I want to take my 13 year old daughter to see the Northern Lights. Anyone know the best places and ways to get there, also the best time of year.
Many thanks.

Look at www.hurtigruten.com for their winter trips up the coast of Norway.You should find Northern Lights information on that website.

Alaska, Canada, even Michigan and New York, as well as Norway Sweden Finland.

But there is no guarantee you will see them. Especially at the moment with solar activity being very low.
Have a look at http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/ for links to North American Aurora sites. The customisable map from Fairbanks University is particularly good.
The best storms are around the equinoxes.

Mant thanks hetismij

Absolutely no doubt about it - one of the best places in the world and if you are based in Europe cheap to get to - Tromso, Norway.

We went and the lights were sensational.

From Gill Charlton, travel advice columnist for the London Telegraph:
"
There's a great deal of debate over the best place to see the Northern Lights, curtains of coloured light that dance in the night sky. Some say Canada has the edge on Scandinavia, but the specialist tour operator Discover the World (01737 218800; www.discover-the-world.co.uk) reckons that the best place is Abisko in Swedish Lapland, a mountainous national park with a reputation for cloud-free nights, where there is a special Sky Station from which you can observe the lights. Three nights with accommodation in an ice hotel costs from £1,034, including non-stop flights.

The remote Hotel Ranga in south-west Iceland is another good location and the manager is very knowledgeable on the phenomenon. A four-night break with Discover the World costs from £577 per person, including flights and car hire.

The very best time to go is around the equinoxes (September-October and March-April). It is also important to avoid moonlit nights. I would try to stay for four nights at the time of the new moon (February 14).

Activities Abroad (01670 789991; www.activitiesabroad.com) can also tailor trips to Canada's Yukon Territory, Finland and Norway.

Titan (0800 988 5823; www.titanhitours.co.uk) has a new six-day Northern Lights cruise departing in February and March from Bergen to Tromso in Norway; from £1,195 per person half board, including flights. No single supplement."

We paid 70 euros each to fly with low cost "Norwegian" - the hotels in Tromso always seem to offer cut price deals. We paid 110 euros b & b for a good 4 star.

Stay for at least 3 nights to increase your chances and avoid NYE as everything closes.

That's a lot less than Titan Tours.

Iceland has a generally poor reputation as a viewing destination. The strength of the polar high pressure is less than in Norway and so the cloud cover is generally greater.

You should read Bill Bryson's account of a week-long visit to Hammerfest, Norway to see the lights In "Neither Here nor There"---I think he never saw them.

As much as I love to visit Norway, I would not like the near-constant darkness in mid-winter that far north (Tromso is almost 70 degrees latitude). But if you go in March, closer to the equinox, that wouldn't be a problem.

We lived a number of years in Fairbanks, Alaska, which is around 54 degree. Even on the shortest days of winter we had several hours of sunshine. The sky is cloud-free many winter nights, and the Geophysical Institute located there is a major center of study of the Aurora Borealis.

Here is what one guidebook has to say about the "dream trip:" to see the Northern Lights:

"The Norwegian town of Hammerfest was popularized as a viewing place by Bill Bryson's "Neither Here Nor There"; Tromso is a decent-size city with charm 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Both cities are stops on the slow-moving Norwegian Coastal Voyage cruise (800/323-7436, coastalvoyage.com, six-night packages from $1,067). Though 110 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks, Alaska, has reliable enough viewing to attract scientists annually; flights from Seattle cost around $500 in winter."

"<i>I want to take my 13 year old daughter to see the Northern Lights.</i>"

The Northern Lights aren't something you can just 'go see'. They aren't regularly viewable like Old Faithful. You could see them every night of your visit - or more likely, not at all.

I would dearly love to see the Northern Lights someday. We asked our Alaskan relatives about this and from what I understand, this is like saying, "I want to go to someplace where I can see a big blizzard." You could go to a likely place at the right time of year, but this is still an act of nature and there's never a guarantee it will happen.

If you want to take a crack at it that's fine, but please have another reason to visit the place you choose. Find a place to visit with other interesting winter attractions aside from the Northern Lights.

Here's an idea you might look into, but I'm going to ask this question for you:

Does anyone know if the Northern Lights are visible from Harbin, China? I've always wanted to go to the Snow and Ice Festival there, perhaps the OP can plan that trip with the hopes of catching the Northern Lights too. If you don't see the Northern Lights, you will still see a lot of fascinating things. Check this out:

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attr...n/ice_snow.htm

What are you all saying? They don't turn the lights on even when people cross the Polar Circle? I will be paying so much in real money, and they won't show me any lights?

Maybe I should go to Amsterdam instead to see the Red Lights?

Dayenu, in the Red Light District they will turn on anything you want if you have enough euros. ;-)

The Red Light District is probably not a good trip for the OP and his/her 13-year-old daughter.

EUROS??? I'm talking the real money here, honey

My 2 cents: I would never plan a trip simply to see the Northern Lights. They're way to unpredictable to make the central focus of a trip and, in general, the weather can be particularly iffy at the times where they're most prevalent.

I've been on three 2 week trips (Iceland, Alaska, Norway) where we had opportunities to see them and have struck out each time. That said, each place was a great vacation destination but each very different.

My advice is to find a vacation to a northern locale that interests you and then hope you happen to get lucky with the Northern Lights.

Many, Many thanks to you all and I will take all the advice on board. I do understand that it's by no means certain that you will see them, even so it is something I have always wanted to try and am now in a position to do so, so that is what I intend to do. On talking about it with my daughter she is very interested, so see them or not I will try. Thanks all!