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Lapland in October

  • 7 October 2022
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Hi Friends! 
 

So… I just discovered Lapland :O 

Has anyone traveled up to Finnish Lapland for the Northern Lights before? 

I was in Copenhagen (thanks to the amazing humans on this forum… i made all 17 hours of my connections from Titisee last week!) 

I’m currently traveling from Hamburg to Prague right now after deciding I didn’t have the appropriate clothing for Lapland (and not enough luggage to store a new winter outfit)… but I can’t get Lapland out of my mind! I keep telling myself it’s October and I don’t need full-on snow coat and boots… am I being delusional? :P 

Putting feelers out there to see if anyone has done this… or can recommend it. I fly back home to Seattle on October 24 and considering overhauling my entire rest of my itinerary if I can make Lapland happen…. 

I know there’s a Santa Clause Night Express but I’m hoping to get a little further up North than that. It looks like Lapland is rainy but I’ve been seeing posts about the auroras showing up anyway! Would love any words of wisdom, advice, or really anything! 

My original itinerary was to go from Prague (arriving in one hour) to Austria… then Lake Geneva… then  Dijon, Lyon, South of France and Occitanie region (Nice, Cannes, Marseille, Montpellier etc...), Bordeaux, Paris… then Frankfurt where I fly home to Seattle. I do still want to explore SOME of south France and I do need to go to Paris to pick up a few things… but my brain is trying to figure out how to get back up north and back… is this too ambitious of a plan? LOL 

I probably should have gone with the 15 day eurail pass but ended up getting the 10. Sigh! 

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Best answer by BrendanDB 7 October 2022, 16:55

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BrendanDB
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Good to hear you made it to CPH. Glad we helped you well :)

Hmmmm, Lapland takes time over land. How much days do you have left on your pass -and how long is it still valid?

Weatherwise, no snow there yet. It’s chilly (between 0° and 10° C) - only checked for Rovaniemi though. Sometimes freezes (lightly) at night for now. But winter hasn’t come yet. So no spectacular winder landschapes so far and a bit shitty weather. Cloudy and rainy.

EDIT: Which isn’t the best weather to see the northern lights. You’ll most likely end up not seeing them, and squander a lot of travel days on it.

If you really want to see the winter landschapes, you should go later (or earlier) in the year. February is usually a popular month to go to Lapland. Days are a bit longer, still cold, and the usual month for good cold spells from the East (which means nice clear skies! Perfect for the lights)

I didn’t do it yet, but I would say it would take 2-3 days from Prague to get there, and than at least the same amount to get back to France. So it can be quite ambitious.

Where do you take your plane to the US?

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@BrendanDB i really appreciate you!! 
i think you’re right. It really does take so much time to get there even if I were in Copenhagen 😩 (which I’m not). 
 

I’m burning through my travel days :( 

i have 6 days left to use and I’m using one today to go from Prague to Salzburg. 
 

it’s valid until 11/29 but I leave europe on October 24 give or take. 
 

i think you helped me make my decision. I was being sure born and insistent that I could survive in a light coat, Ecco soft 7s, some heat tech pieces and I was convinced I could see the auroras because my friend from Seattle has been seeing them in Tromso (different country I know lol)😂 

 

thanks for being so kind and talking me off my ledge without straight up calling me delusional 😂 you’re the best! 
 

j think I’ll just have to plan another Lapland aurora trip when it’s less snowy and I have time. Or if I end up in a country and find cheap flights before I leave… that might be an option. 
 

my plane back to Seattle is flying out of Frankfurt! 

BrendanDB
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Ach, just stick to your original plan. Much more logic in that. It will be equally as nice ^^

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