Northern Lights Tour

Norðurljósaferð (Northern lights tour)

On a clear night, waiting in a dark field for the green curtain

⚠ Sept–Apr; weather-dependent

Hours

Bus tours usually leave 8–9 pm for 3–5 hours; Elding's aurora cruise sails at 21:00 October–February (1.5–2.5 hours)

Tickets

Elding Northern Lights Cruise: adults ISK 14,500, ages 7–15 ISK 7,250 (Apr 2025–Mar 2027 list). Bus tours vary by operator

Address

Cruises leave from Ægisgarður, Old Harbour; bus tours pick up at hotels and bus stops

After dinner the tour bus loops through town collecting people while the guide reads the cloud maps and picks a destination. You stand in a pitch-dark field for a while; first a faint whitish band appears, almost like cloud, then it thickens to green and starts rippling across the sky. Cameras pick it up far brighter than your eyes do. Often the cold, boring wait lasts longer than the show, but when it really goes off, everyone goes quiet. There are also boat trips that take you out into the bay, away from the city lights.