The best northern lights tour from Reykjavík

What is the best northern lights tour from Reykjavík?

A small-group 4x4 or minibus tour, for most people. It is quicker to move, quicker to unload and quieter at the stop than a coach. Our pick is the 4x4 tour at $155 with a two-year free retry.

Here is every hunt on this site, cheapest first. The last column is the one people forget to read until the sky clouds over.

Why the 4x4 gets our vote: a lifted minibus with a group of about 16 per guide, hot chocolate and pastries, hand warmers, a photo of you under the lights, and free re-booking for two years. One guest wrote: "Olga was amazing! She took us to three locations." That is the point of a small vehicle. When the first stop clouds over, the second one is twenty minutes away, and everyone is back on board in two.

Which tour company is the best in Iceland for the northern lights?

There is no single best company. Pick on the retry terms and the vehicle, then read recent reviews: guides make or break the night, and the same company can field a great one and a tired one.

The operators behind these tours publish very different rules. Gray Line runs big coaches, decides the day before whether to go, and lets you come back free "up to 2 years after the original booked date". BusTravel Iceland reschedules within three years and makes its go or no-go call around 4 PM. Arctic Adventures runs the super jeep, decides by 18:15 and puts retries on its minibus tour, valid three years. Nordur Travel runs the 4x4 with a two-year retry. Special Tours gives a boat ticket with no expiry. Ultimate Iceland's snowsuit tour emails by 18:30 and caps the group at 18.

Ratings tell you how people felt on the bus home, and that tracks the weather as much as the company. Gray Line's 3.7 from 1,662 reviews is the lowest of the big land tours here, and you can see why in the kind of five-star review it gets: "The lights came out a bit but nobody knows what the weather is going to be!" The bus tour with hot cocoa holds 4.2 across 15,305 reviews, the most of any aurora listing in Reykjavík. Small-group minibus tours rate highest, 4.3 to 4.8. On the card-only listings (the bus, premium and pro-photo tours) we can't confirm the operator, so read the provider name and retry terms on the listing before paying.

Bus, minibus, 4x4 or boat: which is better for the northern lights?

A minibus or 4x4 is better for chasing gaps in the clouds. A coach is cheaper. A boat is shorter and reaches dark sky fastest, but it cannot follow the clear patches inland.

• Big coach ($80 to $81): the cheapest, with a live guide. It sticks to roads a coach can turn on, and unloading takes time. Gray Line's first stop is usually within about an hour of leaving town.
• Minibus ($113 to $226): fewer people, quicker stops, more freedom to try a second or third spot. The snowsuit tour adds chairs, tripods and a photographer.
• 4x4 or super jeep ($155 to $205): big tyres for gravel and snowy tracks a bus cannot take. Worth it in deep winter or when the guide wants an emptier hillside. A super jeep guest: "He kept checking the forecast and finding the coolest places to await them in the Icelandic highlands."
• Boat ($96 to $104): out of the Old Harbour and into dark Faxaflói bay in 15 to 20 minutes. No hour on the road, a bar on board, warm overalls on the Special Tours boat. The catch: if the bay is under cloud, the boat cannot drive to the clear patch over Þingvellir.

Our rule of thumb: on a night with broken cloud, the smaller and more mobile the vehicle, the better your odds. On a clear, calm night, every format works, and the cheapest is fine.

The off-road option: a super jeep for tracks a bus cannot take, cocoa, a wool blanket and retries valid for three years.

★ 4.2 · 4 hours · from $205

Explore the super jeep tour → Tour details

How far is Reykjavík from the northern lights?

The lights themselves are 80 to 500 km overhead, so distance is not the issue. Darkness is. Most tours drive 30 to 60 minutes out of the city glow; the boats need 15 to 20 minutes to reach the dark bay.

Reykjavík sits at 64 degrees north, inside the band where NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center says the aurora forms most often, between roughly 60 and 75 degrees of latitude. NOAA puts the aurora 80 to 500 km above the ground. On an active night it can be right above the city.

The problem is the street lights. A tour drives you to a spot where a faint display still looks like something, and to wherever the clouds have a hole. Gray Line says its first stop is usually reached within about an hour. The 4x4 tour stays in the Capital Region and lists its stops as for reference only, because the guide picks them on the night. Stops are where the waiting happens: you stand outside while the sky does what it wants, and if it clouds over, the guide moves on. A 4x4 guest counted three locations in one night.

Are small-group northern lights tours worth the extra money?

Usually, yes. For $33 to $85 more than a coach you get faster stops, a guide who can talk to everyone, and higher ratings: 4.3 to 4.8 against 3.7 to 4.2 for the coaches.

The extra money buys three things. Speed: a minibus can pull over, unload and move on in minutes. Choice: a guide with 16 people can try a side road a coach would never fit down. Attention: someone shows you your phone settings and takes your photo. Several small-group tours include that photo; on the coaches you are on your own.

It is not worth it if your budget is tight and you have several nights. Two coach nights at $80 give you more chances than one minibus night at $155. Clouds, not the vehicle, are what usually stop you seeing anything.

What are the best northern lights tour packages from Reykjavík?

The Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon and aurora day at $330 covers the classic sights and a hunt in one 15-hour day. For a cloudy night, pair any tour with the Perlan planetarium show at $54.

The Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon and northern lights tour runs by bus to Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and the Kerið crater, then the Blue Lagoon with a Comfort ticket and about 90 minutes in the water, then an aurora hunt. It rates 4.8 from 271 reviews. One guest called it "perfect for those on a tight schedule". It is a very long day and not for under-14s, and if you see no lights you can join the provider's aurora bus tour on another night free.

Packages that add a hotel or flights are sold elsewhere. Our advice: keep the aurora tour separate and flexible, so you can move it to a clearer night. Every tour here cancels free up to 24 hours before. For the in-between nights, Perlan's Áróra show puts the aurora on an 8K planetarium dome, whatever the weather. More on lagoons at night in the lagoons and aurora post.

Þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss, Kerið and the Blue Lagoon by day, then the aurora hunt the same night. Ages 14 and up.

★ 4.8 · 15 hours · from $330

Explore the Golden Circle, Blue Lagoon and aurora day → Tour details

What is the cheapest northern lights tour from Reykjavík?

The Gray Line coach at $80 for 3 hours, from BSÍ bus terminal or your hotel. The bus tour with hot cocoa is $81 for 4 hours, and the yacht cruise $96 for 2 hours.

Gray Line's tour is the cheapest seat here, and it comes with more than the price suggests: a live English guide, an app audio guide in ten languages, Wi-Fi, USB chargers, and free admission to the Aurora Reykjavík centre on travel dates until 15 April, worth ISK 3,900 according to Gray Line. The age limit is 6. It runs 21:00 to midnight from 1 October to 14 March, and an hour later in the shoulder months.

The trade-off is the bus and the crowd, and the 3.7 rating. Some guests love it: "Friendly and helpful, and then we saw the Northern Lights despite two days of storms!!!" Others come back cold and empty-handed and say so. The bus tour with hot cocoa costs $1 more, adds an hour and the cocoa, and rates 4.2 across 15,305 reviews. On price alone it is the better deal.

When should you book a northern lights tour, and for which night?

Book for your first or second night in Reykjavík. If the operator cancels or you see nothing, you still have nights left to use the free retry.

Operators decide in the afternoon whether the night is worth it: BusTravel around 4 PM, Arctic Adventures by 18:15, Aurora Experts by 18:30, Gray Line the day before. If they cancel, you rebook or get a full refund. If they go and the sky stays empty, you get a retry, not money back. A retry is useless on your last night.

Visit Reykjavík suggests staying at least four or five nights to improve your chances. Booking early costs nothing, since every tour here cancels free up to 24 hours ahead. If you want to see the forecast before choosing a night, read how to read the Iceland aurora forecast. The retry rules are compared line by line in the guarantee guide.

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