Aurora Borealis Observatory

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.

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.

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!