Northern Lights

The aurora borealis takes its name from Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn, and Boreas, the Greek word for the north wind. It forms when particles carried from the sun by the solar wind meet the Earth's magnetic field and make gases high in the atmosphere glow. The usual colour is green, sometimes with purple or pink at the edges.

Iceland lies close to the Arctic Circle, inside the oval band where the aurora is most often seen. The lights are there in summer too, but the nights are too bright to see them. From September to April the nights are long and dark enough, and activity is often said to peak around the equinoxes in September and March.

In Icelandic the lights are norðurljós. On a strong night they can be seen over Reykjavík itself, from places such as the Grótta lighthouse at the tip of Seltjarnarnes or the hill at Öskjuhlíð. Street lights still wash out fainter displays, which is why tours head into the countryside. Out there, with no light on the ground, even a weak aurora stands out against the stars.

Tours leave Reykjavík in the evening and usually last around four hours, longer on a good night. The guide checks the forecast before you set off and chooses a direction, sometimes changing plans on the road to chase a break in the clouds.

Once you stop, you step out into the dark and wait. Displays come and go: a faint arc may sit on the horizon for half an hour, then brighten and move across the sky in a few minutes. Some nights bring nothing at all. Many tours serve hot chocolate and Icelandic pastries while you wait, lend blankets or hand warmers, and take photos of you under the lights.

To the eye, a weak aurora can look like a pale grey cloud. A camera often shows more colour than you see, so do not judge the sky only by your phone screen. For your own pictures, use night mode and rest the phone on something steady, or bring a small tripod. Set it up before you leave, because adjusting settings with cold fingers is hard.

If the lights do not show, many operators offer a free retry or let you rebook on another night. Terms vary, so check the card before you book, and plan the tour early in your stay so there is time to go again.

The season runs from September to April. December and January have the longest nights. September, October and March bring milder weather and, often, strong activity around the equinoxes.

The lights are most often active between 22:00 and 02:00, but they can appear any time it is dark. A clear sky matters more than a high activity number. A bright moon makes faint displays harder to see, though it also lights the landscape for photos.

The Icelandic Met Office publishes an aurora forecast on vedur.is. It shows expected activity at midnight on a scale from 0 to 9, a cloud cover map of Iceland and the times of darkness and moonrise for Reykjavík. Even a reading of 2 or 3 can give a good show if the sky is clear.