How To Hunt Northern Lights in Reykjavik, Iceland

Learn how to hunt Northern Lights in Reykjavik, Iceland, with my favourite viewing spots, aurora forecasts, tours, self-driving tips and photography advice.

Hunting the Northern Lights was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to travel to Iceland. After spending a whole week in Rovaniemi trying unsuccessfully to see them because of clouds, Iceland was finally the place where I got lucky.

I visited Iceland during a five-day road trip around late September and early October. This time, the difference was huge: I managed to see the Northern Lights on four of my five nights, including around Reykjavik and later on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.

The experience completely changed how I think about aurora hunting. Before my first Northern Lights trip, I thought the most important things were simply travelling somewhere far north and checking whether the aurora forecast was strong.

After Finland and Iceland, I learned to pay much more attention to cloud cover, darkness and location. Here is everything I would recommend for hunting the Northern Lights in Reykjavik, including the lakeside parking spot where I successfully saw them twice — and even saw red aurora!

Why Is Reykjavik a Good Place to See the Northern Lights?

Reykjavik is a very convenient base for Northern Lights hunting because you can combine a city trip with aurora hunting nearby. You do not necessarily need to travel deep into the Icelandic countryside, as there are darker coastal areas, parks and lakes within a relatively short distance of the city.

Another advantage is that there is so much to do during the daytime. You can explore Reykjavik, drive the Golden Circle, visit waterfalls, hot springs and black-sand beaches, then start hunting the Northern Lights after dark.

That was something I really liked about Iceland. I did not need to spend the whole day waiting for nighttime because aurora hunting simply became another activity at the end of each day.

My unsuccessful week in Finland also taught me an important lesson: never build your entire trip around the Northern Lights. You can read more about that experience in my guide to hunting the Northern Lights in Rovaniemi.

When Can You See the Northern Lights in Reykjavik?

The Northern Lights season in Iceland generally runs from around late August until late April, when the nights become dark enough to see them. I visited around late September and early October, and I really liked this timing. The nights were already dark enough for aurora hunting, while I could still enjoy an autumn road trip without dealing with the deepest winter conditions.

During my trip, I started seriously checking the sky from around 9 PM. However, there is no exact hour when the Northern Lights suddenly appear. A useful window is usually around 10 PM to 1 AM, but they can appear earlier or later depending on the darkness, solar activity and weather.

If seeing the Northern Lights is important to you, do not plan only one night for it. Give yourself at least three or four nights, because Icelandic weather can change dramatically from one evening to another.

Where to Stay in Reykjavik for Northern Lights Hunting

Where you stay depends mostly on whether you have a car. If you are renting a car, I would choose accommodation based on convenience for your overall Iceland trip. You can stay in central Reykjavik and simply drive somewhere darker when the sky looks promising.

Without a car, I think Seltjarnarnes is a particularly good area to consider. It is still close enough to Reykjavik that many Northern Lights tours can pick you up at or near your accommodation, but you also have darker and more open coastal areas nearby.

On a clear night, you may not need a tour at all. You can simply walk towards the coast and try hunting the aurora yourself, especially around Grótta Lighthouse.

For me, this makes Seltjarnarnes a very practical base if seeing the Northern Lights is one of your priorities. You can still easily reach Reykjavik while having much better opportunities for spontaneous aurora hunting whenever the sky suddenly becomes clear.

How to Hunt the Northern Lights in Reykjavik

There are basically three ways to hunt the Northern Lights around Reykjavik:

• Join a Northern Lights tour.
• Rent a car and hunt them yourself.
• Stay around Reykjavik and hunt them independently without a car.

Each option has advantages, and I have tried both organised tours and independent hunting on my Northern Lights trips.

Option 1: Book a Northern Lights Tour

If you do not have a car, do not feel comfortable driving in Iceland at night or simply do not want to analyse the weather yourself, joining a Northern Lights tour is the easiest option. Tours usually take you away from the brightest parts of Reykjavik and search for areas with darker skies and better weather conditions.

Depending on the company, you can choose large buses, minibuses, Super Jeeps or even Northern Lights boat tours. The biggest advantage is not that a tour can guarantee you will see the aurora. Nobody can guarantee that.

Instead, you benefit from local guides who understand the weather, know different viewing locations and can decide where to go based on the conditions that evening. Before booking, check the company’s retry policy.

Some Northern Lights tours allow you to join another evening for free if you do not see anything during your first tour. Because of this, I recommend booking your first tour near the beginning of your trip rather than leaving it until your final night.

I would love to recommend the Northern Lights tour company I used, but unfortunately, it has since gone bankrupt. I especially liked that they offered unlimited repeat trips until you saw the aurora, which was perfect when the weather did not cooperate.

So instead, here are a few other Northern Lights tours from Reykjavik worth considering. I recommend checking their retry policy and booking early in your trip, so you have another chance if needed.

• From Reykjavik: Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoa
• Reykjavik: Northern Lights Yacht Tour
• Reykjavik Excursions by Icelandia. With Reykjavik Excursions, if you don‘t see northern lights in the first time, you can re-book again for another night free of charge as many times as you need until you see it.

Option 2: Hunt the Northern Lights Yourself With a Car

This is my favourite option in Iceland. Having your own car gives you something extremely valuable when hunting the Northern Lights: mobility.

If Reykjavik is cloudy, you can check whether clearer skies are predicted somewhere outside the city and drive towards them. Icelandic weather can be very local, so the conditions can sometimes be completely different only a short distance away.

My first step is always checking the Icelandic Meteorological Office’s aurora forecast. Do not only look at the aurora activity number. Look at the cloud map first.

If Reykjavik is covered by clouds but another nearby area is clear, I would rather drive towards the clear sky than stay under clouds simply because the aurora forecast says the activity is strong. However, road safety is much more important than seeing the Northern Lights.

Never suddenly stop on the road when you see the aurora. Continue driving until you find a proper parking place where you can safely leave your car.

Option 3: Hunt the Northern Lights Yourself Without a Car

Yes, you can see the Northern Lights around Reykjavik without a car and without joining a tour. You simply have less flexibility.

If the entire Reykjavik area is cloudy, you cannot easily drive towards another clear area. But on a clear night with good aurora activity, there are several places around the city where you can escape some of the strongest light pollution.

Seltjarnarnes is one of the areas I would consider first because you can stay relatively close to Reykjavik while having darker coastal spaces nearby. You can also try city parks, the waterfront or other open areas when the aurora becomes strong.

Best Places to Hunt the Northern Lights in Reykjavik

These are the locations I would save on Google Maps before travelling to Reykjavik. Some are easy options close to the city, while others are better if you have a rental car.

1. Grótta Lighthouse, Seltjarnarnes

Grótta Lighthouse is probably one of the best-known Northern Lights spots around Reykjavik. It is located at the western end of Seltjarnarnes and faces the ocean, giving you a wide horizon and considerably less light pollution than central Reykjavik.

This is also one of the reasons I think Seltjarnarnes is a good area to stay if Northern Lights hunting is important to you. You remain close enough to Reykjavik for sightseeing and tour pickups while also having somewhere to hunt the aurora independently on a clear night.

Grótta can also be beautiful for photography because the lighthouse and coastline give you a foreground instead of photographing only the sky. One thing to remember is that the lighthouse itself is located across a tidal area. You do not need to walk all the way to the lighthouse to see the Northern Lights, so I would stay in the accessible coastal area at night.

2. Helluvatn Parking Area — My Favourite Spot

Heiðmörk Bílastæði Helluvatni is the place I personally recommend the most. It is a parking area between the lakes around Helluvatn and Elliðavatn, outside the brightest parts of Reykjavik but still relatively close to the city.

I successfully saw the Northern Lights here twice during my Iceland trip. And one of those nights was particularly memorable because I could even see red colour in the aurora.

After spending seven cloudy nights in Rovaniemi without seeing anything, standing beside the lakes in Iceland and finally seeing green and red aurora felt incredibly special. Another thing I liked about this location was how simple it was.

There was no tour, no expensive ticket and no complicated planning. We simply drove there, parked the car and waited.

Of course, seeing the Northern Lights here twice does not mean they are guaranteed. The weather, cloud cover and solar activity still decide everything. But if I returned to Reykjavik with a car, this would definitely be one of the first places I would check again.

3. Rauðhólar and Heiðmörk

Another good option is Rauðhólar, located in the Heiðmörk area on the southeastern side of Reykjavik. It is close to the lake area as well and gives you another option away from the brighter city centre.

Rauðhólar is known for its red volcanic formations, so the landscape can also make Northern Lights photography more interesting if you arrive before it becomes completely dark and find a good composition. I would keep this location as an alternative to Helluvatn.

There is usually no reason to spend the whole night driving between different locations when you already have clear skies. If the conditions are good where you are, I prefer staying there and waiting.

4. Helgafell Parking Area

Another place worth saving is Bílastæði Helgafell, near Hafnarfjörður outside Reykjavik. This is also an area where some Northern Lights tours bring tourists to hunt the aurora.

That makes sense because you are farther away from the strongest city lights and surrounded by more open landscapes. If you visit independently, I would use the parking area as your viewing base rather than trying to hike Helgafell at night.

Northern Lights hunting already involves darkness, cold weather and unfamiliar terrain. There is no need to add a nighttime mountain hike to the experience.

5. Öskjuhlíð Hill

Öskjuhlíð is the wooded hill around Perlan and is much closer to central Reykjavik. Because it has open viewpoints and wooded areas that block some city lighting, it can be another option if you do not want to travel far.

I would look for an open area with a wide view of the sky rather than standing underneath dense trees. It is not as dark as countryside locations such as Helluvatn, but during strong activity you may not need perfectly dark skies anyway.

6. Klambratún Park

Klambratún is another convenient option inside Reykjavik. The large open park gives you a much wider view of the sky compared with standing between buildings downtown.

I would consider this more of a spontaneous viewing location than somewhere I would specifically drive to for an entire evening. If you are staying nearby and suddenly notice strong aurora activity, however, it is an easy place to go outside and look.

7. Tjörnin Lake

Tjörnin is right in central Reykjavik and can be surprisingly useful when the Northern Lights become strong. The lake provides an open view of the sky, and when conditions are calm, you may even get aurora reflections on the water.

However, there is much more light pollution here than around Helluvatn or Heiðmörk. Also, Tjörnin is not the lakeside location where I saw the Northern Lights twice. My successful spot was the Helluvatn parking area mentioned above.

8. Reykjavik Waterfront and Old Harbour

If you are already staying downtown, the waterfront is another easy place to check. Looking towards the ocean gives you a more open horizon than standing between buildings and streetlights.

It is particularly convenient when the aurora suddenly becomes strong and you do not have time or transport to travel somewhere else. For weaker displays, though, I would still prefer somewhere darker.

Check the Clouds Before Checking the Aurora Activity

This is probably the most important lesson I learned from hunting the Northern Lights in both Finland and Iceland. Check the clouds first.

You can have an extremely strong aurora directly above your head, but if thick clouds cover the sky, you will see nothing. That was exactly what happened to me in Rovaniemi.

During that seven-day trip, solar activity was strong on several nights, but the sky remained covered by clouds. In Iceland, I had much better luck.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office’s aurora forecast is one of the most useful tools for planning your evening. On the cloud map, look for areas with clearer skies and compare the forecast for different hours of the evening.

If you have a car, this information becomes particularly useful because you can move towards an area with better conditions.

Do Not Obsess Over the Kp Index

Almost everyone starts Northern Lights hunting by looking at the Kp number. It is useful, but I would never decide whether to go outside based only on Kp.

A moderate aurora under completely clear skies can be much more enjoyable than an extremely strong aurora hidden behind thick clouds. My priority is usually:

Cloud cover → darkness → aurora activity → viewing location. Not the other way around.

Look for Somewhere Dark

Light pollution does not stop the Northern Lights from happening, but it makes weaker activity more difficult to see. During a very strong display, you may see green aurora directly above Reykjavik. During weaker activity, moving somewhere darker can make an enormous difference.

Try to avoid standing directly under streetlights. Even moving behind a building, towards the coast or into a darker parking area can help your eyes adjust.

This was another reason I liked Helluvatn. It was dark enough to feel properly away from the city without requiring a very long drive.

Give Your Eyes Time to Adjust

When you arrive at a dark location, do not immediately assume there is nothing in the sky. Your eyes need some time to adjust to the darkness.

Try not to stare constantly at a bright phone screen. Every time you look at your phone, your eyes need time to readjust.

Sometimes a weak aurora does not initially look bright green either. It may appear like a pale grey or slightly green cloud.

Use Your Phone to Check Suspicious Clouds

This was something I learned very quickly while hunting the Northern Lights. If you see something that looks like a strange pale cloud, take a photo using Night Mode.

Your phone camera can collect more light than your eyes over several seconds, so something that looks grey or almost colourless may suddenly appear obviously green in the photo. Once you have seen the Northern Lights several times, it becomes much easier to recognise them.

During stronger activity, of course, there is no question. You will know exactly what you are looking at.

Can You Really See Red Northern Lights?

Yes! I was lucky enough to see red colour during one of my successful nights at the Helluvatn parking area.

Green is by far the colour people most commonly associate with the Northern Lights, but auroras can also appear red, pink, purple or combinations of several colours. Different colours are related to interactions between charged particles and gases in Earth’s atmosphere at different altitudes.

Red aurora is generally less common than green, which made seeing it in Iceland even more memorable for me. One thing to remember is that cameras often capture aurora colours more strongly than our eyes. A colour that looks slightly pink or reddish to you may appear much more dramatic in your photograph.

Prepare for Icelandic Wind

Reykjavik is not necessarily as cold as Lapland, but Iceland has another enemy: wind. Standing outside beside a lake or the ocean for one or two hours can feel much colder than the temperature shown on your weather app.

Aurora hunting also involves a lot of standing still. When you are hiking, your body generates heat. When you are standing beside your car staring at the sky, you become cold much faster.

Wear thermal layers, a fleece or warm sweater, a windproof and waterproof outer jacket, gloves, warm socks and proper shoes. I also like bringing a warm drink. You may spend much more time waiting than actually watching the Northern Lights.

Bring a Power Bank

Your phone becomes surprisingly important during a Northern Lights hunt. You may use it for:

• Aurora forecasts.
• Cloud maps.
• Navigation.
• Weather warnings.
• Photography.
• Checking road conditions.

Cold weather also makes phone batteries drain faster. Bring a fully charged power bank and keep your phone relatively warm when you are not using it.

I also recommend saving your viewing locations before leaving your accommodation. You do not want to spend half your evening searching for locations in the dark.

Be Patient

Northern Lights hunting requires patience. You may wait for one hour and see almost nothing. Then suddenly, within a few minutes, a faint green line can become a huge curtain moving across the sky.

That unpredictability is part of what makes seeing the aurora so exciting. Do not immediately give up because nothing happens during your first 20 or 30 minutes.

At the same time, patience cannot remove clouds. If the entire area is completely covered and the forecast shows no realistic chance of clearing, I would rather return to my accommodation, sleep and try again the next night.

How to Photograph the Northern Lights

You do not necessarily need an expensive professional camera anymore. Modern phones with Night Mode can take surprisingly good Northern Lights photographs.

The most important thing is keeping your phone stable. Use a small tripod if possible, or place your phone against something solid while taking the photo.

For cameras, start with a wide aperture and an exposure of a few seconds. If the aurora is weak, you can increase the exposure time. If the Northern Lights are moving quickly and becoming very bright, reduce it.

A very long exposure may make the aurora brighter, but it can also blur all the beautiful shapes and movement. I also recommend including something in the foreground. A lighthouse, lake, mountain or coastline makes your image much more interesting than photographing only a green sky.

And most importantly, once you have enough photos, put your phone or camera down. Watching the Northern Lights move across the sky with your own eyes is completely different from looking at them through a screen.

What If Reykjavik Is Cloudy?

Do not immediately give up. Cloud cover can vary significantly between different areas of Iceland.

Check the Icelandic Meteorological Office’s aurora forecast and see whether there are clearer areas within a reasonable driving distance. If you have a car and road conditions are safe, you can move towards clearer skies.

However, sometimes the answer really is simply no. I experienced that for an entire week in Finland. No amount of driving, apps or optimism can make you see the Northern Lights through completely opaque clouds.

Fortunately, Iceland has so much to explore during the daytime that a failed aurora evening does not need to ruin the trip. Try again tomorrow.

Can You See the Northern Lights From Reykjavik City Centre?

Yes. When aurora activity is strong and the sky is clear, you can see the Northern Lights from Reykjavik itself.

But I would not plan my entire trip around watching from a brightly lit downtown street. Move towards somewhere open and away from direct streetlights whenever possible.

Tjörnin, the waterfront and some of Reykjavik’s parks are easy options. If you can travel slightly farther, Seltjarnarnes, Helluvatn and Heiðmörk give you much darker surroundings.

Can You Hunt the Northern Lights in Reykjavik Without a Tour?

Absolutely. I successfully hunted the Northern Lights independently during my Iceland trip. If you have a car, check the cloud forecast, save several potential locations and drive somewhere with clear skies and low light pollution.

Without a car, you still have options. This is one reason I like Seltjarnarnes as a base. You can join an organised Northern Lights tour when necessary, but on a clear night you also have darker coastal areas around Grótta Lighthouse where you can try hunting them yourself.

Do You Need a Car to Hunt the Northern Lights in Reykjavik?

No. A car gives you much more flexibility, but it is not essential. Without a car, you can stay somewhere such as Seltjarnarnes, look for the aurora around darker coastal areas or join an organised tour when conditions require travelling farther.

With a car, however, your strategy becomes much more flexible. Instead of asking: “Will I see the Northern Lights in Reykjavik tonight?”

You can ask: “Where near Reykjavik will I have the clearest sky tonight?” That is a much better question.

Is a Northern Lights Tour Worth It in Reykjavik?

For a first-time visitor without a car, I think joining at least one tour can be useful. You do not need to worry about finding a viewing location, checking roads or driving somewhere unfamiliar at night. A tour also gives you a better idea of how aurora hunting actually works.

If you already have a rental car and feel comfortable driving in Iceland, I personally prefer hunting independently. I loved having the freedom to decide where to go and how long to stay.

How Many Nights Should You Stay for the Northern Lights?

I would never travel to Iceland for one night and expect the Northern Lights to cooperate. Three nights gives you several opportunities. Four or five nights is even better if seeing the aurora is one of your priorities.

I was extremely lucky during my Iceland trip and saw the Northern Lights on four of five nights. That experience was almost the complete opposite of Rovaniemi, where I stayed for seven nights and saw nothing because of clouds.

Those two trips taught me the biggest lesson about Northern Lights hunting: You can plan almost everything except the sky.

My Northern Lights Hunting Checklist for Reykjavik

Before leaving my accommodation, I would first check the cloud forecast. Then I would check:

• Aurora activity.
• Weather conditions.
• Wind.
• Road conditions if driving.
• Darkness.
• One main viewing location.
• One backup location.

I would bring warm clothing, gloves, my phone, a power bank, a tripod and something warm to drink. If driving, I would already know approximately where I could park rather than trying to find somewhere in complete darkness.

And then I would wait. Sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes you suddenly notice a weak green line.

And sometimes, as happened to me beside the lakes near Reykjavik, the sky turns green and even red above you.

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