Iceland in May: what tours run

May is the quiet month. The winter tours have stopped, the summer crowds have not arrived, and you get long days without the June prices on hotels. The cost is a gap: no northern lights, no crystal ice caves, and the Highlands are still shut. If you want puffins, whales, glaciers and the South Coast with room to breathe, May is a good choice. If you want Landmannalaugar, wait for July.

What the calendars show

We hold the booking calendars for every tour we sell, so we counted. On 1 May about 1,270 of our tours show a departure. By 15 May that is about 1,315, and it stays there to the end of the month. Mid-April is a little busier at about 1,330, because the winter tours are still going. Mid-June is busier again, at about 1,390, once the Highland tours open.

So May has slightly less choice than either side of it. In practice you won’t notice. The tours that stop are the winter ones, and the ones that haven’t started yet need June roads.

No northern lights

The lights don’t stop in May, but the dark does. Reykjavík has about sixteen and a half hours of daylight on 1 May and about twenty by the 31st, and the sky in between never gets properly dark. A few tours with “lights” in the name still show dates. Don’t book them for the aurora. Our northern lights season guide explains which months actually work.

Puffins and whales

May is when the puffin boats settle into a daily rhythm. Special Tours’ Puffin Express is from €60, an hour from the Old Harbour, and runs every day of May. Around 18 puffin tours a day run on 1 May, rising to about 28 by mid-June. Early May has fewer birds on the water than June. You will usually see some.

Whale watching runs daily from Reykjavík, Húsavík and Akureyri. In the north, Gentle Giants’ Big Whale Safari & Puffins is from €149, from Húsavík harbour, and runs every day of May. Minimum age is eight. Sightings are possible all year and never certain.

Ice caves: Katla only

The natural blue caves under Vatnajökull closed at the end of April and reopen in the autumn. What runs in May is the Katla ice cave under Mýrdalsjökull. Southcoast Adventure’s Katla Ice Cave Tour is from €215, meets in Vík, and shows a date every day of the month. Minimum age is six. It is darker and grittier than the crystal caves, with ash layered through the ice. Our ice caves guide compares them.

The Highlands wait for June

The F-roads into the Highlands normally open in June, and the calendars agree. Landmannalaugar day tours start on 15 June, and the hikers’ bus on 18 June. Kerlingarfjöll and Askja day tours start on 1 June. The Laugavegur trek starts in the second half of June. None of them show a May date.

Þórsmörk is the exception. It is reached by a mountain track that super jeeps handle in May. Southcoast Adventure’s Þórsmörk Super Jeep Tour is from €280 and runs every day of the month. River crossings can still close the track after heavy rain or a fast thaw. If it goes, you’ll get a refund or a new date.

Rafting starts

The Hvítá rafting trips near Gullfoss open on 15 May. Arctic Rafting’s River Fun Rafting is from €168, three hours from their river base, minimum age eleven. The water is glacier melt and May air is cool, so they give you a wetsuit and a sauna afterwards. In the north, the west river in Skagafjörður opens on 1 May. Our rafting guide covers that one.

Holidays and roads

Labour Day is 1 May. In 2027 Ascension Day falls on 6 May and Whit Monday on 17 May. All three are public holidays. Shops keep shorter hours, and Icelanders take long weekends to their summer houses, so book Friday-night hotels outside Reykjavík early.

The Ring Road is usually clear. Snow in the northern and eastern mountain passes is still possible in the first half of the month. It rarely lasts more than a day.

Our honest take

Come in May if you want the long days, the puffins and a South Coast that isn’t full yet. The second half of the month is better than the first: more puffins, rafting open, and warmer nights.

Don’t come in May for the Highlands or the northern lights. Neither will happen. If Landmannalaugar is the point of the trip, move it to July and accept the crowds. If you can live without it, May gives you nearly everything else for less.