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A flat-topped snow-covered mountain ridge across a fjord under deep blue sky, rounded plates of new sea ice covering the water in front

Photo: Svalbard. Photograph: Bernt Rostad · Adventfjorden, Svalbard · CC BY 2.0 · cropped

Interest

Places for the night sky

Places where the night is part of the trip: dark-sky parks in the American West, an island with no street lights, and northern lights seasons from Lofoten to Churchill.

21 places · last checked 5 November 2026

21places on this page
3dark-sky islands
125°of latitude, Svalbard to Rakiura

The places

Rows of orange and white hoodoos filling a wide amphitheatre in soft pink dawn light

Bryce Canyon National Park

International Dark Sky status since 2019, and summer telescope programs at Sunset Point.

Season and sources Source: National Park Service (Bryce Canyon night skies page) · read

Sky calendar

Photograph: King of Hearts · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped

A pale polar bear walking toward the camera along a gravel track beside a still pool, low golden light on the tundra

Churchill

A bay town under the auroral oval, where February and March are the best months for the lights.

Season and sources Source: Travel Manitoba · read

Sky calendar

  • Northern lights can appear: all year; peak February to March.

    Source: Travel Manitoba · read

Photograph: Emkmiller100 · CC BY-SA 4.0

A pyramid-shaped sand dune and a field of dunes in warm morning light, snow-covered jagged peaks and dark forested slopes rising directly behind them

Great Sand Dunes

Dunes certified as an International Dark Sky Park in 2019, with Milky Way nights in summer and fall.

Season and sources Source: National Park Service (Great Sand Dunes: Experience the Night) · read

Sky calendar

Photograph: Patrick Myers, NPS via NPGallery · Public domain (PD-USGov, US National Park Service)

A large white iceberg with sculpted sides floating in flat blue water that mirrors it, under a clear sky

Ilulissat Icefjord

An icefjord town with a northern lights season from late August to April, where a third of the town greets the sun on 13 January.

Season and sources Source: Visit Greenland · read

Sky calendar

  • Northern lights may show: August to April.

    Source: Visit Greenland · read

  • The sun returns after the dark weeks: January.

    Source: Visit Greenland · read

Photograph: Christoph Strässler · Iceberg in the Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland (54066381102) · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped

Wooden racks loaded with split cod drying in the open air, snow on the ground, a wall of dark snow-streaked mountains directly behind

Lofoten

Fishing islands where the northern lights may show from late August until mid-April.

Season and sources Source: Visit Lofoten · read

Sky calendar

  • Northern lights may show: August to April.

    Source: Visit Lofoten · read

  • Arctic night and the blue hour: December.

    Source: Visit Lofoten · read

Photograph: Christoph Strässler · Loaded Drying Racks for Stockfish at Reine, Lofoten, Norway · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped

A jagged green mountain ridge lit gold by low sun rising from a blue bay, two small rocks off a pale beach, tangled coastal scrub and a bare dead branch in the foreground, pink cloud above

Rakiura

New Zealand's far-south island, a Dark Sky Sanctuary since January 2019, where winter nights are dark from 7 pm to 6.30 am.

Season and sources Source: Stewart Island Promotion Association · read

Sky calendar

Photograph: Jake Osborne · Ruggedy Mountains · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped

Snow-loaded spruce trees casting long shadows over a flat forested river valley in low sun

Rovaniemi

A town on the Arctic Circle, with a northern lights season from late August to early April.

Season and sources Source: Visit Rovaniemi · read

Sky calendar

  • Northern lights season: August to April.

    Source: Visit Rovaniemi · read

  • Polar night: the sun does not rise: December.

    Source: Visit Rovaniemi · read

Photograph: Paul Raillard via Unsplash · Unsplash licence

A concrete road with railings running along a narrow ridge between red-brown rock walls, with blue sea at left

Sark

An island with no street lights, and in 2011 the first to be called a Dark Sky Island.

Season and sources Source: Sark Tourism · read

Sky calendar

  • Starfest: March to May and September to November.

    Source: Sark Tourism · read

Photograph: Clemensfranz · Sark Coupee · CC BY-SA 3.0

A flat-topped snow-covered mountain ridge across a fjord under deep blue sky, rounded plates of new sea ice covering the water in front

Svalbard

An Arctic archipelago whose Northern Lights Winter runs from October to February, with the polar night in the middle.

Season and sources Source: Visit Svalbard · read

Sky calendar

  • Northern Lights Winter season: October to February.

    Source: Visit Svalbard · read

  • Polar night: the sun stays below the horizon: November to January.

    Source: Visit Svalbard · read

Photograph: Bernt Rostad · Adventfjorden, Svalbard · CC BY 2.0 · cropped

A wood bison and calf among burned trees in evening light

Wood Buffalo National Park

The world's largest Dark Sky Preserve, designated in 2013, with a Dark in the Park weekend each August.

Season and sources Source: Parks Canada (Wood Buffalo National Park: stargazing) · read

Sky calendar

Photograph: Naturedata · CC0 · cropped

Month by month

Seasons, place by place

One row per place; a filled month is in that place's published season. A star marks the peak months the source names.
PlaceJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Bryce Canyon National ParkIn seasonIn season
ChurchillIn seasonPeak seasonPeak seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
Great Sand DunesIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
Iceland’s South CoastIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
Ilulissat IcefjordIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
LofotenIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
Mammoth CaveIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
RakiuraIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
RovaniemiIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
SarkIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
SvalbardIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
The Grand CanyonIn seasonIn season
Togo ChasmIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
Wood Buffalo National ParkIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season
ÞingvellirIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn seasonIn season

Dark-sky places with no published season are not in this table. You will find them in the cards above.

Common questions

When is northern lights season at these places?

Roughly late August to April, depending on how far north. Lofoten's season runs from late August to mid-April, Rovaniemi's from late August to early April and Greenland's from late August to April; Iceland is dark enough from September to April; Svalbard's Northern Lights Winter runs from 1 October to 28 February; Churchill's best months are February and March; and the Northwest Territories have two seasons, mid-August to late September and mid-November to early April. These are the tourism boards' own seasons, not a forecast.

Which of these places was the first Dark Sky Island?

Sark, in the Channel Islands. It was recognised by the International Dark-Sky Association in 2011 and became the first island community called a Dark Sky Island, largely because it has no street lights.

Which place on this page sits in a whole dark-sky country?

Togo Chasm, on Niue. Niue is the first whole country to receive Dark Sky Sanctuary and Community accreditation from DarkSky International, and trained Niuean community members lead its guided astro-tours.

When is the polar night on Svalbard?

From mid-November to late January, when the sun stays more than 6 degrees below the horizon and the northern lights may show in the middle of the day. Svalbard's Northern Lights Winter season runs from 1 October to 28 February.

Why did Kaikōura protect its night sky?

For a seabird. Kaikōura's dark-sky push began in 2020 to help protect the endangered Hutton's shearwater, which is affected by artificial light at night, and the coast became an International Dark Sky Sanctuary on 12 September 2024.

Is the total solar eclipse of 2 August 2027 on this page?

None of the places on this page sits in the path of totality. For eye safety during any solar eclipse, NASA keeps a safety page (https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/).

How this page is built

Method

A place joins this page when its park, reserve, community trust or tourism board publishes something about its night sky: a dark-sky designation, a northern lights season, a star party or a stargazing programme. Each place carries at least three of these, each linked to its source. The calendars on the cards show the seasons as each park, reserve or tourism board publishes them. Where a board gives a season for a whole country or territory, as Visit Iceland and Northwest Territories Tourism do, the card says so.

Sources read (33)

What this page does not do

No rankings and no forecasts: the sky keeps its own schedule. Park rules, closures and seasons change, so each card links the page with the current word.