Lake Mývatn in winter: what runs and what doesn't

Most of it runs. The lake area is lived in all year, the Ring Road to it is kept open, and the winter activities here are some of the best in the north. What changes is the length of the day and how often the weather gets a vote. Plan one spare day, stay at the lake if you can, and expect at least one change of plan.

Roads and getting there

From Akureyri to Mývatn is roughly 90 minutes on Road 1 in good conditions, through the Vaðlaheiði tunnel and over the moorland past Goðafoss. The road is serviced in winter, but the high ground between the lake and the east can close in a storm, sometimes for a day or more. Check umferdin.is and vedur.is the evening before and again in the morning.

Side roads are another matter. The winter tours still reach Krafla, but in their own vehicles. The gravel roads round the back of the lake, and anything towards Askja, are not. Dettifoss is reachable on the west side only, and not every day. Our Dettifoss guide has the detail.

If you’ve never driven on ice, don’t start here. Our winter driving guide says why.

Daylight

Around the winter solstice the sun rises near midday and sets around three, so it’s up for roughly three hours. Twilight adds a couple of usable hours either side, and snow on the ground makes the most of it. By mid-February you have seven or eight hours, and by April the days are longer than in Britain.

That’s why winter tours start early and stop less. You’ll see Goðafoss in blue light on the way out and drive home in the dark.

Tours from Akureyri

The classic Mývatn day runs all winter. We’d book Imagine Iceland’s 4x4 Lake Mývatn and Goðafoss Day Tour, from €244, eight hours in a small-group 4x4 from Akureyri. It covers Goðafoss, the pseudocraters, Dimmuborgir, Grjótagjá, the Hverir mud pots and the lake lagoon. Entry to the lagoon is not included.

Why the 4x4 over a coach: in snow, it’s the difference between stopping where the guide wants and stopping where there’s a cleared car park. The downside is the price, and that eight hours is a lot of the day in the car.

Our Mývatn day tour guide compares the summer options.

What runs from the lake

This is where winter is better than summer.

• Geo Travel’s Lake Mývatn 1-Hour Snowmobile Safari, from €218, an hour on the machine plus the kit-up, minimum age 12. We list it roughly from November to May, snow permitting.
• Mývatn Activity’s Snowshoeing in Krafla, from €138, three hours with a little over two of walking through the lava and steam at Krafla. Minimum age 12. Snowshoes and poles included; bring your own snack.
• Geo Travel’s Lofthellir Ice-Cave Exploration, from €364, four and a half hours by super jeep, a 30-minute walk over lava, then a crawl through a narrow entrance into a lava tube full of ice. Minimum age eight. Not for anyone claustrophobic.
• Safarihestar’s Riding on ice, from €139, about an hour in the saddle on the frozen lake, February and March, from Álftagerði on the south shore. Minimum age six. If there’s too much snow on the ice, they ride on land instead.

Northern lights

Mývatn has very little light pollution, which helps. Geo Travel’s Northern Lights tour from Lake Mývatn, from €182, leaves at 21:00 for two to three hours and drives to wherever the sky looks clearest. Clear skies are the whole game. We can’t promise you’ll see the lights, and nobody honest can.

Our northern lights season guide covers the months and the moon.

What doesn’t run, or runs less

• Askja and the highlands, apart from specialist super-jeep expeditions.
• The east bank of Dettifoss, except by super jeep in late winter.
• Cafés and some guesthouses round the lake keep shorter hours. Book dinner.
• The lake lagoon has been rebuilt and renamed Earth Lagoon. Check it’s open for your dates.

Our honest take

Don’t do Mývatn in winter as a day trip if you can avoid it. Two nights at the lake changes everything: a snowmobile or the ice cave by day, a lights tour by night, and a spare day for the storm that closes the road. If you only have Akureyri as a base, the 4x4 day is a good day out, but you’ll spend half the light in the car.

Of the activities, we’d pick snowshoeing at Krafla. It’s the cheapest, it’s quiet, and walking among steaming vents in snow is what winter here is for. The ice cave is the one to book if you want a story. The downside of all of it is the same: the weather decides, and you need to let it.