Reykjavik Northern Lights Tickets: What a Tour Includes

You need no ticket for the northern lights. The sky has no gate, so the fare you pay buys the hunt. If you are weighing up Reykjavik Northern Lights tickets, start with what each fare does if the lights stay hidden.

The aurora needs a dark sky, a gap in the cloud and enough activity, all on the same night. No operator controls any of the three. That is why no listing offers a guaranteed sighting, and why the retry line on each card matters more than the price.

No gate, no ticket: what a fare buys

Your fare pays for three things. A guide reads the cloud map and the activity forecast. A driver takes you out of the city light, on dark roads where you should not stop a car yourself. And on most fares you get another night free if you see nothing.

How you go out changes the price, the size of the group and where you board. It does not change the sky: every vehicle chases the same clear gaps.

If the sky stays shut: the retry terms, fare by fare

Read this before the price. A night under cloud is a performed tour, and a performed tour is not refunded. What the fare gives you instead is another try. The terms run from unlimited retries to nothing at all.

Unlimited free retries

Northern Lights Small-Group Tour with Photos, Snacks & Snowsuits, Reykjavik Northern Lights Tour with Pro Aurora Photos Small Group and Northern Lights and Stargazing Small-Group Tour with Local Guide. Come back on another night as often as you need, subject to seats. One listing sets a two-year limit; another keeps the retry for the person who booked.

A lifetime free rebooking

Northern Lights 4x4 Tour with Pastries and Cocoa from Reykjavik. Rebook for free on any later visit.

One free retry

Northern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavik with Hot Chocolate, Northern Lights Small-Group Tour From Reykjavik with Hot Choco, Reykjavik Private Northern Lights Tour with Pro Photographer, Reykjavik: Northern Lights Coach Tour with Local Hunters and Northern Lights Superjeep Tour from Reykjavik. One more night at no charge. On one smaller-bus fare the retry rides the big coach.

A free retry, count not stated

Northern Lights Cruise from Downtown Reykjavik, Northern Lights Midnight Adventure Small-Group from Reykjavík, Northern Lights Small-Group Tour with Free Photos & Hot Chocolate, Northern Lights Boat Cruise from Reykjavik, Northern Lights Small Group Tour from Reykjavik with Free Photos, From Reykjavík: Evening Lava Tunnel Tour and Northern Lights Tour and Northern Lights Small-Group Tour with Hot Chocolate & Photos. The listing offers another night or another sailing but does not say how many. On the lava-tunnel evening it covers the lights half only.

No free retry stated

4-Day Iceland: Golden Circle, South Coast, Volcano Hike & Northern Lights, Golden Circle, Secret Lagoon and Northern Lights Tour, Northern Lights & Hot Choco: Private 4x4 Tour from Reykjavik, Golden Circle & Northern Lights Tour from Reykjavik, Northern Lights Small Group Tour from Reykjavik and Private Northern Lights Tour from Reykjavik. Nothing in the listing gives you another night. On the Golden Circle days you still have the daytime half.

Retries depend on free seats, so book your first night early in your stay. That leaves nights behind it if the first one fails.

Is it running tonight? Go or no-go messages

Clothes for hours outside in the cold

You spend most of the night standing still, outside, in the dark. Reykjavík's winter months average around 0 °C in the 1961-1990 normals, and the wind at an open stop makes it feel colder. Dress for longer than you expect.

• A warm, windproof outer layer with a hood.
• Thermal layers underneath, because the bus is warm and the stops are not.
• A hat, gloves and a scarf. Thin inner gloves let you work a phone.
• Warm boots with grip for icy ground in the dark.
• A charged phone and a spare battery, because cold drains them fast.

Some fares bring the warm kit to you:

• Warm overalls come with Northern Lights Cruise from Downtown Reykjavik.
• Winter jumpsuits come with Northern Lights Small-Group Tour with Photos, Snacks & Snowsuits.
• Blankets come with From Reykjavík: Evening Lava Tunnel Tour and Northern Lights Tour, Northern Lights Small Group Tour from Reykjavik and Northern Lights Small-Group Tour with Hot Chocolate & Photos.
• Hand warmers come with Northern Lights 4x4 Tour with Pastries and Cocoa from Reykjavik and Northern Lights & Hot Choco: Private 4x4 Tour from Reykjavik.

Food, drinks and toilets

Ages and children

Every operator sets its own minimum age, and the nights end late. Where an operator sets an age, you find it below. Where none is set, ask the operator before you book with a small child.

Accessibility and cancellation

Most hunts say they do not take a wheelchair. Stops are chosen in the dark on uneven ground, often far from a building. A private hunt and a Golden Circle coach day are listed as accessible. The larger boat welcomes wheelchair users, but steep stairs and high thresholds limit the inside areas and toilets.

Every listing here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours before the start. Check the start time on your confirmation, not only the date, because a late hunt that starts after midnight falls on the next day.

Asked before you go