Norway in Winter – PDF Guide (English + German)

PDF guide · English + German

Norway in winter: our 18 days of polar night – so you don’t pay for the same mistakes

Lofoten, Alta, Skjervøy and Tromsø, self-driven from 20.12.2024 to 06.01.2025. Everything we learned on the road, on 25 pages: when the northern lights come, when to drive and where you leave money on the table.

€9.90Final price · one purchase = English + German

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Instant PDF download
Phone & print (A5)
Updated 24.10.2026
All photos our own

Cover of the PDF guide “Norway in Winter” with our own northern lights photo from Lofoten

English + German

What you get

Real day-by-day itineraryOur 18 days, rebuilt from the place and time stamps of our photos – plus a 10-day plan showing how we would do it today.

Our own photosNo stock photos. Every picture is from this trip, with date and time – so you see how bright midday really is.

Map & QR codes to Google MapsRoute map and QR codes for every leg and place. Tap on your phone, scan from the printout.

Budget planner with checked pricesEntry fees, cable car, tours in NOK – checked on 24.10.2026 – plus a table for your own budget.

Polar night packing listTick it off: layers, spikes, tech, documents. What really matters at –10 °C.

Our northern lights experienceLofoten almost every evening, mostly 6–9 pm. Tromsø hardly at all. When a tour is worth it – and when it isn’t.

Entry via official links onlynewEvery QR code goes straight to the authority. With our own rip-off story as a warning.

Travelling with a dognewMicrochip, rabies, tapeworm window 24–120 h, red customs channel, cabin up to 8 kg with SAS and Widerøe.

What it saves you

A €9.90 guide has to pay for itself. The first example happened to us:

Third-party website2 × €361.79= €723.58 for the UK travel authorisation (ETA). The checkout showed a small fee.From our own card statement, 23.08.2026.

Official on GOV.UK£20≈ €23.89 (rate of 23.10.2026). Directly from the UK government.Per gov.uk/eta/apply, checked 24.10.2026.

QR code to the official page – exactly as it appears in the guide.

With the right QR code it would have cost about €700 less. That is why every entry link in the guide goes straight to the authority – which already pays for the guide.

Own car instead of a tour – on Lofotenup to approx. €742On Lofoten we had northern lights almost every evening, often from the window. You usually don’t need a guided chase there.

Example: guided tour 1,295 NOK pp (VisitTromsø, 24.10.2026) × 2 people × 3 evenings = 7,770 NOK ≈ €742.

A tour instead of 2 hours searching – elsewhere2 h + approx. €27 dieselIn Tromsø we saw almost nothing; elsewhere we searched and drove for over two hours. There a tour is worth the money – the guide tells you where.

Maths: approx. 150 km of searching × 7 l/100 km = 10.5 l × 27.22 NOK (diesel, 17.10.2026) ≈ 286 NOK ≈ €27 – with no guarantee of aurora.

Planning the polar night rightapprox. €113 + 2 driving daysIn December there is only twilight from 10 am to 2 pm. Our 10-day plan drops the long leg that cost us days.

Maths: approx. 620 km less × 7 l/100 km ≈ 43 l × 27.22 NOK ≈ 1,181 NOK ≈ €113 diesel, before tolls and nights.

Worked examples using public prices and 7 l/100 km consumption (assumption). Rates €1 = 10.4665 NOK and £1 = €1.1943 (23.10.2026). Your savings depend on your trip.

Look inside

Tap for a large view. Also inside: entry & documents, travelling with a dog, packing list, Lofoten, Alta, Skjervøy, Tromsø, winter driving, emergency numbers.

Northern lights over our cabin on Lofoten on 23.12.2024

Northern lights: what we actually saw

Lofoten: aurora almost every evening, mostly between 6 and 9 pm, sometimes later – often we just looked out of the window.
Tromsø: hardly any – the city is bright and the weather changeable.
Elsewhere: we searched and drove for over two hours. That is where a guided tour pays off, because the guides chase the gaps in the clouds.

In the guide: our evening routine – check the cloud map on yr.no first, then get away from town lights, dress warm and be patient.

Who it’s for – and who it isn’t

A good fit if you …

want to drive northern Norway yourself in winter
want to see the aurora without booking a tour every night
want honest experience instead of brochure copy – including what isn’t worth it
want everything offline on your phone or printed
travel with a dog or want to avoid entry rip-offs

Not for you if you …

are planning a package holiday or a Hurtigruten cruise
want summer hiking on Lofoten
expect a thick guidebook listing every restaurant
want an aurora guarantee – nobody can give one

FAQ

What format is the guide?

Two PDF files (English and German), A5, 25 pages each. Right after payment you land on the download page with both PDFs; the invoice is sent automatically by email.

Does it work on my phone and in print?

Yes. On your phone every link and QR code is tappable and opens Google Maps or the official page. In print it fits A5 – or two pages per A4 sheet. The budget planner and packing list are made to fill in.

Do I really get both languages?

Yes. One purchase = English + German, handy if you travel with friends or family who prefer the other language.

What about updates?

Prices and rules carry a date (24.10.2026). Revised editions are made available to you for download free of charge.

Can I return the guide?

For digital content in the EU: your 14-day right of withdrawal only ends if you expressly agree at checkout that the download starts immediately and confirm that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal. Without that consent you can withdraw within 14 days. If something in the guide is wrong, let us know via the “Ask a question” button – we will fix it.

Who sells me the guide?

Frangipani Travel (Bling Bling GmbH). Payment is handled securely by our payment provider Stripe – we never see your card details. The invoice is sent automatically by email.

Do you earn from links in the guide?

From some, yes – they are marked “Ad” in the guide. If you book through them we get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Entry, authority and Google Maps links are never affiliate links.

Less planning, more polar night.

18 days of experience, checked prices and official entry links only – for less than a third of a cable car ride in Tromsø (350 NOK).

€9.90Final price · one purchase = English + German

Buy now – €9.90 →

Purchase and download are handled by our payment partner – the invoice is sent automatically by email.

Ask a question

Ad The guide contains affiliate links (e.g. Discover Cars, Airbnb, GetYourGuide, SafetyWing, Wise, Starlink), marked “Ad” in the PDF. If you book or buy through them we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This page itself contains no affiliate links.

Seller and publisher of the guide: Bling Bling GmbH (Frangipani Travel), Peak Vienna, Floridsdorfer Hauptstraße 1 / 25th floor, 1210 Vienna, Austria. Payment processing: Stripe.

Right of withdrawal for digital content: it only ends with your express consent to the immediate download and your acknowledgement of this (Art. 16(m) Directive 2011/83/EU).

All information has been checked carefully (as of 24.10.2026), but prices, timetables and entry rules can change. We show no invented reviews or sales figures. The UK ETA story happened to us; we deliberately do not name the third-party website.