.0 | -0.5 | -5.3 |
- Nights with a clear dark hour, 20–02 (%): Kittilä airport (FMI weather station), id 101986, 13.1 km, 2015-01-01..2024-12-31, FMI hourly cloud cover + astral (calculated); n = 280–310
- Dark hours, 20–02 (h per night): Calculated from destination coordinates (astral 3.2), no station, 0 km, 2015-2024, astral (calculated); n = 283–310
- Night temperature, 20–02, mean (°C): Kittilä airport (FMI weather station), id 101986, 13.1 km, 2015-01-01..2024-12-31, FMI temperature observations (t2m, on the hour); n = 282–309
- Night temperature, 20–02, 1 night in 10 colder than (°C): Kittilä airport (FMI weather station), id 101986, 13.1 km, 2015-01-01..2024-12-31, FMI temperature observations (t2m, on the hour); n = 282–309
Source file: data/monthly_metrics.csv
November and December have the fewest clear, dark nights of any months from September to March in Levi’s weather record (34 %), and March the most (55 %). If December is when you can travel, plan more nights: three December nights in a row gave at least one clear, dark night 64 % of the time.
Which tour type?
| Transport | Tours | of which private | of which photography | Price per person, not private: from – typical | Typical duration | Winter clothing | Hotel pickup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By car northern lights tours by car | 15 | 3 | 3 | €95 – too few stated prices n = 2 of 12 | 3 h n = 9 | 8 included 1 not included / on request 6 not stated | 9 included 6 not stated |
| Snowmobile snowmobile northern lights tours | 11 | 1 | 2 | €109 – too few stated prices n = 4 of 10 | 3 h n = 5 | 3 included 8 not stated | 3 included 8 not stated |
| Reindeer | 1 | 0 | 0 | – – too few stated prices n = 0 of 1 | too few stated durations n = 0 | 0 included 1 not stated | 0 included 1 not stated |
| Other or combined | 8 | 0 | 0 | €105 – too few stated prices n = 1 of 8 | 3 h n = 5 | 2 included 2 not included / on request 4 not stated | 1 included 7 not stated |
| Transport not stated | 6 | 0 | 0 | – – too few stated prices n = 0 of 6 | too few stated durations n = 4 | 1 included 5 not stated | 0 included 6 not stated |
| All tours | 41 | 4 | 5 | ||||
Rows are mutually exclusive: each tour is in exactly one row. The row comes from the tour title; only if the title names none, from the collected listing text. Car and minibus count as base transport only, so a snowmobile tour with a minibus transfer is a snowmobile tour; a side mention such as a farm visit does not decide the row. By car: car, minibus, bus or an unspecified vehicle, with no other main mode. Snowmobile: snowmobile as the only main mode. Reindeer: reindeer or reindeer sleigh as the only main mode. Other or combined: another single mode (e.g. snowcat, ATV, snowshoes, floating, horse sleigh) or two or more main modes in one tour. Transport not stated: no transport found in the title or the collected listing text.
Prices are the lowest listed per-person price of each tour that is not private (group prices and prices without a stated basis are left out; n = tours with a per-person price, of all non-private tours in the row). Where the operator’s own website states a price, that price is used. Listed prices can be discounted prices. Typical = median; not shown when fewer than 5 tours. Duration = midpoint of the stated range, multi-day tours left out.
Not stated = not found in the collected listing text, so a listing can say more. Hotel pickup "available / pickup points" = pickup offered or pickup points listed, possibly at extra cost.
| Feature | Tours | Price per person: from – typical | Price not stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private | 4 | €169 – too few stated prices n = 1 of 4 | 3 of 4 |
| Photography | 5 | €145 – too few stated prices n = 1 of 3 | 2 of 3 |
Private: "private", "yksityinen" or "VIP" in the tour title (not a private place such as "private island"). Photography: photo or photography in the tour name. A tour can be both.
Private tours: a price is shown only when the platform states it as a per-person price. Group prices are not divided among people, and prices that "vary by group size", assume 2 adults or have no stated basis are counted as not stated, because the group size they apply to is unknown. Even a stated per-person price of a private tour can depend on group size. Other features: prices of non-private tours only, as in the table above.
What do northern lights tours cost?
| What the listing states | Tours | Prices |
|---|---|---|
| A price per person (not private) | 7 | €95–€295 |
| A price we cannot compare per person | 8 | €99–€189 |
| No price at all | 26 | – |
7 of the 41 northern lights tours state a price per person that can be compared: they run from €95 to €295. That is fewer than 10 prices, so this section shows only the range and the number of prices; a “typical” figure elsewhere on the page is the median of these same prices, shown from 5 prices up, and it rests on few tours. The 8 in the middle row do state a price, but not one you can put beside the others: 1 is a private booking whose per-person price depends on group size and 7 do not say what the price covers. Listed starting prices on the collection date; they can be discounted prices. There is no separate price page for this activity, because 10 comparable prices are needed for quartiles.
Book a tour
4 of the 41 northern lights tours we list say when in the year they run: 4 in the snow season only. The other 37 do not say, which is not the same as saying they do not run. The snow season here is November to April.
Season comes from the operator’s own availability calendar in Visit Finland DataHub, or from a season stated on the operator’s own page. The snow season means the months when snow covers the ground on at least half the days at the weather station used on this site. A tour without a season simply does not state one.
No sort order on this site is affected by commission.
Sort by:
Grouped by duration; within each duration group, per-person prices and prices without a stated basis come first, lowest first, then group prices, then tours without a price.
By car (15)
More about northern lights tours by car: prices, duration and what is included.
Up to 3 hours
- Northern Lights Hunt by Car, Levi - 2-hour Aurora search
Scandinavian Travel Group Oy · 2 h · €95 / person
Hotel pickupSmall groupFood or hot drinksGuarantee: refund
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Photography Northern Lights Tour
Lappiland Oy · 3 h · €189 (basis not stated)
Hotel pickupFood or hot drinksPhotos of youGuarantee: refund
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Northern Lights Hunt by Car, Levi - 2-hour Aurora hunt
Scandinavian Travel Group Oy · 2 h · –
Hotel pickupSmall groupFood or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Northern Lights Hunt by Car, Levi — 2-hour Aurora hunt
Levi Tours · 2 h · –
Hotel pickupSmall groupWinter clothingFood or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - northern lights hunting by car
sixty eight north · 3 h · –
Food or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Up to 3 hours: 1 more tour is listed when JavaScript is on, or see all on northern lights tours by car.
Over 5 and up to 7 hours: 1 more tour is listed when JavaScript is on, or see all on northern lights tours by car.
Over 7 hours: 2 more tours are listed when JavaScript is on, or see all on northern lights tours by car.
Duration not stated: 6 more tours are listed when JavaScript is on, or see all on northern lights tours by car.
Snowmobile (11)
More about snowmobile northern lights tours: prices, duration and what is included.
Up to 3 hours
- Aurora Tour: Northern Lights Campfire Experience in Levi
Wild Nordic Finland · 2 h 30 min · €109 / person
Listed for Dec–Mar
Winter clothingFood or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - 3-hour Snowmobile Safari to Search for the Northern Lights in Levi
Wild Nordic Finland · 3 h · €169 / person
Listed for Dec–Mar
Winter clothingFood or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Northern Lights Snowmobile Adventure in Levi
Beyond Arctic · 3 h · €169 / person
Hotel pickupSmall groupWinter clothingFood or hot drinksPhotos of you
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Over 3 and up to 5 hours
- Northern Lights Photography Tour in Levi
Beyond Arctic · 4 h–5 h · €145 / person
Hotel pickupSmall groupFood or hot drinksPhotos of you
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Private Northern Lights Photography Tour in Levi
Beyond Arctic · 4 h–5 h · €169 / person
Hotel pickupSmall groupPrivateFood or hot drinksPhotos of you
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Duration not stated: 6 more tours are listed when JavaScript is on, or see all on snowmobile northern lights tours.
Reindeer (1)
Duration not stated
- Northern Lights Reindeer Sledge Ride In Levi
Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park · – · €119 (basis not stated)
Small group
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Other or combined (8)
Up to 3 hours
- Evening Snowshoeing to Search for the Northern Lights
Wild Nordic Finland · 2 h 30 min · €105 / person
Listed for Dec–Apr
Food or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Autumn: Aurora Floating
Safartica · 3 h · –
Title says summer or autumn
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Night Snowshoeing — search for the Aurora, Levi
Levi Tours · 2 h 30 min · –
Hotel pickupFood or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Over 3 and up to 5 hours
- Aurora Walk on Snowshoes in the Finnish Wilderness
Wandering Owl · 4 h · –
Small groupWinter clothingFood or hot drinksPhotos of you
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Over 5 and up to 7 hours
- Adults Only Aurora Hunt with Snowshoeing in the Finnish wilderness
Wandering Owl · 6 h · –
Small groupTitle says adults onlyWinter clothingFood or hot drinksPhotos of you
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Several days: 1 more tour is listed when JavaScript is on.
Duration not stated: 2 more tours are listed when JavaScript is on.
Transport not stated (6)
Up to 3 hours
- Northern Lights Sledge Ride in Levi
Arctic Circle Snowmobile Park · 2 h · €99 (basis not stated)
Small group
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - a northern lights story
sixty eight north · 1 h · –
Food or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Over 5 and up to 7 hours
- Adults Only Aurora Hunt in the Finnish wilderness
Wandering Owl · 6 h · –
Small groupTitle says adults onlyWinter clothingFood or hot drinksPhotos of you
Operator's website (opens in a new tab) - Levi Guaranteed Aurora Tour – Small group
Safartica · 6 h · –
Small group
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Duration not stated
- Autumn Northern Lights Adventure and Campfire Treats
Soma Adventures · – · –
Title says summer or autumnFood or hot drinks
Operator's website (opens in a new tab)
Duration not stated: 1 more tour is listed when JavaScript is on.
What the marks mean
- Hotel pickup
- pickup from your accommodation stated as included.
- Small group
- at most 8 participants, or "small group" in the listing.
- Private
- "private", "yksityinen" or "VIP" in the tour title.
- Title says adults only
- the tour title says it is for adults only.
- Title says summer or autumn
- the tour title names summer or autumn.
- Winter clothing
- winter clothing (overalls, boots or thermal suit) stated as included.
- Food or hot drinks
- a meal, snack or hot drink stated as included.
- Photos of you
- photos taken of the guests stated as included.
- Guarantee
- a refund, free retry or partial refund if the northern lights do not show (terms vary).
- Family-friendly
- "family" in the tour title, or a stated minimum age of 4 years or less.
Features are marked from the text of the listings and the operators’ own pages. A missing mark means the listing does not mention it, not that it is left out. Duration groups use the midpoint of the stated range (a 3–4 hour tour counts as 3.5 hours): up to 3 hours, over 3 and up to 5, over 5 and up to 7, over 7 hours, and tours of several days. Season comes from the operator’s own availability calendar in Visit Finland DataHub, or from a season stated on the operator’s own page. The snow season means the months when snow covers the ground on at least half the days at the weather station used on this site. A tour without a season simply does not state one. Filters are offered only for features that the listings state for at least 70 % of the tours and at least 50 % of the tours from each source, so a feature can be marked on a tour without being offered as a filter.
Run a tour here that’s missing, or see an error? Email [email protected]. Reported tours are checked on the operator’s public website before they are added.
Combined with other activities
A tour sold as more than one activity is counted in each of those guides.
Before you book
How long do northern lights tours take?
Of the 23 tours that state a duration in hours, the typical (median) tour takes 3 h; the shortest 1 h and the longest 8 h. 1 tour lasts several days and 17 do not state a usable duration.
Can children join?
We do not show minimum ages for these 41 tours: our automatic reading of age limits from the operators' pages did not pass its accuracy check for this destination. 2 of the tour titles say the tour is for adults only. Check the age limit on the operator’s page before booking with children.
Is winter clothing included?
14 of 41 tours say winter clothing is included and 3 say it is not included or only on request. 24 do not mention it. Checked from the listing text, so a listing can say more than we found.
What if the northern lights don’t show?
Of 41 tours: 8 say sightings are not guaranteed (No guarantee); 4 offer a refund if the lights do not show; conditions vary, for example the lights must not have been captured on the guide’s camera, or the tour is cancelled in advance because of cloud (Refund); 2 say explicitly that there is no refund if the lights do not show (No refund (stated)); 27 do not mention it. These counts describe refund and retry conditions as the listings state them. A guarantee or a success rate in a tour title is a booking condition or the operator’s own figure, not a forecast; our own figure for how often the sky is clear and dark is on the northern lights page.
When should I book?
Book your aurora tour for the first or second night of your stay, not the last, so that a cloudy night still leaves time to go again. Some operators offer a discounted or free second attempt if nothing is seen; the terms vary, so read them and the cancellation deadline before booking.
Based on the 41 northern lights tours in our data, from operators’ own websites.
Background
The main thing a guide adds is knowing where the clouds are not: guides follow cloud and aurora forecasts through the evening and drive to wherever the sky looks clearest, away from the resort lights. 33 of the 41 tours we list include food or a hot drink, and 13 include hotel pickup.
Northern lights tours in other destinations
Each destination’s northern lights tours are collected from its own sources, so the counts on those pages are not comparable with the counts here.
Sources and method
Climate data
- Nights with at least one hour between 20:00 and 02:00 with total cloud cover ≤ 2/8 and the sun below −12°. Only nights with an observation for every hour of the window; n = nights. Source: FMI hourly cloud cover + astral (calculated) (opens in a new tab); Kittilä airport (FMI weather station) (id 101986), 13.1 km from Levi; period 2015-01-01..2024-12-31; n = 280–310 per month.
- Year-to-year variation of the share of clear, dark nights: standard deviation between years, in percentage points; only years with at least 10 complete nights; n = years. Source: FMI hourly cloud cover + astral (calculated) (opens in a new tab); Kittilä airport (FMI weather station) (id 101986), 13.1 km from Levi; period 2015-01-01..2024-12-31; n = 10–10 per month.
- Stays of N consecutive nights with at least one such clear, dark night, from the actual sequence of nights; n = stays. Source: FMI hourly cloud cover + astral (calculated) (opens in a new tab); Kittilä airport (FMI weather station) (id 101986), 13.1 km from Levi; period 2015-01-01..2024-12-31; n = 280–309 per month.
- Hours between 20:00 and 02:00 with the sun below −12°, calculated from coordinates; n = nights. Source: astral (calculated); Calculated from destination coordinates (astral 3.2), no station; period 2015-2024; n = 283–310 per month.
- Mean of the hourly temperatures 20:00–02:00 per night, averaged over the month; only nights with every hour observed; n = nights. Source: FMI temperature observations (t2m, on the hour) (opens in a new tab); Kittilä airport (FMI weather station) (id 101986), 13.1 km from Levi; period 2015-01-01..2024-12-31; n = 282–309 per month.
- 10th percentile of those nightly means: one night in ten was colder; n = nights. Source: FMI temperature observations (t2m, on the hour) (opens in a new tab); Kittilä airport (FMI weather station) (id 101986), 13.1 km from Levi; period 2015-01-01..2024-12-31; n = 282–309 per month.
A clear, dark night is a precondition for seeing the northern lights, not the chance of seeing them. We do not compare destinations with these figures, because differences between weather stations can explain differences between places.
Tour data
How operators were found: no single list is complete, so we combined 116 candidate companies from several sources (Visit Finland DataHub 52, the Finnish Trade Register (PRH open data, tourism-related lines of business) 30, web searches in eight languages 46; a company can be in several). Each candidate with a website was checked on its own website. Tour details are taken first from the operator’s own website (or Visit Finland DataHub (opens in a new tab)); booking platforms fill in what the operator’s page does not state.
The tables and tour lists include the northern lights tours in our data that have a working booking link: 41 tours (41 with details from the operator’s own website or Visit Finland DataHub; listed on: operator site 41, DataHub 4 — the same tour is often listed in several places, so these add up to more than 41), collected 2026-09-23. Northern lights tours: naming the northern lights (aurora) in the title on the operator’s own website, or tagged or titled as one in Visit Finland DataHub. Pages that are not a single bookable tour (overview pages, multi-night holiday packages without their own tour, accommodation) were left out after reading the page. 0 tours were left out because they have no working booking link yet. A tour whose operating base is more than 50 km from the centre is listed only when the tour page says it departs from, or picks up in, the destination; the distance is then shown on the tour. Distances are measured from coordinates in Visit Finland DataHub, or from the postal code of the company’s registered address (PRH open data (opens in a new tab); postal code areas from Statistics Finland (opens in a new tab)). Prices change daily; check them on the booking page.
Links to operators’ own pages were last checked on : 441 addresses across every activity on this site, of which 3 did not answer with a working page and are not linked. GetYourGuide and Viator links are not fetched.
No sort order on this site is affected by commission.
Data source files: data/monthly_metrics.csv, data/levi/operator_catalog.csv, data/levi/discovery/datahub_experiences.csv. Company register data: PRH open data (avoindata.prh.fi) (opens in a new tab).
Last updated:
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