Aurora Chasing in Grovfjord

Your very quiet piece of Arctic Norway to explore the magic of the Northern Lights. Only an hour from Narvik.

Local Fans

Residents in Grovfjord have a deep appreciation for the Northern Lights, or Nordlys as they are called in Norwegian. The community has its own Facebook page where locals share their photos, often glittering with the green and purple dance of auroras. Not just our resident photographers in the town of Grov, but often you can capture amazing moments even with your phone.

We have a handful of keen photographers locally, and a few of professionals who visit us each year with small photography groups. They love this part of Norway because it's far enough away from Tromsø to avoid the crowds, yet offers a rich selection of scenery to inspire their craft.

Favourite Locations

Most of our guests enjoy watching the auroras straight off the balcony of their cabins. Each of our traditional styled Rorbuer are located on the shoreline, with decking and seating outside so you can sit and watch the show. We also have our Aurora Huts, which offers a unique way to experience the Northern Lights from inside a cosy hut with a glass roof.

For photographers the street lights around Elvegård are not always ideal, although not a deal breaker either. A short walk up the hill and we have some patches of forest that are both isolated and peaceful. You can feel like you have the entire Arctic to yourself on such nights.

A short drive into town and you can photograph auroras at various locations around the fjord. There are several spots to stop and park, and just enjoy wide open views of the sky. On a good night the lights are moving across every part of the horizon. We also can organise special trips at night into the mountains, to access places that cars cannot reach in winter. We use trails and snow shoes, and light a fire while we wait for the Nordlys.

We never know when they will appear, or how long they will stay. But we like to be ready for that moment when the first hint of aurora waves above the horizon, or the first filament cuts above our heads, or the first ribbons wiggle at us over the mountains. Even after a lifetime of watching them visit, it's still special. It's still remarkable.

And all the better to share it with our guests.

Aurora Oval

We're in a great place for aurora activity. The Aurora Oval runs across the top of Tromsø and down to Lofoten, giving us a little nudge along the way. You don't need to wait for a once-in-twenty-year event to see them here, because even a KP1 on the official scales can deliver magic moments for us in Grovfjord.

Elvegård is an excellent place to sit and wait for them. From the jetty you can watch the sky to the north, east and west. Often the auroras start gentle in the north, before building up and moving overhead. On bigger nights they move all the way to the south, bouncing back and forth as the earths magnetic fields bend and sway.

What To Expect

Aurora chasing is still an art more than science. Despite all the satellites and "space weather" algorithms, the dance of Northern Lights continues to evade accurate predictions. Auroras on earth are the result of "solar winds" cast off from the sun, eventually bending the earth's magnetic shield and creating photonic emissions higher up in the atmosphere. It takes days for these events to reach us on earth, travelling at unpredictable speeds and uncertain directions.

The most accurate predictions give us about an hour of warning. But in places like Narvik, Lofoten and Tromsø, so close to the aurora oval, even modest solar winds can generate spectacular aurora sightings. Our advice is follow the sky instead of the apps. Anytime there is a break in the cloud, or a forecast for clear nights, that's a good time to keep an eye out for Northern Lights.