Reykjavik · Iceland · Aurora season
Northern Lights Tour Iceland
About four hours out of Reykjavik's lights with a guide who follows the night's forecast, hot chocolate, photo stops, and one free retry if the sky stays empty.
- 4.2 / 5 15402+ Reviews
- 4 hours Duration
- September to April The aurora season, when Iceland has enough darkness, on Visit Iceland's count
- Scale 0 to 9 The Icelandic Met Office's aurora activity forecast, beside its cloud-cover map
- Free Cancellation
The Experience
What the Bus Tour Includes
Transport out of the city, a professional guide, photo stops and hot chocolate; pickup is available. Sightings are never guaranteed.
Highlights
- Evening departure from Reykjavik, about 4 hours
- The guides follow the night's forecast out of the city lights
- Photo stops and hot chocolate
- One free retry if no lights appear
What's Included
- Evening trip to see the Aurora Borealis
- Transportation
- Professional guide
- Hot chocolate
- Stops to take photos
- Free follow-up tour if you do not see lights on your first attempt
Good to know: Seeing the aurora is not guaranteed, even when the tour runs. · No refund for a tour that ran without lights: one free retry instead. · Not suitable for children under 6. Dress in warm layers. · Not suitable for: Children under 6 years
The Night, Step by Step
From the forecast in the afternoon to a dark field outside Reykjavik, and back after about four hours.
Book an Early Night
Book one of the first evenings of your stay. The tour depends on the weather; booking early leaves nights free for the retry if the sky stays shut.
Pickup in Reykjavik
Pickup is available in the city; the starting times show on the listing's calendar. Dress in warm layers: you spend long stretches outside in winter cold.
Away from the Lights
The guides head wherever the forecast looks best that night, into areas with no artificial light. The stops change from night to night; you step out to watch and photograph, with hot chocolate.
Back, or a Free Retry
The tour takes about four hours. If no aurora appears, you can join another of the company's bus tours free; leaving Iceland first, you get an open ticket for three years.
Photo Gallery
Nights on the Aurora Hunt
Aurora nights out of Reykjavik on the bus tour.
Book Your Experience
Check Availability & Prices
Select your preferred date and time. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.
Plan the Aurora Night
Northern Lights in Iceland, One Question per Page
The forecast, what happens when the sky stays empty, bus or small group, the yacht, photography and the best months.
Prices are each page's featured tour: GetYourGuide checked November 2026. Tour prices are per person in US dollars unless a card says otherwise.
Four Northern Lights Tours from Reykjavik
A big bus, a minibus, a 4x4 and a yacht. How long you are out, how many share the vehicle, what happens if the sky stays empty, and who each suits. Prices from the listings, with the month they were checked.
| Feature | THIS PAGE Bus tour with hot cocoa | Small-group minibus | 4x4 minibus with photos | Yacht from the Old Harbour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What You Pay | From $85 per person (checked November 2026) | From $107 per person (checked November 2026) | From $151 per person (checked November 2026) | From $104 per person (checked November 2026) |
| Time Out | About 4 hours | About 4 hours | About 4 hours | About 2 hours |
| Vehicle | Bus; group size not stated | Minibus, no children under 8 | Modified 4x4 minibus, 1:16 guide ratio | Yacht with three open decks and a lounge |
| If No Lights | One free retry; open ticket for 3 years if you leave Iceland | Free retry on the bus tour, valid 3 years | Free rebooking for up to 2 years | Free reschedule with the operator |
| Also Included | Hot chocolate, photo stops | Hot chocolate and refreshments | Hot cocoa, pastries, hand warmers, photos of you | Blankets, Wi-Fi, seasickness tablets |
| Best For | The lowest price and the most departures | A smaller group with the same retry | Going further from the roads, and a portrait under the aurora | A shorter night out, without a long drive |
| Check dates | See the minibus tour | See the 4x4 tour | See the yacht |
More Ways to Chase the Aurora
Other Northern Lights Tours from Reykjavik
A Golden Circle day with an aurora tour at night, and two guided tours with photos of you under the lights. One card per tour.
GOLDEN CIRCLE + AURORAReykjavík: Golden Circle & Northern Lights with Hot Cocoa
A 12-hour combination from Reykjavik: the Golden Circle by day (Thingvellir, the Geysir geothermal area, Gullfoss and the Kerid crater, entrance included), a couple of free hours in the city, then an evening aurora tour with hot chocolate, starting at 20:30 or 21:30 depending on the morning departure. Meeting point at the bus stop outside Fosshotel Reykjavik. A guest who sees no lights can join the evening tour again for free.
MINIBUS, FREE PHOTOSFrom Reykjavik: Northern Lights Tour with Hot Cocoa & Photos
About four hours by minibus (19 guests at most) from Reykjavik, with pickup 30 minutes before departure: from 20:30 between 1 October and 31 March, from 21:30 in the late-summer and April weeks. Free photos, wool blankets, hot chocolate and kleina. A guest who sees no lights can rejoin free, subject to availability, for up to two years; a weather cancellation before any tour is refunded in full.
GROUP PHOTOSFrom Reykjavik: Northern Lights Guided Tour with Photos
About five hours from Reykjavik with pickup at the city bus stops and some hotels, in groups that can reach 30 to 40 people. The guide photographs the group under the aurora and emails the photos within seven days; hot chocolate, tea, coffee, snacks and blankets are provided. The operator decides by 17:00 whether the tour runs; a weather cancellation means a reschedule or a full refund.
Chasing the Aurora from Reykjavik
How a Northern Lights Tour in Iceland Works
Who runs the tours, how the night's destination is chosen, what happens when the sky stays empty, and which tour suits which traveller.
A northern lights tour in Iceland is an evening drive out of Reykjavik’s lights to wherever the cloud forecast is clearest, a few hours of waiting under the sky, and a ride back. Nobody can promise the aurora, so the real differences between tours are the size of the group, how far the vehicle can go and what you get when the sky stays empty. The best-known is Northern Lights Bus’s From Reykjavik: Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoa, from $85 a person (checked November 2026): about four hours, hot chocolate, photo stops and one free retry if you see nothing.
The short answer
Book the bus tour for one of your first nights in Iceland. Northern Lights Bus, a tour operator in Reykjavik, runs it in the evening with pickup available in the city; the guides head wherever meteorologists predict the best conditions that night, into areas with no artificial light, and stop for you to step out and photograph. It takes about four hours and has 15,402 reviews (checked November 2026). If no aurora appears, you are not refunded: you join another tour free, and if you leave Iceland before the next one, you get an open ticket valid for three years.
Booking early in the stay is the whole strategy. A free retry is only worth something if you still have nights left in Iceland to use it.
Pick your kind of night
From Reykjavik: Northern Lights Bus Tour with Hot Cocoa
About four hours with hot chocolate and photo stops; one free retry, or an open ticket for three years.
Check dates →Small-Group Premium Northern Lights Tour from Reykjavik
Northern Lights Bus by minibus, no children under 8; a free retry on the bus tour for three years, a refund if weather cancels every night of your stay.
See the minibus tour →Northern Lights: 4x4 Tour with Treats, Hot Cocoa & Photos
A modified 4x4 minibus, a 1:16 guide ratio, pastries and hand warmers, and photos of you under the lights; free rebooking for two years.
See the 4x4 tour →Reykjavik: Northern Lights Yacht Tour
A yacht from the Old Harbour into Faxaflói Bay, three open decks and a lounge; a free reschedule if the lights stay away.
See the yacht →Reykjavik: Northern Lights Tour w/Pro Photos - Small Group
Aurora Viking's minibus for 18, a guide who is also the photographer, and unlimited free retries until you see the lights.
See the photo tour →Read the forecast and go out yourself
The Met Office's cloud map is public. With a rental car and a clear forecast you can drive out of the city on your own; without one, Grótta lighthouse is 4.7 km by road from City Hall.
Read the forecast guide →Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.
Where the tours go
There is no fixed route. The bus tour’s stops change from day to day, in the direction where the chances look best; the 4x4 tour’s vehicle is built to go further from the city’s light, deeper into the dark countryside. The pickups are the numbered city bus stops and hotels: Reykjavik City Hall is bus stop 1 on the 4x4 and photo tours’ pickup lists. The one tour with a fixed start is the yacht, which checks in at the Old Harbour House, a 0.8 km walk from City Hall (the boat tour).
How the forecast decides the night
The Icelandic Met Office (vedur.is) publishes the forecast everyone uses: a map of cloud cover over Iceland, green where it is cloudy and white where it is clear, and an auroral activity forecast for midnight on a scale of 0 to 9. The Met Office notes that a low 2 can already be beautiful and a moderate 3 dazzling, and that clouds often hide the aurora completely, which is why the cloud map matters at least as much as the number. The forecast explains how to read both, and what the 0 to 9 scale does and does not tell you.
When the sky stays empty
No tour on this page guarantees a sighting. What changes is the fallback, and you should pick a tour by it. Northern Lights Bus gives one free retry; Aurora Viking gives unlimited retries until you see the lights; EastWest and the 4x4 tour let you rebook for up to two years; the yacht reschedules free. A tour cancelled for weather is a different case from a tour that ran without lights: no lights on your tour sets out each tour’s policy side by side.
Big bus, minibus, 4x4 or yacht
The bus tour is the cheapest seat and runs the most departures. The minibus tours cap the group, at 18 for Aurora Viking and 19 for EastWest, and add photos of you under the aurora; Northern Lights Bus’s own small-group tour keeps the bus tour’s three-year retry. The 4x4 is about the vehicle’s reach. The yacht is half the time out and needs no drive. Bus or small group compares them, and the photography guide covers the camera settings and the tours with a photographer.
When to go
Visit Iceland gives the season as September to April, when Iceland has enough darkness; it calls the equinox months the most active and the mid-winter nights the longest window. On 1 November 2026 the Met Office’s sun table for Reykjavik had sunset at 17:10 and sunrise at 09:10. The best time goes through the months and the moon.
If you would rather see Thingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss by day and hunt the aurora the same night, BusTravel Iceland’s *Reykjavík: Golden Circle & Northern Lights with Hot Cocoa* is from $142 (checked November 2026); reykjaviksouthcoasttour.com covers the Golden Circle in winter in more depth.
Out of the City Lights Tonight
Pick a night early in your stay, check the Met Office's cloud map in the afternoon, and keep a later night free for the retry if the sky stays shut. Starting from $85 per person.
See datesMore Operators Out of Reykjavik
Northern Lights Tours with Open Dates
Aurora tours from Reykjavik with live availability. Times, retry terms and cancellation terms are on each listing.
Northern Lights Tours in Iceland: Questions
Sightings, the retry, the forecast, the months, Reykjavik's own sky, and which tour to pick.
No. The aurora is a natural event, and every listing on this site says sightings are not guaranteed, even when the tour runs. What differs is the fallback: the bus tour gives one free retry and, if you leave Iceland before the next tour, an open ticket for three years; Aurora Viking offers unlimited retries; the yacht can be rescheduled free. See no lights on your tour.
September to April. That is when Iceland has enough darkness, by Visit Iceland's account; it names the equinox months, September and March, as the most active, and mid-winter as the longest window, with December and January the longest nights. See the best time.
Look at the clouds first, then the number. The Icelandic Met Office (vedur.is) shows a cloud-cover map of Iceland, green for cloud and white for clear sky, and an auroral activity forecast for midnight on a scale of 0 to 9. The Met Office notes that low activity (2) can be beautiful and moderate activity (3) dazzling. See the forecast.
Sometimes, but the city lights wash out weaker displays. Visit Iceland says sightings are greatly improved outside populated areas. Visit Reykjavik names Grótta lighthouse, at the western tip of Seltjarnarnes and 4.7 km by road from City Hall, as a local favourite. The tours drive further, to wherever the cloud forecast is clearest.
About four hours by road, about two by boat. The bus tour, the minibus and 4x4 tours run about four hours with pickup in Reykjavik; the yacht leaves the Old Harbour for about two hours. The bus tour is from $85 a person (checked November 2026).
Northern Lights Bus, a tour operator in Reykjavik. It runs both the bus tour with hot cocoa that leads this site and the small-group minibus tour; GetYourGuide sells them. This site is an independent guide, not the operator.
The bus for price, a minibus for a smaller group. Both go where the forecast looks best; Aurora Viking's and EastWest's minibuses take 18 and 19 guests at most, and both include photos of you under the aurora. See bus or small group.
Warm layers, a hat, gloves and winter shoes. The bus tour's listing warns that you may spend long periods outside in winter cold. The yacht and two of the guided tours on land lend blankets; one of the minibus tours has no toilets on the way.
Still have questions? Email us at info@northern-lights-tour-iceland.com