You start at the guide's office in Rovaniemi, or get picked up from select hotels outside the city centre, where you're fitted with a warm winter jacket, pants, boots and gloves and briefed on the night's plan.
Using real-time weather models and local knowledge, your guide drives toward the first likely viewing spot, sharing insights along the way on how the aurora forms and how to spot the first faint glimmers on the horizon.
At a clear-sky location, the minibus pulls over and the guide sets up a professional camera and tripod, plus a smaller tripod for your own phone or camera, while you step out to scan the sky — with hot drinks and snacks waiting in the van whenever you need to warm up.
If the lights don't appear right away, you keep moving — relocating to successive vantage points, and even crossing into another country, as the forecast updates, with more hot drinks, snacks and photography tips from your guide between stops.
Once you've captured the northern lights, you get a little more time for photos before heading back toward Rovaniemi, arriving in the early morning depending on how far the chase took you.
