Northern lights in Iceland

September to April, when the nights are dark enough. Within that, late September to March gives the longest dark hours, and the equinox months, September and March, often have active skies. There are no lights in June or July; the sky never gets dark. Anyone selling you a June lights tour is selling you a bus ride. Give yourself at least three nights, because clouds, not the aurora, are the usual reason people miss them.

No. Nobody can promise them, and we will not. Two things have to line up: a clear sky and solar activity. Guides check the cloud forecast at vedur.is and drive to gaps, which is the real value of a tour over standing outside your hotel. What most operators do promise is a free second attempt if the lights do not show. Check the exact retry policy on the tour page, because the number of retries and the validity period vary.

Bus, if you want the best odds. A minibus can drive an hour inland to find a clear patch; a boat stays in Faxaflói and sees whatever sky is over Reykjavík. Boats are shorter, about two hours, and pleasant with hot chocolate, and Reykjavik Sailors' cruise (/experience/6637/) includes a free retry. For a serious hunt, a small-group minibus like BusTravel's (/experience/150646/) or a 4x4 tour (/experience/1088067/) is the better bet.

Yes, on strong nights. The city is small and the sky over the sea to the north is fairly dark. Grótta lighthouse at the western tip and the Ægisíða shoreline are the usual spots, twenty minutes' walk from the centre. On average nights the street lights drown out a faint aurora, which is why tours drive out. If the forecast shows high activity and clear sky, walk to Grótta first and save the tour money.

Most leave Reykjavík between 20:30 and 22:00 and return between midnight and 01:00, so plan a late breakfast the next day. The lights are most often active between 22:00 and 02:00. Tours are usually confirmed or cancelled around 17:00 to 18:00 the same day based on the cloud forecast, by email or text. Do not book a lights tour for your last night; if it is cancelled, you cannot use the retry.

Cold, mostly because you stand still for an hour or more at night. Air temperatures in winter hover around freezing in the south, but wind makes it feel much colder. Wear thermals, a wool jumper, an insulated jacket, a hat, gloves and warm boots. Bring a spare battery for your phone; cold drains them. Some tours include thermal suits or a campfire (/experience/1160634/), which makes a real difference on a long wait.

From €57 to €404 a person, with a typical price of €147. That is the median of 85 per-person day-tour fares we currently sell. Multi-day packages and private charters are priced differently and sit outside those figures.

Northern Lights at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon with Blue Iceland, at €57 a person. Read what it actually is before booking on price alone — the cheapest line is sometimes an admission ticket rather than a guided trip, and a large coach costs less per seat than a small-group minibus because it gives you less time at each stop.

1 of the 178 are priced on request rather than published, which almost always means a private charter where the cost depends on group size and pickup point. Ask us and we will get a quote from the operator.

178 of them, from 69 operators: BusTravel Iceland, Magic Iceland Travel , Gravel Travel, EastWest, Your Friend in Reykjavik, Iceland Premium Tours and 63 more. Every one is a company we hold a contract with — we do not list everything in Iceland, on purpose.

Day tours run from 1 hour to 16 hours, most commonly about 4 hours. Pickup and drop-off are usually inside that figure, so a three-hour tour from Reykjavík can mean closer to four door to door.

Yes — 20 of the 178 run over two days or more. Those include accommodation and usually breakfast; check the individual itinerary.

157 of 178 (88%) offer pickup. The rest ask you to meet on location. Pickup is the single most common cause of a missed tour in Iceland: it runs to a window rather than a time, and the bus will not wait long.

60 of the 178 are private, the other 118 are shared departures. Private costs more in total but is priced per vehicle, so for four or more people it often works out close per head — and you set the pace.

Across the next 360 days of live availability we hold departures in October, November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. That is a rolling window rather than the whole year, so a month missing from that list is not necessarily a month with nothing running.

178 of 178 run only part of the year; the other 0 run all year round. In Iceland that is usually about daylight or ice rather than demand.

Cutoffs run from 1 to 23 hours before departure, and 92 of them accept bookings inside 24 hours — so booking the night before is often possible. Popular winter tours sell out days ahead regardless of the cutoff.

133 of 178 (75%) allow free cancellation at least 24 hours before departure. The exact window is on each tour page and comes from the operator's own policy, not ours. If the operator cancels for weather you are refunded in full.

Operators rate them: 118 easy, 55 very easy, 5 moderate. Iceland's ratings assume weather — an easy walk in still air is a different proposition in 15 m/s of wind.

52 of the 178 set one, ranging from 1 to 14 years. The rest have no stated minimum, which usually means infants are allowed but not that the tour suits them.

118 of 178 are marked family-friendly by the operator. That is their judgement rather than ours, and it usually means the walking is short and the vehicle has a toilet.

Operators have flagged accessibility on some: 13 for prams and strollers, 5 for wheelchair users, 3 for limited mobility, 2 for limited sight. Ring us before booking rather than relying on the flag alone — Icelandic sites vary enormously and a flag does not describe the terrain at the stop.

Varies by operator. Across these: wi-fi on board on 38, food and drink on 21, admission fees on 9, parking fees on 8, bus fare on 6. Anything not listed as included is not included — Icelandic operators are literal about this.

151 of 178 are guided in person, with guiding offered in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German and 5 more. English is standard on every shared departure in Iceland; other languages usually mean a private guide.

They start from Capital Region (Reykjavík), South Coast (Hella, Hvolsvöllur, Vík), Akureyri & the North, Westfjords (Ísafjörður, Hólmavík), Vatnajökull (Skaftafell, Höfn), Reykjanes & Blue Lagoon. Where a tour starts matters more in Iceland than how long it lasts: the same tour from Reykjavík and from Vík are different days entirely.

The operator cancels and refunds you in full — Icelandic operators cancel readily, and that is a good sign rather than a bad one. What they will not do is refund you for a tour that ran and simply had poor visibility. Wind cancels more tours here than rain or cold.