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At the end of December 2019/beginning of January 2020, I took my first solo international vacation to visit Sweden with the intent of hopefully seeing the Northern Lights. Although I currently live in Salt Lake City, UT, one of the most important questions for me before this trip was What to wear for Northern Lights viewing. In Utah, most of my time outside in the winter is spent constantly moving – skiing, hiking, etc. This trip to Sweden would be different as I was going to be viewing the Northern Lights while basically standing still and taking pictures. Therefore, figuring out how to dress for this type of cold was very important so that I could actually enjoy the Northern Lights.

My location for viewing the Northern Lights

A little bit about my trip… I chose Sweden as my destination to view the Northern Lights for a few reasons. The first being I had never visited before and this would be somewhere new. Additionally, when deciding between the Scandinavian countries, I found that Abisko, Sweden had the best microclimate for viewing the Northern Lights and I ended up joining a tour group while I was there called Lights over Lapland. Lights over Lapland has single night tour options as well as 4 day all-inclusive tours that cover your food, hotel stay, and some additional daytime excursions. Since I was solo traveling, I opted for the 4 day tour to have some of the extra details taken care of. You can learn more about my trip to Sweden here.

What to wear for Northern Lights

While the traditional aurora viewing season is October-March, I visited in December. Your clothing needs may vary if you go significantly earlier or later in the season. Also recall that while you may have experience being outside in the wintertime, most activities you are probably familiar with involve a lot of movement. Since you will likely be standing still while viewing the aurora, figuring out how to dress for the northern lights will be different than other winter outdoor activities. Layers are critical with wool and down being the best go-to fabrics.

Let’s start from top to bottom:

• Headwear: You have probably heard since you were a kid that the majority of heat loss is through your head. Therefore keeping your head warm is paramount in staying warm outside. I went with a trapper style hat which I loved. I also brought along a wool liner for under my trapper hat as well as a wool neck buff. I didn’t end up using either of these two things as it didn’t reach the coldest temps. However both were very small and it was nice to have them in case it ended up a little colder.

• Upper body: I wore a wool baselayer crew top for every activity while in Sweden. I don’t know what took me so long to get on the wool bandwagon (probably the price), but I’m on board now. Wool is the sh*t. I then wore two other layers of down jackets (here and here) on top of my wool baselayer. Lights over Lapland provided us with a pair of coveralls that I wore overtop of everything listed. If I did not have this pair of coveralls, a heavy outercoat would have been necessary on top of this.

• Hands: Since I love taking pictures, my hands are usually the first thing to get cold when I am outside. This was one of my most important decisions and I ended up going with a super warm Black Diamond mitten. I also brought along glove liners for when I would be messing around with my camera gear so my hands didn’t have to come all of the way out and get exposed to the cold.

• Lower body: I wore a wool baselayer legging for every activity while in Sweden. When going out to see the Northern Lights at night, I actually wore two sets of baselayer leggings on top of each other. Then I wore a jogger pant over that. Lights over Lapland provided us with a pair of coveralls that I wore overtop of everything listed. If I did not have this pair of coveralls, a pair of ski pants would have been necessary on top of this.

• Feet: Wool socks are everything. I wore a thick pair and a thin pair every time we went outside. Your feet are standing on the snow/ice and not moving. Therefore, your feet are the most likely thing to get cold so be careful not to skimp out here. Don’t overdo the socks and try to do more than two layers and make sure you try on your boots ahead of time and know that they don’t cut off your circulation as you add a second pair of socks. I also went with these Sorel boots. Initially they seemed like overkill. But I loved them. And although they are huge, they are still cute and WARM. If you don’t end up with warm boots, consider getting a felt lining for your boots to add an extra layer between the snow and your feet.

So when you are thinking about what to wear for Northern Lights in the wintertime, hopefully this is helpful. Hand and feet warmers are something I did not use for this trip just because I got lucky with slightly warmer temperatures than were usual (and compared to the week before and after my visit).

Here is a checklist summary for what to wear for Northern Lights:

• Hat
• Wool Hat liner
• Wool Neck Buff
• Wool Baselayer top (2)
• Wool Baselayer leggings (2)
• Down jacket (1, 2)
• Heavy outercoat
• Gloves
• Glove liners
• Jogger pants
• Ski pants
• Thick wool socks (1-2 per day)
• Thin wool socks (1-2 per day)
• Winter boots
• Hand warmers

Have you been to northern Scandinavia to view the Northern Lights in the wintertime? Any other pointers of things that you wouldn’t do without for your trip?

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