Northern Lights
& Arctic Alta
Passport & Entry
A valid passport is required. It must be valid for at least six months beyond your return date, with two blank pages for stamps. No visa is required for Norway or Iceland for U.S. citizens. ETIAS, the EU's new travel authorization system, is expected to be implemented — check current requirements before travel.
Currency
Norway uses the Norwegian Krone (NOK). Most establishments accept credit cards, but carry some local currency for gratuities and small purchases. Order NOK from your bank at least a week before departure and notify your bank of international travel to both countries.
Iceland uses the Icelandic Króna (ISK). The same rules apply — credit cards are widely accepted, but carry some ISK for incidentals. The exchange rate fluctuates; a quick-conversion app like Currency handles both. Your rental car and most tour operators in Iceland will take major credit cards; cash is mainly useful for small purchases and tips.
What to Pack
Holmen Husky provides thermal suits and gear for all outdoor activities. Base layers and wool socks are your responsibility. Bring wool underlayers, a fleece or wool mid-layer, warm waterproof boots, good gloves or mittens, and a hat that covers your ears. Sunglasses. A swimsuit for the sauna and jacuzzi at Holmen, and the Blue Lagoon. Camera.
Trip Insurance
Holmen Husky Lodge requires trip insurance that includes medical and medevac coverage. This is not a suggestion — it is a condition of booking. Ask us for details on coverage that satisfies their requirements.
Holmen also reserves the right to modify or cancel outdoor activities if temperatures become unsafe for the dogs. This is the nature of Arctic travel — weather and conditions can change, and itineraries adjust accordingly.
About Holmen Husky Lodge
Holmen Husky is a working racing kennel on the banks of the Alta River, 69 degrees north, founded by Kari Jæger and Eirik Nilsen in the 1980s and now run by their son Brage and daughter Oda. It is not a resort that happens to have dogs. It is a kennel that opened its doors to guests who wanted to understand how this life works. Seven architect-designed Forest Suites — 62 square meters each, built from cross-laminated timber in 2024, shaped by the Sámi lavvu — sit among the pines beside the kennel. In the morning, the dogs are the first thing you see. Sauna, ice bath, and outdoor jacuzzi are included for overnight guests. Breakfast is served in the restored post-war barn.
Oslo
1 NightUS → Reykjavik → Oslo
This itinerary is built around Icelandair, which serves multiple U.S. gateway cities — including Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver, Seattle, and others — with connections through Reykjavik Keflavik Airport to Oslo. The routing through Reykjavik is also a preview of where you'll end the trip. The connection in Keflavik is short and efficient; Icelandair holds connecting flights when lines back up. Arrive Oslo Gardermoen mid-morning local time.
Take the Flytoget Airport Express Train from the airport directly to Oslo Central Station — 19 minutes, departures every 10 minutes. It's faster and cheaper than a taxi. Tap your credit card at the card reader before boarding. Walk 3 minutes to your hotel from the station.
Explore Oslo
Oslo is compact, walkable, and worth more time than a single afternoon — but an afternoon is what you have, and it's enough to get your bearings and see a few landmarks. Vigeland Park is a short walk or tram ride and genuinely unlike anything else in Europe — 200 monumental sculptures by Gustav Vigeland arranged in an open park, admission free. The Norwegian Maritime Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum are on the Bygdøy peninsula, reachable by ferry from the harbor. The Oslo Opera House is worth the walk even if you don't go in — you can walk up the sloped roof.
Alta — Holmen Husky Lodge
4 NightsHolmen Husky Lodge · Alta, Norway · 69°N
Alta Airport is 15 minutes from Holmen Husky. Lodge transfers are included. Your stay is built around Holmen's Arctic Adventure Package framework — dog sledding, Northern Lights hunting, snowmobile, Sámi reindeer experience, and lodge meals — customized with additional activities from Holmen's roster of local partners, including halibut fishing in Alta Fjord.
Accommodation: 2 nights in a Forest Suite (floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Arctic forest, sauna and jacuzzi access) + 2 nights in the main lodge. All meals from dinner on Day 2 through breakfast on Day 6 are included.
Oslo → Alta · Lodge Check-In & Northern Lights
Morning flight from Oslo Gardermoen to Alta — approximately two hours. Transfer to Holmen Husky Lodge is arranged and included. Alta Airport is 15 minutes from the kennel. Check in, settle into your Forest Suite, and get your bearings.
Dinner at Holmen that evening. Then your first Northern Lights hunt — a guided excursion by car or minivan into the Finnmark wilderness, led by a guide who reads aurora forecasts and moves to wherever conditions favor a sighting. Thermal suits provided. Warm drinks included. There is never a guarantee, but Alta averages over 200 clear nights per year and sits in the optimal latitude band for aurora activity.
Dog Sledding on the Alta River
This is what Holmen is built for. You harness the dogs yourself — this is not optional, and it's part of the point. You'll learn what each dog's temperament is before the team is assembled. Then you drive. Not beside a guide doing the work. You are the musher.
Holmen offers 2.5-hour tours through the Arctic forest and 5-hour river expeditions with fire-cooked lunch on the trail. Your advisor will work with you in advance to select the tour that fits your fitness level and appetite. First-time mushers typically do the forest tour on day one and the river expedition on a second day if conditions allow. December through April.
Afternoon at leisure — the sauna and jacuzzi are available, the kennel is always open to visit the dogs between runs.
Ice Fishing on a Frozen Arctic Lake — A completely different register from the fjord fishing on Day 5. This is a hole in the ice, a line, and silence. Holmen's local partners offer guided snowshoe and ice fishing excursions into the backcountry — you'll snowshoe out to a frozen lake, drill through the ice, and fish in conditions that are genuinely hard to describe to anyone who hasn't experienced deep Arctic stillness. Gear and guidance provided. The contrast with the dog sledding earlier in the day is part of the point — one is kinetic and loud, the other is the opposite of both. View activity →
Snowmobile on the Finnmark Plateau + Sámi & Reindeer Experience
Morning: Snowmobile Adventure on the Finnmark Plateau. You drive your own machine — no passenger arrangement unless preferred. The plateau in winter is a study in scale. The Arctic light that never quite becomes day produces colors on the horizon that photographers consistently describe as impossible to predict and impossible to capture accurately. You'll try anyway.
Afternoon: Sámi & Reindeer Experience — a day with a Sámi reindeer herder. The Sámi are the indigenous people of northern Norway, and the reindeer herding culture is still active, not performed. You'll learn about the traditions, stories, and a way of life shaped by this land over centuries. The experience includes a hot traditional meal cooked over an open fire.
Evening: a second Northern Lights hunt, conditions permitting.
Fishing in Alta Fjord — Icecube of Aurora
Alta Fjord is regarded as one of the finest fishing areas in northern Norway. Your tour is operated by Icecube of Aurora, a local outfitter running small-group fjord excursions from Fiskerihavna harbor in Alta. Groups are kept small by design — up to five passengers — so the experience is personal rather than commercial. The captain sets up the right gear for your group; species in season include Atlantic halibut, cod, pollock, haddock, and redfish. If you have a target species, ask in advance.
Tour duration runs from 2 to 4–5 hours depending on preference and conditions. Warm coveralls and life jackets are provided at the meeting point; arrive 15 minutes before departure. If anyone feels unwell on the water, the captain will pause on land or return to harbor — no questions asked. The crew will gut, fillet, and pack your catch for you if you want to bring it back to the lodge. Holmen's kitchen can often arrange to cook the day's catch for dinner.
Icecube of Aurora also runs a King Crab Tour in Alta Fjord — two hours to the crab field, retrieval of traps, the chance to hold a live king crab. A different experience entirely. Ask your advisor which suits your group's interests, or book both if your party splits. View Icecube of Aurora →
Afternoon free at the lodge. Final evening — third Northern Lights opportunity. At Alta's latitude, with 200+ clear nights annually, three nights gives you an excellent statistical chance of a significant sighting. Most guests see the lights at least once; many see them twice or more.
Alta → Oslo (Transit Night)
Breakfast at Holmen. Lodge transfer to Alta Airport included. Afternoon flight to Oslo Gardermoen. One night near the airport or in the city — your advisor will book an appropriate option. This is a transitional night; Oslo repays a return visit, but this is not that trip.
Reykjavik, Iceland
2 NightsOslo → Reykjavik · Rental Car & Blue Lagoon (Optional)
Early afternoon flight from Oslo to Reykjavik Keflavik Airport. After clearing immigration, pick up your rental car — you'll need it for the next two days and the airport has all major rental agencies on-site. The Blue Lagoon is a 25-minute drive from the airport, on the way toward Reykjavik, and arrival day is the logical time to stop if the timing works out.
The Blue Lagoon operates on timed entry slots, pre-booked and pre-paid. Do not book until your flight has landed and you have cleared immigration — if your flight is delayed, you lose the slot and the fee. Select a time 45–60 minutes after clearing customs. The lagoon stays open until 10PM. A four-hour visit is typical. Book at bluelagoon.com →
Black Sand Beach, Waterfalls & the Kerið Crater
Iceland's south coastal highway is the best single day's drive on the island for first-time visitors. The road runs east from Reykjavik toward the town of Vík — along the way you'll pass Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls (no cost to visit either; you can walk behind Seljalandsfoss if you have waterproof clothing), the Kerið volcanic crater (small admission fee), and ultimately the black sand beach at Reynisfjara.
Reynisfjara deserves a word of warning: the waves are deceptively calm. They periodically race past the waterline without much notice, and a handful of visitors are seriously injured or killed here every year. Keep your eyes on the water at all times. Never turn your back to the ocean. The basalt columns and the view are worth it — just pay attention.
With approximately seven hours of daylight in winter, pick your priority first and work backward. Reynisfjara is the furthest point; hit it first, then work back toward Reykjavik.
Explore Reykjavik · Blue Lagoon · Fly Home
If you didn't visit the Blue Lagoon on arrival, this morning is your opportunity. Book the earliest time slot available — your flight home departs at 5PM, and you'll need to leave the lagoon no later than 1PM to allow three hours for the airport drive, car return, check-in, and security.
If you've already done the Blue Lagoon, the morning is yours in Reykjavik. Hallgrímskirkja is the city's most recognizable landmark — the elevator to the top offers panoramic views over the city and surrounding mountains for a modest fee. Tjörnin Lake in the city center is a pleasant walk. The Sun Voyager sculpture on the waterfront is a five-minute detour and a reliable photo. The Harpa Concert Hall's glass facade reflects the harbor in a way that rewards a walk around the exterior.
Afternoon flight from Keflavik back to your home airport. Home the same evening.
This itinerary is a framework. The specific activities at Holmen Husky — tour lengths, additional excursions, days at the fjord — are built around your interests and the timing of your visit. Finding clear skies to view the aurora is always the variable. Three nights in Alta at this latitude gives you a genuine opportunity. The dogs are reliable.
We've planned this route. We know the property and the partners. Call us before you start booking anything independently.