Non UK Lofoten or Iceland

markyboy.1967

markyboy.1967

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Mark Molloy
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I will be starting to look for a new trip soon and have been thinking about Lofoten or Iceland for Northern lights and landscapes. I would be going for about 1 week in Feb or March 2017. Given the time of year and my target of northern lights and landscapes then where would you choose? Which is the easier travelling as I may need to drive unless I go on a guided tour. Which offers the better weather and the best chances to see the northern lights? I can't do both so that's out the question for 2017.
 
Keflavik is a direct flight from a fair few UK airports but Lofoten seems to be at least one change and that's going to eat into on-the-ground shooting time. I would guess that both have similar weather - unpredictable at best! We did the southern bit of the Iceland ring road last March and the main road was in the main kept fairly clear but it wasn't the easiest driving conditions. Plenty of landscapes around and if an aurora show coincides with a clear sky, Robert's a parent's sibling! Car hire isn't cheap but IMO the freedom it allows makes it worth it. @Merc and @Big Andy can offer more advice.
 
Hi Mark, I can't speak for Lofoten islands as I haven't been (yet) but for ease of travel I would say it's an easier/cheaper plan to head for Iceland. There are a lot of flights to chose from and car hire is easy from Keflavik airport, and car hire is the way to go imo so you have the freedom to change your plans when you want. My chosen time of travel would be mid February to the end of March. The reasons for the timing is you will have enough hours of daylight for the landscapes and plenty of time to see the aurora without staying up half the night, which you probably would anyway if there's a strong storm taking place. Also at that time of year any precipitation is likely to be snow and not rain unlike in the Autumn when the hours of light/dark will be OK but more chance of rain until December when the days are very short.

With your interest in bird photography you could consider a summer visit for the millions of sea birds that come ashore to breed, also a lot of waders and many others as well which you probably know more about than me.

If you are traveling alone or as a small group I wouldn't bother booking hotels in advance but use www.booking.com and look at the forecasts then decide which way to travel and book through them in the morning for the coming night. That may be more tricky in the summer months when it's busier but still worth considering. Mobile/internet coverage on Iceland is excellent even in the remote areas as it's used extensively by the emergency services to broad cast warnings to all mobiles about volcanic activity.

I have been thinking about the Lofoten Islands myself for next year for a change and will probably fly into Tromso and hire a vehicle from there although they appear to be dearer than in Iceland. If you do hire a vehicle I would say go for a good 4x4 and state in advance that you want studded tyres not just winter tyres.
 
Since everyone and their granny has been to iceland now I would choose lofoten. Iceland would be much handier to get to though.
 
I have been to both ( several times) - if I had to choose just one it would be Iceland.
Lofoten has epic scenery but tends to suffer from heavy cloud cover which means a long diversionary drive into either the Swedish arctic or even further up to the Finnish Arctic. You can of course get cloud cover in Iceland ( again epic scenery) but the ring road makes it relatively easy to find a different location where the skies are clear. Last but not least Iceland is subarctic but because it's further west it lies close to the most populated part of the auroral ring due to the fact that the magnetic pole is not in the same place as the geographic pole - if that makes no sense then just think it's a good place for aurora !
 
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