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You want to see Northern Lights in Iceland? But, you are not sure how to plan a trip in Iceland keeping Northern Lights in mind. Then this blog post is just for you. We have visited twice in Iceland and both the times we got to see the Northern Lights not once but many occasions. We will help you with all the information you need to see the Northern lights in Iceland.
Best time to See Northern Lights in Iceland?
Iceland Northern light season starts with the onset of winter. You can plan your travel during winter in Iceland to maximise your chances of Aurora sighting. The Aurora season starts from September and lasts till end of April. Our recommendation would be planning a trip in Mid/Late September or End of March to Early April. The reason for this is you will spare yourself from extreme cold and huge number of tourists. Another important thing is there are lot to see and do in Iceland, so if you travel in winter month you might miss out on some of those due to 4 to 5 hrs day light.
Best Place to See Northern Lights in Iceland
If you want to see the aurora then you have to be sure you are in a dark location with no light pollution (refer Dark Site Finder). It is worth booking your stay a little bit away from the city. The sky has to be clear without any clouds, if the sky is covered with clouds you will see nothing. It is also great if you can plan your trip in new moon. The reason being full moon will be bright and faint aurora activity will not be visible in that. But, don’t worry each time we saw the aurora in our trip was during full moon. Here are few places where you can see the Northern Lights:
- Vestrahorn
- Kirkjufell
- Budirkirkja
- Diamond Beach
- Glacier Lagoon
- Skogafoss
How to predict northern lights activity?
There are multiple apps you can download to see if there is any prediction of Aurora activity or not during your trip. The best place to check is Iceland Met Office Website, they are very accurate not only with hourly prediction for 3/4 days, but also cloud coverage predictions. Our recent find is AuroraForecast application, that gives you weekly forecast up ahead. A very important note that please don’t feel bad if there are no forecast on your trip, keep your eyes open, cause we saw brightest Aurora twice in Iceland when there was no forecast.
Do I need to rent a car?
You do need a car if you want to chase Aurora. But if you have booked an aurora sighting tour then you might not need it. Now, if you want to chase Aurora be prepared to drive late night empty roads and isolated places. We have always had car that gave us the opportunity to drive to a cloudless zones when there was strong Aurora predictions, and the place we were covered in clouds. If you can then we highly recommend that you rent a car when in Iceland.
You can find out more on driving in Iceland here.
Can I see the Northern lights from Reykjavik?
You can if the prediction is strong. The first time we saw Northern Lights, that time people in Reykjavik also saw them. You can also travel 30mins away from the Reykjavik for better chances of Aurora viewing. You can also walk away towards the less light polluted area of the city. If the activity is moderate you won’t be able to see it from the city.
Are there Aurora viewing tours?
Yes there are plenty of Aurora viewing tours in Iceland, most of them starts from Reykjavik. We have not taken any in the past trips but on of our friend has taken tour with the below group and gave positive reviews. You can find more such tours here.
How to photograph the Northern Lights?
You can use your latest iPhone to capture the Northern Lights. Trust us, whenever we were in doubt if we are seeing the Northern lights or clouds (if faint the lights looks like cloud), we would take our iphone 14 video on and confirm if it is northern lights or not. It is then we would stop a car take out our camera.
If you are using camera you will need a sturdy tripod to withstand the windy situations. You put your camera on tripod, focus to infinity or the stars, then use ISO 1000 above with kit lens f3.5, and shutter speed 4 to 6 seconds. You need to play with these basic settings based on your camera model, and lens quality and you will get the picture of Aurora.
What to wear while Northern Light hunting?
As you will be seeing the northern lights either in winter season or close to winter season, means it is going to be cold. You being out at mid light in isolated open area means it will be windy and cold so you need to dress appropriately. You will need your puffer jacket, windproof shell jacket, gloves and beanies. If you are in peak winter then you need to take care of wearing proper winter shoes and thermal inners and socks as well.
Is Iceland the best place to see Aurora?
If you want our honest opinion, we visit Iceland for its own natural, raw beauty. For us, sighting Northern Lights in Iceland is secondary, our primary goal is to explore its beautiful landscape, gorgeous waterfalls, mind boggling geysirs and otherworldly lava fields. We recommend you to do the same and if you see Northern lights then take it as a bonus.
If seeing the Aurora is your primary goal and that is the sole reason for your travel to Iceland then we would recommend a trip to Norway, Finland or Swedish Lapland. You will have better probability of viewing the Northern Lights. Icelandic weather changes rapidly, you might encounter all season in one single day so chances of getting rain, wind, clouds or snow are maximum. Hence, reducing the probability of Aurora Sighting.
Hope this post helps you to plan your trip. If you have any further question please raise in the comments.
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