Polar night in Kiruna

5 min read Updated October 2026 Compare all tours

Kiruna lies far enough north that the sun disappears completely for part of the winter. For about three weeks there is no sunrise at all, yet the period is not one long night. Each day brings a few hours of dim, coloured twilight, followed by a very long evening. Knowing when the light comes and goes makes it easier to put a husky ride, a drive to Abisko and an aurora tour into the same trip.

Dates for the winter of 2026/27

Calculated for the centre of Kiruna, the sun does not rise at all from 11 December 2026 to 1 January 2027. The last sunrise before that is on 10 December, when the sun shows from 11:15 to 11:48. On 2 January it returns for a similar spell, from 11:25 to 12:02. Even in early December the days are short: on 5 December the sun is up from 10:34 to 12:25, a little under two hours.

These figures assume a flat horizon. Kiruna sits among hills, and the sun barely clears the horizon on the days before and after the polar night, so a ridge to the south can keep it out of sight for longer in some spots.

How much light a midwinter day has

The sun stays down, but it is close enough below the horizon to light the sky for several hours. On 21 December, the shortest day, civil twilight in Kiruna lasts from 08:56 to 14:18. That is a little over five hours in which you can see the landscape without a headlamp, with the brightest part around noon. Swedish Lapland describes days when there is usable light from about ten in the morning until three in the afternoon.

The tourist office points out that the polar night is not completely dark. During the day the light is like dusk, and on clear nights the moon reflects off the snow and lights up the ground. On cloudy days the twilight is greyer and shorter, so plan with some margin.

Blue light and pink horizons

Much of the twilight has a strong blue tint. Swedish Lapland calls it the blue hour or blue light, typical for December and January above the Arctic Circle, when the snow and the sky take on the same colour. Look north and the sky is blue; to the south a reddish band lies along the horizon where the sun is hiding. The tourist office adds that the sky can turn an intense pink.

For photographers this is a good time of year, since the colours last for hours instead of minutes. Set up facing south around midday for the warm band, and face north for the deep blue. Our guide to photographing the northern lights covers settings for the dark hours.

Planning a day around the twilight

The simplest rule is to book daytime activities so that they start between about 09:30 and 11:00. On a three-hour daytime snowmobile tour, about two hours are spent on the snowmobile and the rest in the van, roughly 30 minutes each way. Started around ten, the riding falls into the best light. Daytime snowshoe hikes and husky rides work the same way.

Longer trips cannot fit into the twilight. A six-hour day trip to Abisko and Björkliden, with the canyon, the Silver Waterfall and lunch in Björkliden, is longer than the twilight itself, so part of it runs in the dark. The drive along the E10 is 93 kilometres each way, so expect part of it without views. The moose spotting tour towards Nikkaluokta runs from 08:00 to 12:00, which means it starts in darkness and ends at the brightest point of the day.

Long evenings for the aurora

Once the twilight fades in the early afternoon, the night is long. The aurora season around Kiruna runs from late August to April, and the polar night sits in the middle of it. The aurora is often most active between about 21:00 and 23:00. Clouds lie below the aurora and block it, so the weather matters more than the darkness. No operator can promise a sighting.

Evening tours usually collect you at your hotel and drive away from the town lights. The trip towards Abisko National Park lasts four and a half hours and returns you to Kiruna; the operator does not drop guests in Abisko. At the Aurora Sky Station above Abisko, the night visits for the 2026/27 season run from 19 October to 27 March, from 20:30 until 01:00 at the latest. The page on northern lights tours compares the formats.

Cold during the dark weeks

The tourist office gives about minus 15 degrees as usual for December and minus 20 for January, and calls these figures hints only. In January minus 30 is not unusual, depending on where in the municipality you are. Pack wool layers, warm boots and spare gloves, and see our list of what to wear in Kiruna.

When the sun returns

The first sunrise of 2027 is on 2 January, for about half an hour around noon. After that the light comes back quickly. The tourist office describes daylight growing from around 40 minutes in early January to almost six hours at the end of the month. On 1 February the sun rises at 08:56 and sets at 14:50, and on 1 March it is up from 06:59 to 16:45.

From February, Swedish Lapland notes, you can feel the warmth of the sun on your jacket. If you want longer days for outdoor tours and still dark evenings for the aurora, February and March are a good compromise. The Snow Festival takes place on the last weekend of January, and the winter events page lists it with other dates. For a month-by-month overview, read the best time to visit Kiruna.