A Guide to Northern Lights Tours in Iceland

Finding an Iceland Northern Lights Tour Guide

Deciding on whether to do a Northern Lights Tour in Iceland, or to try and find the Aurora Borealis yourself can be a tricky decision to make. Your options are essentially to try and find them yourself or to join a tour. There are pros and cons to each.

If you’re not hiring a car in Iceland, than a northern lights tour is a must-do if you want to maximise your chances of seeing the northern lights during your Iceland trip.

Even if you are bringing a car, northern lights tour guides bring great knowledge on the best places to go to find the lights, so trying a guided tour can maximise your chances of seeing the aurora.

When to book a northern lights tour in Iceland

If you’re wondering on how to know whether it’s worth booking a northern lights tour in Iceland, then there’s a few things you need to consider.

Are you renting a car? If yes, then you have the freedom to go and chase the northern lights yourself, visit wherever you want, whenever you want, for however long you want. The bonus of this is it’s all to your own schedule. A guided northern lights tour can be a nice add-on but is not necessary.

If you’re not renting a car on your trip to Iceland, then a northern lights tour is definitely a great option to help hunt for the aurora in more remote areas that aren’t possible to reach without a car.

Even if you are renting a car, sometimes a northern lights tour can still be a great option if you want to speak to local guides and get the best tips for finding the northern lights during your trip to Iceland.

How to know when to book an Iceland northern lights tour

Generally, people who choose not to rent a car during their visit to Iceland tend to stay in Reykjavik, which is Iceland’s capital city. While there are tour providers that go from elsewhere in Iceland, most northern lights excursions tend to pick people up from Reykjavik. So this will be the best place to base.

Another popular pick-up point for northern lights excursions in Iceland is from the city of Akureyri, located in the north of Iceland. This is the second biggest city in Iceland and another popular place to base.

Northern lights Tours from Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the most popular destination for northern lights excursions to pick-up from. A great place to find popular tour providers is on Get Your Guide.

Northern Lights Tours from Akureyri

Akureyri is another city in Iceland that offers a popular pick-up point for northern lights excursions. Check out some popular tour providers below:

What to know before going on an Iceland northern lights tour

It isn’t necessary to book the Northern Lights Tours super in advance, as the tour providers generally put on multiple buses, especially for tours going from Reykjavik

One thing to keep in mind is that the buses aren’t always the most spacious, so try to do your best to travel light.

The duration of northern lights tours depends on the provider you go with, but the majority seem to be around 4 hours long.

What if I don’t see the northern lights on my tour?

The northern lights are unpredictable, so it’s not always guaranteed that you’ll see them.

Factors such as cloud coverage and Kp-index (intensity of geomagnetic activity, which causes the lights) can impact your chances of seeing the lights.

However, most tours do offer a second tour free of charge on a different night if you don’t manage to see them on your first attempt.

How to photograph the northern lights in Iceland 

You can use a camera or a smartphone camera to shoot the northern lights. It’s important to be prepared and know what settings you need your camera or smartphone to be on in order to capture the northern lights. This will save you valuable time messing about with your camera settings in the dark and missing the aurora during your visit to Iceland.

Tips for Shooting the Northern Lights using a Smartphone Camera:

• Bring a phone tripod – A phone tripod can make a huge difference to the quality of your pictures, as it will provide more stability. If you shoot without one, then you need to have a steady hand in order to get clear shots.
• Switch to night mode – Newer iPhone and Android phone models have a night mode on their cameras. Shooting in night mode allows you to adjust the exposure time to capture the aurora more clearly.
• Turn off flash – you’re going to want to keep your flash off & stick to night mode while shooting the aurora. This not only brings out better quality pictures for yourself, but also prevents annoying others around you with excessive light (which is not good for shooting the northern lights).
• Set low exposure – Take the exposure as low as possible.
• Shoot in RAW – Some newer smartphones have the option to shoot in RAW. While you can still capture the northern lights without this setting, shooting in RAW will allow you to capture the aurora in more detail, as well as ensuring your images are in the optimal format for editing your pictures after shooting.

Tips for if you’re shooting the northern lights using a camera:

• Use a tripod  – Bring a tripod on your trip to Iceland if you’re planning on taking photos of the northern lights. This is best for stability in order to get non-blurry shots.
• Use manual mode – Generally speaking, auto modes on cameras cannot effectively handle the extreme contrast of a dark sky with the bright moving lights of the aurora. Manual mode allows you to control and adjust the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to your needs.
• Set your focus on the farthest possible point – Rather than adjust this during the dark while the aurora is happening, try to set it during the daylight hours while visibility is still good, so you’re more prepared when it comes to shooting the aurora.
• Use a wide aperture – To ensure your photos of the northern lights are in focus, use a wide aperture. You’ll want to go to the lowest possible f-stop.
• Set a long shutter speed – The exact setting you will need will depend on how fast the Aurora is moving, so this will involve some trial and error. If the lights are moving faster, then you’ll want to move the shutter speed lower.
• Set ISO value to high – As you’ll be photographing in the dark, set your camera’s ISO value to high.

One great thing about doing a northern lights tour is that the guides are also generally experienced in knowing what settings to have your phone or camera on in order to capture the best pictures of the aurora, so speaking to a northern lights tour guide can be a great way to get more photography tips. 

Iceland Northern Lights Tour FAQ

When can you see the northern lights in Iceland?

The best time to see the northern lights in Iceland is between September and mid-April, particularly around March, September and October, which is when the equinoxes are. To see the northern lights in Iceland, you will need to ensure you are in a low-light pollution and low cloud coverage area.

How much does it cost to go to Iceland to see the Northern Lights?

The price of joining a guided northern lights tour in Iceland can vary, generally, northern lights tours can cost anywhere from 8200 ISK to 32800 ISK. This roughly equals £50 to £200, $66 USD to $260 USD, or 57€ to 228€. Prices can depend on the size of the group, the vehicle and any additional activities. For example, some providers will offer northern lights tours in conjunction with other excursions, which will bring the price up.

Do I need a tour to see the Northern Lights in Iceland?

You don’t have to take a northern lights tour in order to spot the aurora in Iceland, but taking a guided northern lights tour can make it significantly easier to find the northern lights. Northern Lights Tour Guides generally know the areas where the lights are most commonly found, which happen to be away from the city lights outside of Reykjavik. The affordability of doing a northern lights tour, combined with the convenience of having a guide who is knowledgeable on where to find the aurora, makes a northern lights tour worthwhile during your visit to Iceland. These tours run regularly from September to April.