Astrotourism
These are the most beautiful travel destinations for stargazing etc.
The impressive night sky in Lake Tekapo in New Zealand
© Sebastian Schweiger/Wirestock / Adobe Stock
Solar eclipses, northern lights, stargazing – astrotourism is one of the most important travel trends in 2024. These places are particularly suitable for it.
How do you plan your travel destinations? After that, where it’s always nice and warm and there are the most beautiful beaches? Where there is particularly good food? Exciting metropolises or breathtaking nature? In astrotourism, travelers choose their vacation destinations based on slightly different criteria – namely whether they can easily see star, sun and other celestial events there.
Follow the stars: This is what astrotourism is all about
In many places around the world it is rare to see stars at night. The light pollution in cities and other large human settlements is simply too great. There is hardly anything more impressive than a clear night sky in which we can see countless stars flashing and sparkling.
This is one of the reasons why astrotourism is currently booming. It’s about being the best Choose travel destinations so that you can admire the starry sky, for example. Such places are usually isolated, far away from cities and their light pollution. An elevated location also ensures optimal stargazing opportunities. In addition to the starry sky, the northern lights or a solar eclipse are also among the events that astrotourism fans include in their travel planning.
On April 8, 2024, a complete solar eclipse will be visible in North and Central America. The natural phenomenon will be marveled at for the longest time on the west coast of Mexico, lasting more than four minutes. In Germany it will still take a while until the next solar eclipse: we have to wait until 2081. So if you want to see a completely darkened sun now, you should quickly cross the Atlantic.
Astrotourism: These destinations are well suited for stargazing + Co.
1. Canary Islands
We don’t have to travel far for a particularly beautiful astrotourism destination: in the Canary Islands you can observe a very clear starry sky. This has to do with the trade winds, which ensure that there are rarely clouds in the sky and obscure the view of the stars. Teide National Park in Tenerife is a very popular place to observe the beautiful starry sky – the high location makes the view even more impressive.
2. Norway Northern lights can often be seen on Svalbard in winter. © Pawel / Adobe Stock
To see the northern lights or northern lights, it is best to travel north from Germany. The Norwegian towns north of the Arctic Circle, such as Tromsø, Kirkenes, Alta or the Lofoten, offer a particularly impressive view of the green sky spectacle. But Svalbard is also a great destination to admire the Northern Lights. Hardly any human buildings and no trees disturb the view of the Aurora borealis, as the natural spectacle is known in technical language. The best time for this is between the end of September and the end of March, when the night is significantly longer than the day and sometimes there is no light at all.
3. New Zealand’s South Island
The South Island of New Zealand also enjoys particularly low light pollution, making it one of the most popular astrotourism destinations. It is an internationally protected “sky reserve”, a so-called “Dark Sky Reserve”. The region around Aoraki and Mount Cook is perfect for seeing one of the darkest night skies in the world lit up with stars. And with a bit of luck you can even see the northern lights on New Zealand’s South Island: In the southern half of the island, around Lake Tekapo, Dunedin, Queenstown, Southland and Stewart Island, the best chances of seeing the northern lights are on clear winter new moon nights in July and August .
4. Utah, USA
The US state of Utah has a total of 24 “International Dark Sky Places”, i.e. places that have a particularly dark and clear night sky. The climate and high altitude of the desert state ensure the best views of breathtaking starry skies. Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park are therefore popular destinations for astrotourism fans.
5. Namibia
There are also many places on the African continent where you can observe a very clear night sky. One of the best stargazing destinations is Namibia. The NamibRand Nature Reserve boasts some of the darkest night skies in the world. The lighting in cars, for example, is strictly regulated so as not to disturb the ecosystem and nocturnal animals. At the same time, the requirements ensure that the starry sky remains as impressive as it currently is.
Sources used: forbes.com, visitnorway.com, sonnenfinsternis.org, newzealand.com, timeout.com