Planning Reykjavik Northern Lights Nights Around a Trip

A northern lights tour is booked for a night, but the lights keep no appointment. The plan that works gives the sky more than one chance: the first evening booked, spare evenings kept free, and daytime plans that do not collide with a hunt that ends after midnight. If you would rather be out in the hours NOAA rates best, look at a late night northern lights tour Reykjavik departure.

Why the first night matters

Book your hunt for the first clear-ish evening of your trip, and the earlier the better. A free retry is only worth something if you still have nights left to use it. Booked for your last evening, a cloudy sky leaves you nothing but a credit you cannot spend.

There is a second reason. A tour the weather cancels is rebooked or refunded, and a new date needs a spare evening too. The operators that state a time decide in the afternoon or early evening. The stargazing jeep sends its go or no-go at 18:30, and the minibus with woollen blankets e-mails in the afternoon. The Super Jeep asks you to call around 5pm.

How many nights give you a retry?

Count the evenings you can spend out, not the nights you sleep in Reykjavík. A late flight in, a day tour that starts at dawn, or a dinner booking all take an evening away.

The retry terms are on each card and in the visitor guide. The unlimited ones carry small print: one is for the original participant only, one is subject to availability, and one must be used within two years.

A two-night stay

Two evenings is the shortest stay that gives a retry somewhere to land. Book the hunt for the first, on a fare with at least one free night more, and keep the second completely free. If the first night clouds over, your retry goes on the second. If you see the lights, the second evening is yours.

What you should not do on a two-night stay is fill the second evening in advance. A dinner booking or a show is exactly what a rebooked hunt collides with. If you land late on your first day, swap it round: book the second evening, and accept that you have no spare. In that case, choose the fare for the night itself, not for its retry.

A three-night stay, night by night

Night one: the hunt. Choose a fare with at least one free retry, and keep your phone on for the go or no-go. Night two: nothing booked. If night one clouded over, this is where the retry lands. If you saw the lights, take a slow dinner in town.

Night three: the spare. Use it for a second retry where your fare allows one, or for a two-hour boat from the Old Harbour if the forecast turns good late. Leave it empty until the afternoon forecast is in.

A five-night stay

With five evenings you can afford to wait for the forecast. Book a fare with unlimited or lifetime retries for night one, then keep two evenings loose. Put your daytime tours on the mornings after the loose evenings, not the morning after the hunt.

A long stay also makes room for the evenings that are about more than the lights. The lava tunnel evening and the Golden Circle double days fit here. So does an hour at Perlan on Öskjuhlíð, whose Áróra planetarium film shows the lights indoors. Perlan opens 9:00 to 21:00.

Can you do the Golden Circle and the lights in one day?

Yes, and the Golden Circle double days sell exactly that. The Golden Circle and aurora day costs $151 and runs about 12½ hours. It gives Þingvellir 40 minutes, Geysir 1 hour 10 minutes, Gullfoss 40 minutes and the Kerið crater 30 minutes, with the crater fee paid. Then comes a two-hour break in town and about four hours hunting.

The Secret Lagoon version costs $185 and runs about 13½ hours, with the crater and lagoon entrance tickets in the fare. Lunch is not included on either. Neither states a free retry for the lights, so treat the evening as a bonus. If the lights matter most, book a separate hunt on another night.

The lava tunnel evening

The lava tunnel and lights evening costs $210 and runs five hours. You spend about an hour underground in Raufarhólshellir with a certified caving guide, a helmet and a torch. The tunnel runs 1,360 metres in all and was left by an eruption about 5,200 years ago. It lies less than half an hour's drive from Reykjavík.

Then comes about 2½ hours hunting, with cocoa, chocolate, a blanket and photos. Snacks and dinner are not included, so eat first. The free retry covers the lights part only. From age 6, and the tunnel floor is uneven.

Hunting from a multi-day tour

The 4-day tour costs $1,389 and carries you round the south coast with three nights in a double or twin room and three breakfasts. Its evenings in Reykjavík include a hunt for the lights, weather permitting. Nothing is promised if the sky stays shut, and no retry is stated.

Lunch and dinner are not included, a single room costs extra, and you bring one 20 kg bag and a day pack. From age 8. If the lights are the point of your trip, add a separate hunt with a retry on a night the tour leaves free.

How late will you be out?

Later than you think. NOAA says the best aurora is usually between 10 PM and 2 AM local time. The guides chase clear sky, and a good display keeps them out. One party on the small group left at 10:00pm and got back to their hotel at 4:00am. A Super Jeep party stayed out until after 1 am.

The late departures are later by design. The stargazing jeep collects you between 21:00 and 21:30, and on a hunt of three to five hours that puts you back between midnight and 02:30. The minibus with woollen blankets picks up from 20:30 in mid-winter and 21:30 at the edges of the season. See the late night northern lights tours for the full list.

Pairing a hunt with an early start

Do not book a dawn pickup the morning after a hunt. You may be in bed at 2:00 or later, and a day tour on four hours' sleep is a long day. Put the day tour first and the hunt that evening, or leave a free morning after each hunt.

If you must pair them, take the shorter night. A two-hour boat from the Old Harbour is the shortest night on offer. The pickup points page shows where each start is.

When the forecast closes every night

Some weeks the cloud never breaks. If the operator cancels, you are rebooked or refunded; the terms vary. The stargazing jeep reschedules or refunds in full. The Super Jeep refunds only if every night is cancelled and you never went. The minibus with woollen blankets refunds only if the tour never operates while you are in Iceland.

A tour that ran under cloud is not refunded. That is what the retry is for. For a cloudy week, keep the retry alive until your last evening and check the cloud forecast each afternoon.

What if you fly home before the retry?

Then the retry is gone. The unlimited retry on the small group with pro photos is for the original participant only, so you cannot pass it to a friend. The stargazing jeep gives you two years, and the 4x4 minibus with pastries gives you a lifetime. Those two help only if you come back to Iceland.

So the rule is simple: book early in the trip, and read the retry terms before you pay. The when to visit page shows how long the nights are month by month.

Planning your nights: questions people ask

A day with a hunt, a tunnel evening and four days on the road

Golden Circle & Northern Lights Tour from Reykjavik

The Golden Circle by day with the crater fee paid, a break in the city, and then about four hours hunting on a coach with a restroom. No retry stated.

From $151 per person

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From Reykjavík: Evening Lava Tunnel Tour and Northern Lights Tour

Five hours: an hour in a lava tunnel with a certified caving guide, helmet and torch, then the hunt with cocoa, a blanket and photos. The retry covers the lights part.

From $210 per person

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4-Day Iceland: Golden Circle, South Coast, Volcano Hike & Northern Lights

Four days in a minibus with three nights in a double or twin room and three breakfasts, a glacier hike, and the lights hunted on its evenings if the sky allows. From age 8.

From $1,389 per person

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