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.
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.
One of the main reasons why people visit Northern Norway is to enjoy through its snow-coated, glittering white landscapes.
And there’s no more special way to celebrate the beauty of a crisp Norwegian winter day than by mushing your own dog team through the landscapes of Alta, a beautiful small city north of the Arctic Circle.
Alta is one of the most scenic areas of Northern Norway that you can dog sled in, as you can along next to the winding Alta River which freezes over in the winter, leaving a beautiful break in the tree-covered landscape.
I’ve gone dog sledding four times, two times of which were in Norway (the other being in Tromso) and my dog sled experience in Alta was easily the best of the four experiences.
Running into a 2 PM sunset in Alta in February
This blog post first will cover my experience dog sledding in Alta, specifically, what tour company I went with and how the experience was set up, as well as whether or not I think it was a good value.
After that, I’ll cover tips for planning your dog sled tour in Alta, including what to bring and what to expect that may surprise first-time dog sledders.
This will be a relatively quick guide, so that you can start planning the other parts of your trip to Alta and Northern Norway, like where to stay, where to eat, etc.
Planning your trip last minute?
Where to Stay in Alta 1. Holmen Husky Lodge (stay with huskies — dog sled tour recommended!) 2. Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel (coolest ice hotel in Nordics!) 3. Trasti & Trine (boutique hotel with cute cabins & fine dining)
I’ve gone dog sledding with more standard winter resorts that just so happen to have a husky farm as well as husky farms that just so happen to have accommodations for overnight stays; the latter experience is always better, which is probably not surprising.
These sled dogs at Holmen are true professionals… some of the dogs here even participate in sled dog races like the Finnmarksløpet, Europe’s longest dog sled race, clocking in at a whopping 1,200 kilometers.
Dog ‘diplomas’ for the races they’ve run
The day I went dog sledding in Alta was extremely cold, about -20° C or -4° F… but it was perfectly fine in those conditions nevertheless once I got all suited up in the warm clothes that are included in your tour.
We started by getting a clothing fitting and donning their warmest gear, including heavy-duty boots, huge mittens, and an expedition suit to wear over all our clothes.
All bundled up before the tour
Our dog sledding tour was led by a local guide who was actually the daughter of the owners of the husky farm! I believe her name was Odda and she was an absolutely lovely guide who made our tour extremely special due to her clear passion for dog sledding.
After we picked out all our winter gear and got all toasty warm, we went outside to meet the eagerly expectant dogs and then she gave us a brief introduction on how to mush the sleds safely.
We got set up on our dog sleds — one person mushing, one person as a passenger sitting in the front of the sleds, with the opportunity to switch in the middle — and were off on our way through the Arctic wilderness.
We had plenty of time out on the dog sledding track, with a generous dog sled ride that took about one hour to traverse, going about 15 kilometers.
Wintry pines and sunset views
Personally, when I dog sledded in Rovaniemi, I found the actual dog sledding portion of experience to be a rather short drive, even though the tour was more expensive compared to the Alta one. So I was really happy that this tour was a decent length!
After we finished up the tour and returned to our starting point, hot drinks were waiting for us in the lavvu (which is a traditional wooden Sámi-style hut) over the roaring fire.
It was a great way to warm up with some warm juice and cookies, and we got to get in some cuddles with one of the sweet dogs who had just ran with us.
One of the dogs taking a well-deserved rest after her run
We then went over to the dog yard to meet all the energetic dogs, and the highlight — the adorable (and very large and boisterous) puppies that would be joining the sled runners soon enough!
I really liked seeing how large their dog enclosure was to allow the dogs who weren’t yet ready to go sledding plenty of space and freedom to run around and be dogs.
All in all, the tour lasted for 2.5 hours with one hour of active dog sledding, which meant we had a lot of leisurely time to warm up around the fire, meet the dogs, and just enjoy our day without feeling rushed.
If you want to do the same tour I did, this is the exact one.
As I mentioned above, your tour provider will give you warm outer layers such as warm thermal suits, winter boots, and very large thick mittens to keep your hands warm while steering the sled.
But you should still come prepared for the cold. Underneath, you’ll want to suit up your own warm clothing: start with at least a base layer of wool, a pair of pants underneath, and your own warm woolen sweater or something else warm on top, and perhaps even a thin jacket layer if the weather conditions require it.
Check the weather forecast and dress accordingly… remember, it’s always easier to take something off before you head out on the tour than to not bring something you need with you!
Also note that you should bring your own cold weather accessories such as a hat and scarf as these aren’t always included.
Also, if you plan to take photos or videos when you’re the passenger, you’ll definitely want to have thin gloves on under your mittens, so that when it’s your time to be the passenger and snap pictures from the dog sled, you can do so without your fingers freezing!
Depending on how much sun you have, you may also want sunglasses or something like a UV-protected ski goggle that will keep your eye area from getting too cold.
When Can You Go Dog Sledding in Alta?
Early February snow and skies
Alta is quite far north and usually has enough snow to begin dog sledding by around the end of November or beginning of December, earlier than the Tromso season which is milder and less snowy.
However, even if you come to Alta before the winter dog sled season starts, you can usually still dog sled on regular land even if there’s no snow, starting in September each year.
The dogs need to be trained and have their minds refreshed before the snow comes so that they can be ready for a busy winter season, so starting in September, the dogs receive fall training using special wheeled carts that are tailor-made for snowless mushing!
So even if you come before the official winter season starts in Alta you can try your hand at dog sledding and mushing your own sled.
Dog Sledding During Polar Night
We had some sunset colors in Alta in February, but during polar night, you may only have a small amount of blue or pastel light
One thing you should know about Alta is that it’s located quite far north of the Arctic Circle and therefore it does experience polar night — a period of time between November 25 and January 17, nearly two months, where the sun does not rise above the horizon even once.
However, unlike Svalbard’s winters far to the north where you get over a month of middle-of-the-night pitch blackness, Alta always has a few hours of twilight even on the darkest nights of the year.
Even if you were to visit Alta on the winter solstice, when there’s the least sunlight of any day of the year, you’d still have about 4 hours of civil twilight, giving you some faint pastel light and dark blues before descending into darkness again.
Having experience the last few days of the dark period in Svalbard, where the sun didn’t rise but we had about 5-6 hours of twilight a day, I can say that this is still enough light to be able to see the landscapes around you and enjoy them.
Admittedly, it can be disorienting and tiring to never see the sun, but compared to the darkness of night, the twilight hours do properly feel like daytime.
However, you can also choose to go dog-sledding under the Northern lights, which is a pretty magical way to experience it if you’re lucky enough to have clear skies and aurora that night!
Is Alta Dog Sledding Ethical?
Bunk buddies
After seeing it for myself, I would say, dog sledding in Alta is very ethically run.
The dogs clearly love running and are well taken care of, with personal attention given to each one. You can see this in how the staff knows every dog’s name and temperament, as well as how certain dogs wear shoes or jackets if they tend to shiver or get cold paws.
Their enclosures looked to be in good shape and I was able to see the different areas of the kennel and how much space they had to run free if they weren’t doing any sled tours that day but still needed exercise.
As part of Norwegian law, the dogs are kept chained when they are outside, but they are kept together in bonded pairs with a buddy and they are given a warm and clean place to sleep.
Best Places for Dog Sledding in Alta
The dog kennel at Holmen Husky Lodge
Having experienced the lovely family-run Holmen Husky Lodge firsthand, that would be my first recommendation for dog sledding in Alta.
I loved the dog sledding guides and thought their facilities were excellent. The dogs live in great conditions and are clearly well-loved and part of the family!
I also felt like the small groups are really well-managed and intimate, so I never felt like I was lumped in on some mass tourism-style tour.
As a result, it really ends up feeling like a once-in-a-lifetime unique experience instead of some other dog sledding tours I’ve experienced that feel a little more “assembly line”, for lack of a better phrase, when I’ve occasionally felt a bit rushed as they were trying to get the next group of people in.
I also thought it was cool that they offer longer, multi-day husky experiences whichyou can see on their website here, like their 4-day husky experience that involves at least 60 km of dog sledding into the open landscape of the Arctic wilderness.
If you’re staying at Holmen in one of their rooms or aurora domes or if you’re staying in Alta city, this is the best choice if there’s availability, in my personal opinion!
The “glass igloo” style dome in Alta
However, it’s possible that Holmen won’t have availability during your stay in Alta, or you may be staying somewhere else that makes it not a convenient choice.
Luckily, Alta has a lot of lovely boutique hotels that also offer husky experiences to choose from, like Trasti & Trine (which has some of the best dining in Alta — I had their fine dining menu one night as a treat and loved it!) andSorrisniva Igloo Hotel (home of Norway’s best ice hotel!).
Both Trasti & Trine and Sorrisniva offer dog sledding excursions that traverse a similar patch of Arctic landscape, out among the scenic pine forests that flank the banks of Alta River.
Alta or Tromso For Dog Sledding?
View over the Arctic city of Tromso
I’ve visited (and dog sledding in) both Alta and Tromso in winter and I loved my experience in both — I preferred the dog sled experience in Alta overall, but I preferred the city center of Tromso and its restaurant options.
However, unfortunately at the moment Tromso is currently dealing with a quite bad overtourism situation. The unfettered Airbnb market and increased post-Covid demand for travel has led to an inflated selection of accommodations that the tour market can’t possibly meet.
I visited Tromso in winter 2024, exactly 4 years after my first visit in February 2020, and the two visits were like night and day.
Currently as I write this on February 23, 2024, it’s nearly impossible to book a spot on a dog sledding tour for over a month — and even then, the few remaining spots are few and far between.
And if you’re traveling in a group as a family? Forget it. You need to plan several months in advance, or risk all the activities that make winter in Norway so fun being completely filled up.
Alta is a smaller city than Tromso but it’s less visited (for now, at least), so as a result, the tourism ecosystem is a bit more balanced than the situation Tromso currently is.
Anecdotally, when I was in Alta, I literally booked my dog sled tour the day before I went and there were still several spots available.
Now, I don’t recommend you do this, but I wasn’t planning on dog sledding until I decided that I really wanted to see how it compared to Tromso’s offerings — and I’m really glad I did because it was my favorite husky sled tour of all.
However, judging by the fact I was getting a last-minute spot in the peak season of February, it stands to reason that the tour situation in Alta is overall a lot more sustainable and tenable!
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.
