Inari · Finland

Lake Inari shore, Inari village

Shore of the vast Lake Inari by the small Sámi village of Inari; the lake gives a low, open horizon with very little light.

See tonight's live score and best time to go for Lake Inari shore in Aurora Atlas

“Northern lights band swirls above Vuopajanniemi, Inari, Lapland, Finland, 2018 March” by Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).

Why it works for the aurora

View: Low, open horizon north and east over Lake Inari.
Darkness: Dark sky, grade 1 on a scale from 0 (darkest) to 5. Little artificial light; a good place for faint aurora and the Milky Way.
Aurora: Under the auroral oval: aurora can be overhead even on quiet nights.

Getting there

Distance: About 43 km by road from Inari (estimate), roughly 50 min by car.
Coordinates: 68.9060, 27.0290 · Open in OpenStreetMap

Before you go

Lake ice: stay on the shore unless the ice is known to be safe.

Dress for standing still in the cold, bring a head torch with a red light, and park only where parking is allowed. A forecast is guidance, not a promise: check the road and weather warnings for Finland before a night drive. See our winter safety note.

Spot information from visitinari.fi.