You’ll be picked up at Ivalo Airport by your tour guide. For all transfers this week, we’ll be using a spacious van. From the airport, we drive to our accommodation near Ivalo (1 night). In the evening, we’ll enjoy dinner together, go over the itinerary for this photo tour, and consider any new opportunities.

Before we have breakfast we head out early in search of the Willow Ptarmigan in good conditions. We’ll try to photograph these photogenic birds in their white winter plumage. Even after breakfast, we’ll have another chance to capture them. Later in the afternoon, we’ll drive towards Kaamanen for an overnight stay (1 night). Here, we’ll also look for Pine Grosbeak, Siberian Tit, Siberian Jay, and Arctic Redpoll.

We’ll have breakfast before sunrise and try to photograph Pine Grosbeaks, Siberian Tits, Siberian Jays, and Arctic Redpolls. After lunch, we’ll head toward Båtsfjord in Varanger (Norway), with a longer stop along the way to photograph landscapes. We’ll also keep an eye out for the Northern Hawk Owl along the Tana River delta, a favorite habitat for this beautiful owl. After that, we continue to our accommodation (2 nights) and enjoy dinner.

We’ll take a short walk to the harbor in Båtsfjord, where we enter a well-positioned floating hide to photograph King Eiders, Steller’s Eiders, Common Eiders, and Long- tailed Ducks. Breakfast will be delivered to the hide by the hotel. After a six-hour session, we’ll take a RIB boat into the fjord to capture images of flying ducks. In the afternoon, we head out to photograph Reindeer and iconic fishing villages and their colorful houses. After this full day, we return to our accommodation for dinner and keep our hopes up for the Northern Lights.

We’ll have an early breakfast and drive toward Vardø (4 nights). Along the way, we’ll stop at several locations to photograph Purple Sandpipers and Kittiwakes in rugged intertidal landscapes. During the drive, we’ll also have excellent opportunities to photograph reindeer. We’ll stop for a few hours to photograph Mountain Hares in their white winter coats. Then it’s time for dinner and, again, Northern Lights watching.

We’ll have breakfast before sunrise as we take a boat to Hornøya, home to tens of thousands of Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins, Kittiwakes, and Shags that are returning to the island during this time of year. There’s a good chance of capturing Puffins fighting in the snow. Gyrfalcons and White-tailed Eagles frequently fly by, hunting unfortunate seabirds. In the late afternoon, we return to our accommodation to relax and enjoy dinner. Group one (Day 6) and group two (Day 7) will have their turn photographing Mountain Hares at night.

Another early breakfast before sunrise, followed by more time to photograph Willow Ptarmigan, Reindeer and Mountain Hares. Then we head toward Ekkerøy, home to one of the largest colonies of Kittiwakes and a reliable place to spot Purple Sandpipers, before we return to our accommodation to relax and enjoy dinner. After dinner, the last group will head out to the photo hide for nighttime Mountain Hare photography.

After breakfast, we drive back to Ivalo in Finland. We’ll make a few final stops to photograph Pine Grosbeaks, Arctic Redpolls, Siberian Tits, and Siberian Jays. Then we continue to the airport for your return flight.