Northern Lights Forecast for Kirkenes

Northern Lights in Kirkenes

Kirkenes is a small town on the Bøkfjorden in the far east of Finnmark, a few kilometers from the Russian border and not far from Finland. It is also the northern end of the Hurtigruten coastal route, so many visitors arrive by ship and stay a night or two before flying home. The polar night lasts from late November to mid-January, which means long, dark evenings for aurora watching.

Toward Russia, Finland or up the Pasvik valley

The town is compact, so a short drive is usually enough to get away from the streetlights. Guided aurora tours pick their direction based on the cloud forecast: east toward the Russian border, west toward Finland, or south into the Pasvik valley.

The Pasvik valley follows the river that forms the border with Russia. It has an inland climate with low precipitation and pine forest instead of open coast, so the weather can be quite different from the fjord. At the southern end, about 100 km from Kirkenes, Øvre Pasvik National Park is Norway’s first International Dark Sky Park. Snowmobile tours also run deep into the valley.

The snow hotel in Sandnesdalen and king crab under the ice

Snowhotel Kirkenes, also known as Snow Resort Kirkenes, is in Sandnesdalen about 10 km outside town. Besides the snow hotel itself, it has warm gamme cabins, shaped after traditional Sámi turf huts, with large windows for watching the sky from inside. The resort also runs husky rides.

The local specialty is the king crab safari. In winter you ride across the frozen fjord on a sled pulled by a snowmobile, watch the crab pots come up through the ice and eat the catch afterwards.

Andersgrotta and the Borderland Museum

Kirkenes was hit by hundreds of air raids during the Second World War. Andersgrotta, an underground shelter where residents hid during the bombing, and the Borderland Museum (Grenselandmuseet) tell that story and the history of life on the border.

Where the Hurtigruten turns, and the road to Inari

Kirkenes Airport is about 15 minutes from town, with flights from Oslo and Tromsø. The Hurtigruten ships turn around here before heading back south to Bergen. It is also easy to combine Kirkenes with Finnish Lapland: the road via Näätämö and Sevettijärvi leads to Inari and on to Ivalo, about 240 km and three and a half hours away.