Northern Lights in Iceland - Tour Combinations

This beautiful northern lights or aurora borealis in Iceland dancing over the above Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon and black beach with icebergs. Beautiful Iceland in winter.Green aurora in christmas time

Beautiful Aurora at Vestrahorn Mountain, Iceland

Green aurora light behind famous Skogafoss waterfall

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Overview

Extend your day tour to include a tour to look at the northern lights, if conditions allow.

Tours that begin in the afternoon could therefore be prolonged until 1 AM if the auroras show up. These tours could include snowmobiling, caving, volcano hiking, relaxing in a warm nature bath, and far more...

Tour Snapshot

Level

Easy

Availability

All year

Starting point

Reykjavik

End point

Reykjavik

Languages

English

Minimum age

All ages

What to Expect

On Tour

Guided aurora tour
Any activity prior to the Northern Lights hunt (caving, snowmobiling, horseback riding, whale watching, glacier hiking and ATV quad biking, relaxing Spa visit and etc.)
Free photos when lights are seen

Transportation

Meet on location
Pick-up & drop-off in Reykjavik

Accommodation & Meals

Meals
Accommodation

Itinerary

Tour Itinerary Overview

We always try our best to take you to a remote and peaceful place, giving you the chance to really experience the natural environment of a country that touches the Arctic Circle, whilst enjoying the wonders of the northern lights. We hope you are lucky enough to see them. Our guides enjoy sharing their knowledge of the Icelandic Sagas, nature, and folktales and will always ensure our passengers enjoy a memorable evening - even on those occasions when the lights do not show themselves.

After a truly memorable day and the search of the northern lights, we will drop you back at your hotel in the area close to Reykjavik or KEF Keflavik International Airport – hopefully, to dream about the things you saw and experienced on the tour!

The northern lights are one of those rare natural phenomena that people all over the world feel excited about seeing. It is truly magical to see the northern lights dancing their brilliant patterns across the night sky when the northern hemisphere is approaching its time of almost total darkness. Seeing the glory of nature's color and magic is a majestic and never to be forgotten experience.

Step 1 ~~ Choose what you want to do

Now, this is the difficult part! The big question is, what would you like to do during your vacation in Iceland?

During the day you could try out some extreme and fun adventures before the northern lights tour begins. Should you prefer to enjoy some gentle and relaxing activities before your northern lights tour then that is fine too - the choice is for you to make! Examples of the activities we could provide are caving, snowmobiling, horseback riding, whale watching, glacier hiking, and ATV quad biking. More gentle options include visiting museums, places of interest in the countryside, or spas such as the Blue Lagoon or Fontana Spa.

Do you have some preferences for after the day tour? We could book a nice restaurant for you to enjoy dinner before the northern lights part of the tour, perhaps at a restaurant in the countryside if the location of your daytime activities would suit this.

If you prefer we could drop you back at your hotel, or at some other location where you could choose a restaurant. We would then pick you up a couple of hours later for your private northern lights tour.

Step 2 ~~ Contact us and tell us about it

That's the easy part. Send us an email and we will quote you a price for your private tour.

Step 3 ~~ Enjoy your tour from around 13:00

The tour begins when we pick you up from wherever you have chosen in Reykjavik or its vicinity, or at KEF Keflavik International Airport. Usually, the tour starts at 13:00 in the afternoon, but this can be altered to suit your wishes.

Step 4 ~~ We check conditions for aurora sighting

We examine the weather forecast and atmospheric conditions for the evening before we decide whether the northern lights part of your private tour can be operated or not.

We then drive you to the place where the weather forecast and atmospheric conditions have indicated will be the best place that night to see the auroras. This location is usually within a 1 to 1.5-hour radius of Reykjavik but it could also depend on the location of your chosen daytime activity. We always go somewhere quiet and dark away from light pollution, which is great, particularly if your aim is to photograph the auroras.

You can be reassured our guides are trained to find the best places to track down the lights - it is so exciting for the passengers to participate in the search.

If the forecast is good then we will take you on a tour to look at the northern lights, finding a place to enjoy them away from light pollution in the silence of Icelandic nature. You really will need those winter clothes now - we will probably be just standing out in the cold for quite a while.

Meet your operator

At Adventures.com we love transparency, there are operators involved in your booking, we just stay with those we trust. This tour is operated by:

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)

Warm clothes
Sturdy shoes
Warm Headwear
Scarf
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.

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

BOOK YOUR TOUR

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