Iceland in November: what tours still run
Most tours run in November. Snowmobile ice caves on Langjökull and husky sledding in the north start on 1 and 2 November; RIB whale boats and flights stop.
The short version
- About 1,310 of our tours show a departure on 1 November and about 1,350 on 30 November, a little under mid-October.
- Langjökull ice cave and snowmobile tours start on 1 and 2 November: from €233 at Gullfoss, from €365 with Reykjavík pickup.
- Husky sledding near Laugar in the north starts on 2 November, from €292 for two hours.
- RIB whale boats in Reykjavík and most north coast whale trips stop at the end of October. The big boats keep going.
- Reykjavík has about eight hours of daylight on 1 November and about five by 30 November.
Most things run in November. You lose the fast RIB whale boats, most of the north coast whale trips outside Húsavík, and the sightseeing flights from Skaftafell. You gain the winter ice caves on Langjökull, snowmobiling on two glaciers, and husky sledding in the north. The real limit isn’t the timetable. It’s the light: by the end of the month Reykjavík gets about five hours of it.
What the calendars show
We hold the booking calendars for every tour we sell, so we counted. On 1 November about 1,310 of our tours show a departure. On 30 November it’s about 1,350. That’s a little under mid-October, when it’s around 1,430, but not by much.
What changes is the mix. Tours with hiking in them drop from about 118 with October dates to about 92 with November ones. Whale tours go from 82 to 68, and sightseeing flights from 30 to 19. Snowmobile tours go up, from 30 to 36, and ice cave tours from 77 to 81. Northern lights tours stay level at about 154.
What starts: Langjökull ice caves and snowmobiles
The ice caves you reach by snowmobile on Langjökull open with the first days of November. Mountaineers of Iceland’s Ice Cave and Snowmobile Tour from Gullfoss from €233 has its first date on 2 November and leaves several times a day from 10:00. It’s four hours from the Gullfoss car park, so it slots into a Golden Circle day if you’re driving. Minimum age six.
Without a car, Arctic Adventures’ Glacier Snowmobiling and Ice Cave from Reykjavík from €365 has dates from 1 November. It’s nine hours with pickup, minimum age eight. The extra money is the transport and a longer day.
On the south coast, snowmobiling on Eyjafjallajökull also starts on 1 November. It’s the same idea, a different glacier, with the South Coast on the way.
What starts: husky sledding in the north
Snow Dogs’ Siberian Husky Dog Sledding from €292 has its first winter date on 2 November. It’s two hours at a farm near Laugar, between Akureyri and Mývatn, minimum age four. Early in the month there may not be much snow yet. The sled runs when there is. Our dog sledding guide covers what happens when there isn’t.
What keeps running: Jökulsárlón ice caves
The natural ice caves under Vatnajökull, near Jökulsárlón, opened in early October and keep going. Blue Iceland’s Blue Ice Cave Adventure from €161 has departures every day in November, at 09:30 and 14:00. It’s five hours’ drive from Reykjavík, so it only makes sense if you’re sleeping in the southeast. November caves are more reliable than October ones, but a warm, wet spell can still close them at short notice.
What stops: fast boats, flights and the north coast
The RIB speedboat whale trips from Reykjavík show their last dates at the end of October and come back in April. The bigger boats keep going every day. In the north, the express whale trips from Akureyri and Dalvík and the whale-and-puffin combos at Húsavík stop. North Sailing’s Húsavík Original Whale Watching from €102 keeps going every day in November. Sightings are good but never certain, and the sea is rougher now.
The small-plane flights from Skaftafell stop too. So does the last Landmannalaugar super jeep day tour. The Highlands are closed to day trips until summer.
Tours called “puffins” still turn up in November because they run all year. The puffins left in early September.
Northern lights
November nights are long, so you can hunt the lights on any clear evening from Reykjavík. The Northern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavík from €73 leaves at 20:30, 21:30 or 22:30 and gives you a free retry if you see nothing. Whether you see anything depends on the cloud and the sun. Nobody can promise either. Book it for your first clear night so the retry has room.
Daylight and weather
Reykjavík has about eight hours of daylight on 1 November and about five on the 30th, with sunrise close to eleven by the end of the month. A South Coast day still works in early November. By late November you’ll drive part of it in the dark. Autumn storms are common, and roads in the north and east can close for snow. Operators cancel when it’s unsafe, and you get a refund or a new date. Leave a spare day in your plan.
Our honest take
Come in the first half of November. You get the start of the Langjökull ice caves, reliable Jökulsárlón caves, long nights for the lights and just enough daylight for a proper day out. If the ice caves are the point of the trip, book the snowmobile tour from Gullfoss for a Golden Circle day and keep the Jökulsárlón caves for a night in the southeast.
Skip the whale watching unless you’re in Húsavík or Reykjavík anyway and don’t mind a cold, rough three hours. And don’t come in late November for a big south coast drive. Five hours of daylight is less than the drive to Jökulsárlón takes.
