Where can you see the northern lights in Germany?
94 of the 265 places on Yozora Atlas in Germany see the northern lights on their northern horizon in a storm of Kp 7 or less. Pellworm, Schleswig-Holstein, needs only Kp 6, a moderate storm, which has happened on about 14 nights a year since 1932. At the southern edge, in Berlin, it takes a strong storm (Kp 7), about 5 nights a year. Those are nights with enough activity, not sightings: clouds and the moon hide many of them.
Which parts of Germany see the northern lights most often?
Each state with the Kp range of its places, the nights a year its best place reaches that level, and the darkest place to watch from.
| State or region | Places | Kp needed | Nights a year | Darkest place to watch from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Saxony | 30 | Kp 6 to 7 | 14 nights | SpiekeroogBortle 3, Kp 6 |
| Schleswig-Holstein | 11 | Kp 6 to 7 | 14 nights | PellwormBortle 3, Kp 6 |
| Berlin | 1 | Kp 7 | 5 nights | none at Bortle 4 or darker |
| Brandenburg | 7 | Kp 7 | 5 nights | the Kyritz-Ruppiner HeideBortle 4, Kp 7 |
| Bremen | 2 | Kp 7 | 5 nights | none at Bortle 4 or darker |
| Hamburg | 1 | Kp 7 | 5 nights | none at Bortle 4 or darker |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | 13 | Kp 7 | 5 nights | Müritz National ParkBortle 4, Kp 7 |
| North Rhine-Westphalia | 29 | Kp 7 | 5 nights | Teutoburg Forest/Egge Hills Nature ParkBortle 4, Kp 7 |
The darkest places in Germany to watch the northern lights
The towns in Germany where the northern lights show most often
- Pellworm Schleswig-Holstein · Bortle 3 · Kp 614 nights
- Spiekeroog Lower Saxony · Bortle 3 · Kp 614 nights
- Schlei Nature Park Schleswig-Holstein · Bortle 4 · Kp 614 nights
- Aukrug Nature Park Schleswig-Holstein · Bortle 4 · Kp 614 nights
- Westensee Nature Park Schleswig-Holstein · Bortle 4 · Kp 614 nights
- Müritz National Park Mecklenburg-Vorpommern · Bortle 4 · Kp 75 nights
- Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park Mecklenburg-Vorpommern · Bortle 4 · Kp 75 nights
- the Kyritz-Ruppiner Heide Brandenburg · Bortle 4 · Kp 75 nights
- the Nossentiner/Schwinzer Heide Mecklenburg-Vorpommern · Bortle 4 · Kp 75 nights
- Elbhöhen-Wendland Nature Park Lower Saxony · Bortle 4 · Kp 75 nights
- Cuxhaven Lower Saxony · Kp 614 nights
- Neumünster Schleswig-Holstein · Kp 614 nights
- Flensburg Schleswig-Holstein · Kp 614 nights
- Kiel Schleswig-Holstein · Kp 614 nights
- Ibbenbueren North Rhine-Westphalia · Kp 75 nights
- Rheine North Rhine-Westphalia · Kp 75 nights
- Nordhorn Lower Saxony · Kp 75 nights
- Gütersloh North Rhine-Westphalia · Kp 75 nights
- Lingen Lower Saxony · Kp 75 nights
- Hameln Lower Saxony · Kp 75 nights
Nights a year since 1932 with the Kp level the place needs, between 9 pm and 3 am. These are nights with enough activity, not sightings: clouds and the moon hide many of them, and away from the far north a display is often a faint glow low in the north that a phone camera shows better than the eye. From inside a town only bright displays show through the glow: each town page names the closest dark spot without the town in its northern sky.
When are the northern lights most likely in Germany?
Averaged over the 94 places, the most nights with a strong enough storm during darkness come in March and April: geomagnetic storms are more frequent around the equinoxes, and the nights are long enough to see them. Clouds are not counted here; each place page has its clear nights by month.
How the Kp levels and night counts for Germany are worked out
The aurora forms in a ring around the magnetic north pole, and the stronger a geomagnetic storm, the further south it reaches. Storm strength is measured by the Kp index, from 0 (quiet) to 9 (extreme). For each place the Kp level comes from its magnetic latitude, using the rule NOAA uses: the edge of the aurora sits at 66.5° magnetic latitude at Kp 0 and about 2° further south per step. It can be off by one level, and a phone camera often shows a display the eye barely sees. How often that level was reached comes from the Kp record of GFZ Potsdam, 1932 to 2025. None of this is a forecast: for tonight, see NOAA’s 30-minute aurora forecast. How it works