Svalbard or Tromsø for the Northern Lights?
Svalbard against Tromsø for the northern lights: 958 km apart, the polar night dates in each, the season statements, and what the Svalbard tours offer and cost.
Pick Svalbard if you want the polar night itself: in Longyearbyen the Sun stays down for 16 weeks, against 7 in Tromsø, and an evening tour picks you up at your hotel for about 3 hours. Pick Tromsø if your trip stays on the mainland. Neither place promises the lights; cloud decides any one evening in both. If you are going to Svalbard, Arctic Footsteps’ Longyearbyen: Northern Lights Adventure by Car costs from US$184 a person (checked November 2026).
It started at 3:30 PM, 7:00 PM or 8:30 PM on 26 November 2026, 20 January and 17 February 2027, at US$184.04 a person each date (GetYourGuide, checked November 2026).
How far apart
Longyearbyen lies at 78.2 degrees north on Spitsbergen, Svalbard’s largest island. Tromsø lies at 69.6 degrees north on the coast of northern Norway, 958 km south in a straight line. Both are well north of the Arctic Circle, and both have a polar night. They differ in how long it lasts.
The polar night in each
| Longyearbyen | Tromsø | |
|---|---|---|
| Latitude | 78.2 N | 69.6 N |
| No sunrise | 27 October 2026 to 15 February 2027 | 28 November 2026 to 14 January 2027 |
| Length | 16 weeks | 7 weeks |
Computed for each town’s coordinates. For Longyearbyen, Yr gives “Polar night until 16 Feb.” and Visit Svalbard’s FAQ the dark season as 26 October to 16 February.
In Longyearbyen even midday stays darker than civil twilight from mid-November to the end of January, and around 21 December the sky is fully dark for more than 15 hours. In Tromsø the Sun stays down only from late November to mid-January.
What the tourist organisations say about the season
Visit Svalbard gives the northern lights season in Svalbard as late September to mid-March, best between 18:00 and midnight, with no guarantee. Visit Norway, for Norway as a whole, says you can see the lights from as early as late August until late March, and that statistically spring (March and April) and autumn (September and October) have the highest aurora activity. The two statements cover different ground, so read them side by side rather than as a contest.
The tours
In Longyearbyen the evening tours on this site go by car, van or snowmobile from your hotel, for 2 to 4 hours, in groups of up to 6 or 8, or privately. On 26 November 2026, 20 January and 17 February 2027 the shared evening tours cost US$184.04 to US$232.94 a person for one adult (GetYourGuide, checked November 2026); the six compared has them all.
Tromsø’s tours are a different market, and we do not cover it here. northernlightstourstromso.com compares the Tromsø northern lights tours type by type.
Who should pick which
Svalbard suits a trip built around the dark itself: the long polar night, the Seed Vault and the mining town, and short evening tours from your hotel. Tromsø suits a trip on the mainland. In either place, book early in your stay so that a cloudy evening leaves you another; every Svalbard tour here allows free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
More from Longyearbyen
Evening and Winter Tours with Open Dates
Other northern lights evenings and winter trips from Longyearbyen with live availability. Pickup, what is included and the cancellation terms show before you book.
An Evening Out from Longyearbyen
Arctic Footsteps' 3-hour evening by car from your Longyearbyen hotel: Adventdalen, a stop near the Seed Vault, then towards Mine 3 where the sky is darkest.
See dates