Iceland in September: what tours run
Nearly everything runs in September. Puffin boats have stopped, the Highland day tours run to the 30th, and northern lights tours start nightly.
The short version
- Reykjavík puffin boat tours showed no departures in our calendars after 9 September.
- Shared Highland day tours to Landmannalaugar and Kerlingarfjöll ran until 30 September.
- Northern lights tours from Reykjavík had departures almost every night from 10 September.
- The Katla ice cave near Vík runs in September; the Vatnajökull caves near Jökulsárlón do not open until October.
- Reykjavík has about 14½ hours of daylight on 1 September and under 12 by the 30th.
Almost everything runs in September. It’s the one month when you can still get into the Highlands and also hunt the northern lights, often on the same trip. What you lose is the puffins, which have gone from the Reykjavík boats by the start of the month. The Golden Circle, the South Coast and whale watching run on their summer timetables, with noticeably fewer people on them after the first week.
What the calendars showed
We keep a daily copy of the booking calendars for every tour we sell, so we counted last September. About 1,030 of our tours had a departure on 20 September and about 1,080 on the 30th. The evening tours are back by then. Around 100 northern lights tours had a date on any given night in the second half of the month.
What has already stopped: puffins
The puffins leave the islands off Reykjavík in mid to late August. Our calendars showed no departures for any of the Reykjavík puffin boats after 9 September. A few tours still carry “puffin” in the name because they run all year as whale trips. Ignore the name and book a whale tour instead. If puffins are the point of your trip, come in June or July.
The Highlands, until the 30th
September is your last chance at the interior. The mountain roads are unsurfaced, and the first snow can arrive any week from now on. The shared day tours ran right up to 30 September last year, then stopped.
The one we’d book is Magic Iceland Travel’s Landmannalaugar Highlands 4x4 Minibus Tour with Hot Spring Bath from €198. It’s about 13 hours from Reykjavík, with a guided hike and a soak in the hot springs at Landmannalaugar. If you’d rather sit in a bigger vehicle and walk less, Gravel Travel’s Landmannalaugar Super Jeep from Reykjavik from €339 is 11 hours and runs into the first days of October in our calendars.
Two warnings. These are long days, most of them in a vehicle. And Highland tours are the first to be cancelled when the weather turns, so don’t put one on your last day. For more on the roads and the season, see Landmannalaugar: season, F-roads and super jeeps.
Ice caves: Katla yes, Vatnajökull not yet
The famous blue caves under Vatnajökull, near Jökulsárlón, need cold weather to be safe. They don’t open until October. In September the ice cave that runs is Katla, under Mýrdalsjökull, about 30 minutes from Vík. It’s darker ice with black ash layers rather than the clear blue of the photos, and it’s open all year.
From Reykjavík, Arctic Adventures’ Katla Ice Cave and South Coast tour from €263 is a 12-hour day with the waterfalls on the way. If you’re already staying near Vík, Gravel Travel’s Vík to Katla Ice Cave Adventure from €218 is three hours and saves you the drive. We’d take the second if you can.
Northern lights and whales
By mid-September the nights are dark enough to hunt the lights. BusTravel’s Northern Lights Bus Tour from Reykjavík from €73 had departures on almost every night from 10 September. It includes a free retry if you see nothing. Nobody can promise the lights. They need a clear sky and an active sun, and September is often cloudy. Book it early in your stay so the retry has room.
Whale watching runs daily from the Old Harbour. The Whale Watching Cruise from Reykjavík from €98 is three and a half hours on a small yacht. Humpbacks and minke whales are still feeding in Faxaflói Bay, and sightings are good. They aren’t certain.
Daylight and weather
Reykjavík has about 14½ hours of daylight on 1 September and a little under 12 by the 30th. That’s still plenty for a long South Coast day. September is also when the autumn storms start. A windy day can cancel boats and Highland tours at short notice. Operators cancel when it’s unsafe, and you get a refund or a new date. Leave one spare day in your plan.
Our honest take
September is one of the best months to come, and we’d pick the second half over the first. You get quieter roads, dark nights for the lights, and the last of the Highland tours. Book Landmannalaugar for the middle of your trip, not the end, so a cancelled day can move. Do the Katla ice cave if you’re on the South Coast, but don’t expect the blue caves of the winter photos. If puffins matter to you, September is the wrong month. Everything else is on.
