Chasing The Northern Lights In Finland On A Snowmobile

Back in February, I landed in a small snow-covered airport in the middle of Finnish Lapland, zipped my marshmallow down jacket up to face and prepared to embraced the cold for the next two weeks. I was in Finland for two things: the chance to witness the northern lights during its peak year and to check off a bunch of winter adventures from my bucket list that like joining a king crab safari in Norway, learning to drive my own team of huskies on a sled, polar plunging into icy waters, and even ice fishing.

If you are in the planning stages of your own Finland trip, I laid it all out in my 7-day Lapland itinerary through Saariselkä and Rovaniemi.

But tucked in the middle of that itinerary, there was one night that marked. A night time snowmobile ride through the forests of Saariselkä to chase the northern lights.

A Northern Lights Tour Without Calling It One

There’s something tricky about calling anything a ‘Northern Lights’ tour because you can’t really guarantee it. But up here, you have a pretty good chance.

Saariselka and most of Lapland has aurora activities nearly 200 nights a year. And it’s visible as long as the skies are dark and clear of clouds.

I booked this snowmobile adventure a local outfitter called Safartica Saariselkä. They also operate offices in Ylläs, Levi, and Rovaniemi with good reviews, so that was comforting.

One thing I noted was that they don’t outright advertise this as a northern lights tour, but rather an evening snowmobile safari with a campfire. As it was explained to me:

‘You want to get far away from any light pollution, and whether you’re chasing it or not, if there’s solar activity, you’ll see the northern lights.’

Learning To Operate A Snowmobile

Our group was small as I hoped. Eight people on four snowmobiles, and our guide, David leading the way. Earlier, I saw the Lapland Safaris group that had twice the numbers of people, if not more.

Once we geared up with the provided thermal jumpsuit, winter boots, balaclava, and helmets, it was time to get a lesson in how to drive a snowmobile.

You don’t need prior snowmobile experience to drive, but you should be comfortable handling a motor vehicle and need a valid driver’s license.

Note: You are liable for damages to the snowmobile. €990 per person/snowmobile/accident. There’s an option to purchase an extra €20 self-liability insurance that reduces the max liability to €150. We didn’t buy the extra, but use your judgment and be careful. 

Despite their massive and intimidating size, the snowmobiles are surprisingly easy to handle. You steer like you would a bike but also use your body weight to help learn into a turn.

To accelerate, you press the throttle with your right hand thumb. Release it to slow and evening stop. You can also use the brakes on the left hand side to stop faster, but NEVER accelerate and brake at the same time.

The vehicles had great suspension and felt stable, even over uneven terrain. You just need to keep a firm but relaxed hold on the handle and don’t grip it too tightly and fight the small movements. This was my first time on a snowmobile, but you get the hang of it very quickly.

A Sign Of The Lights

After our lesson and safety briefing, one by one, we turned on the engines and slowly turned out of the lot and town. Through the snow-packed trails that cut through the forest, we hit cruising speeds up to 30 km/h. With the light from our headlamp illuminating the path, it was such a cool experience.

Not long after, David signaled for us to slow and pull over. From the front of the group, he had spotted faint wisps of lights dancing above. With the headlights still on, I missed it, but he’s been doing this for years, so he knew how to spot it.

I had captured the glow of the lights once in Iceland. The photograph turned out beautifully, but I didn’t quite catch the lights with my own eyes.

This time, I could actually see it. It was faint, but the movement was clear. David urges us on to get to ‘a better spot.’

A proper understatement when 15 minutes later we get to a dark remote spot with just a faint red glow coming from inside a wooden teepee tent halfway covered in snow. When we shut off every snowmobile, it went completely quiet and still, for our breaths and light footsteps across the snow.

And right on cue, the northern lights reappeared.

From my angle, it was looked like it was rising out of tip of the tent. I fumbled in the dark to align and get the settings right for my shot, but it was worth it. I couldn’t see what I was shooting, but this was what I was imagining and it turned out.

After some time, the group went inside to get warmed up and grill sausages while. I decided to wander around and try for 10, 20, and 30 second exposures.

I was shooting with a wide 10-18mm lens, but I still wish it was even wider because the lights stretched from one end of the horizon across to the other end of the sky overhead.

You don’t realize how cold you get when you’re so engrossed in the process, but eventually I went inside as well for the sausage, marshmallows and hot blueberry juice. It was warm and lovely in there, but I couldn’t wait to get back out. After all, I came all this way for the lights.

How To Photograph The Northern Lights

I had envisioned getting a great shot for months. But squatting in the snow, fumbling with frozen fingers in total darkness, I realized I should have set things up ahead of time. I knew what to do, but I was just complacent. Here are some tips how to get the best shots.

It’s best to shoot with a proper camera and a tripod, but you can get surprisingly good results nowadays with the smart features on a phone. Some aurora hunting tours are guided by professional photographers who better guide you if you’re interested in getting good shots of the lights for yourself.

If you’re shooting with a smartphone:

1. Use Night Mode or Pro Mode if your phone has it. It will trigger a long exposure at a wider aperture and apply some noise cancellation.
2. If you have the option, set the exposure to 10 to 20 seconds.
3. The dark skies will tend you make your phone overexposure the shot. On an iPhone, you can tap on the screen in the camera app and drag down the exposure just a bit so that the skies are dark.
4. Stabilize your phone if you have a tripod, or hold it with both hands and brace your elbows against your body for extra stabilization.
5. Turn off the flash and breathe out as you take the photo.

If you’re using a DSLR or mirrorless camera:

1. Use a wide-angle lens with an aperture of f/2.8 or wider. I used a Fujifilm X-H2 and a Sigma 10-18 f/2.8 lens.
2. Set ISO between 1600 and 3200, and a  shutter speed of around 10 to 15 seconds, and focus manually to infinity and then turn it back a hair. You can also bump the ISO really high temporary, use live view and zoom in to make sure a star is a tiny point and not a soft blur.
3. Shoot in RAW and bring extra batteries. The cold will drain your batteries. Store them in a jacket pocket on your body to keep them warm.

The Ride Back and An Encore Show

On the way back, we switched riders. My friend Naomi hesitated at first, worrying about crashing, but she did great and we both returned happy to be one on piece with our mission accomplished.

But it didn’t end there.

Back in Saariselkä, the northern lights started going off again. Brighter. Greener. And massive swirls in the sky despite the street lamps. We rushed back to our aurora cabin. We turned off all the lights inside just in time for the aurora to move in front of our glass rooftop window. This was the shot I had been dreaming of for months prior to arriving.

The Perfect Night, in the Middle of It All

Somewhere between riding out to a frozen tundra to see king crab being pulled out of the ice (and then feasting on them) in Norway, driving my own husky sled, and awkwardly dunking myself into a frozen lake, this ride capped off a memorable 4-day stretch to start my Lapland adventure.

If you’re headed to Saariselkä, take advantage of the nearby open trails and go on a snowmobile tour. If I had more time, I’d have wanted to also do the full day expedition that’s goes farther and faster during the day. That said, the night time thing is quite an experience. Even if you’re unlucky and don’t get the lights, you still get to glide through a frozen fairytale at night, surrounded by the silence of the forest.

Updated on June 6, 2025