High solar activity levels have increased Northern Lights sightings this winter – including as far south as Oxfordshire last night, painting the night sky with shades of green, purple and blue.

More traditionally, and for stronger sightings, you need to plan a foreign trip as far north as possible. What are the best ways of maximising your chances of seeing the aurora borealis?

They are one of nature’s great displays: a mysterious, multicoloured show in which the night sky is suddenly lit up with a wondrous glow that twists and swirls like a heavenly lava lamp.

Elusive and ethereal, it is one of the great, timeless thrills of travel, a beautiful, shifting dance of nocturnal rainbows that many viewers find a humbling and spiritually uplifting experience.

It occurs most commonly in the Arctic region, and in recent years the chance of enjoying the spectacle has become a prime reason to fly north for a winter break, despite the often high costs and the cold. The good news is that the range of holidays available for viewing the northern lights has never been better.

Where and when to go

The lights are formed from fast-moving, electrically charged particles that emanate from the sun. These are driven towards the poles by the Earth’s magnetic field – their varying colours are a result of the different gases in the upper atmosphere. In the northern hemisphere they are known as the aurora borealis and hang above the planet in an oval-shaped halo.

The lights also have their southern counterpart, the aurora australis, but the principal audience for this is penguins.

To see the celestial disco in its full glory, you will have to head north towards the Arctic, above latitude 60 degrees at the least.

The snowy wilds of Canada and Alaska are fine viewing spots, but for most of us it is more affordable, and convenient, to fly to Iceland or northern Scandinavia, commonly known as Lapland. Here it is possible to see the lights from late September to early April, with October to November and February to March considered optimum periods.

The hours of darkness increase the farther north you travel, and while the aurora can be sighted at any moment, 9pm to 2am tends to be prime viewing time. It’s surprising how often the lights reveal themselves just as dinner is served, and many hotels offer an aurora alarm service if you don’t want to stay up waiting.

“The lights also have their southern counterpart, the aurora australis, but the principal audience for this is penguins.”

Where you go will depend on your budget and the time available, but a more crucial decision is what else you want to do when you’re not standing outside in sub-zero temperatures staring up at the night sky with fingers crossed.

It’s important not to become obsessed with the single goal of beholding the aurora, but to see this as just one of many thrills of a winter holiday to the Arctic. Sparkling white landscapes, fairy-tale ice hotels, romantic husky-sled rides, the hi-tech-meets-frontier lifestyle of the indigenous peoples, cool city breaks – these are reasons enough to go.

With luck you will also see the heavens ablaze with a silky, swirling light, but this can never be guaranteed.

On a budget: independent travel

Iceland, just a three-hour flight north, is a good option for a low-cost holiday with a decent chance of seeing the aurora. Icelandair(0844 811 1190; icelandair.co.uk) offers a range of Northern Lights short breaks with flights from London Heathrow, Gatwick, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester.

It is easy enough to go online and set up a trip to the frozen north using scheduled airlines and accommodation booked direct with hotels. These will often arrange airport transfers, but as the aurora is best seen in remote locations it is usually worth hiring a car. However, before booking, check that you can’t make the same arrangements more cheaply through a tour operator.

Iceland is especially suited to this type of holiday – try Wow Air, Icelandair, Easyjet and Flybe for flights, while visiticeland.comcan help with hotels and further information.

• Iceland from the sea

One inviting option for non-drivers is to fly to Stockholm, then take a sleeper train (sj.se) to Abisko Turiststation in the far north of Sweden. Here you can stay at a functional mountain lodge (svenskaturistforeningen.se) and take a chairlift up to the Aurora Sky Station (auroraskystation.se), which is set at nearly 3,000ft and in a “sweet spot” ideal for seeing the lights. For more options see visitsweden.com, visitnorway.co.uk and visitfinland.com.

Tactics

1. As with whale-watching or a safari, you need some luck to get a good sighting – but there are a few things you can do to improve your chances.
2. It helps to pick dates that avoid a full moon and to visit locations away from the light pollution caused by large settlements.
3. Good weather is also crucial, but this is harder to predict. Local conditions can vary wildly, with sensational sightings at one spot but thick cloud just a few miles away.
4. One solution is to go for as many nights as you can spare, and to visit more than one place.

Before you go

Get in the mood with the BBC DVD Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights . Northern Lights is a handy practical guide, while Lucy Jago’s The Northern Lights: How One Man Sacrificed Love, Happiness and Sanity to Solve the Mystery of the Aurora Borealis is appropriate bedtime reading.

Good apps include Aurora Forecast and Star Walk ; useful websites are gi.alaska.edu/auroraforecast andaurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk.

What to take

Pack clothes in layers as you would for a skiing or winter holiday, including a hat, gloves, waterproof jacket, thermal underwear and boots. Many hotels provide guests with a thermal suit and boots for snowmobile trips and outdoor activities, so there’s no need to buy special kit, as long as you are of a regular size.

A driving licence is required to drive a snowmobile. Photographers will need a tripod, and don’t forget your swimming gear for the hot tub.