Northern Lights: Finland's fascinating spectacle in the sky

DW (English)

As well as the Aurora Borealis, DW takes a look at what else there is to experience on a trip to Lapland.

Transcript

00:00Are the northern lights on your travel bucket list?

00:03They've always been on mine.

00:06I'm here in the Arctic Circle to hopefully get a glimpse of them.

00:11Let's explore the wonders of the Far North

00:14on an adventure in Lapland!

00:25I head out into nature.

00:28Today there's an index of 4.0,

00:31which means there's a 40.2% chance that I'm going to see northern lights.

00:36That's not bad.

00:43Nothing. No northern lights.

00:45I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

00:47The conditions seemed good, but I didn't see anything.

00:50And now it's just getting too cold.

00:52I have to warm up and I think I will need some help.

00:56I want to get some advice from the most famous inhabitant of Lapland.

01:03Here we are, Santa's office.

01:05If anyone can make my northern lights wish come true, it's him.

01:09I'm very happy to see you.

01:11I'm on a mission to see the northern lights while I'm here.

01:14Do you have any advice?

01:16Just open your imagination.

01:18That's the first.

01:20Open your eyes and look around.

01:22And when you see something going,

01:24firstly it looks like the clouds going like this,

01:27then it might be the northern lights already.

01:31Santa's village is open year-round

01:33and is the number one attraction in Finnish Lapland.

01:36It gets over half a million visitors a year.

01:39You can send letters from Santa's post office or cross the Arctic Circle.

01:45A new day, a new chance.

01:47I'm only here today, so it's my last chance to see the northern lights.

01:51But before it gets dark, let's check out a few outdoor activities you should try.

01:56I need three layers of warm clothing and a special suit so I can stay outside longer.

02:02Another layer.

02:05You can learn to snowshoe quickly with tour companies like Wild About Lapland.

02:10But you're probably not as clumsy as me.

02:13It's safe to go ice fishing here.

02:15The ice on the lake is over a meter thick.

02:17It's like it's frozen or stuck.

02:20You need patience though, which is easier said than done at minus 27 degrees Celsius.

02:27Oh, you catch a bait.

02:29Oh, I broke my fishing rod.

02:33Hopefully I'll have more success with the northern lights tonight.

02:37But first I want to relax a bit

02:39But first I want to relax a bit

02:41in a place that only exists between mid-December and the end of March

02:45when temperatures hit rock bottom.

02:48I'm visiting a very special hotel that's a sightseeing attraction in itself.

02:52It's built from ice and snow.

02:56The Arctic Snow Hotel is rebuilt every year.

03:00Maria from the hotel shows me the rooms,

03:03all 20 of which have been individually designed by artists.

03:07If you haven't booked an overnight stay,

03:09you can still take a tour during the day.

03:12Sleeping in this kind of Arctic conditions

03:15where the temperature is from 0 to minus 5 degrees,

03:19it's an experience.

03:21And also not all people are used to sleeping in the sleeping bags,

03:26which you really need to be warm for the night.

03:31I prefer roast venison in the ice restaurant

03:34with hot Glögi, Finnish malt wine.

03:37It's so warm, it's almost burning my fingers now.

03:41And cheesecake for dessert on a plate of ice.

03:44Then I try my hand at ice carving.

03:47And I try out the unique snow sauna,

03:50which melts a little every time it's used.

03:55It's 7pm, five hours after sunset already, dark,

03:58and my next chance to see the northern lights.

04:01And this time I'm joining a guided tour.

04:04Our tour guide, Vince, drives us long distances in a minibus

04:08to be in the right place at the right time.

04:13We drive through the night on small roads to deserted places.

04:17Then he suddenly pulls over to the side of the road.

04:22If we go outside, it's above us.

04:24The northern lights!

04:27The tour operator calls this a northern light safari,

04:31and I can see why.

04:32We're chasing light that can often only be seen for a few minutes

04:35and only in one place.

04:37All I see is black, until Vince makes the northern lights appear

04:41using the long exposure on his camera.

04:47My last night in Lapland comes to an end.

04:50Not quite as I had imagined.

04:53I didn't see the northern lights with my bare eyes,

04:55but at least they showed up in the pictures.

04:57Hunting for them was quite an adventure.

04:59What about you? Would you like to come here and visit?

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