What's on in Murmansk, Russia through the year

Quiet — school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Festival

  Sun Festival

  11–25 Jan · usuallyMajor festival

  The sun comes back over the hills in the second week of January after six weeks away, and the city marks it — schoolchildren out on the Five Corners square, a ceremony at the amphitheatre. It is still barely above the horizon. Source ↗

Still on: Aurora season (1 Sep – 10 Apr (usually)), Blizzards and road closures (15 Nov – 15 Apr (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Aurora season (1 Sep – 10 Apr (usually)), Blizzards and road closures (15 Nov – 15 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Festival

  Festival of the North

  20 Mar – 10 Apr · usuallyMajor festival

  The Polar Olympiad has run every year since 1934: a ski marathon, reindeer sled racing on the frozen Semyonovskoye lake, and teams from across the north. Late March is when there is both snow and daylight. Source ↗

Still on: Aurora season (1 Sep – 10 Apr (usually)), Blizzards and road closures (15 Nov – 15 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Festival of the North (20 Mar – 10 Apr (usually)), Aurora season (1 Sep – 10 Apr (usually)), Blizzards and road closures (15 Nov – 15 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Busy — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

• Season

  Barents coast season

  15 Jun – 10 Sep · usuallySummer season opens

  Teriberka, two and a half hours out on the open Arctic shore, is the summer trip: the whale and bird boats run, the beach of wave-rounded boulders is walkable, and the road behaves. It has gone from ghost village to weekend queue in a decade. Source ↗

Busy — school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Barents coast season (15 Jun – 10 Sep (usually))

Busy — school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Barents coast season (15 Jun – 10 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Nature

  Aurora season

  1 Sep – 10 Apr · usually

  Well inside the auroral oval, but the city's own light and the Barents cloud work against you — the trips run out to Teriberka or the Lovozero side to get away from both. Clear nights, not dark ones, are the constraint.

Still on: Barents coast season (15 Jun – 10 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Aurora season (1 Sep – 10 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Season

  Blizzards and road closures

  15 Nov – 15 Apr · usuallyExtreme coldClosures

  The wind off the Barents drifts the roads shut faster than the cold does; the Teriberka road and the Kola highway close for hours or days at a time in a storm. Any Arctic-coast plan here needs a spare day in it.

Still on: Aurora season (1 Sep – 10 Apr (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 7 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Aurora season (1 Sep – 10 Apr (usually)), Blizzards and road closures (15 Nov – 15 Apr (usually))