Northern lights
From September to March, as soon as you step away from the city lights.
Duration
3 hrs – 5 hrs
Best time
Between 10pm and 2am, September to March
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
An aurora is produced by solar wind particles striking the upper atmosphere along the lines of the Earth's magnetic field. Three conditions have to coincide: enough solar activity, a clear sky, and darkness — so not between May and August, when night never really falls.
The season runs from September to March, and the best place is anywhere with no artificial light in sight: twenty minutes' drive out of Reykjavik is often enough. The Icelandic Met Office publishes a three-day aurora forecast.
Getting there
Anywhere out of the city lights: the Seltjarnarnes peninsula, the Grótta lighthouse or the Þingvellir road are often enough.
What to bring
- Headlamp
- Windbreaker
Rules on site
Nothing is guaranteed, and many organised trips offer a second night if it fails: check before paying. Standing still for two hours is bitterly cold — layers, gloves and a hat.
Other places in Reykjavik
- The Golden CircleÞingvellir, the Strokkur geyser and Gullfoss waterfall, on a three-hundred-kilometre loop.
Blue LagoonMilky thirty-eight-degree water in a field of black lava.
HallgrímskirkjaA seventy-four-metre concrete church shaped after basalt columns.
- The south coastSeljalandsfoss, which you walk behind, Skógafoss, and the black sand of Reynisfjara.