Aurora Borealis Observatory

Just back from a trip to ABO and we had a brilliant time. The location and accommodation is spot on and feel really lucky to have visited. It’s a small site so there aren’t loads of staff but this wasn’t a problem, they were always lovely, welcoming and helpful. We had breakfast in the restaurant which was buffet style and was always enjoyable. We had a meal in the restaurant which was really good albeit expensive. But Norway is generally expensive and somewhere more remote like this will also cost a bit more so something we expected. We stayed in the studio apartment which has a kitchen (most others don’t have one). The apartment was beautiful, clean and comfortable. We thoroughly enjoyed the jacuzzi, even in the cold temperatures it stayed hot. ABO is 6 miles from the nearest town so a 15 min drive. We hired a car so we had the flexibility to get around. The location is spot on. We saw the northern lights on two of the three nights we were there and they were simply stunning (and matched up with the photos on their website). We were there on New Year’s Eve which was magical to have the Northern lights and to see all the firework displays in the distance over in Finnsnes. The Norwegians know how to put on a good display! The site is lovely and we borrowed sledges and snow shoes so we could play about in the snow and explore. We would love to come back at in future. A few improvements I would suggest for the studio apartment: - A few more utensils and crockery in the kitchen would improve it. - A drying rack for the bathroom where we could hang wet clothes.

THIS PLACE IS A SCAM. Committing credit card and financial fraud. I booked my reservation in November 2023 for November 2024. They charged me the full amount. Then in February I sent them an email to extend the stay and paid more money. Their email was working fine. I cancelled the stay in May 2024, 6 months ahead of my stay and have been emailing and calling them ever since to get a refund. Nothing. They keep your money. I encourage anyone that this has happened to file a fraud claim with your credit card company.

Avoid at all costs!! This is costing us a lot!!! We had booked the Old Farm House in Dec 2023 for 4 nights stay in Sep 2024 and paid up the full amount of KR26,400 with the contract of a FULL REFUND if cancellation is more than 1 month before commencement of stay. However, when we wrote in to cancel the booking in mid Feb 2024, with constant weekly reminders since, we had heard absolutely nothing at all from the Aurora Borealis Observatory! NOT A SINGLE REPLY at all, not even to acknowledge they have received our notification of cancellation! Now it is already past mid Apr and all we get is total complete silence from them!!! It looks like nobody is working there or even present for the past 2 months (at least!), so beware of this place!!! Do NOT believe what you see on their website! We have noticed that it has been upgraded since last Dec, looking even more beautiful and professional now. They have also changed the cancellation policy of getting full refund from 1 month prior to commencement of stay (our agreement last year) to 2 months (this year). Another fishy aspect of this place is that the email handling the receival of money is different from the email we have to write in to cancel our booking. When we wrote in to the former, it totally rejected our correspondence! Due to this very expensive lesson, in the future, we will not be booking with any accommodations promising full refunds if payment is upfront. Furthermore, as we plan to see the Northern Lights end of the year, we will definitely NOT go to Norway to catch them. We will look at Iceland or Finland or Sweden or Alaska. This is to warn all not to fall into the trap of Aurora Borealis Observatory! Avoid at all costs!!

Secluded spot for northern lights viewing! Loved the quiet location and scenery of this property. Such helpful and pleasant staff. Snowshoes/poles available in recption. “AURORA alert” texts to your cell until 11pm! 9-course dinner in their Fjösn Restaurant was outstanding, as well as the 4-serving menu and the tapas platter.

We came during the polar nights where there only 4 hours of day light. Took the ferry from Tromso Prostneset to Finnsnes. It took 1 hour 15 mins, the ferries were always on time. Darren came to pick us and bought us to the supermarket to get food and groceries as there’s no lunch available at the place. You will have to get your own lunch. Booked the executive suite for 2 nights and the Aurora hut for 1 night. However, the executive suite is the only category that doesn’t come with kitchenette. Luckily the owners were kind to let us cook our lunch at another apartment. The suite comes with a bathtub, living and dining area. There’s a bedroom with king sized bed. Bed is comfortable and nice fluffy blankets. Unit comes with Nespresso coffee machine and kettle but there’s no tea bags. Kind of disappointed to experience this. There were no bath mat in the bath room as well. We had to step out dripping wet and floor were wet. Only shower gel provided and no shampoo available. Small hair dryer provided. Paid premium price but basic things were not available. Walk to restaurant took less than 5 mins. No lights around and we had to walk in the dark. The Aurora hut is on a small hill top, we have to trek up in our own in the dark. Gas stove with kettle provided. Heater, wifi and chemical toilet provided. Paper cups and plates as well. Nice view from on top. No power sockets but there’s USB ports to charge. Queen size bed. Nice experience but 1 night is enough. It could get claustrophobic if you stay long. Apartment was provided for shower and cooking of lunch. The only plus point is we get to see Aurora every night we were there. The staff will alert us via WhatsApp when there’s Aurora till 11pm when their shift ends.

Aurora borealis observatory was a really beautiful place to stay and given its remote location, gave us the best chance of seeing the northern lights when visiting Norway. We saw them two nights out of four! However, there is information I wish we knew before visiting which would have made our trip a lot more relaxing, which I feel wasn’t very transparent on their website. The observatory has a restaurant - which does an absolutely delicious tasting menu, however this is their *only* dining option available in the evening. If like us, you don’t fancy the same tasting menu every night of your holiday, a taxi to the nearest town/village/civilisation is 10km and £60 away (one way). The observatory will not book you a taxi as they’ve apparently had issues booking for people before. If you have a flight from Tromso leaving on a Sunday, there is no way to get to back to Tromso other than the once per day ferry (on a Sunday) which arrives about 6-7pm! Given how important this information is, it really isn’t emphasised enough on their website. When we were there, none of the activities that were mentioned on their website Ie photography classes were available or advertised to book. In addition, the advertised “northern lights text messages” were unreliable - the night we saw them best we didn’t receive any message at all and just happened to spot them ourselves. Given how remote the observatory is and few facilities there are on site, hiring a car is really necessary if you want to do anything. If we had known this from the get go, we wouldn’t have had to book an extra night accommodation in Tromso on the Saturday night and pay for an extra night at the observatory which we didn’t use. The customer service in the restaurant area was great, however the customer service from one member of the hotel reception staff (Peter I think his name was) was hands down the worst I’ve ever received, having travelled to more than 60 countries in the world. The breakfast was very tasty and the rooms very modern and comfortable, albeit with basic cooking facilities. Despite all of this, we did have a really lovely time, and knowing what we know now, we would stay in Aurora Borealis Observatory again!