Top 8 Reasons to Visit Northern Europe this Autumn

There's a lot going on in Scandinavia, Finland, and Iceland this fall.

While France and Italy, with their obvious charms and abundant historical sites, regularly top the list of countries that receive the most tourists, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway offer visitors intriguing, once in a lifetime experiences. Here are my top 8 reasons why you should consider visiting Northern Europe this fall:

8. Great airfare deals: check out Icelandair's shoulder season fares to Reikjavik, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, and Helsinki.

7. Drive along Norway's Atlantic Road to see breathtaking autumn mountain vistas, quaint fishing villages, and crystal clean fjords.

6. See one of the oldest ballet companies in the world, the Danish Royal Ballet, perform Swan Lake in Copenhagen in December in one of the world's most modern opera houses. Or, see the renowned Bolshoi Ballet from Russia perform the same ballet in the same theater in September.

5. Rent a kayak in Stockholm and explore some of the 24,000 islands that make up Stockholm's archipelago.

4. Eat herring about 100 different ways during Helsinki's Herring Festival in October.

3. Catch the heavy metal, latex monster mask wearing, Kiss/Poison throwback sounding, Finnish 2006 Eurovision contest winners Lordi live in concert in Sweden or Norway this September.

2. Where else in Europe can you experience 18 hours of darkness each day in November and December, besides Scandinavia, Iceland, and Finland?

1. More hours of darkness = more opportunities to see the aurora borealis light up the northern sky on clear, cold autumn nights.