What‘s Included

What To Expect

Reviews

• Incredible experience as...

  Mark W,

  May 26, 2025

  - Viator

  5.00

  Incredible experience as the sky was filled with Northern Lights! This was one of the best organized tours that I have been on. Everything was on schedule and ran smoothly. The organizers knew exactly where to take us for prime viewing of the Northern Lights! They also made sure we stayed warm and had access to restroom facilities. As an added bonus, we stopped at the Tromso Cathedral on the way home to take in the New Years firework show from a dramatic viewpoint! Thank you for a magical evening!

• Poor communication and lack of enthusiasm from guide

  Carrie B,

  Mar 20, 2025

  - Viator

  1.00

  Extremely disappointed in this tour. Please keep in mind this review is not about seeing/not seeing the northern lights - I completely understand that nature is not guaranteed and I am not upset at things beyond a company’s control. However, what I am upset about is the service and lack of communication from this tour. Even in the beginning, our guide was very late, causing our tour to be delayed 30min. Once on the tour, the communication was super poor. We never knew what was happening. She would get out of the bus and check the sky, sometimes motion us to get off the bus but other times we would just keep driving. It would have been helpful for her to tell us more info, like what we were looking for or just more about the northern lights. The few times we got off the bus, we weren’t even sure what we were looking at. She never pointed out where the lights were, and as they were pretty much not visible (looked like super faint blobs in the sky) the whole bus was confused. She also didnt offer us the coats, I had to ask for one as I was just freezing. It felt like overall she didn’t try super hard to find the lights, or at least did not really communicate to us what she was looking for or trying. There seemed to be no passion or energy from our guide. We were super disappointed to find out later that many other tours had seen the northern lights the night we went - they either left earlier and/or drove further than we did. We booked with chasing lights for the following night and the difference in communication, service, and just passion for the northern lights was like night and day! Those same grey blobs we saw weren’t disappointing anymore because that guide explained that it was activity, you could tell because it shows up green on camera, it may get stronger once clouds clear/if we wait, etc. which was so much more helpful. I’m so sad to have gone with this company for our first night, I really do not recommend.

• Not the best option to go with in Tromso

  Steve O,

  Mar 17, 2025

  - Viator

  3.00

  I decided to go for one of the cheaper Northern Lights hunts in Tromso. But my experience with Polar Travel wasn't the best. I've been on Northern Lights tours multiple times before in other countries and I was left disappointed by this one. First I'll say, yes we did see the Northern Lights briefly, on a night where the weather was bad and it was very cloudy. So the 3 star review isn't for lack of seeing them entirely, as you cannot predict the weather - so we were lucky to see them at all. The problems were other factors. 1) The bus arrived a few minutes late, (the bus was just white and unmarked) and beforehand all the guests weren't sure they were in the right place and were asking other busses if it was their group we should be with. 2) I was travelling solo and when I got on board I discovered out of the group of 11 people, I was the only English speaker. Everyone else was Italian. So all the announcements were in Italian first, then English. But sometimes there wasn't an English version, or the English version was much shorter. I spoke to the guide and she said there were supposed to be four more Italians, but they cancelled. So my question is, why were there so many Italian groups going on this one tour, and why was it not advertised as an Italian tour? Also they knew that there was one English speaker on the tour, but still didn't let know before hand or swap me to another tour. It felt like I should have been on another tour with other English speakers, but they just wanted to keep my money. 3) Obviously the experience is a hunt, and it's never guaranteed to see the Aurora, especially in bad weather. After about 30 mins we stopped an we managed to see the lights through a break in the clouds for about 30 mins, which was good but we were still close to Tromso and there was a lot of light pollution still, so the sky wasn't very dark. I understand on a cloudy night you need to take what you are given, but that was the best we got all night. We then proceeded to drive around for the remainder of the tour with no real other success. But compared to the other Northern Lights hunts I'd been on before, it really just seemed like they didn't really know where they were going and were "heading for the coast" as it may have been clear skies over there, but it wasn't. 4) The trip was advertised as having a stop and a camp fire and we can have some snacks/food. But they claimed the weather meant that we couldn't stop and have the fire. But even if there was cloud and you couldn't see the Northern Lights it wasn't snowing all night in every location, so I don't really think that was a good enough excuse. As we couldn't stop and have the fire they gave us some freeze-dried food to take away, and gave us a Mars Bar and hot chocolate. 5) The tour was advertised as 5-7 hours. But we were back in Tromso around 12:30am, so 5.5 hours, after a late start and dropping one of the guides off. 6) We stopped for a toilet break, but there was never any urgency to get going again. The guides never hurried us along - although this might have been partly down to other guests. But we spent over 30 mins in a grocery store, obviously this is not what you pay for... Overall, I guess you get what you pay for! But considering the tour was still nearly $150pp it's not cheap - they made over $1000 collectively from the tour and it seemed like it was more about the money than the experience, especially the language issue. The driver and the guide were friendly but also seemed a bit inexperienced. I hope they improve for other guests, so they have a better experience than me. Having said that, I did see the Aurora (even though I could have probably done the same if I had rented a car!) so I felt giving a 3 star rating was a fair reflection.

• Beautiful view of the lights!

  Khatija J,

  Mar 1, 2025

  - Viator

  4.00

  Great view of the northern lights! The guide gave us a scientific explanation and some history behind the northern lights. The ride there and back was a bit bumpy with extremely loud music on the way back which is the reason for 4 stars. Otherwise, great tour!

• The guides were lovely,...

  Karen N,

  Mar 1, 2025

  - Viator

  5.00

  The guides were lovely, and knowledgeable. If you're looking to get away without a large group, this is a great way to do it. It was quiet, the setting was beautiful, and the aurora was incredible.