70° North · Alta, Norway
Hi, I'm Chicco. I've lived in the
Arctic for 14 years.
Brazilian filmmaker living above 70° North. Once or twice a winter I open my doors to a small group of travelers and show them what it actually means to chase the northern lights, sleep at -20°C, and ride a sled team through forests that haven't changed in a thousand years.
The host
A filmmaker who never left the cold.
I'm Chicco Mattos, a Brazilian filmmaker who fell in love with the Arctic on assignment and never went home. For the past fourteen years I've been based in Alta, Norway, a small city above the Arctic Circle known as the City of the Northern Lights.
I make documentaries about the polar regions for Brazilian and international audiences: Record TV, Globo, my own channels. Across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok 1.2 million people follow what I do up here.
But the work that matters most to me isn't on screen. Twice a winter I host a small group (never more than twelve people), and we spend a week chasing aurora, running dogs, meeting Sámi reindeer herders, and learning what the polar night actually feels like. Not a tour. A week in my world.
14
Years in the Arctic
1.2M
Followers
70°N
Latitude of home
Upcoming trips
Two windows into the polar night.
Seven nights. Twelve travelers, maximum. The same week I'd plan for my closest friends if they were coming to visit me.
Alta, Norway
January 2027
January 7 – 14, 2027 · 7 nights
The classic January window. Deep polar night, peak aurora season, and the first hints of sun returning at the end of the week.
From
NOK 49,500
≈ $4,500 · €4,150
Alta, Norway
March 2027
March 4 – 11, 2027 · 7 nights
Late-winter window with longer days, generous twilight, and a final chance to catch the aurora before the polar night ends.
From
NOK 49,500
≈ $4,500 · €4,150
What a week looks like
The Arctic doesn't perform on cue. We meet it on its terms.
Hunt the aurora
Drive to remote spots far from light pollution. We watch, we wait, we make hot drinks. Sometimes the sky stays quiet. Sometimes it explodes.
Run a dog team
Take the reins of your own husky team and glide through silent forest. The huskies do the work, you just hold on and feel the speed.
Cross the plateau
A snow-train expedition across Finnmarksvidda, Europe's largest mountain plateau and ancestral Sámi land.
Sit with the Sámi
A day with Sámi reindeer herders in Kautokeino. Joik, fire, reindeer stew in a lavvu tent. Culture, not theater.
The place
Why Alta?
Alta is the only city in the world officially called "The City of the Northern Lights." It sits at 69.97° North, sheltered from clouds by surrounding mountains, with one of the highest aurora-visibility rates on Earth.
It's also where Europe's first northern lights observatory was built, in 1899. The Sámi have lived in this region for thousands of years. The fjord doesn't freeze. The light is unlike anywhere else.