Varanger · Norway

Ekkerøy · Vadsø

Low peninsula east of Vadsø with a seabird cliff and old fishing houses, recommended by locals as a place to watch the aurora over the Varangerfjord.

See tonight's live score and best time to go for Ekkerøy in Aurora Atlas

Ekkerøy 01
“Ekkerøy 01” by Johannes Grødem, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).

Why it works for the aurora

View
South and east over the Varangerfjord; open sea to the north.
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 17 km by road from the middle of Varanger (estimate), roughly 20 min by car.
Coordinates
70.0725, 30.1170 · Open in OpenStreetMap

Before you go

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 Norway before a night drive. See our winter safety note.

Spot information from visitnorway.com.