Top Reykjavik Northern Lights Spots

Hours, prices and access verified by the Reykjavik Northern Lights Tours team — last checked 2026-09-23.

The best spot for the aurora is wherever the sky is dark and clear tonight. Inside Reykjavík that means the city's dark edges. Outside it, it means wherever the cloud map shows a gap. If you are choosing between Reykjavik Northern Lights guided tours and a night on your own, start here.

No spot is good every night. A place with a clear view north is worthless under cloud, and a lit street can show a strong display. So read this page as a list of options, then let the forecast pick one.

Inside the city: the dark edges

You can see the lights from Reykjavík itself on a strong night. The street light is the problem, so walk to where the city ends. Two places do that best.

Grótta and Seltjarnarnes

Grótta is the tip of Seltjarnarnes, the small town on the peninsula west of the centre. It faces the open sea, so the sky to the north has no buildings in it. Grótta itself is an island, joined to land by a narrow spit that goes under water at high tide. Check the tide before you cross, and do not get cut off in the dark.

From 1 May to 15 July the island is closed to visitors for the nesting birds. That is outside the dark months, so it rarely matters for the aurora.

Öskjuhlíð and Perlan

Öskjuhlíð is the wooded hill south-east of the centre, with Perlan on top. The trees screen some of the street light, but you are still inside the city's glow. Perlan is open 9:00 to 21:00 and shows Áróra, an 8K northern lights planetarium film. It is the one aurora you can count on in cloudy weather.

A one-night experiment. In 2016 the city switched its street lights off in eleven neighbourhoods from 22:00 to 23:00, so the aurora could be seen better. It was a single night, not a policy: expect the lights to be on.

On the water: the Old Harbour and Faxaflói

The boats are the car-free way out of the light. Both sail from the Old Harbour, from Ægisgarður 5c and Ægisgarður 2, and you walk there yourself. They head out onto Faxaflói bay for about two hours, with the city's skyline behind you.

From October to December the Imagine Peace Tower is lit, and the larger boat passes it on the way out. What a boat cannot do is follow a gap in the cloud inland. If the bay is overcast, you stay under it, and the free re-sail is your second chance.

Where the hunts drive

A land hunt does not have a fixed destination. Your guide reads the cloud map in the afternoon and drives to where the sky is clear. The tours name three directions:

The Southern Region, east of the city. One small group spends about 3 hours there.
The Reykjanes Peninsula, the lava fields to the south-west. The Golden Circle and northern lights day runs its evening hunt there.
The West Region, north across the fjords. A private hunt names it.

The lava-tunnel evening adds Raufarhólshellir, less than 30 minutes' drive from the city, before the hunt. Wherever you go, the stops are pull-ins and dark ground off the road, chosen for the sky rather than for a view you could find by day.

Rather let a guide choose the spot?

A hunt drives to wherever the cloud map shows a gap. A boat leaves from the harbour with no drive at all.

See the northern lights tours Compare every tour

Spot by spot: the dark places compared

Each option trades convenience for darkness. The city edges are free and close. The countryside is darker, but you need a vehicle and someone who reads the forecast.

Where	How you get there	Cost	How dark	Source
Grótta and the Seltjarnarnes shore	Walk or drive to the western tip of the peninsula	Free	The open sea to the north; the town behind you	nattura.is
Öskjuhlíð, the hill under Perlan	Walk up from the city; Perlan is open 9:00 to 21:00	Free outdoors	Wooded, but inside the city's light	perlan.is
The shore walk in the centre	On foot from any central hotel	Free	Lit: a strong display only	Visit Reykjavík
Faxaflói bay, by boat	From the Old Harbour quays, no pickup	$86 to $105	Out of the harbour's light, not the city's glow	The boats' own terms
The Southern Region	A hunt from your hotel or a bus stop	From $84	Dark countryside, picked by the guide	The tours' itineraries
The Reykjanes Peninsula	A hunt, or the Golden Circle day's evening half	From $84	Lava fields south-west of the city	The tours' itineraries
The West Region	A private hunt	From $260	North of the city, across the fjords	The tours' itineraries

The fares above are the lowest on each way out. What you pay for is not the place, which is free, but the drive to it at night and, on most fares, a second night if you see nothing.

Why a spot changes night to night

The aurora needs a dark sky, a gap in the cloud and enough activity, all at once. The Icelandic Met Office publishes two separate forecasts for exactly that reason: one for cloud, one for activity. A spot with a perfect view north is useless when the cloud map is green over it.

So the best spot tonight may be the worst one tomorrow. A guide on a hunt may drive in one direction, find it clouding over, and turn round. On your own, check the cloud map before you leave, and pick the edge of the city that faces the clearest sky.

Rules at the dark spots

Never stop on the road. If you want to watch or take pictures, find a safe place to pull off it completely. A car parked on a dark road is a hazard.
Mind the tide at Grótta. The spit floods at high tide, and you do not want to be on the island when it does.
Respect the nesting closure. The island is closed from 1 May to 15 July.
Dress for standing still. You wait outside for long stretches, and the open shore is colder than the street.
Save the emergency number. It is 112 anywhere in Iceland.

Asked about the spots

Where can you see the northern lights in Reykjavík?

Anywhere with a dark, clear view north on a strong night, but the street light washes out a weaker display. The dark edges of the city work best: the western tip of the peninsula, the wooded hill under Perlan, and the shore. A tour takes you much further from the light.

Is Grótta good for the northern lights?

It is the city's best-known dark edge, on the open sea at the tip of Seltjarnarnes. The island is joined to land by a spit that floods at high tide, and it is closed to visitors from 1 May to 15 July for nesting birds.

Where do northern lights tours go?

Where the sky is clear on the night. The tours name the Southern Region, the Reykjanes Peninsula and the West Region, and your guide chooses from the cloud map, not from a fixed route.

Can you see the aurora from the harbour?

On a strong night, yes, but the harbour sits in the city's light. The boats sail out onto Faxaflói bay to get away from it, for about two hours.

Do I need a car to reach the dark spots?

Not for the city's edges, which you can walk to from a bus or a taxi. For the countryside you need a car or a tour, and you must never stop on the road itself to look.

Where these facts come from

The closure dates and the tide come from the nature reserve's official page, and Perlan's hours from its own site. The directions each hunt takes come from the tours' own itineraries, saved on 23 September 2026. The rest is read 23 September 2026.

Tours that head away from the city lights

Northern Lights Small-Group Tour with Photos, Snacks & Snowsuits

Four to six hours with warm winter jumpsuits, outdoor chairs, tripods, cocoa and cinnamon rolls, unlimited photos, and a free retry depending on availability; from age 5.

From $212 per person

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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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Private Northern Lights Tour from Reykjavik

Three hours with a local guide for your own party, collected at your hotel; at least two adults, marked wheelchair accessible, and no free retry stated.

From $260 per person (minimum 2)

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Next: learn to read the cloud map and the activity forecast, see where your hunt picks you up, or compare every fare on Reykjavik Northern Lights Tours.