Iceland in Winter: Northern Lights, the South Coast and an Ice Cave

Arrive in Reykjavik

Keflavik International Airport to your hotel in Reykjavik

• Welcome dinner
• Stay in Reykjavik
• Drive about 45 min

Morning

Most overnight flights from North America land at Keflavik International Airport (KEF) early in the morning, often before sunrise in winter. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the 50 km, roughly 45-minute drive across the lava fields of the Reykjanes peninsula to your hotel in central Reykjavik.

Afternoon

Rooms are usually ready in the afternoon; until then you can leave your bags and walk to the Old Harbour, find breakfast in a bakery, or swim in one of the city's geothermal pools, which locals use all winter. At 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing: how the aurora evenings work, what to wear on the ice, and how each winter day is shaped around the few hours of light.

Evening

Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Icelandic fish and lamb at a restaurant in the centre. If the sky is clear and active tonight, your guide will tell you where along the waterfront to look, away from the street lights.

Included

• Private transfer from Keflavik International Airport (KEF)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner in central Reykjavik

The Golden Circle and a first aurora hunt

Reykjavik to Thingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss, then Reykholt and Kerid, and back to Reykjavik

• Breakfast and lunch
• Stay in Reykjavik
• Drive about 3.5 h

Morning

We leave after breakfast, timed to the month so we reach Thingvellir National Park, about 45 minutes away, as the first good light comes up over the rift valley. Iceland's parliament, the Althing, first met here in 930, and the park is listed by UNESCO. Walk down through the Almannagja gorge along the edge of the North American plate, with the lake below. It is about an hour east to the Geysir field, where Strokkur erupts every few minutes, steaming hard in the cold, and ten minutes more to Gullfoss, where the Hvita river drops in two steps into a canyon edged with ice.

Afternoon

Lunch is at Fridheimar in Reykholt, a geothermal greenhouse where tomatoes grow under lights all winter. On the way back we stop at Kerid, a red volcanic crater with a lake that freezes in winter. We are back in Reykjavik around dark.

Evening

After dinner, on your own, comes the first aurora evening: if the cloud and activity forecasts give a real chance, we drive 30 to 60 minutes out of the city's light and wait with hot chocolate. If the sky is closed, your guide calls it off early.

Included

• Thingvellir National Park with your guide: the Almannagja gorge and the parliament site
• Geysir and the Strokkur geyser
• Gullfoss
• Lunch at the Fridheimar greenhouse in Reykholt
• Kerid crater, entry included
• Aurora hunt by minibus outside Reykjavik, when the forecast gives a chance

Waterfalls, black sand and the countryside

Reykjavik to Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, Vik and Reynisfjara, then east to Kirkjubaejarklaustur

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Stay in Kirkjubaejarklaustur
• Drive about 4 h

Evening

A later start suits both the light and last night's hunt: we leave Reykjavik at about 9 am and drive east over the Hellisheidi plateau and through the farm country of the south. Seljalandsfoss drops about 60 m from an old sea cliff; in winter the path behind the water is usually closed by ice, but the spray freezes into icicles and ice shields on the rocks around it. Thirty minutes on is Skogafoss, about 60 m high and 25 m wide, with stairs up one side for the view from the top. Lunch is in Vik, then Reynisfjara, the black sand beach below basalt columns, facing the Reynisdrangar sea stacks. We then cross the Eldhraun lava field, laid down by the Laki eruption of 1783 and thick with moss under the snow, and reach our countryside hotel near Kirkjubaejarklaustur at about dark. This is one of the two longest days, about four hours of driving, broken by four stops and lunch. Dinner is at the hotel, and the second aurora evening needs no drive: your guide watches the sky and calls you out when the lights show.

Included

• Seljalandsfoss
• Skogafoss
• Lunch in Vik
• Reynisfjara black sand beach and the Reynisdrangar sea stacks
• The Eldhraun lava field
• Dinner at the hotel
• Aurora watch from the hotel

Jokulsarlon, Diamond Beach and an ice cave

Kirkjubaejarklaustur to Skaftafell and Jokulsarlon, and back

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner
• Stay in Kirkjubaejarklaustur
• Drive about 3.5 h

Morning

Breakfast as the sky lightens, then about 1 hour 45 minutes east beneath the Vatnajokull ice cap, inside Vatnajokull National Park, listed by UNESCO in 2019, past the outlet glaciers at Skaftafell, to Jokulsarlon. Icebergs calved from Breidamerkurjokull drift across the lagoon and out under the road bridge to the sea, and many wash back onto Diamond Beach, where clear ice sits on black sand in the low winter sun. The lagoon boats stop for the winter, so we walk the shore. From November to March, certified glacier guides take us by super jeep to a natural ice cave in the glacier, with crampons and helmets supplied. The caves change every season, and the guides choose one only when it is safe. On October departures, or on a day the caves are closed, we walk on a glacier with the same guides instead.

Afternoon

Lunch is near the lagoon.

Evening

We drive back to the hotel by dark for dinner and the third aurora evening under the same dark sky.

Included

• Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon on foot
• Diamond Beach
• Ice cave by super jeep with certified glacier guides, November to March (a guided glacier walk in October or when the caves are closed)
• Lunch near the lagoon
• Dinner at the hotel
• Aurora watch from the hotel

Dyrholaey, Solheimajokull and back to Reykjavik

Kirkjubaejarklaustur to Dyrholaey and Solheimajokull, then west to Reykjavik

• Breakfast and lunch
• Stay in Reykjavik
• Drive about 4 h

Morning

A slower morning after two late nights, then west along the coast. Dyrholaey, a headland about 120 m high just west of Vik, has a sea arch big enough for a boat to pass through and views east to the Reynisdrangar stacks and west along a black beach that runs out of sight; when the upper road is icy we use the lower viewpoint. Then Solheimajokull, an outlet glacier of the Myrdalsjokull ice cap: a walk of about 20 minutes on a gravel path brings you to the snout, its ice streaked black with ash from old eruptions. We look from the edge and do not go onto the ice here.

Afternoon

Lunch is in Hvolsvollur, then the last stretch to Reykjavik across the Thjorsa river and over Hellisheidi, arriving around dark. This is the other of the two longest days, about four hours and 280 km of driving, broken by two stops and lunch.

Evening

The evening is free, and your guide sends a note at about 8 pm on whether the sky is worth a look from the harbour.

Included

• Dyrholaey headland and sea arch
• Walk to the snout of Solheimajokull
• Lunch in Hvolsvollur

Reykjavik on foot and Sky Lagoon at dusk

Reykjavik, then Sky Lagoon in Kopavogur

• Breakfast and dinner
• Stay in Reykjavik

Morning

A free morning with no alarm. Sleep in, visit the National Museum, or take the optional whale-watching trip that leaves the Old Harbour into Faxafloi Bay. Late in the morning, in the first good light of a winter day, your guide leads a walk through the centre: Hallgrimskirkja and the view over the coloured roofs from its tower, the old wooden houses of Thingholt, the frozen lake at Tjornin, Harpa concert hall on the waterfront and the Sun Voyager sculpture facing the mountain Esja across the bay.

Afternoon

The afternoon is yours. As the light goes, we drive about 15 minutes to Sky Lagoon in Kopavogur, an outdoor geothermal lagoon whose edge looks straight out over the sea; the ritual included in your entry takes you through a cold plunge, a sauna with a sea window, a body scrub and a steam room. Towels are supplied, so bring only a swimsuit.

Evening

The farewell dinner is in the centre. If the earlier evenings were clouded out and tonight looks better, your guide takes anyone who wants to go on one last hunt after dinner.

Included

• Guided walk of central Reykjavik: Hallgrimskirkja and its tower, Thingholt, Tjornin, Harpa and the Sun Voyager
• Sky Lagoon entry with the ritual, with transfers
• Farewell dinner
• Fallback aurora hunt if the earlier evenings were clouded out

Optional experiences

• Whale watching from the Old Harbour into Faxafloi Bay (morning, weather permitting)
• National Museum of Iceland

Reykjavik and home

Reykjavik to Keflavik International Airport

• Breakfast
• Drive about 45 min

Morning

Breakfast at the hotel, then a private transfer back across the Reykjanes lava fields to Keflavik International Airport, 50 km and about 45 minutes away. We time the transfer to your flight.

Afternoon

Flights to Europe tend to leave in the morning and most flights to North America from the middle of the afternoon, so allow about two and a half hours at the airport for an international departure and book a flight after about noon if you want a last slow morning. With a late flight, the hours before the transfer are yours: a last walk along the waterfront, a swim in a city pool, or the optional Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport, with your bags stored, when it is open; it has closed several times since 2023 during eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula, and we confirm it nearer the date. Your guide says goodbye at the hotel and checks that everyone has their transfer time.

Included

• Private transfer to Keflavik International Airport (KEF)

Optional experiences

• Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport, with bags stored, when it is open