Sometimes, we need to be reminded that there are things far bigger than just our day-to-day lives. The aurora borealis is one of those things, reminding us how small we really are in our little corner of the globe. This year’s northern lights show is supposed to be exceptional – an especially good period of time to see something wonderous. Writer Carole Jacobs tells us where we can go in the United States to see them, along with tips about where to sleep and grab a bite to eat. Also, because we’re sure you’ll enjoy Carole’s writing, click on the blue bars for more of her U.S. food and travel tips.

Save this article to Pinterest to help you plan your trip to see the aurora borealis in the United States. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

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8 Great Places in the U.S. to Catch the Northern Lights This Winter (Minus the Chill Factor)

The northern lights have always held a special place in my psyche. It was the late 1970s – long before cell phones and GPS – and I and my boyfriend, an intrepid reporter, were on the last leg of a long journey from Philadelphia to a tiny Native American outpost in Newfoundland, where he would chronicle the last place in North American to get television. From St. John’s, we’d jeeped for hours along a lonely dirt road that dead-ended without fanfare at a turbulent river, crossing it on a canoe one of the villagers had left lying on the riverbank. The far side of the river was hemmed in by vast fields of chamomile that rolled to the horizon. As dusk fell, we set out on a rough 3-mile path hacked from the fields, trudging into the village just as the first television signal was beamed in.

After sharing a celebratory dinner with the villagers, we headed out into a pitch-black night to retrace our steps back to the river and Jeep. About two miles in, my boyfriend discovered he’d dropped the car keys somewhere between the village and the Jeep. A frantic hours-long search through thigh-high chamomile thickets ensued – a needle-in-the-haystack endeavor illuminated only by our headlamps. We were running on empty when the sky suddenly erupted into luminous ribbons of greens, blues. and violets – our first experience with the northern lights, also called the aurora borealis. As we paused for a moment to catch our breath and the display, my hand brushed against something sharp lodged in a nest of chamomile – the jeep keys!

I never did get back to that far-flung village, and it was 30 years before I could drink a cup of chamomile tea again. But since that memorable night, I’ve traveled far and wide to cast my thanks up to the northern lights for shining our way out of the wilds.

Leave it to Mother Nature to celebrate the end of the pandemic with northern lights displays predicted to outshine any seen in recent years, according to Space.com, a website devoted to astronomy and science. The result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere, the northern lights follow an 11-year sun cycle,and are most vibrant in remote arctic and subarctic terrain.

Fortunately, you don’t have to venture to the Arctic Circle, Norway, or Russia to cross this celestial display off your bucket list. The aurora is currently playing now through spring (and from fall through spring 2023) in several destinations across the northern United States.

Below are some breathtaking places to see the aurora this winter, including some beautiful, strategically-placed lodges where you can witness the display from the comfort of your hotel room (cause, baby, it’s cold outside!)  For the best times to see the aurora in your preferred viewing areas, check out the aurora forecasts at Aurora Forecast, NOAA, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

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Where to See the Northern Lights in the U.S. in winter this year

Denali National Park Preserve, Alaska
Optimal viewing period: September-April

After a day of hiking through Denali’s autumnal splendors – glacier-fed streams tumbling through aspen hillsides that almost seem lit from within – the last thing I expected from the park was a visual nightcap. But on the short walk back to Denali Backcountry Lodge, a remote, all-inclusive rustic lodge, tucked 90 miles inside the park (open June-September), I looked up and there were my old friends, swirling across the sky in electric waves of turquoise, blue, and violet.

With nearly 2.5 million hectares of untouched wilderness and virtually no light pollution, anywhere in Denali National Park and Preserve is one of the best places in the U.S. to witness the northern lights. To catch the aurora this winter, settle in at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge (reopening March 4), where the northern lights flash right above the lodge and above the Alaska range. The staff will even give you a wake-up call during the night if requested so you don’t miss the spectacular views. The rustic-chic log monument to the mountains sets on a ridge above the small community of Talkeetna on the south side of Denali, and also features an award-winning gourmet restaurant that’s been featured on the Food Network.

See the Northern Lights over Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Photo by Carole Jacobs.

Idaho Panhandle National Forest, Idaho
Optimal viewing period: September-March

I unexpectedly met my old friends again last fall on a road trip to hike amid the shimmering aspen, crystal lakes and craggy peaks of Priest Lake in Idaho Panhandle National Forest, located about 58 miles northeast of Spokane, Washington. The region’s dark, clear skies were ideal for spying the northern lights, and flocks of photographers were capturing the aurora as it reflected off Priest Lake. The Historic Northern Hotel, a rustic two-story lakefront lodge built in 1900 in a secluded forest, was once a haven for miners, lumberjacks, and sourdoughs in the early days of Idaho statehood. Reopened in 1993, the restored inn, now a B&B, features a large living room furnished with antiques, a huge stone fireplace, and an outdoor deck overlooking the southern end of the lake that proved to be a perfect place to catch the aurora. Head into the nearby pint-sized town of Coolin (population 189) for homestyle BBQ, burgers and brew at the rustic Moose Knuckle.

Aroostook County, Maine
Optimal viewing period: December-February

Located on the U.S.-Canadian border about 149 miles north of Bangor, Maine, Aroostook County is sparsely populated, with very little light pollution to obstruct the northern lights, and far enough north for the aurora borealis to come calling between December and February.

Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge has more than 5,189 acres of forests, wetlands, and grasslands, plus 40-mile-long Moosehead Lake, Maine’s biggest, and the largest lake in the eastern US. It’s one of the best places in the northeastern United States to catch a double viewing of the aurora as it flashes across the sky and is mirrored in the lake. Book into the homey Old Iron Inn Bed and Breakfast, a cozy, barn-red antique-filled B&B located about nine miles from the refuge in the small town of Caribou. After some serious skywatching, warm up over dinner at Mascoto’s Italian Restaurant, featuring homemade pasta, calzones, shrimp scampi, and more.

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Cook County, Minnesota
Optimal viewing period: September – April

The vast dark skies of Cook County, located at the northeastern tip of Minnesota along the shores of Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake, make the perfect canvas for the bright violet, pink and yellow northern lights.

A great place to catch the show is in Lutsen, an historic 1800s Swedish logging/fishing village that’s home Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior, one of the state’s most iconic and historic (1885) resorts. Overlooking a large pebble beach, and framed by charming bridges and Scandinavian architecture, the resort has easy access to ice skating on the lake, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing at the Midwest’s highest “mountain,” snowshoeing, and elegant waterfront dining room where you can savor locally sustained cuisine while watching the northern lights dance across the lake.

Minnesota is a great place to see northern lights. Photo courtesy Pixabay.com.

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Headlands International Dark Sky Park and Mackinac Island
Optimal viewing period: August – April

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, one of the northernmost parts of the continental USA, and extending out into Lake Superior about 255 miles from Green Bay, Wisconsin, is another top viewing spot. On a clear night in Marquette, the major port on Lake Superior, you can watch the northern lights reflect off the largest lake in North America. In fact, you can see it all from the comfort of your room at the legendary Landmark Inn in downtown Marquette, a restored grand dame overlooking Lake Superior that was once a popular haunt for Amelia Earhart, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong.

For more world-class aurora viewing, head to Headlands International Dark Sky Park in Mackinaw City, one of the first 10 International Dark Sky Parks in the world. Settle in at The Hamilton Inn Select Beachfront of Mackinaw City, an elegant Victorian hotel overlooking Lake Huron and storied Mackinac Island.  You can also watch the show from your hotel window. For a bird’s eye view of the sky lighting up with curtains of shimmering color, drive across the nearby Mackinac Bridge, the longest (five mile) suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere that spans the Straits of Mackinac.

Mackinac Bridge in Michigan is a great place to see the northern lights. Photo courtesy Pixabay.com.

Glacier National Park, Montana
Optimal viewing period: November through March

As the second least densely populated state (after Alaska), Montana is prime aurora chasing territory. One of the most beautiful places in the state to catch the light show is Glacier National Park, which is especially enchanting in winter when heavy snows drape the landscape and close everything except The Going-to-the-Sun Road from West Glacier to Lake McDonald Lodge.

Some of the best places in Glacier to catch the light show in winter include Lake McDonald, located a few miles from the West Glacier park entrance and featuring a clear view to the north, plus the added attraction of the aurora mirrored in the clear waters of the lake and the Bison Paddock Loop in Waterton-Lakes National Park, Canada. Two prime off-the-beaten track viewing spots are Bowman and Kintla Lakes, located near the rustic mountain town of Polebridge.

Settle in at the Izaak Walton Inn, an historic Tudor hotel located in nearby Essex, with unique lodging in restored cabooses, railcars and an historic schoolhouse, miles of cross-country skiing out the front door, and homestyle fare at the old-fashioning Dining Car restaurant. Don’t miss the homemade huckleberry cobbler!

Olympic National Park, Washington
Optimal viewing period: November through March

Washington State more than earns its rep as one of the rainiest and cloudiest places in the U.S., especially in the winter. But if you’re searching for great places to spy the northern lights in the Northwest, it doesn’t get any better than Olympic National Park, a dark sky haven located across Puget Sound from bustling, bright-lights Seattle.

The small communities of “sunny” Sequim and Port Angeles, both located on the Olympic Peninsula’s northern coast in the “rain shadow” of the mountains, offer stellar views of the northern lights on clear, dark nights. Nab a boutique cottage at The Juan de Fuca Waterfront Resort, set on a waterfront bluff at the edge of Dungeness Bay with a private beach, and watch the aurora flicker over Dungeness Spit, the New Dungeness Lighthouse, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Hurricane Ridge, the Olympic Mountains, and Victoria, B.C. just across the water.

For 5-star aurora watching, head to Colette’s Bed & Breakfast outside Port Angeles, nestled on a 10-acre oceanfront estate between the Olympic Range and the picturesque Strait of Juan de Fuca, Watch the northern lights light up the sea and sky from the comfort of your bed, then rise and shine to a gourmet breakfast of Pacific Northwest cuisine served with panoramas of the Strait, the San Juan Islands, and British Columbia.

Olympic Penninsula is a stunning viewing point. Photo courtesy Pixabay.com.

Malletts Bay, Vermont
Optimal viewing period: September-March

Most people flock to Vermont for the fall foliage, but come winter, Vermont’s dark night skies and lack of light pollution also make it a stellar place to chase the northern lights .

Malletts Bay, located eight miles north of Burlington and forming a peninsula on the Lake Champlain shoreline, is one of the best places in New England to catch a double-take of the northern lights as they swirl across the sky and are reflected in the still waters. Nab a room at Green Mountain Suites Hotel, a boutique country inn in Burlington, where plush suites with kitchenettes include a complimentary country breakfast and a light dinner on weekdays, complete with tap beers and wine.

For high-altitude aurora viewing in crystal skies, head to Stowe Mountain Resort and watch the northern lights dance above snowcapped peaks. At The Lodge at Spruce Peak, Stowe’s only ski-in, ski-out luxury resort, flickering hearths bathe rooms in golden hues, and windows soar from ceiling to floor, affording awesome views of the northern lights minus that pesky chill factor.

-Story by Carole Jacobs, Real Food Traveler Health and Fitness Editor