If you see no lights: what each tour offers
Free repeats, a refund, a discount or nothing at all. The rules from the product pages, side by side.
Repeat or refund
Discount on a new trip
The aurora is a natural phenomenon, and no operator can guarantee it. “Northern lights guarantee” on a booking page always means something narrower: a rule for what happens when the night stays empty. Those rules differ more than anything else between the tours, from a free repeat to an explicit “no refund”.
The rule of every tour
What each tour offers on a night without lights, with the cancellation terms next to it. Sorted by number of reviews; tap a column header to re-sort.
| Photo | Tour | Type | If you see no lights | Cancellation | Reviews ↕ | Price ↕ | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Aurora bus tour with camp Northern Lights Safari Tromso | Big bus | No special rule Standard terms: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.6 (8,567) | €56 per person | Book now |
|
Minibus chase with pro photos Arctic Breeze AS | Minibus | No special rule Standard terms: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.8 (6,892) | €116 per person | Book now |
|
Sprinter chase with HD photos NLT Guide Company | Minibus | No special rule Standard terms: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.7 (2,768) | €123 per person | Book now |
|
Minibus chase with aurora portrait Amazing Arctic Tours | Minibus | No special rule Standard terms: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.5 (2,327) | €67 per person | Book now |
|
Aurora coach tour, free repeats Jeshua As | Big bus | Free repeat If the guide’s professional camera does not capture a recognisable aurora, you can rejoin the tour free of charge as often as your stay allows, subject to availability. After a qualifying photo, you can book another available tour at half the ticket price. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.6 (2,172) | €77 per person | Book now |
|
Unlimited minibus chase Snow-travels | Minibus | No special rule Standard terms: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.9 (1,900) | €168 per person | Book now |
|
All-inclusive small-group chase Northern Horizon | Minibus | No special rule Standard terms: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start. The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.8 (1,775) | €94 per person | Book now |
|
Aurora big bus chase Chasing Lights | Big bus | See the product page | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.9 (1,703) | €114 per person | Book now |
|
Evening aurora cruise Polar Adventures | Boat | Discount on a new tour If you see no lights, the operator offers a discount on one new tour, depending on available seats and valid once. The listing states the size of the discount inconsistently: check it on the product page. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.4 (1,620) | €111 per person | Book now |
|
Minibus chase with campfire Spirit in the sky | Minibus | Discount on a new tour If you do not see the northern lights on the first trip, you get half price on the next available trip. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.8 (1,580) | €119 per person | Book now |
|
4WD small-group adventure Greenlander | Premium small group | See the product page | ✕ Non-refundable | ★ 5.0 (1,518) | €283 per person | Book now |
|
Minibus chase, warm meal Chasing Lights | Minibus | No compensation No refund if the lights do not show. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.9 (1,409) | €228 per person | Book now |
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Unlimited chase across borders Arctic GM Experiences AS | Minibus | Refund Northern lights or your money back: a full refund if no northern lights are captured by camera at any point during the tour. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.5 (1,341) | €139 per person | Book now |
|
Minibus hunt with soup The Green Adventure | Minibus | See the product page | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.9 (842) | €180 per person | Book now |
|
Aurora dinner cruise Brim Explorer | Boat | See the product page | ★ 4.3 (765) | €185 per person | Book now | |
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Sprinter chase with homemade cake Arctic Glow AS | Minibus | No compensation No refund if the lights do not show: the listing says so explicitly. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.9 (609) | €138 per person | Book now |
|
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Electric aurora cruise Brim Explorer | Boat | No special rule The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.2 (369) | €120 per person | Book now |
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Sailing yacht with hot tub World Sea Explorers | Boat | No special rule The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 4.8 (137) | €274 per person | Book now |
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Six-seat hunt with photos & video AdventuresGuide | Premium small group | No special rule The product page states no special rule for a night without lights. | ✓ Free cancellation | ★ 5.0 (32) | €125 per person | Book now |
Tour prices in this table are per person and update from GetYourGuide and Viator; the booking page shows the final amount for the night you pick.
The rules in the operators’ own words
Quotes are taken word for word from the product pages as of October 2026. Rules can change; the product page at the time of booking is what counts.
Free repeats until the camera captures it
The Jeshua coach tour lets you rejoin free of charge, as often as your stay allows and subject to available seats, until the guide’s professional camera captures a recognisable aurora. After that, the listing says: “After a qualifying photo, you may book another available tour at 50% off the tour ticket price for more photos.” The free repeat only helps if there is a later night left, so book this tour early in your stay.
Full refund
Arctic GM puts it in one line: “Northern Lights or your money back — 100% refund guaranteed”. The condition is that no northern lights are captured by camera at any point during the tour. It is an unlimited chase that may cross into Finland or Sweden.
Discount on a new trip
Spirit in the sky: “Get a 50% discount on your next trip if you don't see the northern lights”. The discount applies to the next available trip.
Polar Adventures offers a discount on one new tour for its evening cruise if you see no lights, depending on available places and valid once. The listing names two different percentages in two places, so check the current figure on the product page before you rely on it.
No refund, stated explicitly
Arctic Glow (“No refunds are provided if the Northern Lights are not visible”) and the Chasing Lights minibus say clearly that a night without lights is not refunded. It is the standard case, written down.
Standard terms, no special rule
For the Northern Lights Safari bus tour, Arctic Breeze, Snow-travels, Northern Horizon, NLT Guide Company and Amazing Arctic Tours, the product page states no rule for a night without lights. The standard terms apply: free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start.
“Captured by camera” is not the same as “you saw it”
A camera on a tripod collects light for several seconds and shows a faint aurora as a green band. To the eye, the same aurora can look like a pale grey veil. So a night can count as “lights captured” although you hardly noticed them, and then no repeat or refund applies. Reviewers describe exactly this: lights that were easy to see through the camera, but weaker than expected with the naked eye.
Free cancellation is your other safety net
Most tours here can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before the start. If the forecast for your night looks hopeless the day before, that lets you move to another evening. On a tour with a free repeat or a discount, it also keeps that rule for a better night. Check the cancellation terms: not every tour allows it, and the Greenlander small-group tour cannot be cancelled or changed at all.
Where the rule is not listed
For a few tours the rule for a night without lights was not on the product page when we checked. The table shows “See the product page” for them. Ask the operator or read the listing before booking if this rule decides your choice.
Nights with and without lights
The critical reviews below are about the sky, not the service: clouds, a weak aurora that showed mainly on camera, and the disappointment of a long night with nothing to show. They are the reason the rule for an empty night is worth checking.
“Northern Lights hunting can take patience, but Ailen and Joanna kept everyone's spirits so high … tracking satellite data, weather patterns, and cloud cover to give us the absolute best chance at clear skies.”
“It was easy to see through camera, so I can see why they bring the professional camera along because the photos look good, however I assumed when reading the description of the tour, that we would be able to really see it with the naked eye. … No bathroom stops - just an FYI.”
“No northern lights and no extra compensation”
“They stayed out searching long after other companies had turned back for tromso and even drove into Finland. Bus very comfortable, blankets provided and tasty snacks and hot drinks!”
“unfortunately it was a cloudy night, aurora was only visible through camera. … the photos came out a bit low quality.”
“the experience with the sausages, the chocolate and the campfire was very nice. But we didn't see the Northern Lights … We were very disappointed because we came from very far away for this purpose”
“The minibus mercedez looks very brand new, very comfortable. This is important for 5-6 hours sitting. … We started with sky full of clouds in tromso city center. But at the end we found northern light at the border of Finland (literally 500meters to finland). The photos he took were amazing.”
“On the 29th, the weather was terrible and the Kp index was 0.3. Instead of canceling, the guides decided to push for a sighting of the northern lights more than 100 km away. We were only able to see a very faint aurora for 2 minutes, visible only through cameras.”
“I know it's a natural phenomenon and doesn't depend on anything else, but the chances were slim. Six hours of travel to not see them seems excessive to me. … Too much time in a vehicle at night.”
Reviews by travellers after their northern lights night, from GetYourGuide.
FAQ
Is there a northern lights tour in Tromsø with a guarantee?
No tour can guarantee the aurora itself. What some tours offer is a rule for a night without lights: the Jeshua coach tour lets you come back free of charge until its camera captures the aurora, and Arctic GM refunds the ticket if the camera captures nothing during the tour.
What does “captured by camera” mean?
It means the guide’s camera recorded the aurora, even if it was too faint for you to see clearly. A camera shows a weak aurora as green where the eye sees a grey haze, so a night can count as successful although you hardly noticed the lights.
Do I get a discount if I see no lights?
On some tours, yes. Spirit in the sky gives half price on the next available trip, and Polar Adventures offers a discount on one new evening cruise depending on availability. Check the size of the Polar Adventures discount on the product page; the listing is not consistent.
Which tours give no refund without lights?
Arctic Glow and the Chasing Lights minibus state this explicitly. On many other tours the product page simply names no special rule, and the standard cancellation terms apply.
Can I cancel if the forecast is bad?
Most tours can be cancelled free of charge up to a day before the start, so you can move to a better night. Check the cancellation terms first, because not every tour allows it.
Rule checked, now pick your night
The home page table shows this rule next to vehicle and cancellation for every tour.
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