#Iceland northern lights season how to#

Your guide will explain a little about what causes the phenomenon. You’ll then pile outside, wrapped in plenty of layers and with a cup of hot chocolate in hand, to gaze skywards. Once out in the barren volcanic landscape that surrounds the capital, your guide will continue to drive around until the lights come into view. To increase your chances, though, you could join a dedicated tour led by a local guide.ĭeparting from Reykjavík or Akureyri on an evening where the chances of activity are high, you’re driven out to a more rural location where the night skies are completely unimpeded by light pollution. That said, the lights can’t be controlled and their appearance is never a given. If you’re lucky, viewing the northern lights can be as effortless as simply looking up, particularly during winter months when darkness lasts up to 20 hours a day. How can I see the northern lights in Iceland? You can also see auroral displays captured around Iceland in the 4K theater.

#Iceland northern lights season how to#

The museum has interactive exhibits that tell you about how the aurora is formed, the myths and legends surrounding the lights and how to best photograph the phenomenon. You can find out more about the northern lights and how they work at Aurora Reykjavík: The Northern Lights Center. That said, there’s something captivating about gazing skywards and seeing natural forces beyond our control at work. Cameras tend to pick up on the lights better than the naked eye. Your sighting(s) of the northern lights might not be as spectacular as the images of the aurora you might have seen prior to your trip. Their form also changes - you might see just a hazy green-tinged cloud, but it’s also possible to see more impressive vivid arches, pulsating streamers or rippling ribbons.

They’re most likely to appear greenish-yellow, but can also be blue, red, violet or pink. The northern lights are a result of electrically charged particles from solar wind colliding with gas molecules in the Earth’s magnetosphere. What are the northern lights? Northern lights in West Iceland While a lot of northern lights viewing is down to sheer luck, we’ve answered common questions that might boost your chances of witnessing the phenomenon. Visibility is best outside of towns and cities, but these are few and far between.

It’s also one of the most accessible places to encounter them: once there, you don’t need to journey to remote pockets of the country, because the lights can potentially be seen anywhere. Positioned on the edge of the Arctic Circle, Iceland is one of the best places on the planet to see the northern lights. A hazy-green tinge, a strobe of pink light or a dancing ribbon of vivid purple: the aurora borealis is one of nature’s most captivating spectacles.