Name: Aurora Nights
Address: Office 8 Empingham House, 1e Uppingham Gate, Ayston Road, Uppingham, Rutland
Rating: 4.88

“a wonderful holiday and experience from beginning to end . Booking and support of Weekend a la Carte top was excellent , the Mattarahkka Lodge was a perfect choice for our short break. Miko and his staff along with our guides and tour hosts were very friendly and attentive , the food was good and the location was ideal. our 3 days were filled with exciting and unforgettable experiences with sighting of the Northern Lights on our first night the highlight but our other activities equally memorable . Great location, wonderful scenery, lovely people and memories to cherish forever.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Weekend a la carte / aurora nights Abisko Mountain Lodge - We stayed in a delux room was very comfortable. The food at Mountain Lodge was amazing. The sky station upgrade was a complete waste of money the food was very disappointing. The complete sky station was not a good evening. Snowmobile, Photo workshop, dog sledding and Narvik day trip were all very good. The best evening we had was an extra to our package was a snowmobile and trailer towing us up in the mountains to find the aurora the guide was excellent, it was an amazing evening. S.A.W”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Hotels excellent, Jeep tour in my mind could not have been better, the guides where top notch, informative and total gentlemen excellent in all respects!”

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Posted 8 years ago

I'm delighted to hear the guides looked after you so well, and that you had such a wonderful time. Thank you for your kind rating.

Posted 8 years ago

“Great hosts, very informative and keen that we got to see as much as we could. Some excellent off the beaten track tours with guides that knew their stuff. We will definitely be returning to see more of Iceland, it has so much to offer.”

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Posted 8 years ago

I'm delighted you had such a super time and enjoyed the off-roading tours so much - I agree they are great fun! Thank you for your kind review Regards Abigail

Posted 8 years ago

“Thank you for a very memorable experience. From the outset, Kevin was a delight to deal with. His knowledge of the area and his ability to guide us with our booking, meant that we had the time of our lives. The organised activities were first class, as were all the staff on site, both in Kiruna and Abisko. We were fortunate enough to see the Aurora on two separate nights; how can we ever better this! This was certainly a holiday that we will remember for a long time and one that will take some beating! Thank you once again and we look forward to dealing with you in the future; hopefully next year with a new challenge.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Was the most amazing holiday ever, the whole holiday from the moment we booked it until we came home was perfect. No stress or hassle everything was just right was very relaxing and the place was wonderful I will be 100% recommending my family and friends to use Weekend a la carte”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Fantastic experience, everything went like clockwork (flights, transfers etc) The Abisko Mountain Lodge was really excellent base. We would recommend that when booking try and go for a Double Deluxe Room as we did. Food was excellent and we would encourage people to use the lounge to share experiences with other people staying as we did. We met people from UK, Australian, USA and China which was great. Food was excellent and the Lodge Staff were super helpful. Guides who took us on trips were so knowledgeable and did everything to make this a memorable experience. A big thankyou to Weekend 'a la Carte for making this such a memorable holiday. We will certainly be recommended them to all our friends. Jeff & Jan”

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Posted 8 years ago

“I have booked two holidays and completed one so far. The customer service and attention to detail first class The partners in the holiday destination were fantastic too- everything went to plan and it was both a relaxing and fun time! It's ok booking your own but why do so when you can have the knowledge and expertise of a team that enjoy putting together a special holiday. It was a great time and I am so looking forward to March!”

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Posted 8 years ago

“It was a fantastic holiday. We all enjoyed it. Hosts were wonderful and all the guides friendly and helpful. We had a fantastic display of the lights on the last evening from Abisko. Luckily for us it was the photographic evening. Our guide was so enthusiastic you would have thought it was her first time too. Anything else I ever see will pale into insignificance. Our one big disappointment was that the chair lift at Abisko was not working so that night was a wash out really as there was no real alternative program. The lights were down on the horizon too so that didn’t help. Still, it is one of times in my life that I will never forget. Our hundreds of photos from the photography evening will keep me going for years!”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Recommend doing all of the activities over a 3 night break. Pack a lot in. When else do you ride snowmobiles, feed reindeers and drive a husky sled?”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Where do I start? My trip was amazing from start to finish. Saw only a glimpse of the lights, but that matters little against the whole life- changing experience. Accommodation - Abisko Mountain Lodge for dining; Mattarahkka Lodge for ambience, staff , and comfort. Dog sledding the best day. Trip to Narvik and 'beach picnic' on the fjord ; freezing chairlift to Abisko Skystation. Sami culture and reindeer; informative photo evening. Guides knowledgeable and helpful; supportive of a mature lady with arthritis. All my admiration for the incredible people who live in this amazing country all the time. I welcome the sun's return with them.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Best holiday of our life. Big thanks to Kevin who planned and organised every detail perfectly”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Wonderful people, great food. Thoroughly enjoyed it all.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“I have nothing but praise for the way this holiday was handled from the first contact to the successful completion of the holiday. Abigail Collins ensured every detail was explained and looked after this booking VERY well. She advised booking early for the Blue Lagoon which we did with great success. The self drive car was excellent, the accommodation was everything promised, the evening at the Perlan, the organisation, food, tour, music, was a wonderful way to bring in the New Year and enjoyed by all 5 of us. The suggested tours were wonderful. I have recommended this tour and any other tour organised by your company as I feel it was so very well managed. Thank you so much.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Thank you so much for taking the time to feedback and I am delighted you had such a wonderful New Years Eve break in Iceland. It was a shame you did not get to see the Northern Lights but as you said there is so much more to Iceland which you clearly really enjoyed and made the most of. Thank you again for your lovely words

Posted 8 years ago

“Great weekend! Everything perfectly organized! We enjoyed every minute of this trip.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Overall the trip was great, with a good balance between activities and relaxation. We were lucky to see the Northern Lights on 3 nights and the stay in the Ice Hotel was positively balmy, give it was -37C outside. Brrrrr! I would consider spending a night at the lodge that the snow mobiling was organised from, instead of the night in the warm room at the ice hotel. The lodge serve great food (when we had lunch) and looked like it was a great spot to see The lights. The trip to Narvik could be improved, it essentially was just a chance to have a coffee in Norway. I was expecting a bit more chance to stretch our legs and actually visit the WW2 battle ground and learn a bit more about the history. Snowmobiling and dog sledging were the trip highlights.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“We want to thank you for wonderful vacation! FLIGHTS -were perfect and on time. Appreciated the extra room in exit aisle on our return flight. SNEALAND TRANSFER DRIVER-was great. He arrived at airport 1 hour ahead of our arrival and waited while Icelandic Air tried to locate a missing bag. I asked if I could go out and let him know of the delay but I couldn't. He was the last transfer agent at Terminal . He also was early to pick us up at Ion then onto Ranga . Very knowable on Icelandic life. Would recommend to use of him again! ION HOTEL - checked us in as soon as arrived at about 10AM!. The deluxe room definitely worth the upgrade. Excellent accommodations and food. I just wrote a write up on Trip Advisor and will send you. AMAZING TOURS- They were excellent . Enjoyed the 4wH Golden Circle tour very much. The driver was very experienced and made every effort to assist every traveler out of the Super Ford vehicle safely with a hand a small step ladder. We booked them again on the same day for a Northern Lights because high activity. We were not disappointed. They found the perfect spot for viewing. Our guide was professional photographer and took and posted photos of us and others on the tour (3) and the lights on Facebook that we could download. A big bonus! Definitely recommend both tours! But when we asked front desk at Ion for a Northern Lights tour and they gave us price $1898 for two people for a private tour. We were skeptical so we looked online and booked the same trip for $330 for both of us with AmazingTours. Not sure what Ion was trying to do but it was not customer service. Incidentally a single gentleman traveler had exactly the same $1000 trip offer from Ions front desk, which he told them was completely absurd. He booked online like we did. HOTEL RANGA. - when we arrived our room was ready . I asked if any suites available during our stay and the Peruvian suite was $100 a night. We took it. Very spacious and comfortable even with a beautiful river view for sunrises and sunsets across the hall a balcony with chairs Northern Lights view. Food and service outstanding . I'll send you my review on Trip Advisor SOUTH COAST ADVENTURES Since we were there at noon we inquired private tour with South Coast Adventures. A young man , in his early 20's picked us up in Lincoln Navigator and we visited a small town, Icelandic horses ,and the seaside. Really wasn't that much to see but got to see a different part Iceland. We should have just enjoyed our suite and taken a walk along the river trail behind the hotel vs spending the additional money . THE NORTHERN LiGHTS Super Jeep Hunt with Bonefire we would NOT RECOMMEND We had the same guide. He didn't use the step stool. We drove a hour to cave and walked in the dark with my husbands headlamp and wore our own Yak Traks to keep from falling on ice. He lead us to a cave, built a fire, made tea and hot chocolate and checked his smartphone again for activity which still showed active. No stories on superstitions, NL Phenomenon ,and folklore Then went out and we didn't see any activity until got back to the Hotel Ranga. Lights were very weak but we might have seen more if didn't go to Highlands for an hour going and returning and walking 10minutes to/ from. Cave sounds better than was. Would have preferred riding to river or lake view. He deflated his tires to climb the mountain and then on the way back we stopped while it took 20 minutes to reinflate. Very loud and noisy ,especially at 11:30 PM. Other tours were inflation instant and almost silent. DRIVE TO GLACIERS AND EYJAFJALLAJOKULL VOLCANO- Would recommend. In fact we emailed his boss Saeli how much we enjoyed that evening. He had crampons for us to use and we saw beautiful vistas . Great day . He did great job driving and getting us near the top. When it came time to reinflate for 20 minutes he showed us where we could walk and see waterfall vs hearing the compressor mounted in the back of the truck . We were happy with the opportunity to escape the noise. DRIVING THORSMORK and WATERFALLS-would NOT RECOMMEND The last tour was suppose to be 4-5 hours and but it ended up being 8 hours! It did not follow your write up. It was a beautiful drive in the Valley. Our guide wanted to make more exciting and another tour guide with 2 guests had to tow him out after he tried rocking out 10-20 minutes. Then went to Volcano Village. He gave us the Crampons again. We had to climb between boulder, ice and snow to reach a "fairy cave" or ice mound .At our age 74 we always evaluate risk / reward . The reward was small and the risk much greater. Once we reached the site we were able to walk back almost level. Why not level to/from? Then watery froze vegetable soup and bread and we were anxious for return drive to see waterfall and Hotel Ranga. However, another stop in a canyon where we got out and stood for 20 minutes while a German TV photographer (he was picked up Volcano Huts) assemble his drone ,fly it photos, then box it . We were accommodating ,but we were anxious to see the waterfalls and return to our Suite and enjoy the sunset . Then another unscheduled stop for an hour to visit an "ice cave" He said that we could stay in the Super Jeep for the hour. It was very old and windy ,but we put on our crampons and hiked to ice cave. However, there was a riverbed steam that we had to cross on rocks with ice and saw 2 persons fall and decided risk vs reward so walked back and sat in Super Jeep until they returned. It was dark when we arrived to see the last 2 waterfalls that were highlights of trip. He left us out and we held onto ropes and slide on frozen icy walkway while he inflated his tires. We saw one waterfall that was lighted but dangerous to get to. Then we dropped off the German drone operator and the other couple and us at 6PM. He wasn't into putting the steps up to ascend or decend like our other tour guides that do for everyone regardless of age. We kept wondering if this was how he'd treat his grandparents who were younger than us. Hope not. Transfer to airport was fine. Lincoln Navigator and he was a good driver. We liked the young man ,but not as a tour guide. Wouldn't recommend except Glacier Tour and Transfer agent. Thanks for planning almost perfect trip. His boss (10 years his senior) called a few times checking in on him (and us) and Helmar said he treats me as a kid. In reality, Helmar is a kid and will be hopefully be an excellent guide in 10 years. His boss was just being a good manager. Best Regards Mardelle & Patrick”

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Posted 8 years ago

Thank you for your very detailed feedback which we always take very seriously, and for your 5 star rating. I wanted to just respond to the 2 areas of concern which we have investigated with both Hotel Ion and South Coast Adventures. From what I can gather there has been a misunderstanding/miscommunication on the pricing of the Northern Lights Tour from Hotel Ion as there is no tour at the price you are quoting, and they did not understand the price you mentioned. However as a result of the conversation I have had with them I am sure that the hotel will be checking that the staff are very clear about how to communicate in future to ensure this does not happen again. Thankyou for raising this and I am delighted that you managed to find a much cheaper and such a successful Northern Lights Tour I have spoken at length to Saeli at SouthCoast Adventures and he is surprised by your feedback on the Porsmork Tour, especially taking account other feedback he has received from people on the same tour on the same day, and also the feedback you gave for the previous day on the same guide. He has spoken to the guide in question and asked in future that the guide checks more often how people are and if there are any issues as a learning going forwards. I am sorry that you did not enjoy it as much as you had hoped to. Obviously on the Northern Lights Tour in the South you were unlucky and did not see the lights until your return. Sadly we cannot guarantee them, but I am pleased you got to see them on the tour from Hotel Ion. In terms of the Tour you booked direct with SouthCoast Adventures it would not be appropriate for me to comment on as it was booked directly by yourself and so I do not know what was suggested you would visit and what you did visit. Thank you again for your feedback which helps us to continuously tweak and ensure everything goes to plan. Thanks and Regards Abigail

Posted 8 years ago

“Great knowledgeable service from the start. We had a fabulous holiday. The accommodation was clean,cosy and relaxed. staff were all so friendly and did everything to make our stay enjoyable. The trips were great and the guides really did make them very special, we felt they took care to ensure we had the best possible experience. The food was amazing, never thought I would be raving about eating moose and reindeer ! We would go back tomorrow if we could.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“We both really enjoyed the trip. The hotel was welcoming and the staff really friendly and the food was good. The room was a little small but we managed. Unfortunately we didn't see an aurora but we enjoyed the activities.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“kevin helped arrange the holiday and he was very helpful. I can say it was the best holiday ever. The lodge was lovely and food was fab. All activities were brilliant. Highly recommend weekend a la carte.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
On-time Delivery	Greater than 94%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.9 out of 5

Aurora Nights Reviews