What brought me to Gibostad was the Northern Lights. This is a natural phenomenon i’ve wanted to see for years and after failing to see them in Iceland, I figured I should go even further up north and get high up in the Arctic Circle! Northern Norway has a much more dramatic landscape than the South, and we’re so pleased we got to see it in the snow!

October to March – You’ll get the darkest days for the Northern Lights. The sunrise will be around 9am and will set around 4pm, giving you 7 hours of daylight. We visited in early February and it was the perfect condition for the lights.

June to August – This is when the summer solstice occurs and you’ll be able to experience the midnight sun which is ideal for hiking and cycling. There are beautiful beaches nearby and are perfect for peaceful kayaking.

Minimum of 3-4 days to give you a better chance of seeing the lights

Getting to Gibostad was pretty straightforward but it wasn’t quick. I flew in to Tromsø with Norwegian Air and stayed there for a night, ready to catch and early morning ferry. From Tromsø port, you can take the 45 minute express boat to Lysnes Kai. You can check out the timetables here. As you get on the ferry, the staff ask you to record your name and destination, just as a safety precaution incase anything was to happen on the boat. We’d never experienced this and thought it was such a great system!

We’d strongly recommend hiring a car here because the bus only runs 4 times a day and seeing as you have only 7 hours of daylight in the winter, the last thing you want to do is wait for a bus in the freezing cold! If you do want to catch a bus, the 380 runs from Lysnes Kai port to Gibostad. We searched hard for a car rental company that had electric cars but unfortunately there weren’t any in that area, only in larger cities such as Oslo. Nabobil by Getaround rents out privately owned cars around Norway, so it’s worth checking their website to see if any electric cars are available.

We decided to book a few nights at Visit Leif at Senja via Bookingcom, a beautiful cabin by the lake which cost around £95 a night. Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world so expect the prices to be between £65-£150 a night for a weekend booking. Don’t let this put you off though, you can still do Norway on a budget and not miss out on anything! Leif, the host, kindly came to meet us at Lysnes Kai port and it was only a 17 minute drive to Gibostad.

The town of Gibostad is small but if you just look around you, it’s plenty of activity. Just looking at the stillness of the lake from our cosy cabin brought all the tranquility and entertainment at the same time. Since it was close to a beach, we decided to see what it’s like to visit a frozen beach for the first time! From the frozen coral to jade green water, the beach was also stunning in the freezing cold conditions.