Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The funniest thing about my disastrous trip from Naples to Capri by fast boat is how easily it could be avoided.
My friend Megan had specifically warned me about the rough boat journey between Naples and Capri, especially in the winter months when I visited Capri (specifically, early March).
She’s emetophobic and, miraculously, still one of my closest friends even after I’ve puked or nearly puked in her presence… multiple times. Why she continues to travel with me is anyone’s guess, but I’m grateful anyway.
She had taken the hydrofoil between Naples and Capri the previous winter and was traumatized by how many people were throwing up on the boat ride over, which was only about an hour.
She warned me explicitly about the hydrofoil… and I nodded along, texting back, “Sweet, I will avoid hydrofoils!”
Me, innocently: What could go wrong? Narrator: A lot. A lot could go wrong.
… and then a few days later, unbeknownst to me, I had boarded a hydrofoil and had motion sickness so bad that it was like having an out-of-body experience, a fever, and food poisoning simultaneously.
Let’s backtrack so I can try to explain precisely how I got here.
In a hurry? Here’s the need-to-know.
The best way to get to Capri from Naples is via the Caremar slow ferry, for about €14 each way, taking 1 hour to 1 hour and 25 minutes. Depart from Calata di Massa.
The fastest way to get to Capri from Naples is via the SNAV or NGL hydrofoils for about €24 each way, taking about 50 minutes, but putting you at high risk of seasickness. Depart from Molo Beverello.
How Not to Get to Capri from Naples (What I Did)
The ticket booths at Molo Beverello — aka, where you don’t want to be.
I often joke that travel bloggers aren’t experts at traveling; we get things wrong so that others can learn from us. Because honestly, can an AI ever board the wrong boat, have motion sickness so bad they’re practically on the astral plane, and then live to tell you about it? I think not.
Because Google is absolutely broken and useless these days, I couldn’t find a helpful blog post explaining how to get from Naples to Capri… That’s why I’m writing this guide you’ll probably never see!
Let me try to redeem myself. I looked up the boats on Ferryhopper, which I usually use for booking ferries, and saw that two companies were going to Capri, each taking 50 minutes and costing about the same. Rome2Rio also confirmed the same two companies, so I assumed that was all there was and made my plans accordingly.
Prices on Ferryhopper, screenshot taken April 26, 2024. Note the additional €3.50 fee compared to what I paid in person. Looking back, “JET” should have been a red flag, but we have already established that I am a moron.
So, anyway, the story continues. Thinking that there were only two ferry companies, SNAV and NLG, I looked up the location for the SNAV ticket office, which had the time slot I wanted. I saw it listed as “ferry services” on Google Maps and thought I had it all figured out.
For some reason, I thought that the ferry took about an hour to get to Capri and that the fast boats (jetfoils or hydrofoils) would take about half that time. So when I saw 50 minutes, I thought it was the right boat.
Where did I get these numbers? The voices in my head. I genuinely have no other explanation.
The ports in Naples are extremely confusing to find: click the links below for the exact coordinates of each port
What I didn’t know at the time, nor could I find explained anywhere online, was that there are two ferry terminals in Naples… that are basically right next to each other but are poorly differentiated. One port only serves hydrofoils and fast boats, and the other serves larger car ferries.
Adding insult to injury, I walked right past the ferry terminal I actually wanted (CalataPorta di Massa, where the large ferries depart from) on the way to the ferry terminal that would make me see God (Molo Beverello, where the demon boats… I mean hydrofoils… leave from).
So, cluelessly, I walked all the way to Molo Beverello, where I bought my ticket at the SNAV ticket booth.
I grabbed a quick breakfast bite at the port café (ah, sweet summer child), and then boarded my death trap, I mean boat, on time.
Of many bad choices, this was among the most foolish.
I did see the dreaded passing out of sick bags early in the journey, but I tried to push it out of my head. After all, I had taken a Dramamine and wasn’t on the dreaded hydrofoil (or so I thought). I’d be just fine!
The first 10 minutes were fine; the rest got progressively worse in the way that only people who get seasickness can relate to: that hot, sweaty, feverish feeling only relieved by going full Exorcist mode on a barf bag.
After emptying myself of the breakfast I optimistically purchased, the rest of the boat ride was a little less painful.
If this is your view, it’s already too late. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
I had to go into full tunnel vision mode so that I wouldn’t be triggered by the other passengers barfing around me, a true symphony of sickness.
After 50 minutes, we mercifully arrived in Capri.
Jelly-legged, I wobbled off the boat at Capri Harbor, feeling like a shell of a human and wondering what exactly had gone wrong. I had taken the ferry, hadn’t I?
The ferry that I should have taken instead
… and then I looked over to an enormous boat in the harbor.
It looked like the size of the Titanic compared to the dinghy I had just disembarked from, and I quickly realized just how wrong I had been.
What Exactly Is a Hydrofoil?
The SNAV ferry where I would, briefly, meet my maker. If you see this and you get motion sickness… run like hell, you’re in the wrong spot.
For some reason (again, the voices in my head, because apparently, I’m allergic to doing the research before a trip instead of after it), I thought a hydrofoil was a speedboat.
And so when I saw what seemed like a large boat, I just presumed I was taking the ferry. Ridiculous? Maybe, but at least you can learn from my mistakes.
A hydrofoil (sometimes called jetfoil, a type of hydrofoil with jet engines) is basically a catamaran on steroids. The ‘foil’ part comes from its wing-like structure similar to what they use on planes, but it’s actually built underneath the hull.
Think of it like a kitesurfing board, but on a boat. Powered by a jet engine. Yes, now that I know the science of it, I realize how terrifying it is.
View from the ferry, watching the hydrofoil pass by, thanking my lucky stars I’m not on it.
This foil lifts the hull above the water, reducing the drag of the water and thus increasing speed and efficiency— but also making it more prone to making people nauseous at the slightest hint of choppy seas.
I had been warned about hydrofoils when traveling around the Cycladic islands in Greece, notorious for their windy conditions and rough seas. Yet somehow, I boarded ferries just fine during that trip, not confusing them for hydrofoils.
In Greece, most islands generally only have one ferry port, so it’s easy to ensure you take the right boat… but with Naples’ confusing infrastructure (a gripe of many visitors to the city), this was more complicated. At least, that’s what I’m blaming it on here.
How to Get from Naples to Capri (The Right Way)
This should be your view when boarding the ferry!
Luckily, I didn’t book a return ticket through SNAV because I needed to figure out when I wanted to head back to Naples after my day trip to Capri. It’s maybe the one thing I got right about this whole debacle!
I was able to fix my mistake for the return journey and experience what a ferry ride from Capri back to Naples was like, since I instead chose to book my return ticket with Caremar, the large ferry that I had seen in the harbor.
In a word, it was amazing. I have no complaints. The sea wasn’t rough at all, I didn’t experience any motion sickness.
At least you can always be outside on the ferry — you’re stuck inside the boat on the hydrofoil if the sea is rough, and it usually is.
Plus, we got to sit outside and take in one of the most gorgeous sunsets in recent memory (versus the hydrofoil, where we were shut inside).
The standard ferry is also about €10 cheaper, but I’d have paid €10 more than I paid for the fast ferry to avoid how awfully sick I felt. It took about 20 more minutes, but I enjoyed every one of them!
Hydrofoil vs. Ferry: What’s Right for You?
The interior of the port in Naples, where you can buy Caremar ferry tickets
OK, look. If every minute counts on your fast-paced Naples and Amalfi itinerary and you’ve never gotten motion sickness before in your life, I can see a case for taking the hydrofoil.
It is slightly faster, getting you to Capri about 20 minutes quicker, for about €10 more.
But I can’t justify the €10 additional cost on top of how sick I felt… just to save some minutes on what is, otherwise, a very pleasant ferry ride.
I know that I sound like a giant baby in a lot of this post, but I actually take a lot of boats. I travel most of the year (actually, full-time at this point), and about two-thirds of my travels are to islands.
I also dive constantly: I logged over a hundred dives in 2023, spending over four cumulative days underwater. Of those 100+ dives, I got seasick once but never to the point where I needed to throw up.
This aside isn’t to brag but to emphasize how intense the hydrofoil experience can be, even for someone like me, who has become much more accustomed to boats!
Don’t underestimate it. Save the extra €20 roundtrip — spend it on a few spritzes or some fresh OJ– and enjoy the scenic route!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
While Tromsø often steals the show when it comes to Norway’s Arctic winter offerings, Alta is slowly emerging as a great alternative destination away from the crowds.
You can do all the same things in Alta in winter as you can in Tromsø, while saving some serious money on hotels, which are a lot more affordable in Alta.
Holmen Husky Lodge – a great place to go dog sledding!
See the Northern lights? Alta is literally the City of the Northern lights, where the world’s first Northern lights observatory was built.
Whale watching? Yup, and you won’t need to take a 3-hour boat ride across rough seas to find them!
Plus, Alta has some seriously unique accommodations outside of the city center, including panoramic glass cabins, igloo hotels, wilderness lodges, and canvas-and-glass domes.
Ready? Let’s get into it!
Best Alta Aurora Cabins & Tents for Northern Lights Views
One of the more unique accommodations in Alta is the beautiful Flatmoen Nature Lodge, which has just two scenic panoramic cabins, each with its own private outdoor hot tub.
This beautiful little cabin is away from the main lights of Alta city center, in the Ovre Alta area.
It sleeps two people, so it’s a great choice for couples or two friends traveling together who don’t mind sharing a queen bed (note that in Scandinavia, individual duvets are always provided!)
from Hotels.comfrom Hotels.com
This cabin has a coffee/tea station and a small kitchenette if you want to cook for yourself, including a mini-fridge, microwave, and stovetop. Being able to cook yourself is a great way to save some money on your trip to Norway!
And if you want breakfast in bed? You can request it and it’ll be cooked to order and delivered to your room for just 200 NOK (about ~18 USD).
Trasti & Trine | View of the Northern lights over the property
While I didn’t stay at Trasti & Trine, two of my favorite memories of my Alta trip took place here…
One, the delicious multi-course fine dining meal we splurged on here, and two, seeing the Northern lights from their property as soon as we waddled away from the meal!
Meal at Trasti & Trine
The property is really beautiful, with a typical guesthouse as well four aurora cabins.
These four individual cabins all have glass panels aimed towards the heavens so that if you turn off the lights, you can see if there’s any aurora happening above you.
They also have a dog kennel on site so you can book dog sledding excursions through them!
For a unique spin on glamping, the adventure travel company GLØD has a two aurora domes that you can stay in.
And don’t worry — they have a fireplace (and electric blankets) so you won’t freeze!
Photo from AgodaPhoto from Agoda
These canvas domes have a few plexiglass panels that you can look out through and see if there’s any aurora happening over your head
Note that these aurora domes don’t have their own ensuite bathrooms, but there is a shared bathroom nearby. Breakfast is included in your stay in the main building.
One of the most spectacular places you can stay in Alta is the Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge, which is the year-round permanent hotel companion to the beautiful Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel.
The hotel is a boutique design dream, with beautiful interiors that place the focus on the stunning views over the river valley.
from Hotels.comfrom Hotels.com
Both the bed and comfortable armchairs face the views with floor-to-ceiling-to-roof windows (yes, there’s a glass roof panel, perfect for peeking through to see if the aurora is overhead), as well as an enclosed balcony.
This lodge is all about enjoying the nature, so there’s a ton to do here that you can organize through the hotel. From summer activities like king crab safaris to winter activities like snowmobiling and Northern lights chasing, there’s so much to do here. Plus, the restaurant here is one of Alta’s best!
Part of the Sorrisniva property, the igloo hotel is a temporary hotel rebuilt from scratch every year, re-opening annually on December 20th.
Even if you can’t afford to (or prefer not to) spend a night in the hotel, you can visit for 350 NOK (~32 USD) and spend as much time as you like exploring all the cool features of the hotel.
With an ice chapel, ice bar, all sorts of stunning ice sculptures created by artists near and far, there’s so much to see in this beautiful igloo hotel.
I’d honestly only recommend staying one night in an igloo hotel — it’s more of an interesting conceit than a comfortable stay — so you could stay here one night and then move to the Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge the next day.
The modern and ultra-central Thon Hotel is personally where I stayed in Alta and I can highly recommend it to people who want to stay in Alta center.
The rooms were really spacious and comfortable and I enjoyed the tropical vibe of the décor, which provided a nice contrast to the freezing cold outside!
View from my room at the Thon Hotel in Alta in February 2024
The breakfast buffet was absolutely delicious, the best I enjoyed in all my travels in Norway. I especially loved being able to make my own freshly-squeezed orange juice each morning!
The only con I can say is that there’s no on-site parking and the main parking center in the city is quite expensive, but that’s true for all Alta city center hotels as far as I can see.
I didn’t stay at the Scandic Hotel Alta in particular, but I’ve stayed at many Scandics in other cities in Scandinavia and I’ve always been really satisfied with my stay.
Many Scandics are also quite business travel focused, which means they have a lot of good amenities even for leisure travelers and families.
from Hotels.comfrom Hotels.com
This particular Scandic is quite massive — with over 240 rooms — and it has a fitness room, an indoor pool, and a sauna!
There’s also a free buffet breakfast daily, and they have on-site overnight parking for 80 NOK (~7 USD) per day, which is a good rate compared to what it costs at parking lots in the city center.
If you’re looking for an affordable play to stay in the middle of Alta’s city center, Canyon Hotell generally has the best prices of the city’s three main central hotels.
It has everything you’d need from a basic hotel, but in my opinion, hotels like Thon are a slight step above when it comes to their amenities, like their hotel breakfast.
It’s a nice mid-sized hotel with just 22 rooms, with two on-site restaurants for lunch and dinner, as well as a daily breakfast available included in the room cost.
This is a good option for families, because they have rooms that sleep up to 4, and rollaway/extra beds can be had for 300 NOK (about 28 USD) per day.
Note that like the other Alta city center hotels, there is no on-site parking.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
If you’ve decided to visit Svalbard, congratulations: an incredible adventure is ahead of you, no matter when you decide to visit.
But more than anywhere else I’ve ever visited, the time of year you visit Svalbard has a huge impact on what your trip will be like.
And I’m not just talking season to season or even month to month. Honestly, from week to week or sometimes even day to day, Svalbard can be a completely different experience.
View of the Global Seed Vault and the Isfjord in the Svalbard February blue hour
So much so that I’ve actually written a full guide to when to visit Svalbard — it outlines everything from daylight hours (and how they change over the course of the month… if they change at all) to the typical weather conditions to the activities that you can likely do during that time.
But if you landed on this post, it’s likely because you’re specifically considering a trip to Svalbard in February. Or you’re just a daydreamer, in which case, same — and I hope this post is interesting nonetheless.
After visiting, I can say that yes, it is worth visiting Svalbard in February… but I do have some tips to make the most of it and so that you have the right expectations for your trip.
My February Trip To Svalbard
My flight details for my February trip to Svalbard from Tromsø
I made my first trip to Svalbard this past February of 2024, specifically from February 12 to February 16.
Though it may seem like overkill to tell you my exact dates of travel, hopefully by the end of the post, you’ll understand why these dates matter so much!
I was going with my friend Megan, who is a true Svalbard expert! She had been to Svalbard many times before, but never in February.
While we originally had booked the same dates, she ended up extending her trip until February 20th, and frankly — she had the right idea! She got to do a lot of things that I didn’t get to do, as many tours began operating again on February 15th.
Expert Tip
If planning a trip to Svalbard in February, the later in the month the better. Several tours don’t even begin until February 15th!
7 Key Things to Know About Visiting Svalbard in February
Daylight conditions change quickly, as in, from day to day.
Bright ‘blue hour’ light around 1 PM on February 13, 2024
The first half of February, there’s no sunrises or sunsets at all in Svalbard. And even by the end of the month, the town of Longyearbyen won’t have seen the sun, as it won’t have risen high enough above the horizon to shine on the town.
That said, the light conditions are incredibly different throughout the month, because even before the first sunrise of the year, there are prolonged periods of civil twilight. Colloquially, the twilit period gets called “blue hour,” even though it actually extends throughout much of the day, far longer than just an hour or two.
Here is an example of how much “blue hour” you can expect:
February 1: Blue hour from 10:40 AM to 1:40 PM [~3 hours]
February 14: Blue hour from 8:30 AM to 3:55 PM [~7.5 hours]
February 28: Blue hour from 6:30 AM to 5:45 PM [~11 hours]
Technically the sun rises for the first time each year around February 15 (about from 11:30 AM to 12:50 PM).
That quickly extends, until by the end of February, the sun is up between 8:30 AM to 3:45 PM, but you won’t see it unless you leave Longyearbyen and find a spot that isn’t blocked by the mountains.
Blue hour in Svalbard is absolutely stunning.
Our tour guide looking for walruses in the harbor of Svalbard. Early morning blue light, as seen around 10 AM on February 13, 2024.
If you’re a photographer coming to Svalbard, the light conditions in February are a dream. How does it sound to literally never worry about harsh mid-day light?
The downside of not having a lot of hours of light is pretty obvious. But the upside, also probably obvious, is that there is truly no part of the day where your photos will come out in harsh light or overexposed.
The blue hour light means that you’ll mostly have beautiful dawn-like conditions all day long, with mostly robins egg blue and deep, rich jewel-toned blues the likes of which I’ve never seen elsewhere.
Some of the first pink tones of the February 2024 season!
As the middle of the February creeps nearer and sunrises and sunsets are soon to return to Svalbard, you’ll also get some beautiful pastel pink and purple tones.
If you have a keen and creative eye, you’ll surely find no shortage of photo opportunities that inspire you in February!
Photography Tip
If using a camera with RAW capability, be sure to use it! Due to the lack of sunlight, your photos can end up looking quite dark in JPEG form. You can revive a lot of those colors if you shoot in RAW and capture the landscape more accurately!
Expect to have your rhythms thrown off.
Expect to drink more coffee than ever before in your life (and still feel tired)
I visited Svalbard before the sun had officially risen for the first time that year, but there was plenty of “blue hour” light, at least 6 hours a day of semi-lit conditions.
I was aware of that going in, and I had previously spent a lot of time in the Arctic, including January in Rovaniemi and other parts of February in Tromsø and Alta, and never really had any significant issues with my energy.
But I wasn’t prepared for how significant those few hours of sunlight that places north of the Arctic Circle, but south of Svalbard, truly would be for my body.
While blue hour light is beautiful, I found myself exhausted easily.
I drank so much coffee during the day yet I always felt tired. I was in my bed every day by 5 PM, feeling as if I could pass out at a moment’s notice… and then somehow, time would pass, and I’d find myself still awake at 2 AM.
When I returned to Tromsø, I instantly felt revived and my energy and sleep schedule got a lot more normal, even though there wasn’t that much daylight there. Just don’t underestimate it, especially if you have ever experienced seasonal affective disorder!
The weather also changes quickly.
Luckily, virtually all outdoor activities in Svalbard give you an expedition suit to wear!
Given the fact that Svalbard is roughly halfway between the North Pole and the northernmost tip of Norway, you’d think that the weather in Svalbard in February is brutally cold.
But that’s actually not the case, especially on the western side of Spitsbergen, where Longyearbyen is. You may be surprised how warm (relatively speaking) it can be in February in Svalbard!
During my 4-night, 5-day trip, we had temperatures ranging from a high of 2° C (36° F) — which is far too warm and alarming for the Arctic, but I digress — down to a low of -15° C (5° F).
Since Megan stayed a little longer, she had some even colder weather… it went down to -25° C (-13° F) on one of the days she was there!
The key to staying warm in Svalbard? Layers! You’ll need: wool base layers, a wool sweater to wear atop it, wind-proof pants, a wool neck gaiter, a parka, mittens, a hat, wool socks, and snow boots.
Some tours only start running again mid-February.
Megan took this photo on her East Spitsbergen tour, which starts for the year on February 15
Personally, I think I made one critical error on my February trip to Svalbard — I came just a few days too early in the season.
It’s hard to overstate just how critical a few days here and there can be in an environment as extreme as the Arctic.
Megan quickly realized how much she’d be missing if she left on the 16th as we originally planned and extended her stay so she could do a really cool snowmobile adventure to the eastern side of Spitsbergen and take a few boat tours of Svalbard.
She was kind enough to share some of her photos from the East Spitsbergen snowmobile tour (above) and her fjord boat tours with Henningsen Transport & Guiding (below) so that you can have an idea of what you can do in the second half of February.
Megan’s photo from a boat tour in late February
I can admit when I’m wrong — I definitely should have extended my trip and stayed extra so I could see Svalbard from the water as well as taken a snowmobile to Svalbard’s eastern edge.
In the moment, I was too exhausted by the extreme low-light conditions to feel like I had enough energy to stay longer, but I wish I had powered through because I can truly see how much more she got to see by staying later in the month.
Looking now, I see that the tour she took – the polar bear snowmobile safari – actually runs as early as February 11, 2025, but this wasn’t the case when I visited.
Note that while this tour calls itself a ‘polar bear’ safari, you won’t actually track polar bears as that is illegal in Svalbard… for good reason, because these animals are dangerous!
However, it will take you to the eastern side of Spitsbergen, where there are a lot more polar bears since there is a lot more sea ice for them to hunt from.
This tour will bring you to the eastern side, where you can see the Barents Sea, look out on Königsbergbreen Glacier and Rabotbreen Glacier, and see the Barents and Edgeøya islands, both of which are uninhabited.
Accommodation prices are usually quite low throughout the entire month.
The Svalbard Hotell Polfaren, where I stayed in February
I stayed at the Svalbard Hotell Polfaren during my February trip and found that prices were extremely reasonable for such a nice hotel at the northernmost edge of the world!
Looking forwards next year, I can see that prices are quite reasonable for February 2025.
What I find interesting is that the prices don’t really change much at all throughout the month of February.
As of the time of writing, weekday prices are a consistent $177 USD per night whether you visit at the beginning of February vs. the end of February. For that reason, I’d suggest booking your stay near the end of month if you can!
The Northern lights are still a possibility if you’re lucky!
If you’re lucky, the view of Northern lights over Svalbard’s treeless, snow-covered landscape is truly otherworldly
Unfortunately, I wasn’t lucky during my trip and despite staying for four nights, I didn’t get to see the Northern lights in Svalbard during my trip.
Actually, Svalbard is a bit interesting because it is outside what scientists have deemed the ‘aurora oval’ where the aurora borealis appears the most often. It’s actually a little too far north for its own good!
But that doesn’t mean you can’t see the Northern lights in Svalbard — you definitely can, as pictures show! It just means that actually, places like Rovaniemi in Finland and Abisko in Sweden have higher chances of seeing the Northern lights.
One thing to note is that you can’t leave the town of Longyearbyen independently without an armed guide due to the threat of polar bears. So if it’s cloudy in the village, you won’t be able to see the aurora even if there is a spectacular solar storm happening.
For that reason, I suggest taking a tour like this snowmobile tour to an aurora camp in Sassendalen to get a bit more inland (where there is less chance for clouds to obscure your vision) and away from light pollution.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Eyesore or eye-catching? Opinions on Paris’ Tour Montparnasse, or Montparnasse Tower in English, have always tended towards one extreme or the other; either way, it sparks reactions.
Reactions were so severe, in fact, that after it was finished in 1973, there was a tremendous outcry. The uproar continued to be so loud that two years later, the city banned the construction of any building taller than seven stories—quite clearly a pointed jab at the Tour Montparnasse.
That sentiment continues today among Parisians and visitors. There’s an oft-repeated tongue-in-cheek joke about the Tour Montparnasse having “the best views in the city because it is the only place from which you cannot see it.”
And honestly, while in my opinion, the Montparnasse Tower is not as spectacularly ugly as everyone makes it out to be, they have a solid point. The tower is also not particularly interesting either; paradoxically, that’s exactly what makes it such a good observation deck.
The Tour Montparnasse sticks out like a sore thumb — not great for the aesthetic of the neighborhood, but amazing for views.
It’s somewhat pointless to climb up the city’s most iconic viewpoint in search of its best view, which is why I opted not to climb the Eiffel Tower.
I make this point in my article about New York’s observation decks when I mention the cons of going up the Empire State Building; when you can’t actually see the city’s most iconic sight, what’s the point?
And the same rings true for the Tour Montparnasse. Since you honestly won’t really miss seeing it, you have nothing to lose by being atop it.
What Can You See from Tour Montparnasse?
Not bad views of the Eiffel Tower, even on a cloudy, foggy, rainy day!
The best thing about the Tour Montparnasse, which stands out distinctly (for better or worse, mostly worse) among Paris’ architecture, is that you can quite literally see almost the entire city from its heights.
Paris isn’t a very built-up city, so the fact that the Montparnasse Tower stands so tall in its skyline really benefits it (and is part of why it attracts so much ire, being such an outlier).
From the Tour Montparnasse, you can see virtually every important Paris building. I’m not kidding. I can’t think of one building I wanted to see but didn’t.
Want front-row seats to the Eiffel Tower? You’ve got them. And the Louvre? That, too. Even the teeny-tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Sacre Couer up on the hill all the way in Montmartre? Yup, it’s there!
One cool thing? On the interior of the 56th floor, decals on the floor show you exactly what you are looking at in the distance, in case your Paris geography is not top-notch!See how you can see the exact footprint of the Louvre and understand the parameters and size of the building after looking at the floor decal? How cool is that!
The Tour Montparnasse consists of two main levels for visitors: the 56th floor, which is indoors and gives you about 180-degree access to Paris’ best views.
Honestly, I particularly loved this interior part because there’s really nothing that you miss on the other 180-degree part of the view, because this part of the city isn’t very scenic and doesn’t have any major attractions.
Also, the glass windows are quite clean and well-kept, so you don’t miss anything from taking pictures through the glass (something I did not find to be the case when I visited One World Observatory in New York City).
Here is an example of some of the photos I took inside the observation deck on the 56th floor so you can see what kind of photos you can capture. Note that I’m just using a simple Google Pixel phone and using my 2x and 5x zoom functionality — I’m not even using a fancy camera!
The Les Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb areaHard to see, but that’s the Sacre Couer Basilica and Montmarte in the distanceThe Jardin du Luxembourg in front of the Senate
The interior 56th floor of the tower is also good because it’s, well, inside and as you might be able to tell from my photos, which were taken in early March of 2024.
So despite the fact that you don’t get the best and clearest photos, it can still be a good activity for a rainy day in Paris.
But wait a second, because I’ve only discussed what you can see on the 56th floor so far. Let’s go up the stairs and see what you can see from the terrace!
There are 3 flights of stairs (in a quite dingy stairwell) that you must climb to reach the top terraceI love all the placards showing what you can see (in theory!) from the Tour Montparnasse
When I visited the Tour Montparnasse, it was an incredibly (and characteristically) rainy and gloomy day in Paris. I’m talking down-pouring rain and temperatures of 3° C / 37° F.
I literally found myself feeling colder in Paris in March than I had during Svalbard in February the month prior, so it was really nice to be able to see all these gorgeous views from the inside.
There’s also an outdoor terrace on the 59th floor, where you have full 360-degrees of all of Paris… which I’m sure is lovely on a sunnier, less gloomy day, but it was a little hard to enjoy when I visited.
The 59th floor of the observation deck has some stereotypical “photo spots” like the <3 Paris signAnother installation you can take photos with — this one frames the Eiffel Tower perfectly!
You might not be able to tell perfectly from the photos, but there is actually a small amount of glass roofing over the main “walkway” perimeter of the 59th floor. That’s actually quite a nice touch (and definitely a nod to how aware Paris is of just how often it rains there!).
However, the whole “arena”, shall we say, of the top terrace is completely open. When it’s so windy that it’s practically raining sideways in Paris (again, not uncommon), you’ll definitely get quite wet and cold!
As a result, my time up on the 59th floor was quite limited before I went back down to the warmth of the 56th floor — and here’s where you can find a café if you want to pause for a drink!
Le Cafe 360 on Floor 56
There’s also a café on the 56th floor where you can warm up with a view
Being somewhat of an observation deck junkie, I’ve seen many an overpriced café selling things at 4-5 times the price of what you’d pay on the ground.
I was surprised that the prices at Le 360 Café were actually only about 50% higher than you’d pay at an average place in Paris — and on par with what you’d pay within a short walking distance of attractions like Le Louvre.
At least, that was my observation during my March 2024 visit — prices may have changed since then, but this is what I saw and am reporting back on!
Prices are surprisingly affordable!
If you can’t read the writing on the menu, it reads: €2.80 for an espresso or café allongé (what we call an americano, or what would be most similar to a brewed coffee back in the U.S.), €4 for a double espresso, €4.20 for a cappuccino, €4.20 for a hot chocolate, and €3.80 for a tea.
Fancy something more, well, fancy? A glass of Champagne (and it being France, trust that it will actually be Champagne and not just sparkling wine — real ones know) is €13 for a glass or €75 for a bottle.
A glass of house wine (red, white, or rosé, pick your poison) would be a mere €5… ah, how I love French wine… or a bottle for €24. There are some other options — beer, lemonades, soft drinks, etc. but I thought I would highlight the more interesting offerings.
Getting to the Tour Montparnasse
The Gare Montparnasse, part of the Montparnasse-Bienvenüe metro stop. This view is seen as you are leaving from Tour Montparnasse and heading back towards the metro.
Paris’s metro is perhaps the most well-connected metro system in the world. My quibbles about its annoying validation system aside, you can get virtually anywhere in the city fairly seamlessly, and the Tour Montparnasse is no exception.
Take the metro to Montparnasse-Bienvenüe, which is served by both line 12 and line 4. And here’s my most important tip to save you a bunch of walking: take exit 7, Rue du Départ.
The Paris metro has a lot of different exits for every station, and Montparnasse-Bienvenüe is one of its larger stations as it connects with Gare Montparnasse, where the TGV (high speed train) departs from.
Picking the right exit will save you a bunch of time and backtracking! With the correct exit, it’s only a 300 meter walk (about 4 minutes) from the metro.
As you approach Tour Montparnasse, veer slightly to your left — you’ll want to enter the main building area, pictured here:
This area is where you enterIf you see this sign, you’ve walked too far and need to backtrack towards the front entrance.
Once you see the Tour Montparnasse’s entrance, it’s pretty simple to go up.
It goes in a few stages, and in case you’re an anxious traveler like me who wants to know all the steps so you can’t somehow fail at visiting a place you’ve never been to before, I’ve outlined them below.
You must go through a security checkpoint on the ground floor
First, you enter at the ground floor and pass through an airport-style security checkpoint.
The line can be a bit confusing here if you arrive a few minutes early, before the security desk opens, like I did. I recommend waiting on the left-hand side as this is where the line actually begins, not the right-hand side.
The staff will not check your tickets at this stage; they just will make sure you don’t have any of the prohibited items.
Follow this sign to reach the elevator
Second, you follow the signs to the “visite panoramique” or panoramic visit; it also notes that there is where the “billeterie” or ticket booth is so if you do not already have your ticket you can buy it after you’ve taken the elevator.
Follow this sign (and the crowds) and it will bring you to the elevator. Pretty simple!
Next, just wait for the elevator to bring you to the 56th floor. This elevator is extremely fast, supposedly the fastest in Europe — it takes just 38 seconds to go up 56 floors! — so I didn’t wait long at all.
No lines to buy tickets at 9:30 AM on a weekday in March… but there may be lines at other times, so I recommend pre-booking your ticket!
Finally, once reaching the 56th floor, you’re there! Either show your pre-purchased ticket on your phone (recommended) or stand in line at the ticket booth to buy your ticket on-site.
Congrats — you’ve reached the Tour Montparnasse; now enjoy the views.
Are the Lines for Tour Montparnasse Long?
Visiting in March meant limited lines and not too crowded!
Luckily, unlike most Paris attractions, I found visiting the Montparnasse Tower quite simple and fast.
That said, I still made things easier for myself and booked skip-the-line tickets online so I could just show my ticket voucher.
Despite visiting many of the world’s most popular cities, I’ve never found lines quite as unwieldy as Paris’s, even in the off-season (and remember — I visited during a rainy period in the beginning of March).
I can’t say for sure what visiting Montparnasse Tower would be like in the summer… but there are probably way longer lines than I encountered in the off-season!
Still, it’s definitely easier than more popular and crowded Paris sites like the Louvre, which require a huge amount of willingness to deal with lines. Despite having pre-booked my Louvre tickets in advance, I still waited 45 minutes in the pouring rain on a random weekday afternoon.
On the other hand, I had booked the first slot of the Tour Montparnasse (at 9:30 AM) and arrived there a few minutes beforehand. I only waited about 5 or 10 minutes from when the Tour Montparnasse opened before I was 56 floors up, admiring its stunning views!
Tour Montparnasse Hours
View of the Montparnasse Cemetery from above – how crazy!
Many travel blogs are actually out of date on this topic, and the Montparnasse Tower has greatly expanded its hours of operation as its popularity has increased.
While the Tour Montparnasse isn’t the most central of Paris attractions, it’s open more than 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, making it easy to fit into your Paris itinerary.
The first slot of the day opens at 9:30 AM, and that’s when I chose to visit, since I was staying in Montparnasse so arriving there that early was pretty easy. The last slot is at 10 PM daily, so you could go at night as well.
Personally, I wouldn’t go that late at night. I think it’s worth reserving some daylight hours to see the Montparnasse Tower.
Don’t miss the nearby Paris Catacombs – just be prepared and pre-book your tickets!
Like I’ve said above, one of the main reasons why the Tour Montparnasse has such good views because it’s tucked away in the 14th arrondissement, far enough away from Paris’s sites that you get a spectacular view.
But does that mean there’s nothing to do in that area? Not at all!
Since I stayed in Montparnasse on my most recent trip to Paris, I got to know this neighborhood a bit below the surface. Since I’ve visited Paris many times and always stayed smack-dab in the center, it was really nice to see a slightly more offbeat side of the city.
Montparnasse is an especially good option if you are visiting Paris for a short time on a trip to France and want to be near the TGV to take advantage of its excellent high speed trains.
After seeing Montparnasse Cemetery from above, check it out from ground level!
So what to do before or after visiting the Tour Montparnasse? I’d suggest visiting the incredibly interesting and historic Montparnasse Cemetery next.
Whether you just go for an aimless wander or look at the gravestone directory so you can visit some of your favorite historical figures like Jean-Paul Sartre, both ways are a great way to enjoy a walk in this quiet corner of Paris.
I also suggest you visit the Paris Catacombs on the same day as going to the Montparnasse Tower because they are fairly close to one another.
It’s about a 15-minute walk (0.8 miles or 1.2 km) between the two — and that time goes by even quicker when you stop off at the cemetery in between.
The Paris Catacombs are a must-visit and just a short walk from the Montparnasse Tower
I’m writing a post all about visiting the Paris Catacombs that reminds you of common pitfalls so you don’t make them before your trip!
Unlike the Tour Montparnasse, you’ll absolutely need to plan your Catacombs tickets in advance, so be aware of that!
You can try to save money and book it on the official website, but those slots go quickly since they only release 7 days ahead of time in advance.
As of writing, when I look at their website, I can only find tickets for 5 and 7 days from today… and it’s April, not yet high season. During high season, you’d probably check back every day at midnight (Paris time) to grab tickets as soon as they’ve been added.
Unless you’ve planned ahead exquisitely, you’ll have more luck buying one of the reserved slots on a site like GetYourGuide which have a deal with Catacombs to pre-purchase entry tickets. It’s a few euros more than buying it on site (which already costs an eye-watering €29) but you can book several weeks in advance and not worry about.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Planning a trip to Morocco involves a lot of components, but easily, one of the most fun parts is sifting through all the picture-perfect Marrakech riads and dreaming about which one you want to wake up in.
Riads are an indispensable part of a Marrakech trip: these historic family-run Moroccan guesthouses located in the old medinas are quite literally reason enough to travel to Morocco.
It can be utterly overwhelming to pick where to stay in Marrakech, so I’ve written this guide [and fully revamped it for 2024, picking new properties that have arisen since I last wrote the post].
My goal with this post is to show you all the best riads in Marrakech for all budgets (skipping over bigger luxury hotels) — this way, you can spend more time planning other parts of your Morocco trip, like taking a trip to the Sahara desert or deciding what to wear.
What is Staying in a Riad Like?
Morocco is a country that is largely hard to access for tourists, where culture dictates a big divide between not only men and women, but also locals and visitors.
Most riads are quite small and intimate, with a central floor plan based around an open central courtyard with plenty of lounge spaces to access, as well as a roof terrace.
Meanwhile, up above on the floors surrounding the courtyard, there are private rooms with their own en-suite bathrooms.
Since you are being hosted by a local family, often the same family who has owned the house for generations, these Marrakech riads are a special liminal ‘third space’ where you are hosted and thus get a small glimpse into the lives of locals.
Riads can range from small and humble (Shakira, Shakira) to much more luxurious, with spa and pool amenities.
Why Stay in a Riad?
So, you might wonder, aren’t there any hotels in Marrakech? Well, yes, but a riad is a much better choice.
Partly, it’s because Marrakech riads are insanely photogenic, but that’s not the real draw of staying in one (for me, anyway). It’s all about the host. Your riad hosts can make a huge difference in your stay – recommending guides, drivers, and off the beaten path spots where you won’t get ripped off as a tourist.
Unfortunately Marrakech is a bit of a viper’s den: scams are rampant and it’s a rite of passage to get taken advantage of in some way, shape, or form during your time there.
But your riad host is almost like a ‘fixer’ – solving cultural and logistical problems, negotiating fair deals (though of course, not just out of good will — they’ll also get a small cut), and just generally helping you navigate the more difficult aspects of Moroccan culture for outsiders.
Since they typically only has a handful of guests at one time, as a riad is much, much smaller than your traditional hotel, they can offer you that 1:1 attention that Marrakech, quite frankly, demands.
How Much Does Staying in a Riad Cost?
I’ve picked gorgeous and stylish Moroccan riads in each budget category for a wide selection of the top riads in Marrakech.
For the purposes of this article, I’ve generally defined budget as being generally under $100 USD a night, mid-range as $100-200 USD a night, and luxury as $200+ USD per night.
However, keep in mind that prices do fluctuate depending on room type/size available, time of year, and other variables, so use the budget categories as a guide rather than as gospel.
You may see some hotels in the luxury category for as little as $100 a night in certain low seasons (mid-summer and the dead of winter, generally), so these are really loose guidelines, but they should be helpful in getting started.
My Top 3 Picks for Marrakech Riads
This post can admittedly be a bit overwhelming, with a whopping 21 options!
If that’s overwhelming, I’ll give my top pick for each budget category below, so you can more quickly navigate this post.
#1 LUXURY PICK
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Angsana ✔️ Pool, spa, courtyard, and rooftop terrace ✔️Colorful Moroccan decor
The amount of beautiful public spaces Angsana has is hard to comprehend.
You’ll really feel like you’re a guest in someone’s mansion, between the courtyard, the rooftop terrace, lounge with reading nooks and fireplace, outdoor pool, hammam and indoor pool, tea and breakfast rooms, etc.
You could play one epic game of hide-and-seek in this riad, that’s for sure.
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The attention to detail here is what sets this riad apart.
From the daily fresh flowers in their fountains to the beauty of their free continental breakfast spreads to the gorgeous pots they serve their rave-reviewed tagines in, everything is beautiful here.
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Their rooms are also quite beautiful, with genuine Moroccan furnishings and beautiful artwork that complements the rooms perfectly. Some rooms have a bathroom with their own tub, whereas others have showers.
Every room in this riad is a little different (and that’s what makes it special) so be sure to sort through the room photos before you pick your room.
If we’re purely talking aesthetic value, Riad El Hara is one of the most Instagrammable riads in Marrakech. Every corner, from its jade and mint colored courtyard to its ornate arches with gauzy curtains to its beautiful cerulean-tiled rooftop pool, begs you to photograph it.
But a luxury riad isn’t just about looking nice in pictures, of course: it has to have the service and amenities to back it up.
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Besides the standard spa and restaurant, this riad also offers a library, free airport pickup, and even in-room childcare (at an additional cost, of course, but this is really useful for families who want some 1:1 couple time).
The shared properties are really lovely, but to be honest, they often are in riads of all budgets.
What really sets apart a luxury riad from a more modest one is what the private rooms are like: and here is where Riad El Hara excels.
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Their rooms are soundproofed (something you’ll appreciate when that before-sunrise call to prayer warbles on), with large sitting areas separated from the bed area.
Many of the rooms have fireplaces, and the bathrooms are so gorgeous they look like they’re straight out of an interior design magazine.
The beds are very comfortable, with memory foam beds, Egyptian cotton sheets, and down duvets (great if visiting in the cooler months of the year). And if you’re visiting in the hotter months, of course, the hotel has A/C.
Another gorgeous luxury riad option, Riad Almask has one of the most beautiful roof terraces in Marrakech, all the better for their generous daily breakfast spread.
With sun loungers, arches, and plenty of interesting architectural elements, this sets it apart from more standard riad roof terraces.
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Their courtyard is lovely too, with a floor with a beautiful rainbow mosaic of tiles, a fountain overflowing with freshly picked flowers, and tons of lounging areas in little nooks and crannies.
And don’t forget that beautiful hammam!
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The rooms are some of the most spectacular and unique of all the Marrakech riads listed here. I particularly love how detailed and intricate the painted ceilings are: it’s like laying in bed and looking up at a piece of art.
The seating areas are also quite spacious so you have a lot of room to spread out and not feel cramped in your bedroom, something I really appreciate as a messy traveler.
Some riads opt for a more minimalist style; Riad Dar Anika is all about maximalism and expression.
With an ornate dining room that looks straight out of a Moorish palace, there’s simply a feeling of elegance in much of the riad, perfect for those who really want to feel pampered.
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Compared to the maximalist style of the rest of the riad, the rooms are a little simpler, which makes them feel more spacious.
You’ll find all the typical Moroccan design elements you want but in an uncluttered atmosphere.
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Other amenities include a roof terrace, a covered plunge pool in the courtyard, on-site spa offering massages and treatments, and on-site babysitting for an additional charge.
There’s a lot to love about Riad Les Yeux Bleus (Riad Blue Eyes in English) but let’s start with that gorgeous pool and courtyard!
Another thing I think is quite special about it is how colorful its rooms are, with options ranging from canary yellow to brilliant blue, all with fun pops of color.
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Besides its beautiful rooms and courtyard, it also has a lovely rooftop courtyard, an on-site café and a bar/lounge. However, note that it doesn’t have an on-site spa!
You can ask the concierge to arrange you a spa day, but it’s worth noting there’s no on-site hammam.
This luxury riad has one of the best locations in Marrakech: just a one-minute walk from Jemaa El Fna Square (and a few minutes more to the souks for shopping).
The rooftop views of Koutoubia Mosque and the medina are hard to beat, too!
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Besides its great location, there’s also all the perks you’d get with a typical riad of this caliber: a wonderful courtyard with a pool, an on-site spa and hammam with hot tub, and in-room breakfast.
The rooms are lovely and charming, very typical of Morocco with some unique art, and some even have a spa bath or a fireplace.
With a garden straight out of Eden and a nautilus-shaped small plunge pool that would make Fibonacci proud, the courtyard of Riad Les Ammonites is everything you look for in a Marrakech riad.
The room types are varied and unique, each with their own distinct personality evoking the beauty of the medina (without any of the chaos of it)
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Despite being a budget-friendly property, it’s also an all-in-one destination. There’s an on-site spa with a Turkish bath (hammam) where you can also request massages and other treatments.
There’s also a delicious restaurant in-house serving homestyle Moroccan cooking.
With a lovely aesthetic, the eco-friendly Riad Le Rihani is one of the most stylish and Instagrammable riads in Marrakech on this list — you’ve probably already seen photos of that pool before ever reading this post.
From the moment you arrive and are welcomed with traditional Moroccan pastries and mint tea, you’ll feel at home.
Centered around an outdoor pool, there’s also a rooftop terrace where you can relax in a canopy bed, a hotel library, a fireplace area, and a hammam offering a handful of different massage treatments.
Each room has its own individual personality, stylishly decorated with a luxe yet relaxed Moroccan aesthetic.
Photo Credit: Riad Le Rihani
In terms of rooms, there are everything from double rooms to suites to larger 4-person family suites if you want or need more space.
Since many riads in Marrakech can be a little on the cramped side, the spaciousness of Riad Le Rihani is a huge plus, especially for couples or for families.
The courtyard at Riad Yamina 52 is basically a garden which the entire riad is built around, complete with a dip pool in the middle of everything so you can fresh after a hot day out exploring the medina.
There’s also a gorgeous cradle of trees above it, shielding the pool (and your skin!) from the sun.
Image Credit: Riad Yamina 52
There’s also a rooftop terrace to enjoy a shady mid-day break from exploring Marrakech when you want some peace and quiet.
The rooms are pretty much a Morocco-inspired Pinterest board come to life: beautiful rugs, traditional lanterns, wooden furniture, colorful textiles.
There are a variety of rooms at a range of price points, from surprisingly affordable doubles to more luxurious suites.
This captivating courtyard’s aesthetic is almost reason enough to book this charming riad. The fact that it scores a 9.7/10 on Booking, a near perfect score, almost helps seal the deal.
Similarly, there’s an on-site spa and hammam with massage services as well as a restaurant serving up Moroccan food cooked from the heart.
The big difference from other Marrakech riads? This is an adults-only property, making it perfect for a romantic, childfree escape.
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The style inside the rooms may be traditional, but the rooms are quietly, modernly luxe: Tempur-pedic mattresses and Egyptian cotton sheets for all.
Now that’s a recipe for a good night’s sleep. And with how delicious breakfast the next morning looks… you just might wake up drooling.
The design of this riad is understated beauty at its finest: white walls broken up with pops of color, beautiful tilework, plants, and a touch of intricate, local detail.
This central Marrakech riad has a plunge pool and hammam on site — and at night, the courtyard gets an even more magical look with lanterns and candles surrounding the pool area.
From beautifully embroidered pillows on a bench inviting you to relax, traditional leather poufs to sit on, wood elements, intricate Moroccan tilework, this Marrakech riad screams tasteful luxury, whereas some other riads can be a little over-the-top in their design.
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The rooms are large, extremely spacious, and a beautiful mix between modern and traditional Moroccan elements, with soaringly high ceilings and tasteful decoration. Some even have spa baths!
The riad is slightly larger than others, as it’s a combination of two family-owned riads which have been blended together; the original property dates back centuries and the walls are over 300 years old!
From the gorgeous pool to the plush Berber rugs to its colorful aesthetic, BCK Art Riad stands out in every way.
There are so many nooks and crannies of this designer riad to relax in, and there’s colorful art on the walls to add vibrancy and a modern touch to the more traditional Moroccan elements.
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The rooms are decorated in a more modern style, with quirky wall art, white linens, and exposed wood elements, perfect for someone who prefers a little more of a streamlined look rather than over-the-top glamor.
One thing to note — this riad is a little more away from Djemaa El Fna than others – about 1 kilometer away – but this means it’s a little extra tucked away from the noise.
If you don’t mind foregoing a courtyard pool, this is a great riad in Marrakech!
You can still enjoy all the beautiful aesthetics of a top-quality stay without the triple digit price tag.
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The rooms are still beautiful — think lots of wood detailing, stained glass windows that stream in light beautifully, and all sorts of ornate carvings original to the design.
If you want to save on your stay in Marrakech but still enjoy riad amenities like a pool, Riad Eloise is a great choice.
So what’s the catch? It’s a 15-minute from the main square, but personally, I find that a blessing, not a curse!
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Other than that, it’s a great stay, with a rooftop terrace, pool, and in-house restaurant. Note that there is no spa, so you’ll have to make reservations elsewhere if you want pampering.
The rooms aren’t the most updated, but for the price, you have to make a sacrifice or two.
The courtyard of this Marrakech riad is a little unique in that the plunge pool is covered and set aside rather than being underneath the hot sun.
This is great for summertime swimmers who don’t want to burn! It has a really lovely atmosphere, too, and the courtyard is a great place to enjoy your daily breakfast.
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The rooms of the riad are quite beautiful, integrating traditional wooden Moroccan furnishings with eclectic textiles for a place that truly feels personal and distinctly Marrakech.
This property is also adults-only, making it great for couples looking for some quiet R&R time without the noise of kids. There’s also a spa, as well as a rooftop terrace to enjoy mint tea and mocktails on.
One of the big reasons to pick a Marrakech riad comes down to how much you like the courtyard. Unlike traditional hotels, where you spend more time in your personal room, Marrakech riad courtyards are the main public space you’ll enjoy.
While this particular budget riad doesn’t have its own plunge pool, th e courtyard makes up for it with a dense grove of orange trees, a colorful sitting area, and rooftop terrace if you want to change it up and relax with a view.
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The hotel utilizes a lot of color in its design, with vibrant monochromatic rooms with lots of Moroccan detailing and decor, including en-suite bathrooms inspired by hammams.
I also love the attention to detail all throughout the riad, like how the upper floor’s walkways that overlook the courtyard are lined with beautiful blue tilework that reminds me of Turkey’s famous Iznik ceramics.
This lovely budget-friendly riad is still quite aesthetic!
It has its own plunge pool and a really beautiful red and pink tiled courtyard, complete with some trees for greenery. No spa, though, so take note of that.
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The rooms aren’t extremely modern but that’s part of the charm. They have some original detailing from the riad, like wood-carved ceilings and stained glass windows in the rooms.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Marrakech is a shock to every sense you have. It can be, quite frankly, cacophonous.
From the loud warblings of the call to prayer and the persistent beckonings of the men who run shops in the souks constantly strike your ears, to the pungent smell of incenses cover up a lingering smell of leather bags and the donkeys who dutifully pull carts through the medina day and night.
But then it’s also incredibly beautifully. Think of artfully stacked olives that almost beg you to take one away and destroy the whole pile. Leather that looks so soft you can’t help but reach out and touch it.
Marrakech is, to put it lightly, a place you experience with every one of your senses, and this Marrakech itinerary will walk you through the best way to do so without the overwhelm.
It’s a city that will confuse you, frustrate you, and delight you… maybe even reel you in and get you to fall in love with it. It’s a city of highs and lows, and I think 3 days in Marrakech is perfect to get a sense of its energy, see what you need to see…. and get out before the chaos consumes you.
Don’t let the pretty, girl-twirling-in-dress photos on Instagram lie to you – Morocco is intense, and Marrakech is especially so as it is the touristic capital of Morocco with the most flights.
While Marrakech is safe enough in terms of physical safety, traveling there requires being “on” all the time, your attention being pulled in several directions at once.
I found Marrakech tiring but ultimately worth all the memories; however, it’s certainly not all floaty dresses and ornate walls like the Instagram girls would have you believe!
I’ll also note that I was traveling mostly solo in Marrakech as a young female traveler, so my experiences may differ from people traveling as couples or families.
This Marrakech itinerary covers quite a bit in a short amount of time and is meant to be a standalone post for if you’re planning a long weekend in Marrakech.
If you just have 3 days in Morocco, I’d advise spending them all in Marrakech with one or two half-day outings to tick off a bucket list item — whether that’s a hot air balloon or a camel ride through the desert at sunset.
Morocco is notorious for scams and nowhere are scams more ubiquitous than at the Marrakech airport.
One of my top Marrakech tips is that I highly recommend pre-booking a private transfer from the airport — it’s less than $20 and it’ll save you a lot of headache.
Plus, they will help you find your riad, which is easier said than done given that Google Maps is virtually useless in the medinas of Marrakech (following my blue dot led me into a brick wall seemingly infinite times).
One of the best things about visiting Marrakech is that the price to quality ratio is in your favor.
A nice but not fancy riad will cost a mere $20 or $25 a night, great for travelers on a budget (as I was at the time of my visit)!
However, if you’re visiting Marrakech with a bit more money to spend, you’ll be spoiled for choice after beautiful choice.
A few of the most Instagram-famous riads are extremely pricy, such as Riad Yasmine and La Mamounia. However, you really don’t need to pay that much to have a beautiful stay.
Here are my riad recommendations broken down by budget. I’ll list my three top picks for a short stay in Marrakech, but I also have a full guide to Marrakech riads here.
For reference, I view budget as under $50 per night for a private room, mid-range as $50-100 per night, and luxury as $200+ per night.
Prices generally follow these lines but may go up or down due on time of year, availability, etc.
Budget: Nondescript on the outside, Riad Dar Maria is gorgeous and cozy on the inside.
Updated design makes the indoor courtyard a lovely place to relax, and comfortable private rooms with AC offer excellent value for the price. The riad is family-run and treats you like one of their own.
It comes highly recommended by fellow travelers with a 9.5 average rating on Booking.com.
Mid-range: The lovely Riad Enchanté lives up to its name – it will truly delight and enchant you.
With stunning tilework, a rooftop terrace (with jacuzzi!), large rooms with AC, and amazing attention to detail (check out those lovely wooden doors), it’s hard to find a better spot for the price.
You’ll probably never want to leave this homey, delightful riad in Marrakech!
Luxury: For five-star comfort at not insanely outrageous prices you can’t do much better than Villa Lavande!
This is a traditional riad with a comfortable in-house hammam, a gorgeous pool, air conditioning (a must if you travel in summer), and helpful staff.
Cooking lessons are available on-site in case you fancy learning how to make your own tajine… or you can simply eat at the in-house restaurant beloved by guests. It’s located in the medina but away from the hustle and bustle, the best of both worlds.
Unfortunately, unlike in other Muslim-majority countries I’ve been to like Turkey, Bosnia, Azerbaijan, Albania, and Kosovo, non-Muslims are not permitted to enter mosques in Morocco.
And honestly, given the way that Instagram has kind of ruined Morocco, I don’t really blame them for excluding non-Muslims from the mosques.
(Instagrammers twirling around in revealing dresses inside holy sites isn’t exactly halal, and judging by the way tourists treat the rest of the country, I get it.)
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t admire the gorgeous mosque from the outside!
Built at the height of the Islamic Golden Age, the wonderfully ornate Koutoubia Mosque is an architectural achievement, especially considering its age (nearly a millennium old).
Originally, there was a different mosque in its place that preceded the current one, but it was leveled because it was found that it wasn’t properly aligned with Mecca.
After Koutoubia Mosque was built, hundreds of booksellers gathered around its base – giving the mosque its name as “koutoubia” means booksellers in Arabic.
The height of the minaret, 69 meters high, is quite an achievement as well, making it the tallest building in Marrakech.
Due to an ancient law that nothing can be taller than a palm tree, the Koutoubia Mosque continues to stick out as an exception to the rule, an important monument… and a much-needed point of reference in the winding alleyways of the medina.
Gawk in awe at Jemaa el-Fnaa… from a distance.
Jemaa el-Fnaa is where you’ll find the best and worst of Marrakech. And as such, it’s a must on any Marrakech itinerary… with some caveats.
It’s a must-visit as it’s been hailed as a Masterpiece of World Heritage by UNESCO since 2001, and the folks at UNESCO are rarely wrong.
You’ll find the freshest, most delicious orange juice at a mere 50 cents (5 dirhams) a cup, the lively sizzle of grilling meat…
… And you’ll also find snake charmers who have abusively de-fanged their cobras, monkeys who have been snatched from the wild in order to pay tricks, and women grabbing your hand to try to give you a henna tattoo at an exorbitant price.
To save yourself a headache, do not take any photos of the snake charmers, henna artists, etc. and do not allow anyone to hand you their monkey or put any henna on you as you undoubtedly will be hounded to pay. Just ignore or say no to people and move on (welcome to Morocco).
I don’t mean to dissuade you from visiting Jemaa el-Fnaa; I just want you to know what to expect. It’s the center of the medina, so it really is the perfect place to start exploring the wonderful yet utterly chaotic city that is Marrakech.
Its many food stalls and grills constantly operate and offer freshly grilled kebabs – follow my rule of thumb to look for locals queuing up, as I’ve always found that the best food to be had is right where you can see the locals eating.
On the busy streets leading up to Jemaa el-Fnaa, you can find horse-drawn carriages who are happy to take you around for a short ride around Marrakech. Be sure to bargain to get a fair price as they will certainly inflate the rates.
While I don’t suggest shopping in Jemaa el-Fna proper, and saving your shopping for the souks just beyond it, you can’t deny the chaotic main square has an ambiance like no other.
At this point on the Marrakech itinerary, you’ll be visiting by day, I highly recommend also coming back at night to see the square in an entirely new light (literally).
Shop in the souks.
Let’s be real: if you didn’t come to Morocco to shop, why did you even come at all?
I had mixed feelings about my 3 days in Marrakech but there is one thing I cannot deny: the shopping is unreal.
Unfortunately I visited Morocco when I was still living nomadically (I’ve since settled down and have a proper home base) so I wasn’t able to buy much.
However, if you’re visiting Marrakech and then returning home after… seriously, bring a spare suitcase because the shopping here is amazing.
So, what exactly are the souks? Put simply, souks are North African marketplaces and bazaars that sell a variety of good.
In the case of Marrakech, the souks are entire streets built like mazes that stretch in every direction and are filled with shops of all types and sizes, primarily selling leather accessories, clothing, jewelry, and home decor goods.
Due to the nature of the souks, prices vary wildly and you are expected to haggle (you’ll be considered a fool if you don’t).
Luckily, no matter where you shop, generally the goods are at least of decent quality and they are often handmade in nearby factories and shops rather than being sent in from China as in much of the world.
Be aware that accepting tea in a shop will likely embolden the vendor to demand you make a purchase (unlike the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul where accepting a cup of tea is much less fraught).
Always remember that you are under no obligation to pay for an item if you do not like the price, and feel free to walk away. In fact, walking away will often get you the best price you can get.
Don’t show too much enthusiasm (but don’t be rude) and mention that you are shopping around if you want to get the best price.
All vendors speak English as well as a variety of other languages very fluently so language barriers, for better or worse, are not an excuse to not buy!
A few things I recommend buying, if you’re interested: leather bags, leather shoes, leather poofs (they come un-filled so they are easy to transport), plates, bowls, tajines, and lamps.
The clothing is rather gimmicky and doesn’t actually appear to be traditional, so it’s not my style.
If you’re a frequent traveler like I am with little space in your bag, I’d settle on just spices and the delicious, delicious olives that can be had for about two dollars per kilo so you can consume them before you leave!
End the day with a sunset camel ride.
The ethics of using animals in tourism is something that concerns me a lot, as an animal lover and as someone who tries to be a responsible traveler.
It’s complicated, and I’ve covered in detail on certain posts of mine, such as my posts on dog sledding and reindeer sledding in Arctic Norway.
Riding elephants is never okay (mostly due to the horrors they endure to become domesticated enough to tolerate a human on its back) yet riding horses is fine.
So where exactly does riding a camel fall into that?
I rode camels through the Sahara Desert in 2016 and loved my experience without really thinking much of it.
However, as I wrote this post in 2018 and updated it in 2022, the landscape of ethical animal tourism has changed. Thankfully, we are paying much more attention to animal welfare these days.
Look for happy faces like this guy’s
Before I could decided whether or not you should do a camel ride, I looked into it and did some research specifically on the ethics and history of camel riding.
Basically, the same rules apply to horses and donkeys as camels. Camels require adequate food, water, shelter, access to medical care when necessary, and freedom from abuse or overwork.
If an operator can provide all that, there is nothing unethical about riding camels (this article has great insight into camel riding in Morocco specifically, and mentions an important note that you should always pay a fair price for your camel ride as not paying enough may lead to camels not being fed or cared for properly).
I did some research into reputable companies and while I can’t find any sort of animal welfare certification system in Morocco, this sunset camel tour has excellent ratings with several reviewers remarking that the camels seemed well-looked after.
Additionally, the price is fair enough to ensure the animal’s welfare is being taken care of, without being outrageous for the consumer. If you use them, please comment back with your feedback so we can know how it was!
This camel tour from Marrakech includes transfers to and from your hotel, and includes a 30-minute ride to a Berber dwelling in the Palmeraie, where you’ll enjoy a snack and traditional Moroccan mint tea.
After tea, you’ll head back to your transport — as the sun sets while you’re on camelback!
Tip: Please be aware that with 3 days in Marrakech, you can’t actually get out to the proper Sahara sand dunes (those are about a two days’ drive west to the Sahara) but rather the Palm Grove, which is an oasis outside of Marrakech.
If you do have enough time for a Sahara desert tour because you’re planning to continue your trip beyond Marrakech, please read my review of my Sahara desert tour as I had a really unpleasant experience with my guides I don’t want anyone to experience.
The TL;DR of it is that I woke up with my guide in my face about 10 seconds away from groping me — so do your research to find a reputable tour company before you book.
3 Days in Marrakech Itinerary: Day Two
Overview:
Start with the Ben Youssef Madrassa
Visit the ruins of the El Badi Palace
Marvel at the ornate Bahia Palace
Check out the Jewish Cemetery
Admire the Saadian Tombs
Do an evening souk and food tour
Visit the newly-renovated Ben Youssef Madrasa.
Since mosques are closed to non-Muslims, madrasas (Islamic schools) and palaces are the only places you can really see Islamic tilework in their full glory.
And nowhere else in Marrakech can you find tilework quite as impressive as at the Ben Youssef Madrasa!
For that reason, the Ben Youssef Madrasa is an absolute must-visit on this Marrakech itinerary.
The madrasa’s work is finally finished after being shut down for a few years for renovation work, so the mosaic tilework should be even more spectacular now.
As of the last update on June 3rd, 2022, the madrassa is reopened to the public!
Entrance costs 20 dirhams or about $5.50 USD.
Marvel at the history of El Badi Palace.
El Badi Palace literally translates to “the incomparable palace.”
Perhaps that was true at the time, but a lot has happened in the nearly five centuries since its construction!
It’s a bit worse for wear, but at the same time, you can see spots of the former beauty of this ruined palace.
It took 15 years to build, demonstrating the best craftsmanship of the Saadian era. At the height of its grandeur, the palace had 360 rooms, decorated to the nines with handcrafted furniture, as well as a courtyard complex with a pool.
Rich with gold, onyx, Italian marble, and exquisite tilework, the Palace was an ostentatious display of the Saadians wealth.
While much of the original palace is in a state of disrepair, there are still several gorgeously preserved parts of the palace with excellent tile mosaics, ornate stained glass windows, and beautiful courtyards.
There is still plenty to photograph and visit, all while you imagine the former beauty of it in its heyday.
Continue your sightseeing at Bahia Palace.
Whereas the El Badi Palace is a bit worse for wear after centuries of disuse, Bahia Palace is in remarkable condition!
Built in the second half of the 19th century, Bahia Palace is arguably the most well-preserved historic monument in Marrakech, and its simple color scheme of white, wood and understated tilework is gorgeous.
It’s a glorious palace, one that was built over the course of 14 years, across an area of two acres, sporting around 150 rooms.
To say that it’s beautiful would be doing it an injustice: it’s mindblowing.
Its many ornaments, lavishly-decorated doors, breathtaking fireplaces, floors and ceilings of the finest wood: every single detail adds up together to achieve something that is truly spectacular.
Visiting Bahia Palace is an unforgettable experience for any visitor and a must-do whether you have 24 hours or three days in Marrakech.
While you can visit each site individually, you may get more enjoyment seeing it as part of a guided tour and understanding the context and history behind these beautiful buildings.
This guided tour lasts 3 hours and includes El Badi Palace, the Bahia Palace, and the Saadian Tombs (optional).
Note that this tour only includes a guide — entry fees are not included. However, you will get skip-the-line entry with your guide.
The Saadian dynasty was an important part of Moroccan history, when Morocco flourished and grew as an important power: hence, their presence in much of the architecture and monuments of modern-day Marrakech.
The tombs of the Saadian dynasty, built by Sultan Al Mansour in the 16th century, contain marvelous tombs and mausoleums built to commemorate his family.
His successors have since walled off the Saadian Tombs, but they’re still accessible by a small passage through the Kasbah mosque.
The Sultan’s own tomb is quite intricate and ornate, and it’s surrounded by the tombs of his favorite counselors and princes.
Still, even the Sultan’s resting grounds is overshadowed by his mother’s mausoleum!
It’s a resting place made for maximum splendor, truly fit for a queen, with many plaques and carvings offering poetic blessings.
Visit the Jewish Cemetery.
The Jewish cemetery in central Marrakech
While today, Morocco is synonymous with its majority Muslim population, it has historically been an important site for Jews for centuries.
You can see that history at the Jewish Cemetery nearby Bahia Palace, but its simplicity and bareness will be quite a contrast to the ornateness of Bahia Palace.
The Jewish Cemetery in Marrakech is the largest of its kind in Morocco and has been in continual use since the 16th century.
Today, the Jewish population of Marrakech is quite small – a mere 200 or so Jews – as much of Morocco’s Jewish population moved after the founding of Israel.
In fact, Moroccan Jews make up the second largest Jewish community, numbering about 500,000 in a country of around 9 million.
Despite the mass exodus of Moroccan Jews since the founding of Israel, the area around Marrakech is still important to Jewish history, with several important Jewish pilgrimage sites located in the outskirts.
While Morocco’s population is 99% Muslim, the country has done an excellent job of protecting its Jewish citizens and Jewish history.
After the Jews were expelled from Spain, many Sephardic Jews fled to nearby Morocco by crossing the straight of Gibraltar, and subsequently, they became integrated into Moroccan society.
During World War II, King Mohammed V protected the Moroccan Jews from being shipped to Europe to be exterminated in the Holocaust, defying Hitler’s orders by saying “in Morocco we don’t have Jews, we only have Moroccan citizens.”
This is emblematic of the religious tolerance that Morocco has exhibited for centuries, proudly 99% Muslim yet allowing Christian, Jewish, and to a lesser extent Baha’i communities to maintain places of worship.
End the night with a food and souk tour.
Walking through Marrakech’s souks can be a bit stressful for first-timers to Morocco and the socially anxious amongst us – at least it was for me.
Taking a guided tour of the souks is definitely a way to reduce the stress factor.
It’s something I learned by the time I got to Fes and it made my time there so much more rewarding.
The souks can be overwhelming – but not if you explore with an expert local guide.
They’ll help you tour the market and point out different local snacks to try to whet your appetite before you sit down for a Moroccan feast for dinner!
Alternate Ideas for your Day Two in Marrakech Itinerary
If hopping from palace to palace is too on the tourist trail for you, there are ways to get a bit more local.
You could start the morning with a tagine cooking class, learning hands-on how to make Morocco’s most famous dish with the assistance of a local!
Afterwards, you could check out the excellent photography museum, Maison de la Photographie, to see some work from Moroccan artists, or relax in the not-so-secret Le Jardin Secret.
Cap off your evening with either an evening food tour or visit the hip, artsy Café Clock for a meal and drinks (note that there is no alcohol available — read here to learn about the complicated status of alcohol in Morocco) with the locals.
3 Days in Marrakech Itinerary: Day Three
For here, we have two options: A hot air balloon followed by a wander through a colorful garden, some last-minute shopping, and a hammam treatment before you leave.
If you prefer to get out and explore more of Morocco, I suggest taking a day trip out into the Atlas Mountains and the Agafay Desert.
Overview Option One:
Take a hot air balloon ride over the desert
Explore the beautiful colors of the Jardin Marjorelle
Finish any last-minute shopping in the souks
Relax in a hammam
Overview Option Two:
The beautiful Atlas Mountains on the way to the desert.
Wake up early for a hot air balloon ride over the desert
Worth the alarm at an ungodly hour
If you have the time and the funds for a hot air balloon ride in Morocco, I think it’s the best way to cap off three days in Marrakech.
I wasn’t able to afford it when I visited Morocco many years ago, fresh off of quitting my job to start this blog.
However, I rode a hot air balloon in Cappadocia in Turkey and just. wow. It’s one of the most magical experiences I can remember.
As when I went with Voyager Balloons in Cappadocia, it’s always crucial to pick a reputable hot air balloon company with pilots with thousands of hours of flight time under their belt.
After a hot air balloon ride, you’ll probably be a bit beat from the early morning wake-up and excitement.
And what better way to relax than in one of Marrakech’s most gorgeous gardens?
Amidst all the hustle and bustle of the busy streets of Marrakech lies the gorgeous Jardin Majorelle.
It’s a quiet and calm reprieve that’s surrounded by a chaotic and active lifestyle, so this garden is truly an oasis in the desert.
It was originally created by Art Deco painter Jacques Majorelle – who ended being more known for the garden rather than his paintings – around 1920, and it was later bought and renovated by fashion designer Yves St. Laurent.
While the garden itself is lovely, with cacti and gorgeous blossoming flowers, it’s most famous for the hue of its walls, an intensely vibrant cobalt blue that’s now called Majorelle blue.
Today, Jardin Majorelle open every day of the year, and it’s remained a visitor favorite for quite a long time. It’s one of those places where you can sit back, relax, and just enjoy the scenery.
Enjoy a hammamexperience.
Hammams are common throughout North Africa and the Middle East, a tradition dating back from when private bathrooms with running water weren’t that common.
Over the years, hammams became more about relaxation and socializing than getting clean.
You can’t miss trying a traditional scrub in Morocco – you’ll literally feel brand new after, as they’ll slough off roughly half a human’s worth of a dead skin.
There are several kinds of hammam experiences you can have, from ultra local to ultra luxurious. I recommend going somewhere in the middle.
My friend I was with in Morocco went to the spa at Riad Laârouss and found it to be a great experience, as they gave her tea when she got in and explained the whole procedure to her!
Meanwhile, I went to some random hole-in-the-wall because I was trying to save money and stumbled (naked, I should add) through the whole experience with my very rudimentary French.
The way a Moroccan scrub works is that first they use a eucalyptus-scented black soap, applying it to your whole body while you are fully nude. Don’t worry, if you’re a woman, you’ll have a female attendant!
I’ve been told by male visitors that they were still attended on by women, but they were asked to keep their shorts on (for obvious reasons!).
After they’ll apply argan oil and then scrub – hard – using a rough glove to exfoliate off the dead skin. You can just get a steam and scrub or finish up with a lovely massage afterwards.
Learn from my mistakes: don’t cheap out and run into a random hammam.
I recommend booking with a tour company that caters to English-speaking clientele (I use GetYourGuide for all my travels) and allows you to pre-book online to avoid communication issues as I had!
This tour has generally positive reviews and is inexpensive.
I have a full Morocco packing list here — here’s the quick version of it, with a few essential things highlighted you shouldn’t miss!
Appropriate clothing: Morocco is a conservative country, and it’s both the most respectful and the most comfortable thing for you to do to blend in in terms of dress when you visit. For all genders, this means shoulders and knees covered; however, women who don’t adhere to clothing norms will attract more attention than men. As a woman visiting in the summer, this meant loose, linen-blend T-shirts and long skirts with sandals.
Some earplugs or good noise-canceling headphones: If you’ve never visited a Muslim country before, you’re in for a treat the first time you hear your pre-dawn call to prayer! I personally love hearing the call to prayer… at all times except that first one in the morning, before the sun even rises. I love Hearos — they’re the best ear plugs I’ve used.
Adapter: Morocco uses C and E plugs, the same as most of Europe (save the UK and Malta). Pack an adapter if you need it!
Travel medications: I keep a medicine kit on me at all times — there’s nothing worse then feeling sick on the road and knowing you have to stumble through a pharmacy interaction. I carry Pepto-Bismol for standard stomach troubles, Imodium as a nuclear option, some sort of painkiller like ibuprofen for headaches and minor pains, and some sort of motion sickness tablets. Plus any prescription medications you may have as well!
Travel insurance: In this day and age, you can’t be too careful. I always protect my trips with trip insurance, in case of illness, accident, cancellations, or delays. I personally use and recommend World Nomads!
More Morocco Travel Resources
I’ve written quite a bit to help you plan the perfect trip to Morocco! First, start with my Morocco travel planning checklist – it walks you through every step of the planning process.
Next, check out my Morocco packing list with specific advice for what women should wear in Morocco.
If you need more advice on where to stay in Morocco, I have a guide to the best riads in Marrakech on any budget, as well as a guide to riads in Fes!
Did I leave anything out? What else would you recommend to see in Marrakech in 3 days?
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Snow-covered mountains and plateaus that glitter in the sun by day and cast a beautiful backdrop for the aurora at night: these are my memories of visiting Alta, Norway this past winter.
I had an amazing time visiting Alta in early February, 2024 and found that it far exceeded my expectations — so I felt quite compelled to write this guide to share my findings with you!
For a relatively small city, there’s quite a lot to do here, from dog sledding to chasing the Northern lights to visiting its museums to enjoying some excellent Arctic fine dining.
The beauty of Alta’s downtown
After visiting Tromsø in winter twice, I’m happy to report that Alta definitely holds a candle to it and is definitely a worthwhile place to visit in Norway in winter.
If you want to escape the ever-increasing mass tourism in Tromsø in favor of a lesser-visited Arctic Norway destination that is well set up for tourism but could use more of it, this guide is for you!
This post will explain all of the best things to do in Alta in winter and give you suggestions for having the perfect winter trip there.
Visit (or stay the night at!) the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel.
The Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel is absolutely worth a visit!
One of the main reasons people travel to Alta is to see one of the best igloo hotels in Northern Norway!
As a bonus for budget-minded travelers, it’s also one of the largest igloo hotels, making it surprisingly affordable to splurge on an overnight stay in one of the economy double rooms. However, note that these double rooms offer less in terms of aesthetics.
For the really spectacularly-styled rooms, you’d want to upgrade to a suite room. These have beautiful ice sculptures over the bed as well as a seating area (covered in reindeer hides, because no one wants a cold butt) as well as colorful aesthetic lighting that makes the blue ice of the snow hotel really come to life. Obviously there’s a lot more effort involved in this — hence the higher prices.
These are what the economy doubles look like – they are very simple!
Even if you can’t afford to spend the night (or simply don’t see the appeal in paying upwards of 200 USD per night per person to freeze in a hotel room), don’t worry. You can visit the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel for 350 NOK (about 32 USD).
With your entry ticket, you can stay however long you like before the guests arrive for the night (check-in for guests begins at 8 PM) and take all the photos your heart desires.
We spent about an hour at the igloo hotel, enjoying the various rooms and suites and taking pictures of the many ice sculptures and cool features of the hotel, like the ice chapel, the ice bar, and the aurora room with constantly shifting light displays.
Opening for the season each year on December 20th, the igloo hotel works with local ice artisans (as well as some foreign artists) to create new sculptures with a different theme so you’ll never see the same exact hotel twice!
Stay up late in search of the Northern lights.
The only night we saw the Northern lights in Alta
One of the main reasons people visit Alta in winter is that it’s considered the City of Northern Lights!
That’s because Alta has a long history of being an important place to learn about the aurora borealis. Fun fact: the world’s first Northern Lights observatory was built in Alta, on the mountain called Haldde, in 1899!
There are various ways to search for the Northern lights in Alta — I wrote a whole post about it, so I won’t reinvent the wheel in this post.
To be honest, we had a (frankly) disastrous minibus Northern Lights tour, but there are other aurora tours that I would recommend trying instead of the horrible tour I took. I wrote about it here if you’re feeling like indulging in a bit of schadenfreude — or just learning what tour to avoid.
If you want a more adventurous way of seeking the Northern lights, you can have fun doing a snowmobile safari in the winter months—as long as there is enough snow to operate the snowmobiles safely, generally by December or January!
There are other ways to experience the aurora more actively, like taking a snowshoe tour under the aurora which is offered by some tour operators or you can even try fatbiking on snow in search of the aurora, which is a unique option I haven’t seen offered anywhere else in the Arctic.
Still, frankly, I suggest either going by car or having some long-distance transit like dogsledding, snowmobiling, etc.
This offers you the best chances to find the perfect place with a clear sky — which is the only way you stand a good chance of seeing the lights, no matter how much solar activity there is or isn’t.
Go dog sledding with an award-winning team of dogs.
Sled dogs + cold winter days = unparalleled excitement
Did you know that you can go dog sledding with literal champions?
Holmen Husky Lodge is one of the best dog sled operators I’ve ever toured with, and I’ve gone dog sledding four times — in Alta (which I write about here), Tromsø, Rovaniemi, and Abisko.
The most notable thing about Holmen Husky Lodge is that it focuses primarily on its dogs and dog sledding operations. Yes, they also have accommodations, but they truly focus on their dogs in everything they do and it shows!
Dogs running their favorite home track at Holmen Husky Lodge
When you visit Holmen Husky Lodge on tour, as you suit up in your exposure suits and get ready for your dog sledding tour, you’ll see all the ‘diplom’ or awards of their various dogs for completing massive circuits of the Finnmarksløpet, either 600-km or sometimes even 1,200-km distances!
Of course, not all the dogs at the husky farm are race runners, but they have a core dog sledding team of champions that you can meet and greet. And trust me, the success hasn’t gone to their heads — they’re not above tackling you with kisses and love.
Join the crowds to send off the Finnmarksløpet racers.
Dog ‘diplomas’ for Finnmarksløpet runners at Holmen Husky Lodge
Haven’t yet picked what dates you want to visit Alta? In my opinion, the absolute best time to visit is the annual Finnmarksløpet, the longest dogsled race in Europe!
It’s actually sort of a 3-in-1 event: there’s the famous FL-1200, which tackles 1,200 kilometers (or 745 miles for my fellow Americans) of wild Finnmark terrain. This is the toughest race there is and only about 40 mushers attempt it each year.
The middle-of-the-road race is the FL-600, which is the most popular race for mushing teams. They cover 580 kilometers (confusingly, not exactly 600, but I guess they round up!) — that’s 360 miles, which is also quite impressive.
Two Finnsmarksløpet veterans, resting at Holmen
Finally, there’s also a competition for young mushers, the FL-Junior. This is exclusively for young mushers between the ages of 14 and 18, where they race 200 kilometers (125 miles) with a team of six dogs.
All these races depart at different times, starting with the FL-1200, and staggering other races later on in the week, alongside other festivities during the race week.
This is Alta’s favorite time of year, so don’t worry, the dates for the next Finnsmarksløpet have already been determined; they will begin on March 14, 2025.
Have an exquisite fine dining meal at Trasti & Trine.
The cute and cozy interior of Trasti & Trine’s dining room
Hands down, the best meal I’ve ever eaten anywhere in Norway (and I’ve spent at least 3 months in Norway!) was the fine dining tasting menu at Trasti & Trine, a boutique hotel with an accompanying restaurant.
We had originally considered staying here, but the aurora cabins we really liked were booked up and only the normal guesthouse rooms were available. We wanted a more convenient location so we instead decided to stay in the center at the Thon Hotel Alta.
While our hotel was excellent, after tasting the food at Trasti & Trine, I am completely certain that we would have had an even more magical experience there… and I have it bookmarked for my return visit to Alta, which I’m hoping will be in the summer next time so I can see all its beauty once the snow has melted.
OK, back to the meal: it was somehow both extremely decadent and decidedly local, choosing down-to-earth ingredients with a beautiful presentation.
A tasty reindeer dish at the end of our tasting menu
Things got off to a great start with our amuse-bouches: a taste of shrimp salad first, and then a delicious dish of smoked ptarmigan (a local bird) with lingonberries. It was an excellent introduction for what was to follow!
The tasting menu continued with more starter-style dishes, including a unique paté made of reindeer and bear (surprisingly not gamey at all!), and a delicious dill-salmon sashimi served Nordic-style alongside some herbed sour cream.
And honestly, even the bread course was delicious: the tastiest seed bread that words can’t describe served with dill-cultured butter. Despite our best intentions to save room for the rest of our courses, we quickly devoured the bread in front of us like starving peasants, and accepted another refill without a second thought.
Our main dishes didn’t want to make us choose between land and sea, so we were generously offered both. First up was a delicious, generous portion of cod filet, gently poached and served in the tastiest mushroom bouillon broth alongside a bit of steamed kale.
And finally, the pièce de la résistance, our final savory course of the night: perfectly-cooked medium rare reindeer nestled on a bed of parsnip puree, served with oyster mushrooms and beets.I still dream about how tasty that reindeer is!
Of course, a meal isn’t a meal without dessert, and this one—an Arctic berry sorbet with juniper, almond praline, and vanilla cream sauce—was refreshingly light after such a long meal.
This fine-dining menu at Trasti & Trine isn’t particularly cheap, but I think it’s worth it for all that you get. I counted and we had eight different dishes (if you include the bread course and amuse-bouches). It was 1495 NOK per person (about $136 USD), pricy but not outrageous for a tasting menu of such a caliber.
If you want a more down-to-earth but still delicious meal, they offer 2-course and 3-course “country style” dinners for 495 NOK ($45 USD) and 595 NOK, respectively ($54 USD)
Stay the night in an aurora cabin.
A glamping dome available at Holmen Husky Lodge
There are a bunch of really cool accommodations in Alta with huge panoramic windows, so you can see the Northern Lights right from your window!
Note that the aurora has to be really strong to see it through a window with your naked eye. I’ve only seen it through a car window once, and it was going so hard, it was practically rioting.
However, having those large windows can help you spot clear skies and then try to go outside for a better view of lights.
And yes, you can take those gorgeous photos of you inside an aurora cabin with the Northern lights swirling overhead—it’s not Photoshop composite magic.
View of the Northern lights as it might appear on a long exposure shot inside a glass igloo
It is, however, long exposure magic, and you can only get those types of photos with a tripod set up and increasing the shutter speed to at least 2-3 seconds to capture both you inside the cabin and the Northern lights outside the window.
As always with the Northern lights, whether you take the photos indoors or outdoors, the lights will always appear more “neon” to the camera than to the naked eye.
Now that I’ve given you the appropriate expectations, here are a few unique Northern lights hotels you can stay at in Alta.
Room at Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge | Image courtesy of Hotels.com
Trasti & Trine: They have funky cabins with geometric windows that face to the sky so you can try to glimpse the aurora overhead! Also, the best food you’ll eat in Alta, hands down. They also have dog sledding.
GLØD Explorer: They have heated canvas domes with some glass panels so you can try to find the aurora, and they also offer a lot of fun activities like snowshoeing!
Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge: Not an aurora dome, but the panoramic windows at Sorrisniva are huge (including a panel on the ceiling) and the property is beautiful, and its remote location means lights are easy to spot!
Go whale watching in the Alta fjord.
Both orcas and humpbacks are common visitors to Alta’s fjords
Whale watching is one of the other major draws for visitors to Alta in the winter season, because the whales visit Alta’s very own fjord regularly each year.
And specifically the Alta fjord, not a fjord very far away in the case of Tromsø. That alone makes it one of the best spots in Norway to go whale watching.
You see, Tromsø is known for its whale watching, but to be completely transparent with you, it actually really shouldn’t be. At one point, the whales did visit the Tromsø fjord… but now, due to overfishing and changing climates, the whales steer clear of the area near Tromsø and instead choose the all-you-can-eat herring buffets out in Skjervøy.
This may not mean much to you if you’re unfamiliar with Norway’s geography… but Skjervøy is a far distance from Tromsø, requiring either a winding 3-hour bus ride alongside the fjord’s edge or (worse for seasick-prone people like me) a 3-hour choppy boat ride just to get to the spot for whale watching, where you might only have an hour or so to spot whales before you have to go home.
Alta, meanwhile, has whales right in its very own fjord as well as ones very close by.
This means you can have a shorter tour (which is good in the sometimes-rough winter seas) and have that time dedicated to searching for whales.
Alta is also less impacted by mass tourism, so these boats are smaller and more ethically-run. Unfortunately, I visited Alta in February just as the whale watching season came to an end so I was not able to do this tour for myself.
If whale watching is important to you, I recommend visiting in January so you can both get to watch the whales and also do fun snowy activities like snowmobiling, dog sledding, etc.
Explore the Alta wilderness by snowmobile – day or night!
Snowmobiles under the Northern lights — it doesn’t get better than that!
Alta is best known for its wild nature, between the twists and turns of the pristine Alta River and its location at the edge of the Finnsmarkvidda, Norway’s largest plateau area which is home to the most extreme temperatures in Norway.
Alta’s relatively flat landscape out on the plateau makes it an excellent place for beginners. But it’s definitely not only for beginners, as experienced snowmobilers, too, will find the stunning beauty of Alta’s winter magic enchanting.
It’s hard to be blasé in a landscape this beautiful and untouched!
Visit one of the world’s northernmost chocolate factories.
Did you know Alta is home to one of the world’s most northerly chocolate factories? I love random fun facts like this (this is why I love pub quizzes!).
OK, let me get pedantic for a quick second. Technically, Fruene in Svalbard is the world’s northernmost chocolate-maker at 78° N. But still, Alta isn’t that far behind — and I’m never going to slight anyone who tries to bring chocolate to remote places.
On a cold winter day, nothing warms me up on the inside quite like eating some delicious chocolate.
But even better, you can actually tour Æventyr, the chocolate factory (that also happens to run tours, because Alta’s a small town), and see how the magic is made! Learn more here.
Wander down Alta’s main street, Markedsgata.
Alta’s main pedestrian street
Admittedly, Alta’s downtown scene isn’t the most bustling, but it does have an incredibly scenic pedestrian main street: Markedsgata.
This car-free road brings you past the handful of restaurants in Alta’s dining scene, past the shopping mall entrance, and brings you all the way to the Cathedral of the Northern Lights.
It’s especially beautiful in the winter when there are some festive lights adorning some small trees!
Photograph the beautiful Northern Lights Cathedral.
Very faint aurora with the Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta
Whether you can capture the Cathedral of the Northern Lights with its namesake aurora or not, trust me when I say that it’s still the most interesting architectural site in Alta.
OK, Alta isn’t exactly dripping with beautiful architecture — it’s a bit of a strangely laid-out city that was formed when a few villages came together to become one municipality.
But still, beauty is beauty, and the Cathedral of the Northern Lights definitely boasts a certain architectural elegance — one of the decidedly modern variety. Its fluid style reminds me a bit of a Frank Gehry building, but with a clearly Nordic vision behind it. It’s spectacular.
The beauty of the cathedral by day
Since it’s so centrally located in the heart of the city of Alta, I think it’s totally worth seeing it at least twice, if not more. You have to see it during the day to really understand its architectural design and appreciate the subtle curves of the metal and how that echoes the dance of the aurora.
And then of course, on a clear night, you have to try to photograph the aurora with it — you definitely won’t be the only photographer trying, but it won’t be crowded per se — and it’s absolutely worth it.
Learn about the region at the excellent Alta Museum.
The lovely Alta Museum is worth a visit in winter, even without its rock art displays
One of Alta’s main claims to fame is the UNESCO-listed Rock Art of Alta, but you can’t see it in the winter because it is located outside and well, Alta is basically nestled up under a giant duvet of snow all winter long.
Still, even if you can’t see its rock art (some of which dates back as far as 4200 BCE!) it’s still absolutely worth visiting the Alta Museum in the winter. Note, though, that you can see a few petroglyphs inside on display even outside the summer season.
Not only can you warm up there, but you can learn so much that it’s almost overwhelming. Trust me, I visit a lot of regional museums. Most are fairly lackluster; this one is not.
It’s one of the most well-executed museums of its kind that I’ve ever visited, and I definitely walked away from the museum with a far more complete understanding of the Finnmark region as a whole, as well as Alta’s specific history.
As a bonus, the museum café has one of the most scenic views in the entire city, where you can sip a cup of delicious coffee while admiring the snowy landscape and the fjord out of a ton of panoramic windows.
It might seem basic, but since most of the city is located inland as opposed to on the fjord like many Norwegian coastal towns, this is something quite special in Alta.
One of the best photo spots in Alta!
Their terrace area is particularly beautiful and it’s one of my favorite spots to photograph in Alta.
Admission in the winter is 100 NOK (about $9 USD), a savings compared to the summer price of 150 NOK because you cannot see the rock art now.
Discover the region’s salmon fishing history.
House of Salmon is a must-visit in Alta!
Another great place to visit in Alta to understand its history is the House of Salmon in the center of Alta, which tells the interesting story of salmon fishing and farming in Norway.
For example, did you know the Norwegian salmon industry is the reason why Japanese people eat salmon (sake) in their sushi? Traditionally, they never did, but Norway put on one hell of an ad campaign in Japan and now salmon sushi is extremely mainstream all over Japan.
Plus, it’s absolutely free to visit—and free is a highly valuable (and quite rare) word when it comes to touring expensive Norway!
Have a delicious meal (and meet the reindeer) at Sámi Siida.
Reindeer schnitzel with caramelized onions or stežan in Sámi
Smoked reindeer with turnip mash or suovasbiergu in Sámi
One of the places I enjoyed visiting most during my time in Alta was Sámi Siida, a casual-cozy restaurant serving up traditional Sámi dishes (think: tons and tons of reindeer). We had reindeer schnitzel and a smoked reindeer stew: both were fabulous.
If you prefer to meet, not eat, your reindeer, they also offer reindeer feeding and reindeer sledding experiences here, but I didn’t personally try either.
Reindeer are a huge part of life in Northern Norway!
I strongly recommend that all visitors to Norway (and other parts of Lapland) learn about Sami culture (the Sami people are the indigenous people of the Arctic) to keep preserving this unique part of the North’s cultural heritage and ensure that tourism dollars are shared with the region’s original inhabitants.
This place is one of the best places in Alta to start (though I think that the reindeer experiences in Tromsø generally do a better job at educating people about Sámi culture, but a win is a win).
Catch a movie at the Aurora Kino.
If you want to do something at night and the forecast looks way too crummy to have a shot at the Northern lights, it’s definitely a good idea to go for a movie night at the local movie house, Aurora Kino.
Generally they will play English language films subtitled in Norwegian or vice versa so it should be easy to find a film you understand — just ask beforehand to be sure.
Cozy up at the local library.
Libraries in the Nordics are my favorite!
Looking for a free place to sit down for a while and warm up and just generally soak in the cozy Nordic vibes? The Alta Bibliotek (local library) is just the place to do that.
I fell in love with Norway’s libraries when visiting Tromsø last February and I ended up going almost every day to answer emails and just get some work done in a cozy, free environment.
Browse (or shop!) at Amfi.
I love to window shop when it’s cold out!
One of the biggest shopping areas downtown is the Amfi Mall located right near the Thon Hotel as well as Markedsgata.
There’s all sorts of shops in here, from an H&M to a winter sports store to interior design store, as well as cafés you can stop at for a quick pick-me-up.
It’s a great place to while away a few cold hours in Alta between activities.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Alta is known as the city of the Northern Lights — but does it deserve this self-appointed title? This post is dedicated to helping you decide just that.
As one of the most northern cities in the world, Alta definitely has some solid rationale behind its claim to fame when it comes to the Northern Lights side of things. I mean, this city even has a cathedral named after them (with its architecture inspired by the dance of the lights).
But is Alta really that much better than other places in the Nordics to see the Northern Lights? Yes and no—this post will explain further.
I wrote this post after I spent four nights in Alta in February 2024. In the post, I’ll go into detail about my experience both seeing (and not seeing) the Northern lights in Alta.
I’ll also make suggestions for you based on what I personally experienced (including the tour I suggest you avoid!).
The only night we saw the Northern lights in Alta
Of those four nights, I saw the Northern Lights once and went on a Northern Lights tour once—and coincidentally, those two did not coincide, as I’ll explain.
Before I describe my experience seeing Alta’s northern lights, I’ll explain more about the aurora’s importance in Alta and the best time to see the lights to help you plan your visit.
The Aurora Season in Alta: Best Months & Best Time of Day
The overall aurora season in Alta runs from late September through early April, generally with the best conditions around December.
During the other parts of the year, Alta either experiences the midnight sun or is transitioning into and out of the midnight sun season, so there is not enough dark sky at any point in the day to see the aurora, even if solar wind conditions were to be perfect otherwise.
During the aurora period, you can see the aurora any time the sky is dark enough — so long as there is enough solar activity in the area and you have a clear sky.
But how do you know when the sky is dark enough? As a rule of thumb, about two hours of sunset and two hours before sunrise, the sky is dark enough for proper aurora hunting.
Also be aware that Alta is quite high above the Arctic Circle — not Svalbard high, but still quite high, 230 miles (375 kilometers) above it in fact.
This means that it experiences ‘polar night’ when the sun does not rise above the horizon for nearly two months: that’s right, there are no sunrises or sunsets at all between November 25th and January 17th!
However, unlike Svalbard’s polar night which is true 24/7 pitch darkness, the polar night in Alta is a lot brighter. Even on the longest and darkest day of polar night, the winter solstice, Alta still has a period of twilit ‘blue light’ between around 9 AM to 1:30 PM, giving you the sense that a day has passed.
I visited in early February when the sun was coming back and I had a good combination of sunlit days for activities and dark skies for aurora chasing.
Alta’s Aurora History
The aurora borealis was a subject of a lot of interest in the 19th century, when scientists determined that there was a prime ‘aurora zone’ where the aurora was most likely to occur. The aurora arms race began!
One particular research expedition team from France stationed in Altafjord in the 1830s, generating important data that firmly placed Alta on the map when it comes to spotting the aurora.
That data was a large part of the rationale behind the Norwegian Parliament giving approval to build the world’s first aurora observatory in Alta in 1899, on nearby Haldde mountain.
The observatory was the primary basis for Northern lights research in Norway until 1926, when the observatory was moved to Tromso, partly because of the city’s large research university.
Unfortunately, the observatory was burned down by occupying Nazi forces in 1944; luckily, a few stone walls remained. In the 1980s, the observatory was lovingly restored. It no longer works as an observatory, but now it’s actually a DNT cabin!
DNT cabins are low-cost, low-amenity cabins that you can stay at, run by an organization called Den Norske Turistforening. You have to bring your own supplies and follow all the rules of use, but they are a great way to experience Norwegian cabin culture for a very low price.
There are only six beds at the old observatory, so I recommend booking it online here and also reading all the rules if you want to stay there!
Note that there is no direct road to the cabin; it requires a 2-hour hike in the snow uphill, often during low light or dark conditions. This hike should only be undertaken if you’re an experienced winter hiker with all the gear you need for a safe overnight stay.
My Experience Seeing the Northern Lights in Alta
A small aurora display in Alta in February 2024
I had very bad luck with the aurora season of 2023-2024. While it was supposedly the solar maximum, I spent six weeks in the Arctic and I didn’t see as much as I had hoped.
Fellow aurora hunters confirmed the year was less spectacular than anticipated… but that’s just how life goes! Much of the best solar wind conditions occurred during the day, which meant no visible aurora.
Additionally, it was pretty cloudy and stormy this year, more so than I’ve experienced in my past winters when I spent aurora hunting.
That said, I did get to see the Northern lights in Alta! My friend Megan and I saw them on a clear, crisp, cold night after having a marvelous fine-dining tasting menu at Trasti & Trine, a lovely boutique hotel, restaurant, and dog sled operator. After we finished dinner, we went out to look at the sky. The lights were absolutely spectacular!
Very faint aurora with the Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta
After snapping pictures there, we tried to high-tail it back to Alta city center to take pictures of the Northern Lights cathedral with the aurora behind it. We took one or two photos of the Northern lights appearing behind the cathedral before they disappeared into the night.
Well, we had an aurora tour booked the following night. Unfortunately, this was the worst aurora tour I have ever been on.
While the tour operators of course cannot help it if the lights do not come, sadly, our tour guide was really inexperienced and did not know how to chase the aurora.
It was always going to be a challenging night, but we could have tried the less cloudy parts.
Instead, we drove right into the heart of the snowstorm???
He stayed far too long in places with 100% cloud cover, did not pursue less-cloudy parts on the map (which we showed him on our cloud-tracking app, Windy, which I highly recommend you download before your trip).
Of course, there’s no guarantee we would have seen the northern lights had we followed our weather app, but we would have at least had a shot. We stood no chance with the tour the way it was conducted.
He made a series of increasingly questionable decisions… including choosing to drive headfirst into a snowstorm and start a bonfire in a parking lot.
When I tell you this had bootleg Willy Wonka experience vibes, you just have to trust me: it was that bad.
We found ourselves wishing we had just chased the aurora ourselves, as we had rented a car in Alta for maximum freedom.
We did choose to do a tour just to see if we could recommend it to our readers… and unfortunately, we found that we couldn’t recommend this tour in good faith. If you want to see what tour, either to take it or avoid it, the one we used was this tour.
However, I will say that the tour company we went with, Æventyr, saw our negative reviews of the tour and, without any prompting or communication, chose to refund us half of the amount of the tour.
I appreciated their token of goodwill, and I would consider taking a different tour, like their whale-watching tour, with them. They seem to be a good company that just happened to make a bad hire (or didn’t offer enough training).
Seeing the Northern Lights on a Tour in Alta
There are several different ways you can try to see the Northern lights. There are two schools of thought and I’m not really sure which one I subscribe to. Both have their merits.
The first school of thought is to take a dedicated aurora-chasing tour by minibus. This is how you will most likely see the aurora (assuming a competent guide and well-run company) and this is what I did.
However, if you are unlucky and have an aurora tour guide that does not actively track weather conditions and brings you to a few spots regardless of the conditions at those places, there’s not much that you will gain from this kind of tour.
My tour brought us to a few pre-determined places, but we did not actively track or chase the aurora. If you want to try a different tour and hope it’s different, I’d suggest this one instead as it has some really good reviews (that said, ours did too when we booked).
The other school of thought is to do an activity you would enjoy no matter what, but do it at night and hope you get to see the aurora as a bonus!
The pro of this is that you will have fun no matter what. The con is that you can’t be sure you’ll see the Northern lights where you are, and you may be locking yourself into a cloud-covered area while doing an activity when the aurora is active elsewhere.
If possible, you should split the difference and do both, but I understand that it is an expensive proposal.
Of the two, I recommend snowmobiling because you can go further and faster. Additionally, dog sledding tours follow a set path to make running their tours easier (and safer for the dogs, especially in the dark).
On the other hand, snowmobiling tours may have a few routes they typically know well and go, but it is more likely that your tour guide will adjust for the best chance of seeing the northern lights.
You can definitely try to see the Northern lights independently in Alta. However, you really need to rent a car for this, as the most important factor in chasing the Northern lights is the ability to change course quickly and follow the clear sky.
Also, it’s worth knowing that Alta is a strangely laid-out city, with the city center inland of the fjord. You’ll want to be able to drive to the outskirts of Alta both for better photo compositions and for an increased chance of seeing the lights.
I’ll list a few places you can drive to in order to look for the aurora, but none of them are guaranteed. While I stand by these suggestions, I also strongly suggest that you check out the Windy app (free version is fine!) and go to the places where it predicts a lack of cloud cover.
Alta Museum: It’s located on the fjord, which is a beautiful setting for photos, but since it’s coastal, it may be more socked-in with cloud cover. I still highly recommend it if you have a clear night!
Trasti & Trine: This boutique hotel and restaurant more inland than Alta, and it’s a delicious place to enjoy a meal. This is where we saw the lights. However, the composition here isn’t the most beautiful as other places can be as there can be a lot of trees in the way. However, there is a path into the forest that you can walk if you are staying here overnight. Since we were just dinner guests, we didn’t want to intrude too much.
The Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel is absolutely worth a visit!
Sorrisniva Arctic Wilderness Lodge: This is a really fun place to visit whether or not you see the lights! While there, you can also visit the incredible Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel, so an outing there won’t waste time, even if you don’t see the lights. An entrance ticket is 350 NOK or about $32 USD and it’s fully worth it.
Raipasveien and Holmen Streets: If you cross the Alta River right where you find the Sami Siida restaurant, you’ll head into an area that has a lot of Alta’s more rustic accommodations, such as GLØD Aurora Canvas Dome andAlta River Camping. You could drive this loop of a road and try to find some cool places to stop!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
While Svalbard is a beautiful place to visit, it’s also an extremely expensive one… which means it becomes even more imperative to pick the right time to visit Svalbard for the experiences you’re hoping for.
Here’s the rub: for many, Svalbard is a “once-in-a-lifetime” type of place. Between expensive flights and the necessity of taking a lot of tours because independent travel is all but impossible to non-locals, you can expect to spend a pretty penny in Svalbard.
But here’s the other thing: there’s no way you can ever do all the activities that make Svalbard so special in one single trip, simply because this place is so seasonal and conditional upon the weather.
Planning your Svalbard itinerary means making some hard choices. Unless some very specific conditions align, you won’t be able to dog sled across the frozen tundra and go kayaking among glaciers in the same visit.
If you’re not bound to a specific vacation schedule and have the luxury of choosing when to visit Svalbard, I advise you think about what activities you want to do first, and then from there, pick the right month within that time period.
The Three Seasons of Svalbard
My visit to Svalbard was in mid-February, between the end of polar night and the sun’s return
Forget what you knew about the four seasons in temperate climates or the two seasons in tropical climates. Being so close to the North Pole, Svalbard really has three seasons — and two are just different flavors of winter.
As agreed upon by Svalbard residents, the three proper seasons in Svalbard are:
Sunny Winter (March through Mid-May)
Polar Summer (Mid-May through September)
and Northern Lights Winter (October through February)
This post will start with sunny winter as that’s really when the tourism season starts in Svalbard, although some snow activities like visiting the ice caves do begin a little earlier in February.
February was when my visit was, so I have the most personal tips and advice from that period, and I’ll be writing a dedicated post about visiting Svalbard in February soon.
Sunny Winter (March to Mid-May)
Pick sunny winter if… ✔️ You want to go snowmobiling and dog sledding ✔️ You want to enjoy Svalbard before cruise ships start docking ✔️ You want to enjoy the cold of winter with the benefit of long sunny days
Skip sunny winter if… ❌ You want to see the aurora borealis ❌ You really can’t handle the cold ❌ You want to see lots of wildlife
March in Svalbard
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of -8°C (18°F), average lows of -14°C (7°F), with much lower days possible.
Sunlight: The sun returns on Longyearbyen at the beginning of the month and days are bright, almost endless by the end of the month.
Activities: Snowmobile safaris, visiting ice caves, dog sledding, aurora tours possible at the beginning of the month
March may be the most rapidly changing month in all of Svalbard’s winter season!
The beginning of the month has days that are about 7.5 hours long, with sunrise around 8:30 AM and sunset around 4 PM. But by March 15, sunrise is already at 6:30 AM (a full two hours earlier in just two weeks) and sunset is around 5:45 PM (nearly two hours later), giving you 11 hours of daylight.
By March 30th, days stretch as long as the longest summer days in lower latitudes. By now, the sunrise is around 5:20 AM and sunset isn’t until 8:45 PM — plenty of time to explore and enjoy!
As usual, you can expect twilight hours to stretch about two hours before and two hours after sunset, giving you even more light… and thus ending the aurora season in Svalbard rather abruptly.
With so much sunlight and also so much snow, this is the best season for all the snow sports!
Snowmobiling trips like this one to East Spitsbergen or this one to the ice caves are a great way to enjoy the sunny winter months. It’s the only way to see certain parts of Spitsbergen that are generally inaccessible at other parts of the year.
A particularly unique snowmobile excursion only available in March and parts of April is this blue light snowmobile safari, where you get to see Svalbard in its most beautiful colors, not quite day and not quite night!
March is also a very festive feeling month in Svalbard because this is when the town of Longyearbyen celebrates Sun Festival Week, the week leading up to March 8, full of concerts and fun cultural activities.
While the first sunrise for the year will have been in mid-February, it takes about 3 weeks for the sun to rise high enough above the horizon to peek above the tall mountains that block light from the east from falling on Longyearbyen.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5): The sunlight is beautiful and snow is plentiful for snowmobiling and winter sports, but this is often the coldest month of the year, so bundle up and pack wisely. Coming during Sun Festival Week can be a ton of fun to celebrate the unique return of the sun to this high Arctic town!
April in Svalbard
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of -5°C (23°F), average lows of -10°C (14°F).
Sunlight: The month begins very bright and ends in midnight sun, starting on the 18th.
Activities: Snowmobiling, ice caves, dog sledding,
It may be hard to believe that a month where the Midnight Sun begins can be considered winter, but Svalbard is an unusual place!
On April 1, sunrise is around 5:15 AM and sunset is at nearly 9 PM… already almost 18 hours of daylight! By April 18, though, you’ll see the last sunset for several months, when the sun sets for the final time for several months, translating to 24/7 sunshine at the end of April.
This is also still prime dog sledding season, and you can join tours to the ice caves or around Adventdalen or Bolterdalen if you want a less strenuous, more relaxing dog sled experience.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5): The combination of midnight sun and all the snow sports you can dream of is a perfect combination. However, most boat tours haven’t yet started, and the migratory birds and other wildlife generally haven’t returned yet.
May in Svalbard*
May in Svalbard*
* Technically, the first half of May falls under “sunny winter” and the second half falls under “polar summer”. But since you can still often do many snow activities at the beginning of the month, I’ll put it in the winter section.
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of 1°C (34°F), average lows of -3°C (27°F)
Sunlight: Full sunlight all month long
Activities: Snow sports like snowmobiling at the beginning of the month, changing to boat tours and hiking-based activities by end of the month.
Welcome to the full-on midnight sun season: there are no sunrises or sunsets all month! May is the transitional month between Svalbard’s sunny winter and polar summer seasons, but it feels very summery with never-ending days. Plus, average temperatures finally climb above freezing: what passes for balmy in this part of the Arctic Circle.
This isn’t quite a shoulder season month, because it’s very much high season in Svalbard. However, the unique opportunity to enjoy both snow and boat activities is only possible at this time of year. However, the timing is hard to get exactly right, so it should be thought of as a bonus if everything aligns.
It depends on the temperatures this time of year, but usually around halfway through the month, snow sports like snowmobile safaris and dog-sledding on the snow come to an end. Until then, though, you can enjoy activities like midnight sun snowmobilingand evensnowmobiling all the way to Eastern Spitsbergen in hopes of spotting polar bears where they’re most likely to be.
Once there’s not enough snow for snow sports, activities shift more towards boat trips (such as ones to walrus coloniesas well as RIB safaris to glaciers), hiking tours, and dog-sledding on dry ground using a cart with wheels rather than a dog sledge.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5): Midnight sun, boat season starts, and if you’re lucky you may still have enough snow for some snowmobile trips! This is the best of all worlds for Svalbard… and it’s before cruise season starts.
Polar Summer(June to September)
Pick polar summer if… ✔️ You want to go on boat trips and visit other parts of Svalbard ✔️ You want to see wildlife, including possible polar bears ✔️ You want to experience the sun never setting!
Skip polar summer if… ❌ You’re bothered by cruise ship crowds ❌ You’re traveling on a tight budget ❌ You want snow and Northern lights
June in Svalbard
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of 6°C (43°F), average lows of 3°C (38°F)
June is full polar summer at its best — all the outdoor activities around this time of year focus on boat trips out on the Arctic Ocean!
Now that it’s finally calm enough and sea ice has subsided some, it’s possible to visit some of the more remote places likeNy-Ålesund,the research town that’s the northernmost permanent settlement in the world, and Pyramiden, an abandoned Soviet-era mining town.
Also, sea kayaking season begins again! This is one of the most unique things you can do in Svalbard but you can only do it for a short window of perfect conditions during the summer months, from June through August.
This is the first month that the migratory birds begin to return to Svalbard, meaning you can do fjord safaris to bird cliffs and also do land-based photo safaris. This is also when you have the best chance to see polar bears on a boat tour, especially if you’re going further afield.
Wildlife lovers will also love the chance to go on a walrus safari to Borebukta, a walrus colony where you’re basically guaranteed to see these enormous sea clowns.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) Relatively warm temperatures, all the boat activities you can dream of, and endless summer days! The downsides are that all the snow sports have ended and cruise ship season has begun.
July in Svalbard
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of 10°C (50°F), average lows of 6°C (43°F)
Sunlight: Full sunlight all month long
Activities: Boat tours, sea kayaking, wildlife safaris on land and sea, guided hikes, enjoying the midnight sun
Boat season continues under the midnight sun all July, which also happens to be the warmest month in Svalbard… though that’s not necessarily saying much in the polar regions.
If you’re looking for some stuff to do on land, you can take a wildlife photo tour from Longyearbyen,where you’ll travel by car around the wilderness parts of town and see what you can spot, including Arctic foxes and birds.
You can also go on a variety of hiking tours in the mountains around Longyearbyen, but note that you must always hike with a guide due to polar bear safety measures.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) The warmest month in Svalbard! This is a full month under the midnight sun, lots of different boat tours you can choose from, but this is another peak season month with lots of cruise ships arriving and making Longyearbyen extremely busy. Also quite pricy.
August in Svalbard
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of 9°C (49°F), average lows of 5°C (41°F)
Sunlight: Full sun for most of the month, with midnight sun coming to an end around the 25th.
Activities: Boat tours and excursions, kayaking, hiking tours, birdwatching and wildlife excursions
If you’re looking for something land-based to mix it up, consider this wildlife photography safari, which departs by car from Longyearbyen and brings you on guided hikes to areas where some of the archipelago’s most iconic land-based wildlife, such as Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes, like to hang out.
Note that you are unlikely to see a polar bear on this tour, as they don’t tend to hang out very close to Longyearbyen, but anything is possible — that’s why you always have to have a guide with polar bear protection!
If you want a chance to see polar bears, you’ll have more luck on a tour like this one, the fjord cruise to Nordenskiold, which goes near the abandoned mining town of Pyramiden, a popular polar bear hangout spot.
Note that if you’d like to go to Pyramiden, not many tours go there due to the war in Ukraine and tensions that have arisen with Russia as a result of it. However, Henningsen Transit and Guiding does offer tours there, though you won’t find it advertised by Visit Svalbard (again, due to the war).
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) Beautiful nearly endless days and the chance to see the midnight sun end make this a special month in Svalbard. Great conditions for all sorts of boat excursions, although August is also another peak cruise ship month, the only thing that knocks it down a star.
September in Svalbard
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of 5°C (41°F), average lows of 1°C (34°F)
Sunlight: Generally long days and short nights. The month starts with 18 hours of daylight and ends with about 11 hours.
Activities: Sea kayaking season ends, but aurora season begins near the end of the month.
As September begins, the seas begin to get a bit rougher and sea kayaking season comes to an end, as do several boat tours, such as the one to Ny-Ålesund and the walrus watching tours.
This month is quite spectacular because now that the midnight sun is over, you get some really spectacular sunsets and sunrises, and at this latitude they’re particularly long-lasting and beautiful.
You can still do some hikes and many of the land animals of Svalbard are still able to be easily spotted on a wildlife photography safari.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) Cruise ship season comes to a close yet still you can do a few boat tours and see some of the last remaining wildlife of the season, especially if you visit in the beginning of September rather than the end. Long days near the beginning of the month, with the chance of auroras increasing near the end of the month!
Northern Lights Winter (October to February)
Pick Northern lights winter if… ✔️ You want to see the Northern lights (obviously!) ✔️ You’re curious about experiencing a day in the polar night ✔️ You’re on a budget and want to cut costs significantly Skip Northern lights winter if… ❌ You get negatively impacted by low light conditions, such as if you have SAD ❌ You want to see the diversity of Svalbard’s wildlife ❌ You’ll feel like you’re missing out on a lot of its activities
October in Svalbard
At a Glance:
Temperatures: Average highs of 0°C (32°F), average lows of -4°C (25°F)
Sunlight: Short but still distinguishable days at the beginning of the month with the final sunset of the year on the 25th. Twilight hours only at the end of October.
Activities: Northern lights tours begin again, some boat tours continue
A select handful of boat tours continue through most of October, including the fjord safari to Nordenskiold, though the birds will have usually left by mid-September so this tour is more about enjoying the landscape by now, rather than the wildlife.
The month starts out with about 10 hours of sunlight, with sunrises at 7:30 AM and sunsets at nearly 6 PM. But you start losing daylight quickly, about 15-20 minutes per day for the entire month of October, speeding up rapidly in the last days before the final sunset of the year in late October.
On the 25th, there are a mere two hours of daylight, and by October 26th, the sun is down all day and will be for the remainder of the year, as polar night approaches.
But that just means more time for aurora tours, and they are abundant in October — I suggest this land-based one, as none of the snowmobile tours will be running.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) This shoulder season is a great time of year for those looking for good value! You compromise a bit and can do some of the last of the summer activities, like fjord safaris, while also getting to have a good chance of seeing the Northern lights. Cruise ships are gone and prices are lower, it’s not too cold yet, and the island of Spitsbergen turns a beautiful orange autumn color as it transitions into winter.
November in Svalbard
Temperatures: Average highs of -3°C (27°F), average lows of -8°C (18°F)
Daylight: None at all, but the first 10 days have some twilight before the true beginning of Polar Night.
Activities: Cozy city activities around Longyearbyen like museums and cafés, Northern lights tours.
November is the first month of the winter in Svalbard where there is no sunrise or sunset. However, the first 10 days of the month have some hours of civil twilight, which is when the sun is still more than 6° below the horizon, giving you enough light that it doesn’t feel like pitch blackness.
If you come around the beginning of the month, things are a little better. November 1 starts off with a decent amount of light, with civil twilight starting around 8:45 AM and ending around 2:35 PM.
However, that quickly fades about 20 minutes per day, with November 11th being the final day with any twilight at all, and only from 10:50 AM to 12:25 PM.
The good thing about November 11th? That’s when the Christmas hotel opens at Base Camp Explorer, adding one small cozy spark to an otherwise slightly lackluster month.
There’s not enough snow for snowmobile based activities, and it’s too dark to safely be able to do any boat tours, so you’re limited to land-based activities… by car, since there’s almost certainly not enough snow for snowmobiling yet.
There’s not much happening at this time of year, to be honest, but you could join a Northern lights chase by car if you want to increase your chances of seeing the aurora.
Other than that, this is a time of year to nest, eat comforting food at restaurants, shop along the main street, and just accept the darkness.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐ (1/5) With no sunlight and just a very brief period of twilight, this is a rough time of year to visit Svalbard. There aren’t yet Christmas festivities and it’s too early for snowmobile season. However, it’s not that cold yet, it won’t be crowded, and prices are very low.
December in Svalbard
Temperature: Average highs of -5°C (23°F), average lows of -10°C (14°F)
Daylight: None at all, not even twilight.
Activities: Christmas events, museums and restaurant hopping, Northern lights tours, a few snowmobile tours might begin.
There is no twilight at all in the month of December, making this a full month of the true Polar Night. The light conditions will not change virtually at all during the month of December — except during the full moons, which in the pitch black of Svalbard’s polar night, almost feel like a proper day.
Svalbard does get into the Christmas season, though, which helps add a little light back into this incredibly dark month. On the first Sunday of the Advent, there’s a torchlit march up to Santa’s mailbox (he takes up residence in a mine above Longyearbyen during December) and then back to watch the Christmas tree be lit.
Other than that, this is mostly a month about trying to embrace the dark rather than resist it.
Think bowls of soup in cozy restaurants, enjoying drinks at the pub by a fireplace, and giving scritches to retired sled dogs at the local husky cafe.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐ (2/5) The Christmas décor and festivities make polar night more festive, and there’s a chance of having enough snow to do things like dog sled and snowmobile as long as there has been enough snow. Still, the darkness is quite oppressive and doesn’t let up at all, so it’s hard to see the beauty of the landscape.
January in Svalbard
Temperature: Average highs of -5°C (23°F), average lows of -10°C (14°F)
Daylight: None, although polar night officially ends on the 29th, and a few hours of twilight begin to appear each day as the “Blue Hour” season approaches.
Activities: Museums and restaurants in Longyearbyen, Northern lights tours, some snowmobile tours.
Polar night continues until the end of January, officially ending on January 29.
That’s when civil twilight returns, even if just for less than an hour (from around 11:50 AM to 12:30 PM, in fact). By January 31, that extends to a few hours of twilight, from 10:55 AM to about 1:25 PM.
Even though there’s enough snow, not all the snowmobile tours are back up and running: just the Northern lights-focused ones. That’s because you can’t really see much, so the landscape-focused tours won’t start up again until February or even March.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐ (2/5) Still a very dark month, though there’s some light at the end of the tunnel near the end of the month. Snowmobiling is generally possible, but with polar night very much on for nearly the entire month, most tours do not run. Dog sledding is a good option too, but like December, you won’t get to see much of Svalbard’s landscape in the pitch black.
February in Svalbard
From my February 2024 trip; taken around 4 PM
Temperature: Average highs of -6°C (21°F), average lows of -11°C (12°F)
Daylight: None at the beginning of the month, but some twilight and “blue hour” The sun rises above the horizon after the 15th, but won’t yet fall onto Longyearbyen until March.
Activities: dog sledding, ice caves, Northern lights tours, snowmobiles
This month changes quite rapidly in Svalbard, and it’s when the real winter tourism season begins in earnest… yes, after four months of ‘winter’ have already passed. That’s what happens when there’s about 2/3 of the year in some state of winter!
The first half of the month has no true sunrise or sunset. On February 1, civil twilight lasts from 10:40 AM to around 1:40 PM… a whopping 3 hours of mild blue light. But by around February 14, the last day without any sunrises, that civil twilight period lasts between 8:30 AM and 3:55 PM, giving you what feels like almost a full daytime.
Some of the first pink tones of the February 2024 season!
The sun starts to rise around February 15, but you won’t see the sun in Longyearbyen village until March. Still, as soon as the sun starts rising, days get a lot longer and brighter even if you can’t lay eyes on the sun.
On the 15th, the sun rises from 11:30 AM to 12:50 PM, but then by February 28th, the sun is up from between 8:30 AM and 3:45 PM, and twilight extends that brightness by about two hours before and two hours after sunrise and sunset.
As the sunlight returns, so do the snowmobile tours that explore more of the island for more than just the Northern lights.
Still a few days from the first sunrise of the year, but plenty of dim twilight.
Overall Rating for Visiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5): Another slice of shoulder season perfection, especially if you visit near the end of the month. The twilight conditions are quite beautiful, giving Svalbard its famous “Blue Hour” color. But if you visit near the beginning or the end of the month, the sunlight conditions can still be quite challenging for many visitors. It’s quite cold, which is fine, but there are often a lot of winter storms this month, making it less likely to see the Northern lights.
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
