Trip Itinerary
-Orlando to Oslo - Norwegian nonstop flies Thursday of every week (~$350-400 if booked in advance)
-Oslo to Evenes airport EVE in Narvik, Norway (~$150)
-Rent a car from EVE airport and drive ~2hrs across the border (no passport control) to Abisko, Sweden (~$300 for 6 days).
https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Evenes-Airport-EVE/Abisko
-Stay in Abisko Guesthouse with shared bathrooms (~150/NIGHT) or Abisko Touriststation with private bathrooms (~$200/night).
https://www.abiskoguesthouse.com/
Abisko Mountain Lodge
Abisko Touriststation has the only restaurant in town and there is a small meal truck (till 6pm) parked near the Abisko Guesthouse who makes sandwiches.
Abisko Guesthouse has good shared kitchen to cook or heat up fast meals and there is a grocery store (open till 8pm) within walking distance.
Trip summary
If you visit Abisko national park between Nov to March, you have a very high chances of seeing spectacular Northern Lights (8pm-1am). There is a little bit of polar light for two hours 10-12noon and it is very dark for the rest of the time.
We stayed 6 nights and saw spectacular Northern Lights 4 out of 6 nights. 3 of those days were snowing very heavy, but miraculously clear sky appears in Abisko almost every night by 10pm (some science behind it due to the surrounding mountains and a large lake).
I recommend not to waste any money on "photography Northern Lights tours", as we were able to see them just from the hotel parking lot.
Abisko is very a small town and 5 minutes walk into the woods will take out all the light pollution. Day time trips can include Dog Sledding.
I recommend buying advance tickets (~$220) to go up to the AURORA SKY STATION one night, which is a great way to see Northern Lights once you take a chair-lift ride to the station top and stay warm inside with hot drinks and snacks till Northern Lights are spotted at which point you can step out to take pictures.
Night Visit Aurora Sky Station
Aurora Sky Station
Great Northern Lights from the hotel parking lot
I can't speak highly enough of the Northern Lights experience in Abisko National Park Swedish Lapland. It is rarely publicized but provides a 80-90% chance of seeing the Northern Lights in a single visit. I went on 3 trips in the past hunting the Northern Lights (Iceland, Tromso and Finland). I either had no luck seeing them or even when I saw them, Northern Lights were very faint despite taking expensive road/boat trips to escape the light pollution.
Abisko Northern Lights from the parking lot were very bright, dancing with multiple colors stretching for long distance in the sky. Every night the display was different and very exciting.
Overall the trip cost per person can be under $1000 (stay being the most expensive) if you make use of low cost Norwegian airlines from most of the U.S cities. Most of the flights are ~8hrs and airplanes are brand new with decent leg room. The base price has no seat reservations but a free carry on and a personal item are allowed (strict weight limit of <10KG total). We use the Norwegian 3-4 times a year for short Europe trips and one should plan on taking a packed meal and water. Snacks and drinks can be purchase for reasonable prices from the seat monitor. It is easy to find a light weight carry on and manage to pack ~20lb clothes for one week trip.
I can't wait to return to Abisko next year!