Stars of the North: This winter, let the natural phenomena of Aurora Borealis leave you enchanted

This winter, let the natural phenomena of Aurora Borealis leave you enchanted.
A trip to Finland allows you to tick many things off your bucket list. The most popular amongst these is sighting the Northern Lights. These shape-shifters of the Arctic sky are nothing short of a fairy tale. If this natural phenomenon is on your wish list, then now is the time to see it before this surreal occurrence starts a cyclical fade.

Besides, when viewed from the southern part of Finland, they are visible only on 10-20 nights a year. ET Panache-Travel reader Aanchal Saigal shares her exhilarating experience of viewing the lights from an igloo: Rovaniemi, Finland, with its many igloos, allowed us to get starry-eyed over Aurora Borealis.

The glass-domed igloos are popular and unique to the region. This meant sleeping under a blanket of stars and waiting to be woken up by the surreal illumination of the Northern Lights’ as it danced in the sky. Another adventure that we had an opportunity to tick off was an icebreaker cruise in the Baltic Sea.

Think walking on frozen sea and swimming in thermal suits somewhere between Finland and Sweden and gazing at the sunset at -5 degrees!

This dare-devilry has given us stories to pass on to our next generation. If Santa Claus has been your favourite mythical character, then getting your passport stamped with a seal from the Santa Claus’ Village is a must. We made our way to a theme park situated in Lapland, a short drive from Rovaniemi. We were excited to meet Santa Claus in person. You can now meet him all year round. We also visited Santa’s official office, situated along the Arctic Circle. It was truly memorable.