Magical Auroras - Northern Lights Tour with minibus

Top Attractions:

Reykjavik

Overview

Magical Auroras is our most popular northern lights tour for a reason. During this tour, we head out away from the city to search for magical auroras. We never know where the chase will take us, but we know it will be exciting!

Tour Snapshot

Duration

5 hours

Level

Easy

Availability

january - april, september - december

Starting point

Reykjavik

End point

Reykjavik

Languages

English

Trip style

One-day tours

Minimum age

6 years

What to expect

On tour

English speaking expert guide
Tour in a minibus
Free Northern Lights photos
Unlimited retries for 3 years when no lights are spotted

Transportation

Meet on location
Pick up & drop-off in Reykjavik
Free WiFi on your bus

Accommodation & Meals

Accommodation
Meals
Hot Cocoa, chocolate & blanket

Itinerary map

Check the itinerary to find out the details of your adventure.

5 hours

Itinerary Overview

Escape the city's lights and come with us to look for the magical Northern Lights. Experienced Northern Lights guides will decide, on travel day, where to go, after considering both the aurora forecast and cloud cover to maximize your chances of seeing them in all their glory. We travel in a minibus with small groups, which ensures a personal and intimate experience.

We never know where these conditions will lead us. The weather changes quickly, and the destinations vary accordingly. We might head to the National Park Thingvellir, Reykjanes (The Southern Peninsula), covered with lava and extreme landscape, or Borgarfjordur, a beautiful fjord in the west of Iceland, to name a few.

What is the best way to prepare for the Northern Lights hunt? A visit to the Aurora Museum. Now, with the Northern Lights and Aurora Museum combo deal, learn what there is to know about these beautiful lights and how to take striking pictures of them before going on the actual chase.

Save up to 10 % on the deal and focus on the Icelandic beauty instead of worrying about any logistics, as you’ll be picked up from the museum to search for Aurora Borealis.

Starting point

Reykjavik

End point

Reykjavik

What are the Northern Lights?

This natural phenomenon happens because of chemical reactions in the Earth‘s atmosphere. Gaseous particles collide with electrically charged molecules and atoms released from the sun‘s atmosphere. These particulates from the sun are blown towards earth by the solar wind and can enter both the northern and southern hemisphere because of weak magnetic field at the poles.That‘s the reason for why we only see those dancing lights close to the Northern pole (Auroras Borealis) and south pole (Auroras Australis).

The different colours are due to different molecules, oxygen forms the most common one, yellow/green and nitrogen produces blue/purple-red for instance.

Pickup Information

For the Northern Lights adventure, pick-up is at either 20:30 (8:30 p.m.) or 21:30 (9:30 p.m.), depending on the season. You’ll find the actual pickup time in the booking process and on your final voucher. Picking everyone up can take up to 30 minutes, your patience is much appreciated.

Note: The ticket to the Aurora Museum is valid throughout the day of the tour and can be visited at any time. The Museum closes at 18:00, so recommend visiting no later than 17:00. Keep in mind that pick-up for the Northern Lights tour will be from bus stop #15 - Vesturbugt / Mýrargata, close to the Old Harbour.

Please note

As the success of the northern lights tour is heavily dependent on weather conditions, we reserve the right to cancel the northern lights part of the tour until 18:15 on the day of the tour if the aurora forecast is not looking good. When this happens your payment is fully refunded.

Went to a tour but didn’t spot the Northern Lights? No worries, you can book another tour to see the lights free of charge. Note that this deal is unlimited and is valid for 3 years. So, don’t give up on your first time, get in touch with our Customer Care to witness this natural phenomenon. During a re-try, the tour is operated on a minibus.

Arctic Adventures

Arctic Adventures is a top Icelandic tour operator known for its small-group experiences. Since 1983, they’ve specialized in guiding travelers through Iceland’s wild terrains, from glaciers to volcanoes. Their tours are all about adventure and sustainability, led by expert guides who make sure every trip is safe, fun, and memorable. Arctic Adventures combines deep local knowledge with a strong commitment to nature, making them a trusted choice for anyone looking to explore Iceland up close and responsibly.

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Packing list

Get ready for your trip, here are some items, you should not forget.

What to bring (Required)

Winter boots or hiking shoes
Shoe Spike Grips (Oct-Apr)
Warm outdoor clothing
Waterproof jacket
Rent with us, +29 USD per person
Headwear
Gloves

We're here to answer your questions

The Northern Lights are natural phenomena and we, unfortunately, cannot promise you will see them. Their appearance depends upon atmospheric and weather conditions.

For more information on the Northern Lights, please have a look at our Northern Lights tours.

We, unfortunately, do not have one simple answer to this question.

There isn’t just one single setting for your camera that ensures great photos. However, if you have manual options, you are probably best served with experimenting with various combinations of ISO, aperture, and exposure settings. As a rule of thumb, ISO setting between 800 and 3200, aperture between f/2 8 and f/5.6, and shutter speed at between 15 seconds and 30 seconds have proven effective.

A good thing to keep in mind, ISO setting between 800 and 3200, aperture between f/2.8 and f/5.6, and shutter speed between 15 seconds and 30 seconds have given great results.

Different combinations may give very different results. Higher ISO setting will allow you to capture faster exposures, but the downside to this might be for example grainier images.

If the shutter speed is above 15 seconds it will result in a slight star movement.

Wider angle lenses are usually more versatile in low light settings, but longer lenses give you different options for compositions. Make sure that you remove all lens filters, as they may distort images. You will probably get the best results with manual setting for infinite focal length.

Reimbursement is not given if the northern lights tour goes ahead and no lights are seen but we do offer you the change to join a Northern Lights Minibus tour free of charge.

Please contact our Customer Care to re-book your tour.

When Northern Lights tours are canceled it’s usually due to unfavorable weather conditions.

In that case, your options will be to:

Reschedule for another day.
Choose another our tour and use the deposit for it.
Get a full refund.

Please go to the customer portal to re-book your tour or contact us by phone at +354 562 7000.

The northern lights are a pretty difficult thing to predict. We recommend you to check en.vedur.is to see the forecast and if the level is high and the skies are clear then it’s very likely that the tour is going ahead. We do update our website’s tour departure sheet with the information at 17:00 pm the latest. If your tour is canceled then you will receive an email from us.

If we think there is no chance at all of seeing the lights we will cancel the tour. We don’t want to bring you out and disappoint if there is no chance of the lights to be seen.

Yes, the guide on your tour will take a photo of you with the northern lights in the background.
These can be single or group photo’s and are free of charge.

The Northern Lights season is from late August until mid-April. However, if you want to increase your changes of seeing them, it is best to wait until the clear winter months of mid-September until March.

The northern lights depend on luck and weather if that is in your favor than you will be able to see the Aurora Borealis above the inviting streets of Reykjavík. Whether you see the lights or not they depend on two different factors. The first being the weather. If the sky is clear, no clouds, then you are halfway there to seeing the astonishing spectacle that is the Northern Lights (although light pollution can sometimes be a problem). Increased solar activity is the second half so, if these two merge together you may well be able to see the Northern Lights from Reykjavik.

The pickup time is stated on your voucher and therefore we recommend you to review your voucher carefully. We ask all participants to be ready from the start of the pickup time indicated as you may well be the first pick up of the day. Please be at your assigned location at the right pick up time that you chose when booking the tour.

Wait for your guide at your assigned pick up location.

Have your email and phone number listed with us so we can contact you if we run into any trouble finding you.

View our pick-up locations in Reykjavík.

Alcohol is prohibited on all of our tours before and during activities. If we find the participant to be intoxicated, we will prohibit them from taking part in the activity.

After the activities of the day are finished then you are more than welcome to have a drink and relax.

Yes, we do have a tour into Langjökull Ice Cave that has no minimum age and it is a fantastic option for the whole family. As a Whale Watching with our partner company Special Tours, enjoyable tour for a family traveling with young children, these guys have an enormous success rate in seeing whales (upwards of 98% in the summertime).

If you want to explore parts of Icelandic Highlands than we have our magnificent Landmannalaugar Safari tour that also offers you to bathe in natural hot springs. Almost all of our jeep tours are suitable for children over the age of 6 years old. Then we also have a relaxing experience that we highly recommend, our Golden Circle & Secret Lagoon tour.

We reserve the rights to adjust the itinerary and/or take different routes depending on conditions. Your safety is our number one priority.

Please read more information in our terms and conditions in regards to this matter.

Yes, we have specially trained and certified guide on all of our tours, expect on our self-drive tours.

All of our tours are English guided.

No, for all your questions and concerns you would need to contact our customer service.

In Iceland, the standard is 230V and 50Hz and we use F-type power sockets and plugs. If you are visiting from the UK, USA, Canada or other countries using a different voltage, Hz or plugs, therefore, we highly recommend you to bring an adaptor.

We have four different categories that help participants to get a better understanding of what to expect from the tour. The categories are Easy, Moderate, Challenging and Demanding. All of our tours are rated to make it easier for you to find a tour that suits you.

For further information about the difficulty ratings and descriptions.

You can book almost all of our trips here on our website. You will find a booking window on each tour page and the best and safest way is to book and pay is directly through our website.

1. You can pay directly through our website. That is the easiest, safest and fastest way to reserve and pay for your adventure. If you choose this way then you will receive a voucher as a confirmation via email. Which you will need to bring with you on your trip.

2. You can pay via phone, our phone number is +354 562 7000. Please be noted, however you pay, you will always get a voucher. It is important to have your voucher ready for your tour so please remember to print it out or make sure that you can show it through your electronic device.

You will receive a confirmation email after you have made the booking. If you think that you have made a booking and haven’t received an email confirmation then you may please contact us via email with an inquiry through our contact form, and we will figure it out together.

All charges are made in the tour operators currency: For tours in Iceland it's Icelandic krona, ISK, but for tours in Canada/Greenland it's either USD or CAD.

On Adventures.com you can view an estimate of prices in EUR and other currencies. This is only to help you understand the approximate price.

Your credit card will always be charged in the operators currency.

Keep in mind that your card issuer may charge you a foreign transaction fee.

We do not require minimum participants on most of our tours but there is a minimum of 2 people for a few of our trips. If you are traveling solo and interested in a tour that requires more than 2 participants than we can take down your information and contact you if more people book the tour.

We can arrange private departures as per customer request. Almost all of the tours that we offer can be arranged as a private tour. If you prefer to have a private tour arranged than you may feel free to contact us through email info@adventures.com

Unfortunately, we don’t have any waiting list for our tours. Availability is found on our website in the availability sheet where all updates will automatically be made to the sheet listed in each tour description. We have a variety of different adventure tours around Iceland so there is a big chance that you find a similar version of the tour that you were originally looking for.

If your tour that you have booked is canceled on our behalf than you will receive a 100% refund. The refund process is different depending on the way you booked the tour.

If you booked the tour through our website then we will start the refund process as soon as we know if you will not be rescheduling and you will receive a separate email with a confirmation about that your refund has been processed.

If you booked the tour via booking agent than you will need to contact them directly to receive the refund. We will confirm with them about your canceled tour and then the refund process will start on their end. Extreme Iceland only receives the payment when the tour has finished, that means that your payment still remains with the booking agent and therefore, the refund can only be processed directly from their end.

The minimum age requirement is decided by our operational managers and is dependent on each activity and its difficulty ratings and can, therefore, vary between tours We put great value towards safety for our customers and the minimum age policy falls under this. Therefore we can not accommodate a person that has not reached the age limit on the tour.
We ask you to try to understand that this is based on safety procedures and we can therefore unfortunately not make any exceptions on this rule.

We can unfortunately not accommodate you and your group if the number of your group extends the number of available seats left on the tour. Our website shows the correct number of available seats left. It is impossible to squeeze additional participants onto sold out departures as we have really strict policy measures as to how many participants are assigned to each guide on our tour departures. Therefore we hope that you understand as this is of course done with our customer's safety in mind.

Still not convinced?

Customer Care

For Iceland, Scandinavia & Baltic tour

Open daily from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM GMT

Address

Köllunarklettsvegur 2

104 Reykjavík

+354 562 7000