Want to experience Skiing, Cruising and Northern Lights (aurora borealis) all in one trip?

Karin Livingstone on 15 April 2018
If you want to experience Skiing, Cruising & the Northern lights, then this ONE trip is for you. All three were on my bucket list and I was so excited to be able to combine them all into one trip, it doesn’t get any better than this. Its recommended to travel January or February as this is one of the best times of the year to see the Northern lights and there is only approx. 4 hours of daylight.

You would need to travel to Norway and fly into Tromso and out of Kirkeness (north east of Norway). Tromso is ideal for seeing the northern lights and has a modern mix of outdoor activities e.g. Skiing, vibrant nightlife and fantastic places to eat local food.

Skiing in Tromso: If you would like to ski in Tromso, I recommend flying in a few days earlier before the cruise departs so that you can enjoy skiing at Tromso Ski Resort, enjoy the local cuisine (reindeer and seafood) and walk around the beautiful city.

Tromso Ski Resort is easy to access by bus from town and they also have flood lights for night time skiing. Please note the food and alcohol prices can be steep when you are travelling on South African Rands.

Cruising on the Hurtigruten: The condensed history of Hurtigruten is that their ships originally transported goods, post and people to many little villages along the coast. The Hurtigruten ships have now been converted into smaller cruise liners and their ships are more intimate than the average cruise liner.

Our ship MS Nordkapp carries only approx. 550 people and it has its own expedition team. On-board you have all the normal luxuries that other cruise liners have but on a much smaller scale. Our cruise departed from the town Tromso and sailed for two nights to Kirkeness stopping along the way at villages where goods and post are still being delivered. Onboard the MS Nordkapp there are three different restaurants, a Multe bakery and ice cream bar and a sauna and fitness room. Out on deck you can enjoy the view from one of their two Jacuzzis. The ship also has a cozy bar at the front of the ship and additionally has a large compass area with reception, a tour guide, conference room and shop. There are excursions along the way for example the North Cape is the northernmost point of the European mainland.

Northern Lights Experience: The best way to experience the Northern Lights would be on a Hurtigruten cruise, as the ship cruises through the magnificent natural fjords which means there is no city lights, and this therefore increases your chances to see the Northern lights.

The benefit of this cruise is that when the Northern lights do appear (it doesn’t matter what time of day or night) the MS Nordkap will announce it to the whole ship over the intercom. This happens even in the middle of the night while you are sleeping, so you can jump out of bed if you want to see the lights. If you are not keen to be woken up in the middle of the night, you just turn your intercom off and you can sleep through the night. Our best viewing was 3 am in the morning, I jumped out of bed, threw on as many layers of clothing that I could find in 10 seconds and ran outside. Just reminder its minus 15 degrees Celsius so it’s pretty cold but we had the best show of the whole trip. So, over a period of 3 days, 2 nights I was lucky enough to see the Northern Lights 9 times (that is no exaggeration). I highly recommend this trip on your bucket list as it was a trip I will never forget.