
Getting to see the Northern Lights is much easier than is used to be. There are number of companies in Ireland doing trips to both Norway and Iceland that, weather permitting will allow you to see the solar activity.
The easier way to find out the likelihood of seeing the lights according to Adam is check out the KP Index on SoftServeNews.com and a KP Index of higher than 5 gives a likelihood that you will see the light s by naked eye. Watch cloud cover on meteo-mc.fr.
Coming up in this month on the 11th October the Travel Department have a trip to Iceland for three nights and it cost from €599 including direct flights from Dublin and four-star hotel accommodation.
On October 18 there is a six night trip to Iceland and to Northern Norway and that has been reduced to 799pps. So you have a chance of seeing the lights in two countries and that trip will operate again on Oct 27 with some variances. Wallace Travel will also be doing trip to Iceland next year.
If you wait until January you can have the amazing experience of cruising the Northern Norway fjords in search of the Northern Lights. Thomas Cook will have a special trip with a flight from Belfast to Tromso where you will join the famed Hurtigruten ship to cruise to Kirkenes and back and spent six days in the Arctic Circle. The price is from €1,289pps thomascook.ie/cruise, (01) 514 0336.
Other Irish companies arranging trips to the see the Northern Lights are RoryMcDyerTravel.ie and Project-travel.ie. Rory McDyer has been taking people to the Arctic Circle for a good number of years and has lots of options for going.
The Northern Lights don’t just appear in Norway and Iceland but all across the northern atmosphere, so if you were in Canada or Russia you can see them too.
Closer to home and less expensive is a trip to Bristol or Bath, the twin cities of the Avon. I recently visited both for a weekend and really enjoyed the different cities. In Irish Times magazine today. Bristol is edgy and exciting and Bath is stately and demure.
Highlight of Bristol is:
Street art tour with John Nation who was his youth worker and has now devoted his time to encouraging street art and being deeply involved in the turnaround of Bristol. Last year the city of Bristol invited 30 artists from around the world to transform a grim concrete 1970s street with their art. The results are amazing and Nelson Street will never be the same. Seenoevil.com is the website where you will see their work. Conor Harrington from Ireland also has a wall and I love his period piece which is called The Duel of Bristol.
Highlight of Bath is:
This month get a feel for Bath as October is the month of the GreatBathFeast.com and there are foodie events and activities on. Lots of high profile celebrity chefs are coming to town and you will be able to taste lots of goodies.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/marian-finucane/programmes/2013/1005/478518-marian-finucane-saturday-5-october-2013/?clipid=1326032