The crowning jewel among scotland s litany of world class national parks the cairngorms are transformative even before you ve settled in to do some northern lights spotting.
Best time and place to see the northern lights in scotland.
The sight is highly dependent upon solar activity and the when or how frequently sunspots occur.
The midnight sun makes it impossible to see the northern lights.
Best time of year to see the northern lights in scotland it doesn t matter where you go to see the northern lights the best time for viewing is when you can guarantee clear skies and a whole lot of darkness.
The northern lights don t appear on set dates each year.
Nights need to be cold and the sky clear of clouds with limited light pollution and increased solar activity.
Autumn and winter seasons with their long periods of darkness and the frequency of clear nights are probably the best time of the year to experience the auroral displays.
In scotland that generally means the autumn and winter months as that when it s going to be darkest.
We saw them in september in 2015 2017 and 2019.
You could celebrate christmas in a loch side lodge toast hogmanay the new year in january in edinburgh or take advantage of less rain in february.
Locals said that was quite early as normally they wouldn t see them until october.
Find hotels and airbnbs near northern lights map perthshire rannoch moor fife coast angus cairngorms lochinver applecross rubha hunish harris moray coast aberdeenshire caithness orkney shetland.
The aurora are only visible in dark skies so the best time of year to see the northern lights in scotland is the autumn and winter months.
Edinburgh and the coast of fife.
Northern lights because shetland lies closer to the north pole than any other part of the british isles it s the best place to see the northern lights.
Of course it s a cracking spot for that too.
The autumn and winter seasons provide the greatest chances of experiencing the auroral displays due to the cold clear nights and increased periods of darkness which stack the odds in favour of seeing the lights.
Over a typical winter a keen observer checking the skies on every clear night could certainly expect to see the aurora several times.