Levi Northern Lights Tours Compared

Northern Lights tours from Levi come in two kinds. Aurora-first tours, the minivan and 4x4 chases, exist to find the lights and change their route with the cloud. Experience-first tours stay in one area and make the activity the point: a snowmobile ride, a campfire, a lakeside cabin, a float in a dry suit. If seeing the aurora is the whole reason for your trip, start with a chase. If you want a good night even under cloud, pick the activity you would enjoy anyway. We earn a commission if you book through our links, at no extra cost to you.

Choose your experience

Aurora chases by minivan and 4x4

A chase is the strongest choice when a sighting matters most. Arctic GM’s Guaranteed-Sightings chase takes up to eight guests in a 4x4 van, has no mileage or time limit (the listing says typically 6–10 hours) and costs from $223 per person. It refunds in full “if no Northern Lights are captured by camera at any point during your tour”, and a faint aurora that shows only on camera counts as a sighting. The cost is a very long night. The shorter Northern Lights Tour by Minivan runs about 2.5 hours from $111 per person, but its listing says the lights cannot be guaranteed and the operator does not cancel for weather. Both are compared on our aurora hunting page.

Snowmobile safaris and sledge rides

Here the ride is the attraction and the lights are a bonus. The Northern Lights Snowmobile Safari is the most-reviewed snowmobile listing for Levi (629 reviews, rated 4.5), lasts about 3 hours and costs from $160 per person. Two people share one machine, drivers need a driver’s license, and its first bookable date this season is 16 November. Finnish law lets a holder of a T licence drive from 15, but Levi operators set their own minimum, usually 18 with a car licence. If you would rather sit back, the Northern Lights Sledge Ride is pulled by a snowmobile, lasts about 2 hours and is the cheapest tour we review at $100 per person, from 1 December. The snowmobile comparison covers licences and damage excess.

Photography tours

Some tours sell the pictures as much as the sky. Beyond Arctic’s hunting and photography tour runs 5.5 to 6 hours from $138 per person, lends a tripod or phone mount and sends edited photos afterwards; under-eights cannot join, and its rating is a middling 4.3 from 174 reviews. Arctic Midnight’s Levi Northern Lights Experience on Viator is shorter (2–4 hours, from $147 per person) with DSLR photos and a campfire included. See the photography tours page.

Private tours

A private tour means your party alone and your own pace. Lazy Santa’s private 4x4 hunt costs from $308 per person on Viator for one to six travelers, and a solo booking costs double. Its Viator listing promises a 30% refund if the aurora does not appear, while the same tour on GetYourGuide, priced per group of up to six, words it as a 50% money-back guarantee. Check the listing you actually book. Winter clothing is not included. The private tours page works out which listing is cheaper for your group size.

Unusual evenings

Levi also sells evenings you would struggle to find elsewhere. On the Ice Floating and Northern Lights tour you lie in open water in a rescue suit (about 4 hours, from $155, from 23 November), though the transfer is about an hour each way. Keo Wilderness’s telescope stargazing is a 15-minute drive to a forest lake (from $122, from 10 November). The Night Star Walk on Snowshoes is adults-only, includes a hot meal and does not include hotel pickup. All three are on our unique experiences page.

Campfire and cabin evenings

For warmth and a slower night, the Northern Lights by a Private Lake evening with Soma Adventures drives about 40 minutes north to a family cabin with a fireplace and homemade pies (about 3.5 hours, from $178, rated 4.8 from 154 reviews). Soma cancels with a full refund when it is too cloudy, and decides the same morning; children under 13 cannot join. Safartica’s Northern Lights Campfire is cheaper at $103 and can be moved to another day if you contact Safartica by 16:00 on the day, but expect about two hours outdoors. Both sit on the unique experiences page.

Which tour is right for you?

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When to see the lights in Levi

Visit Levi puts the aurora season at mid-August to mid-April, with September to March usually best. Real darkness arrives only in early-to-mid September; late August nights are still twilight. From late May to mid-July the sun does not set, so there is no aurora viewing then.

Within the season, cloud matters more than the calendar. The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) points to March and early April once weather is counted, and says Finland has the fewest clear days in November and December. Activity is slightly higher around both equinoxes, in September as much as March, and peaks around midnight, a couple of hours either side. Snow activities need snow: most snowmobile safaris open between mid-November and early December. The best time guide goes through the season month by month.

What happens on an aurora tour

Most of an aurora night is driving and waiting. Pickup is in the evening, usually from your accommodation or a set point in the village; Soma Adventures, for example, collects guests around 9 pm. Some tours start from an office instead, and the snowshoe walk includes no hotel pickup at all, so read the meeting rule before you book.

The drive out can be short or long. Keo’s telescope lake is 15 minutes away, Soma’s cabin about 40, the ice-floating venue about an hour. A chase goes wherever the clear sky is: Beyond Arctic says it will drive 100 kilometers (62 miles) if that is where the conditions are, and Arctic GM crosses borders if needed.

Then you wait outside, often by a fire with a hot drink, watching the northern sky. Visit Levi says a display can last a couple of minutes or several hours. A faint aurora can be hard to make out with the naked eye yet clear on camera, which is why guides photograph it; Soma’s own listing warns that auroras “look always brighter in pictures”. Clear nights are cold nights. Many tours lend thermal overalls, but not all, so check the inclusions and dress in layers.

The return is late. Soma’s guests are home around 00:30 to 1 am, and a 6–10 hour chase can run into the early morning. Plan a slow start the next day.

Is an aurora tour worth it?

A guide helps most on a cloudy or uncertain night, when someone who reads the forecast can drive you to a gap in the cloud, and when you have no car or do not want to stand alone on a frozen lake at −20 °C (−4 °F). FMI says auroras appear on roughly half of dark, cloudless nights in the Levi area, so on a clear night you can also see them yourself. Visit Levi’s aurora map lists five free viewing spots, including Lake Immeljärvi next to the village, where you should walk on the ice only once the winter trails are officially open. Our guide to seeing the lights in Levi without a tour covers those spots and the safety rules, and are Northern Lights tours worth it in Levi? weighs the money against the odds.

Ready to choose a night? Check dates and prices for the guaranteed-sightings chase, or compare every tour on the site.