enjoy tour

Seeing the northern lights is a truly unforgettable travel experience, but one that is largely dependent on luck. As a traveller with limited time, you must do all you can to increase your chances of catching a show. This winter, the lights enter the most lively phase of their 11-year cycle, meaning the next three years are a great time to go. And there's plenty of choice when it comes to where to go; Scandinavia, Canada, Alaska ... even Scotland, each of which have lovely places to hole up and turn your eyes skyward, as our insiders reveal ... Canada When I was a child, it never occurred to me that people would have to travel to see the northern lights. They were just there, dancing through the winter night. "My northern lights," I called them, as one might say "my friends". It's possible to feel this way if you are born in a village called Valhalla Centre, north of the 55th parallel in Alberta, Canada. But the northern lights capital of the world has to be the sub-Arctic city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, where I lived for several years. There's nothing like standing on the surface of a frozen lake, in total dark and cold, watching ribbons of greenish light run and ripple and play crack the whip across the heavens. The Great Canadian Adventure Company (+1 888 285 1676, adventures.ca) has a four-day tour to view the northern lights from Yellowknife for £995pp including hotel accommodation, hot drinks and snacks, aurora viewing from heated tipis and expert guides, but not flights. (Canadian North flights – canadiannorth.com – connect Yellowknife to Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa). Online images of the northern lights above Yellowknife can be seen at astronomynorth.com. Candace Savage, author of Aurora: the Mysterious Northern Lights Also try British tour operator Ski Safari (01273 224060, skisafari.com) has add-on trips to the Yukon to see the northern lights in winter. A nine-night holiday in January, with five nights in Whistler followed by a four-night aurora borealis package, including all flights and transfers, costs £1,819pp. Iceland Geothermal heated hot tub, Iceland Light relief ... geothermal heated hot tub, Reykjavik. Photograph: Alamy Just like in Donald Rumsfeld's world, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns when looking to view the aurora borealis in Iceland. Here are some of the known knowns: optimal viewing time is between September and March; cold, crisp, clear nights are the best; and it's also nice if the weather is calm, as you'll want to stand outside and gaze. You can stay in Reykjavík and hope for the best (a really intense aurora), or venture outside and increase your odds. A 30-minute drive from Reykjavík is usually far enough. The geothermal pools that dot the Icelandic countryside are excellent places for aurora-spotting, especially when it's really cold. My personal favourite is Reykjanes, in the north-west of Iceland, which has an Olympic-sized geothermal pool. You can swim at midnight, sometimes joined by ducks and nightjars, and stay in the rustic Hotel Reykjanes (+354 456 4844, rnes.is, doubles from £54). Haukur Magnússon, editor of Reykjavík Grapevine (grapevine.is) the city's English language magazine Advertisement Iceland has several boutique hotels in rural locations. Hotel Ranga (+354 487 5700, hotelranga.is, doubles from £158) sits close to the still-steaming crater of the Eyjafjalljökull volcano and has naturally heated hot tubs for aurora viewing. Hotel staff will wake guests when the lights begin to dance, so there's no need to stay up all night. Hotel Budir (+354 435 6700, budir.is, doubles from £115) on the Snaefellsnes peninsula is an elegant getaway with a fabulous restaurant, and the bar's floor-to-ceiling windows look over a striking volcanic shoreline. Those wanting to combine activities with lights-chasing may want to travel further north, to Hotel Sel Myvatn (+354 464 4164, myvatn.is, doubles from £73), for ice go-karting, cross-country skiing and winter horse-riding. Polly Evans, author of Northern Lights: A Practical Travel Guide (Bradt, £5.59 at the Guardian bookshop) In Iceland it only takes 20 minutes to drive from the capital to a place to see the northern lights. In other countries you need to go to more remote areas. Many people head to Thingvellir national park. There's no hotel there but it's close to Reykjavík: you can leave after dinner and be back before midnight. Head to Almannagjá, the spot in the park where they founded the parliament over 1,000 years ago. It's a small canyon with huge cliffs and nothing to block your view of the lights. In Reykjavík stay at Hotel Holt (+354 552 5700, holt.is, doubles from £120), one of the oldest hotels in town, with cosy charm and one of the biggest collections of art by Icelandic artist Jóhannes Kjarval, who paid for his rooms with paintings when he was starting out.