Hot tips for Iceland? Or other Northern Lights destinations?

JennyP

Turning 50 this year and the thing I most want to see in the world is the Northern Lights.

Have fancied Iceland for ages but up for other likely places. Been looking at cruises up the Norwegian coast but they're rather expensive.

Tours are expensive to Iceland too so I thought I'd book a flight and hotel room in Reykjavik and go independently. There seem to be lots of tour operators there where you can book a Northern lights tour and a Golden Circle tour and I have been googling all their reviews to find the best one.

Has anyone got any tips?

I'm thinking we'll go in November when it's pretty dark and I've looked at the lunar calendar so we don't coincide with a full moon. Just not sure how easy it is to do things independently there and have heard it's very expensive.

daveyjp

Very easy to DIY, the economy relies on tourism so lots of choices and they do it well.

The longer you stay the more chance you have of seeing the lights.

Everyone heads to Reykjavik. If you can try and get to Akureyri, much smaller, but better for it and close to lots of sights.

It will be expensive.

We went when it was 200 to £ and it was no more expensive than major UK cities. Now at 160 to £ so budget accordingly.

cubegame

First of all, be aware that the Northern lights almost NEVER look as good to the naked eye as they do in photos. The detectors in digital cameras are much more sensitive to the colours than our eyes.

Second, be aware that Iceland is not actually that great a destination for the lights as it's mid-Atlantic position attracts a lot of bad weather. Also, to go at the time of year when the lights are at their best you'll be missing out on the many many more impressive sights that Iceland has to offer over the lights due to the short day time.

If you're still interested, buy your flight and hotel yourself and hire a car. Flexibility is most important when it comes to seeing the lights and being able to drive off into the middle of nowhere at silly o'clock AM will increase your chances.

Regards timings, I would look to find a compromise where you still get a good length of daylight to look at the sights (I personally recommend a week or more drive around the ring road). Probably late Sept/early Oct.

JennyP

I'm still interested because I'd like to see the geysers and hot springs. I knew that about the weather and day length - husband has been before.

I hadn't thought about car hire and actually that works out cheaper than I thought so might be worth considering. Thank you!

cubegame

JennyP wrote: »

I'm still interested because I'd like to see the geysers and hot springs. I knew that about the weather and day length - husband has been before.

I hadn't thought about car hire and actually that works out cheaper than I thought so might be worth considering. Thank you!

Well the car will massively improve your trip. It's an amazing country. Don't stay constrained to Reykjavik and it's surroundings.

waamo

It's eye wateringly expensive. I took Mrs W for her 50th. We went out on a boat which was good and would certainly do again.

Despite the cost it was worth every penny. We had one of the best displays in a long time apparently.

Shimrod

JennyP wrote: »

I'm still interested because I'd like to see the geysers and hot springs. I knew that about the weather and day length - husband has been before.

I hadn't thought about car hire and actually that works out cheaper than I thought so might be worth considering. Thank you!

I'd also recommend October, it's a good compromise between a useful length of daylight for daytime activities, and dark around 8pm which gives plenty of time for the lights to appear. From a driving perspective, chances of snow in October are relatively low, even when you go north - travelling later in the year could present challenges if you are not confident in heavy snow/ice conditions.

A car will increase your chances of seeing the lights - the first time we went we used tours, but ever since we have hired a car. One of the best viewings of the lights appeared and disappeared before a tour would even have left Reykjavik for dark skies. (use https://en.vedur.is/ to check for cloud cover). If you do decide to base yourself in Reykjavik, choose a hotel on the outskirts to improve your chances of seeing the lights - you won't see them in Reykjavik proper due to light pollution.

I'd recommend going for at least a week and travelling up to Akureyri and/or the Snaefellsness pensinsula. There is good whale watching from Akureyri in the fjord which is generally much more gentle than sailing out into the Atlantic from Reykjavik.

My other suggestion would be to go self-catering. The big cost for Iceland is eating out and self-catering can be a real saving, even if you don't save much on the cost of accommodation. In Akureyri I can recommend these - https://kjarnalundur.is/room/three-bedroom-cottage/ We stayed last year and are going back this year to the same place.

If you need a hotel in Keflavik the Hotel Berg is very nice, and walking distance to Kaffi Duus, which has become our tradition for end of holiday meal - there is a wide variety of food and yet to have a bad meal there.

Cheap eats are KFC and petrol stations (N1 and Oli).


For costs, we budget around £2000 for a week with flights, car hire, accommodation and spends. We normally get a 4x4 Octavia.

PaisleyStars

We've been to see the Northern Lights twice, once with limited success in Iceland and once with fantastic success in northern Norway. A lot of it is down to luck but Arctic Norway (Narvik, Tromsø etc) is much further north than Reykjavik so viewing opportunities are notably improved.

Iceland in general is very expensive but, if you consider a self-catering option, that will save you a lot of money. Northern Norway is also very expensive and self-catering accommodation is few and far between. In both cases, choose a time of year when it's dark enough for the Lights but light enough to actually enjoy the day - you will get plenty of daylight around Reykjavik in November but the most northern places in Norway are very, very dark from November to January and you may want to consider October instead.

gettingtheresometime

Not wishing to be a party pooper but there's a cycle to the northern lights & we're near the solar minimum so the chances of seeing them are smaller.

May be worth thinking about delaying the trip until 2025 when it's at its peak

Shimrod

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Not wishing to be a party pooper but there's a cycle to the northern lights & we're near the solar minimum so the chances of seeing them are smaller.

While we are heading to solar minimum, it isn't true that the chances of seeing aurora are smaller. While there are less sunspots (which are likely to produce solar flares), you get more coronal holes forming which will send fast flowing streams of charged particles towards earth which will produce auroras.


One of the advantages of coronal holes is that they can last for several rotations of the sun (approx 28 days) and so you can predict when there might be improved chances of seeing aurora. The longest lasting coronal hole during the previous solar minimum lasted just over 2 years.



The caveat on this is that the hole must be pointing in the direction of earth, but the same is true for flares from sunspots.


I wouldn't (and haven't) put off a trip to see aurora on the basis of solar minimum.

JennyP

Lots of food for thought there. I am really glad I asked!

Going to mull things over. At the end of the day, if we see the Aurora great. If not, hopefully we'd have a nice time anyway. My hubby saw a really good Aurora on the M1 near Nottingham once so I think it's luck at the end of the day but I'd like to increase our chances.

Hadn't thought of self-catering. Something to consider!