Rebecca Douglas has been to Iceland 29 times. And she has already booked her 30th trip.
The goal of every trip is the same: photographing the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.
Douglas has been photographing this spectacular phenomenon since 2010. Its colors – which can paint the sky in a dazzling array of greens, purples, yellows and blues – are the result of solar particles reacting with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere. As the current solar cycle reaches the peak of its 11-year period, the lights are expected to become even more prominent over the next four years.
Douglas, a professional photographer from Kent, UK, also travels to Finland, Norway and Iceland every year to photograph the night sky. But she said she was also able to photograph northern lights from the English countryside last year.
The rise of “noctourism”
Douglas was unwittingly one of the early adopters of “noctourism” – a trend that focuses on nighttime travel experiences.
Booking.com named it a top travel trend for 2025, describing it as a desire to “leave the daylight crowds behind and instead enjoy the magic of midnight.” The company’s global survey of more than 27,000 travelers found that nearly two in three travelers said they have considered “dark sky destinations” for activities such as stargazing (72%), once-in-a-lifetime cosmic events (59%), and more Constellation tracking (57%).
The Northern Lights, seen over Rebecca Douglas’ holiday home in Lofoten, an archipelago in Norway.
Source: Rebecca Douglas Photography
Most activities take place in the night sky, but others also take place on the ground, from city tours and truffle hunting in Italy at night to full moon picnics by the sea.
According to luxury travel company Wayfairer Travel, night tourism experiences have increased by 25% in the past year, with requests for Northern Lights viewing in Norway and Iceland, as well as night diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Red Sea in Egypt. Nighttime wildlife safaris in Zambia and Kenya and stargazing in Chile’s Atacama Desert are also popular, according to the company.
“Noctotourism will transform travel in 2025 as night owl travelers increasingly seek unique experiences after dark,” said Jay Stevens, the company’s CEO.
Travelers can sign up to go truffle hunting at night with professional hunters and their dogs.
Stefano Guidi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
According to luxury tour operator Scott Dunn, chasing a solar eclipse could become a new bucket list experience.
“Travellers are heading to remote corners of the world to witness these celestial spectacles, with the High Arctic of Greenland set to be the next must-visit destination due to its remote, light pollution-free coastlines,” said a spokesperson for Scott Dunn.
But travel doesn’t have to be that far, as hotels from Hawaii to Austria now offer stargazing activities. The next total lunar eclipse will occur on March 14 and will be visible across much of the world, including America, Western Europe and West Africa, according to NASA.
Looking for darkness
Douglas avoids hotel packages and prefers to plan her own trips because she plans so many activities at night. She also said she prefers to stay away from large groups, often made up of newbies to noctourism, who inadvertently cause light pollution with their smartphones and camera flashes.
The Northern Lights, seen from Iceland.
Source: Rebecca Douglas Photography
Douglas plans most of her trips at the best time to see the Northern Lights — usually between August and April, she said. She also chooses remote accommodations far from cities and even neighbors because just a single street or house light can affect the photos, she said.
“I spend a lot of time looking for places to stay on Google Maps,” she said. “If the pictures are lit, I ask the presenter if it’s possible to turn off the outside lights… Even some of the least active shows can be really beautiful if you’re in a really dark area.”
She also takes the phases of the moon into account, she said.
An aurora storm seen from Elmley Nature Reserve in Kent, UK.
Source: Rebecca Douglas Photography
“In the two weeks surrounding a new moon you have the darkest sky ever. And then not only are the northern lights at their most beautiful, but the stars are also simply breathtaking,” she said. “You can see the Milky Way and it’s just this rainbow of dust and glitter in the sky.”
Douglas created an online course to help people photograph the Aurora Borealis.
At night, she also photographs noctilucent clouds — shimmering ice crystal clouds high in the atmosphere — and polar stratospheric rainbow clouds, she said. She sometimes shoots from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and has been out in temperatures as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
“They say you have to work hard for your art,” Douglas said.
But for her, she said, it was “a privilege” to spend her travels taking photos at night.