We never planned to build a tourism company.

Seventeen years ago, we simply wanted to share the place we call home.
We are Silvia and Vidar—partners in life, in art, and in adventure.
Vidar is a professional photographer born and raised in Northern Norway.
I am a visual artist originally from Argentina, who has called Tromsø home for more than twenty-five years.

When we started welcoming visitors, we weren’t thinking about building a business.
We simply wanted people to experience Northern Norway the way we experience it ourselves: slowly, respectfully and through genuine encounters with nature and local life.What began as a small winter project gradually became Creative Vacations.

Even today, after almost seventeen years, that idea hasn’t changed

OUR STORY

In the winter of 2009–2010, Tromsø was very different from the destination people know today. There were only a handful of companies offering Northern Lights tours. The roads were quiet. Sometimes we spent an entire evening without meeting another tour vehicle. Back then our company was called Studio 78. The Tourist Information Office would occasionally call us because someone was looking for a Northern Lights experience. Some weeks we welcomed two guests. Sometimes four. Every booking felt like a celebration. People in Tromsø often asked us:

“Can you really make a living showing people the Northern Lights?”

Honestly…

We didn’t know. We simply believed that if we created something authentic, the right people would eventually find us. Little by little they did. Visitors first arrived from the UK and Germany. Then from across Europe. Later from South Korea, Asia, North America, South America and today from almost every corner of the world. At the same time, Tromsø itself changed.

The city became one of the world’s most famous destinations for Northern Lights tourism.

Watching that transformation has been an incredible privilege.

WHY WE STAY SMALL

People often ask us why we never became a large company.
The answer is very simple.
Because we never wanted to.
When we travel, we always choose small local businesses.
We enjoy conversations more than schedules.
Stories more than scripts.
Quality more than quantity.

That is exactly the experience we want to offer our guests.
A group of seven people moves differently than a bus of fifty.
We can stop because the light is beautiful.
Because a reindeer appears beside the road.
Because someone simply wants a few quiet minutes beside a frozen fjord.

Those little moments cannot be planned.

They simply happen.

And they often become the memories our guests remember most.

MORE THAN A TOUR

For us, these experiences have never been only about the Northern Lights. They are about people. As a visual artist, much of my work explores migration, identity and belonging.

I have spent years reflecting on how living in another country changes the way we see the world.

Every winter those ideas come alive through our guests.
People arrive from different cultures carrying their own stories.
They tell us about their homes, their families and their traditions.
We share our own life here in Northern Norway. Our everyday routines.

Our local customs. The simple things that visitors rarely discover on their own.

Vidar and I often see the same landscape differently. He has lived here all his life. I arrived from another continent.

Those two perspectives create conversations that have become one of the most meaningful parts of our work. Perhaps that is why our tours are never just sightseeing.

They are cultural exchanges between people who happen to meet beneath the Arctic 

THANK YOU

Looking back over seventeen years, one feeling remains above everything else.

Gratitude.

Thank you to every traveller who has trusted our small company.

Thank you for every conversation around the campfire. For every smile beneath the Aurora. For every story you have shared with us.

Creative Vacations has never been only about showing people Northern Norway.

It has always been about creating meaningful encounters between people.

This Winter 2026-2027

Every year brings new seasons.

Not only in nature, but in life. This winter we have chosen to slow down.

Not because we have to. Because we want to.

Vidar’s parents are now elderly. They have always been there for us.
Now it is our turn to be there for them.
Family is one of the values on which Creative Vacations was built.

For that reason, this winter we will offer fewer departures than in previous years.

Alongside our own small-group experiences, we have chosen to collaborate with a trusted local partner for our English-language Northern Lights minibus tours.

This allows us to continue welcoming visitors while staying true to what matters most.

If you notice that some dates are unavailable in our booking calendar, it simply means we have decided not to overbook ourselves.

We have always believed that offering fewer experiences with greater care is better than offering more than we can genuinely deliver.