Where are the best places to see the northern lights in the UK in 2025?

There should be more chances to witness celestial spectacles in 2025. Here are the best places to see the northern lights when they're next visible across the UK. 

Last year will be remembered as the year the northern lights blazed across Great Britain, with some even witnessing the aurora borealis in their back gardens. 

The northern lights intensify once every 11 years to coincide with a period described as ‘solar maximum’. This winter of 2024 was one of the best chances to spot them for over a decade – but the good news is, this activity is expected to continue into 2025. 

Read on to find out how to spot the next aurora, whether you’re in England, Scotland or Wales.

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How to see the northern lights

There are a few rules for maximising your chances. First, use an app to be alerted to imminent solar activity — the Aurora Watch website is a good resource.

Second, head somewhere dark and with a low northern horizon – in this respect Northumbria could be a good option or various locations in Scotland.

Remember to check the weather forecast, and wear decent walking boots and a waterproof jacket.

What are the best places to see the northern lights?

Here are four of the best UK dark sky reserves and parks across England, Scotland and Wales where you might spot the phenomenon.

Where to see the northern lights in England:

Northumberland International Dark Sky Park

The Northumberland International Dark Sky Park is the UK’s most famous dark sky area, it includes the Northumberland National Park, the Kielder Forest and Kielder Water. There are several stargazing centres here – we found those at the Kielder Observatory and at Twice Brewed were both excellent – with a further option at Battlesteads.

It’s worth noting that these are places for enthusiasts rather than where academic astronomical research takes place (a reality of the UK’s temperamental climate). 

There is also a sad postscript – until 2023, the most photographed nightscape in the reserve was Sycamore Gap – with the tree’s branches silhouetted against the constellations. Some locals told us the loss of the tree has led to a drop in tourism here.

Yorkshire Dales National Park 

The Yorkshire Dales National Park was accredited with Dark Sky Reserve status in 2020, and has been doing much to conserve its dark skies since. Among other things, it uses ‘warm white’ street lighting rather than the usual, more polluting ‘cool white’ hue. 

The park hosts an annual Yorkshire Dales Dark Skies festival during February half term with some local hotels and bed and breakfasts offering use of telescopes and binoculars. 

For those who prefer car-free travel, the Dales have one of the UK’s most celebrated and remote railway lines – the Settle-Carlisle line unlocks many of the darkest spots in the park, such as the bleak moorlands around the Ribblehead Viaduct.

Planning an overnight trip? Read our guide to the best cottage companies in the UK

Where to see the northern lights in Wales: 

Bannau Brycheiniog National Park

The first Dark Sky Reserve in Wales was the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park in 2012 (then also known as the Brecon Beacons) and it’s still one of the most accessible areas for stargazers in the densely inhabited southern half of Great Britain. 

To avoid the light pollution of the South Wales Valleys, make for the western and northern limits of the national park – Craig-y-nos and the landscapes north of Llyn y Fan Fawr are some of the darkest places in which to admire the Welsh constellations. The national park website has details of cottages that have telescopes.

Where to see the northern lights in Scotland:

Galloway Forest

Being at a more northerly latitude, Scotland sees the northern lights far more often than the rest of the UK – in Shetland and Orkney they’re known as the ‘Mirrie Dancers’.

Nonetheless, the UK’s first International Dark Sky Park is actually to be found at its southern end – the Galloway Forest is a sparsely inhabited swathe of Lowland hills, far removed from light pollution. 

Some of the best places to gaze up at the universe are Clatteringshaws Loch or, if travelling down from the Central Belt, the vast reservoir of Loch Doon where you might see stars mirrored in the waters.

The park’s visitors centres – at Kirroughtree and Glentrool – have more information on what to look out for in the heavens at any given time of year.

What time is best to see the northern lights?

Look out between 10pm and 2am for the best chances of seeing the northern lights — this is when the sky is at its darkest.

What are the northern lights?

Every so often our star experiences coronal mass ejections – best explained by Kielder Observatory’s Guy Haveron as ‘the sun doing a burp’. 

These particles fly out into space and, upon encountering our planet, are directed to the poles by the Earth’s magnetic field. 

Here, the particles collide with gases in the atmosphere – causing energy to be emitted in the form of light. The aurora australis (the southern lights) are more rarely seen due to the lack of inhabited land around the Antarctic Circle.

But strong periods of solar activity mean the aurora borealis can wander beyond their Nordic heartlands to dance above Great Britain.

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