Two in the morning. I am outside my hotel in Tromsø, Norway, dressed only in my boxers and a t-shirt. The sun is towering down like it’s midday. It is 2 a.m. on my watch and my eyes are saying it’s lunchtime. I’m starting to feel like I’ve gone completely out of my mind.
Why did no one tell me about this when I booked my trip to a place where the sun never sets? They talked about ‘midnight sun’ in the brochures. But it sounded so romantic, right? Like some sort of magical fairy tale land where you go on picnics at midnight and look out for glistening sunsets that just never appear.
My Mental Midnight Sun Adventure
I did get myself up to Tromsø in northern Norway last July. My mate Emily had been harping on about the midnight sun for months and I was convinced she was having a laugh. “The sun doesn’t go down for weeks,” she said. “You can hike at midnight!
Well, she wasn’t wrong. I got there, and I thought I was going to have regular summer days but that they would go on for longer. Wrong. Dead wrong.
The first night, if you can call it that, I’m lying in bed at midnight, and it’s as bright as midday outside. Not twilight. Not dusk. Nice bright sunshine through the curtains. My brain kept telling me it was time for breakfast, not bed.
On the third day, I was shuffling along like a zombie. Sleep patterns? Out the window. Meal times? Complete chaos. I was eating dinner at what felt like lunchtime and breakfast when it really should have been evening.
Where This Happens (It’s Not Just One Place)
Yeah, so Svalbard’s the total winner for this. Imagine living in a place where the sun simply won’t bugger off for four whole months. From April to the end of August; that’s how long these poor sods have to suffer through never-ending daylight.
I met this Norwegian bloke in a pub who’d lived there for three years. He was visibly upset just talking about it. “You think you do want endless summer,” he said, raising his pint. “Trust me, mate, you don’t.”
But the thing is that it’s not just one weird Norwegian island. Alaska gets the same treatment. My cousin lives in Fairbanks, and she says they have baseball games at midnight during the summer. The competitors wear sunglasses throughout the entire match.
Then there’s Iceland. Not quite as bonkers as the others, but still so bright at midnight that you could read a book outside. I went there once in June, and even at 1 AM it felt like late afternoon back home in Manchester.
Alaska’s another cracker for this. During the summer solstice, Fairbanks in Alaska is the best place to be to catch the Midnight Sun. The Sun stays up from May 10th to August 2nd. They even play baseball at midnight there, which is mental!
Iceland gets in on the action too, though not quite as dramatically. The whole country stays pretty bright during peak summer, but it’s more like permanent twilight rather than full daylight.
The Science Bit (Don’t Switch Off!)
Now, I’m no Stephen Hawking, but here’s what’s actually happening up there. Earth’s wonky; it tilts at 23.5 degrees. During summer, the northern bits get tilted towards the sun so much that even when our planet spins, these places stay in sunlight.
Think of it like holding a torch on a spinning football. If you tilt the football right, the top bit stays lit even as it turns. That’s basically what’s happening to places like northern Norway and Alaska during summer.
The further north you go, the longer it lasts. In the Svalbard archipelago, Norway’s crown of islands in the High Arctic, the sun can be seen for 24 hours a day from late April to late August. That’s mental when you think about it.
What It’s Actually Like Living There
The locals in these places where sun never sets have adapted in ways that would blow your mind. They’ve got blackout curtains that could block out a nuclear explosion. Seriously, these things are industrial strength.
Sleep becomes an art form. You learn to ignore what your eyes are telling you and trust clocks instead. Some people wear eye masks 24/7 during summer. Others just give up on normal sleep schedules completely.
But there’s something magical about it too. I went for a “midnight” hike up a mountain near Tromsø, and it was absolutely stunning. Golden light everywhere, not another soul around, complete silence except for the wind. It felt like having the whole world to yourself.
The wildlife’s bonkers too. Birds are singing at 3 AM. Flowers are blooming like mad because they’re getting constant energy. Everything’s just a bit more alive and mental than normal.
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The Flip Side Nobody Talks About
Here’s what the tourist brochures don’t tell you about places where the sun never sets: it can be proper depressing in winter. These same spots get polar night: weeks or months of darkness.
Svalbard is actually the only place where there’s no noticeable difference between night and day from mid-November to late-January. Imagine two months of basically no daylight at all.
The locals call it “the dark time”, and you can see why. Mental health services in these places work overtime during winter. Vitamin D supplements are like currency.
My Honest Take On The Whole Experience
Would I go back to a place where sun never sets? Absolutely. But I’d prepare differently.
The first time, I thought I’d just wing it. Big mistake. Next time, I’m bringing proper blackout gear, melatonin tablets, and a very flexible attitude towards meal times.
The experience messes with your head in ways you can’t imagine until you’re there. Time becomes meaningless. Your body rebels against everything it thinks it knows about day and night.
But it’s also one of the most incredible natural phenomena you can witness. Standing in bright sunshine at midnight, knowing that half the world is fast asleep while you’re having the adventure of a lifetime – there’s nothing quite like it.
Planning Your Own Mental Sun Adventure
If you fancy experiencing this madness yourself, northern Norway’s your best bet. Tromsø, where I went, is brilliant because it’s got proper facilities but is still far enough north for the full effect.
Svalbard, Norway, has the longest period of the Midnight Sun. The sun does not set from approximately April 20th to August 22nd. That’s the daddy of all midnight sun destinations, but you need special permission to visit.
Iceland’s more accessible and still gives you the general idea, even if it’s not quite as extreme. Plus, you get all the other Icelandic weirdness thrown in for free.
The place where sun never sets isn’t just a geographical curiosity; rather, it’s a proper life-changing experience that’ll mess with your head in the best possible way.
