Taking a Northern Lights Tour in Iceland
The Northern Lights appear in the winter sky over Iceland.
It happens in the blink of an eye: the Northern Lights. As if it were always there, but you had to earn the right to see it. It watched you, standing, shivering through your layers of clothing in the freezing night, waiting for you to do your time before rewarding you with its beauty…
The air was cold and unwelcoming as we filed off the coach with about 35 other people. I was tired; it was our first day in Reykjavik and we’d spent the day exploring the city excitedly – the kind of enthusiasm to walk and climb hills and explore without rest that I only ever seem to find on holiday. It was a perfect winter day. Snow had fallen before our arrival and thick, powdery banks of it lined the streets in the city as we walked around under a clear blue sky, savouring the golden warmth of the winter sun. But now it was 11pm and, after an hour’s drive out of the city, we had only just arrived at the place where we were told we had the best chance of viewing the most beautiful, most elusive of things: the Northern Lights.
Leaving on a Northern Lights tour from Reykjavik
As we boarded the bus around 10pm I had prepared for disappointment, repeating what I’d read in websites and guidebooks to convince myself. “We shouldn’t base our whole holiday around seeing them. We will be seeing so many other incredible sights over the next ten days, the Northern Lights might be one of them but it isn’t the only reason we came here….”
Soon there was nothing to see but darkness as we were driven almost an hour out of the city to our stop for the night. I will admit that, as I was jostled around by people surging off a coach in a lay-by in next to an ice field, the disappointment was real.
We walked away from the coach, letting our eyes adjust to the darkness. Slowly the black veil began to lift, and that cold sky revealed something altogether unexpected – life in that immense darkness. Living in the middle of a city in northern Europe, it’s not often I get to see stars. But out in the Icelandic wilderness the sky was decorated with them.
What happens on a Northern Lights Tour in Iceland?
I could just about hear our guide’s voice over the quiet hum of the other visitors. I looked around – we had only walked 50 metres from the coach but had found our own space where, looking straight ahead, there was nothing but stars and snow in sight. The guide motioned to different constellations and planets in the sparkling tapestry above us, and soon the shooting stars were so bright and frequent we didn’t need to point them out to each other. It was a wonderful stretch of time. My limbs forgot the cold. Seeing such a complete night sky was a memorable experience in itself.
And that’s when they came.
It was colourless at first. A wisp of white cloud blooming from the darkness. Then, as if an artist had touched the white canvas with the tip of their brush, the colour slowly bled out into a green streak across the sky. It moved slowly, choreographed beams arching over us until the whole horizon glowed with colour. And then, nothing. Gone as quick as it came. A cry in the background and we turned our heads… behind us, the show began again. Rivers of colour - mainly green but some pink and red - weaving their way between the stars. Ribbons undulating in the gentle breeze. Mystical and magical, it is hard to find the words and even harder to describe the feeling when it happens. At first it was confusion. Is that them? Are we seeing the Northern Lights? And then… silent awe.
The Northern Lights in Mythology
Most northern cultures have legends about the aurora. My favourite is that the colours are reflections from the armour of the Valkyrie – female warriors sent by Odin to collect the souls that die in battle and guide them back to Valhalla. It’s easy to understand how this phenomenon would be witnessed on earth and explained as a divine intervention. I can imagine scholars of the time kneeling in the harsh landscape, analysing these celestial visions as they painted their message from beyond across the night sky. Thousands of years later we too stood in that snow field, revolving our heads in time with the dancing colours, studying their secrets.
After 90 minutes we reluctantly stepped back into the warmth of the coach, ready to journey back to the city. I’d lost all sense of my earlier tiredness. My eyes remained glued to the window the whole way, as flashes of colour continued to erupt from above as if waving goodnight.
Taking a Northern Lights in Iceland
Is seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland on your bucket list? We did our tour with Reykjavik Sightseeing. It was well organised, the guides gave us plenty of information about the night sky and if weather conditions are unfavourable you can book on for another day free of charge. Make sure to leave plenty of time for this in your trip!
It’s quite a big group size, but whilst it’s not a private experience there is a lot of space so it didn’t feel crowded. The guides also take long exposure pictures with their camera and tripod, which is the best way to capture the lights on film - it won’t show up on your phone camera the same way. After our trip, I emailed to ask if they could send the pictures of us and a few of the sky that night in higher resolution and they did so without charge, which is a great service!
I would recommend Reykjavik Sightseeing as a way to see the Northern Lights from Reykjavik. Click here to book our tour on TripAdvisor.*
*Affiliate link - if you click through and book we will earn a small commission. There will be no extra cost to you!
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