Free re-hunt or full refund if the cameras catch no aurora — from €49.50 per person.
Free re-hunt or full refund if the cameras catch no aurora — from €49.50 per person.
A Rovaniemi aurora tour guarantee protects your money, not the sky. Most "100% guaranteed" chases refund in full only if the guide's camera captures no aurora at all, and a faint glow that shows on camera counts as success. Other tours offer a free re-hunt, 75% back, or — on Rovaniemi: Private Northern Lights Hunt with Money-Back Guarantee — a refund only if the tour never starts.
The guide’s camera decides
The guides’ cameras decide — you pick refund or another night
Your own eyes decide
The listing does not spell out the test
Your eyes and the photos both count
Depends on the option you book
Only the weather before departure counts
Nobody — you pay for the evening itself
The guide’s camera decides
The guides’ cameras decide — you pick refund or another night
Your own eyes decide
The listing does not spell out the test
Your eyes and the photos both count
Depends on the option you book
Only the weather before departure counts
Nobody — you pay for the evening itself
The guide’s camera decides
The guides’ cameras decide — you pick refund or another night
Your own eyes decide
The listing does not spell out the test
Your eyes and the photos both count
Depends on the option you book
Only the weather before departure counts
Nobody — you pay for the evening itself
Source: GetYourGuide listings, checked 6 Oct 2026. "From" prices on chase tours are autumn prices; see price.
The table answers the question most guests forget to ask: what exactly triggers the refund. Four classes hinge on the camera, one on your eyes, one only on the weather before departure, and one ( Rovaniemi: Guaranteed Northern Lights Photo Tour) does not spell out its test.
On non-chase formats there is nothing to trigger — Rovaniemi: Aurora Borealis Snowmobile Safari with Campfire, Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Sledge Ride and Rovaniemi: Guided Northern Lights Tour say the operator won't cancel because of weather, so a cloudy night is paid in full. Compare formats on aurora hunting.
A small group means a car or van with up to 8 guests instead of a coach of up to 54 (the shared option of Rovaniemi: Aurora Hunt - 100% Guaranteed, Free Photos), and four standalone small-group chases with a guarantee are compared below. They differ in the test they use, so the cheapest is not automatically the safest. All prices are the GetYourGuide "from" on 6 Oct 2026, per person.
Source: GetYourGuide listings, checked 6 Oct 2026.
Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Chase | Guarantee & Photos is new and had no reviews on 6 Oct 2026, so its €54 buys a guarantee without a track record. Rovaniemi Aurora Hunt - 100% Guaranteed, Photos, Small Group is the strictest for the operator: it refunds if no aurora is seen on a completed tour, and it has a 4.83 rating from 330 reviews.
The big chases also sell small-group options with a camera refund: Rovaniemi: Aurora Hunt - 100% Guaranteed, Free Photos €169–189, Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Tour - 100% Guarantee & Photos (★ 4.65, 4,456 reviews) €199 and Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Tour – 100% Guarantee & Photos (★ 4.84, 2,634 reviews) €209 on November and February dates. More on aurora hunting.
A camera sees more aurora than you do. Photos are exposures of several seconds — 5–15 s at ISO 800–3200 is the setting Visit Rovaniemi recommends — and they gather light the eye cannot. The listing of Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunt with Guarantee & Free Photos puts it plainly: "The aurora always comes out stronger in photos than to the naked eye." In the listing's own words, a quiet aurora reads pale to the eye, while a strong one shows its green.
On Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Tour – 100% Guarantee & Photos (★ 4.84, 2,634 reviews) the guide is also the photographer, and Rovaniemi: 100% Guaranteed Northern Lights Hunt & Small Group lists an "expert guide and photographer" with full-size photos delivered within 12–72 hours. For a dedicated photo tour with a guarantee, Rovaniemi: Guaranteed Northern Lights Photo Tour (from €121.60) adds a re-hunt night, and Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunting with Photo & Video (from €164.25) adds a photography tutorial and video, depending on aurora intensity. Check dates
Source: GetYourGuide listings, checked 6 Oct 2026.
A re-hunt is only worth something if you still have nights in Rovaniemi. Aurora appears on roughly every second dark, clear night in Lapland (Finnish Meteorological Institute), so a second try has real value on a 3–4 night stay and none on your last evening. With Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunt with Guarantee & Free Photos you decide after the night; with Rovaniemi: Guaranteed Northern Lights Photo Tour the first remedy is always another night. See best time.
“"We couldn't see Aurora at the first night, even after 6 hours of trying. Our guide Miro, contact us, when there was a chance of seeing and big surprise, we saw it!!!" — Carla, January 2026, Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Guarantee - 100% Refund + Photos, review on GetYourGuide”
Guaranteed chases also cancel bad nights for you, which protects you before the tour starts: Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunt with Guarantee & Free Photos cancels by 4:00 PM with a full refund, Rovaniemi: 100% Guaranteed Northern Lights Hunt & Small Group may cancel by 15:00 if there are no clear areas within 350 km, and Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Tour - 100% Guarantee & Photos (★ 4.65, 4,456 reviews) does not start in extremely unfavorable conditions. Compare all options on the price page.
No tour can guarantee the aurora; the "100%" refers to your money. On most guaranteed chases you get a full refund if the guide's camera captures no aurora, and a faint aurora on camera counts as success. Of the tours we track, only Rovaniemi Aurora Hunt - 100% Guaranteed, Photos, Small Group and Rovaniemi: 100% Guaranteed Northern Lights & Free photos tie the refund to what you see, and the second one's listing mixes both wordings. Compare all eight classes in the guarantee table. Check dates
On camera-test tours, any aurora that shows in the guide's photos counts, including faint or stationary aurora you can barely see. Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunt with Guarantee & Free Photos, Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Tour - 100% Guarantee & Photos (★ 4.65, 4,456 reviews), Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Guarantee - 100% Refund + Photos and Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunting with Photo & Video state this in their terms. Photos are several-second exposures, so the camera sees more than your eyes. If an eyes-only test matters to you, Rovaniemi Aurora Hunt - 100% Guaranteed, Photos, Small Group refunds if no aurora is seen on the completed tour. Check dates
Yes. Rovaniemi Aurora Hunt - 100% Guaranteed, Photos, Small Group (from €132.30) includes professional photos and videos and refunds if no aurora is seen; it takes up to 8 guests for 8–10 hours. Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunting with Photo & Video (from €164.25) includes photos and video depending on aurora intensity, but its refund terms differ by option, so check the listing. Rovaniemi: 100% Guaranteed Northern Lights Hunt & Small Group includes full-size photos within 12–72 hours with a 75% refund. Check dates
Guaranteed chases usually cancel on hopeless nights and refund you in full. Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunt with Guarantee & Free Photos cancels by 4:00 PM with a full refund, Rovaniemi: 100% Guaranteed Northern Lights Hunt & Small Group by 15:00 with a refund or new date, and Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Tour - 100% Guarantee & Photos (★ 4.65, 4,456 reviews) does not start in extremely unfavorable conditions. Non-guaranteed tours differ: Rovaniemi: Search for Northern Lights Snowmobiling Trip runs regardless of forecast, and Rovaniemi: Aurora Borealis Snowmobile Safari with Campfire, Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Sledge Ride and Rovaniemi: Guided Northern Lights Tour won't cancel for weather. Check dates
Choose a re-hunt if you have at least 2 more nights in Rovaniemi, and a refund if the tour is on your last evening. Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunt with Guarantee & Free Photos (from €49.50) lets you pick either after the night. Rovaniemi: Guaranteed Northern Lights Photo Tour (from €121.60) gives a free second night first, then 50% back, and a full refund only after a third failed night. Aurora appears on about every second dark, clear night in Lapland. Check dates
Rovaniemi: Private Northern Lights Hunt with Money-Back Guarantee (from €1,275 per group of up to 8) refunds only if weather stops the tour from starting. Once the tour runs, any aurora captured by camera counts as a sighting, and a night with nothing seen is not refunded. If you want a private van with a camera refund, look at the private options of Rovaniemi: Aurora Hunt - 100% Guaranteed, Free Photos (€1,790) or Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Tour – 100% Guarantee & Photos (€1,890) per group. See private tours. Check dates
No. BBQ evenings, snowmobile safaris, reindeer and husky rides, ice floating and sauna tours guarantee nothing, and several run in any weather. Rovaniemi: Aurora Hunting Photography Tour with Barbeque states that no refunds are issued if the aurora isn't seen. Book them for the activity itself, and add a guaranteed chase on another night if seeing the aurora is the goal. See aurora BBQ. Check dates
You can lose the guarantee in both cases. On Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Guarantee - 100% Refund + Photos, a no-show more than 15 minutes after pickup time with no contact is not refunded; on From Rovaniemi: Aurora Borealis Trip to a Lakeside in Lapland and Rovaniemi: Aurora Borealis Trip – Autumn, missing the meeting time isn't either. The guarantee on Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunting with Photo & Video lapses if you leave early, refuse to continue or don't follow the guide. Be ready 10–30 minutes early and plan for the full tour length. Check dates
Guaranteed Northern Lights – 100% Money-Back + Photos had the lowest "from" price on 6 Oct 2026: €44.50 per person with a free re-hunt or full refund if the cameras catch nothing (4.6 from 183 reviews). Rovaniemi: Northern Lights Hunt with Guarantee & Free Photos is €49.50 with the same type of guarantee and 737 reviews. October "from" prices on chase tours are autumn prices; from November shared chases cost €119–139. Check dates