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Iceland in October

To celebrate my 50th birthday, The Fiancé wanted to really surprise me - we will be going to Iceland from October 17th to October 20th to see the northern lights!!! He also has booked us a room in the center of Reykjavik (the name of the hotel is "A room with a View").

We are arriving at the airport there at 5h00 am and are renting a car. On our first day, we would like to try a few of the natural pools around the southeast peninsula. What are your recommendations?

As our stay there is short, what are the most important things to see, aside from the lights? And where is the best spot to see them?

We have looked at some websites, which were greatly informative, but we would like to hear from people who have had the experience. I am a bit ticklish about websites geared for tourism as they tend to be a bit mainstream. We are looking for something different.

Thank you in advance!

Posted by
7054 posts

Yikes, since your stay is so short, I don't think I would bother trying to see the Northern Lights. It's so much of a chance event that requires patience and luck, I don't think it's worth the trip all the way up north of the country. I would take the time to fully enjoy Reykjavik plus perhaps a side trip or two. There are pools all over the place you can try (of course the Blue Lagoon is the most touristed one). The Icelandic and Reykjavik websites are excellent - I couldn't offer any advice to improve upon them.

Posted by
23 posts

Thank you Agnes - I will look into those sites. Can't we see some northern lights from the southeast peninsula? What is your experience with the Reykjavic Geothermal beach?

Thanks!

Posted by
7054 posts

I haven't been to the geothermal beach but it looks like fun. Iceland uses geothermal for all of its energy needs so I'm sure you won't be disappointed with any pool (although they will smell like rotten eggs). Locals definitely frequent the pools, it's not a tourist thing (except for Blue Lagoon). I went to one gym on the outskirts of the core of Reykjavik (it was called World Class gym and I just got a pricey day pass) and I must say it was amazing. They had a wonderful olympic sized pool, plenty of machines and some incredible saunas which were out of this world. The entry was through biometric scan using your pupils, which was quite neat (Iceland is different and will feel so no matter what). Re: the northern lights, I would do some research to see what folks experience has been - to my knowledge, I thought the tours were from way up north in Aukureyri (via a short flight or longer bus trip) but I guess there may be other sites. In the south, I remember seeing a black beach around Vik and a glacier through day tours. I would recommend checking out Thigvellir National Park - it's such a pretty and interesting place. Also, check out a Lonely Planet Iceland book. It was helpful to me in my planning.

Posted by
6811 posts

Anyone who wants to see the northern lights needs to understand a little bit about them, and it seems so many people just think all they need is a ticket to Iceland. Alas, not true. To see the northern lights - from anywhere - all of the following need to happen:

  1. It needs to be dark outside
  2. The sky needs to be clear
  3. There needs to be a period of solar activity - this one is complicated
  4. It certainly helps - but is not a requirement - to be someplace way up in the northern latitudes ("up north"). Nome is as good as Reykjavík.

Lets look at each of these...

It needs to be dark outside. Duh. This is critical. That means get away from cities and other places with lots of lights. Remote Anyplace is where you want to be. Winter is better, but not because of some magic that produces more aurora in the winter: it's because the sky gets darker earlier and stays darker longer in the winter - that's all.

The sky needs to be clear. This is also critical. This is the inconvenient truth that has spoiled many a short trip to Iceland (and a million other places) to catch the aurora. Is it cloudy tonight? If so, sorry, you ain't gonna see anything in the sky expect perhaps snow falling. Try another day (night). Remember - in many northern places, winter brings with it clouds, sometimes for many days without a break. Iceland is no exception. If you are taking a trip to Iceland to see the northern lights, you would be advised to allow many days there to increase your chances of getting a clear night. Or else have other good reasons to go.

There needs to be a period of solar activity. This is critical, too. The northern lights are caused by "solar wind" (charged particles that stream out from the sun) which enter the earth's atmosphere near the poles (the same thing happens near the south pole, too yes, the "southern lights" aka the aurora Australis). The sun has long cycles within which is puts out less and then more solar wind. Broadly speaking, it's possible to predict these long cycles somewhat (like predicting the hurricanes for next year) but it's impossible to predict exactly how much activity there will be for any short period - like your 2 nights in Iceland. In other words, it's a complete crap-shoot if you're trying to guess when the aurora will show up. Nobody can predict that.

It helps to be someplace up north. This is certainly true. But if there's an exceptional aurora, it can be seen lots of places (and if there's no activity, you can be at the north pole on a clear night and see nothing in the sky but stars). I've seen the northern lights from my backyard in Seattle (faintly), in Alaska many times (pretty good). But the most spectacular I've seen was from near Detroit, Michigan, in a brightly lit urban area - because THAT aurora was HUGE (was seen in Mexico City). Now, Iceland is certainly a pretty good place to try to see the aurora, but there are countless places just as good or better that are easier and/or cheaper to get to for most folks (Fairbanks has not been marketed very effectively). There's no specific location that's better for seeing them than another - it's the conditions listed above - which vary every day and are impossible to predict - that determines if they can be seen.

If you want a chance to see the aurora (no guarantee): go someplace - anyplace - up north where it's very dark and very clear at night, away from city light pollution. Be outside and stay outside in the late night hours (dress warm!). Be there for a while - ideally for weeks or months. The longer you stay the better your chances. If you can't be there for weeks or months, then you will need to be lucky.

Iceland is an interesting place, and it has certainly become a trendy tourist destination in recent years. I was there about 30 years ago when it was anything but trendy. I liked it. But I saw no aurora while I was there (in November).

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Posted by
2555 posts

Another internet site to check out ( if you haven't already) is iheartreykjavik.net which has loads of good info on travel in Iceland. We found it very helpful before our trip to Iceland this summer.

Posted by
23 posts

To Agnes, David, and Mary:

Thank you all for your help - this is definitely helpful!! We have booked already at Blue Lagoon, to do the "touristy-thingy". The rest, we will look into the websites you suggested.

David: I am originally from way up north in Quebec and have had the opportunity to see some northern lights when I was much younger. Because of our location, these were only visible at the end of August, beginning of September. That was it. Never seen anything with the scale of Iceland's northern lights. Hopefully, there will be some activity.

Posted by
110 posts

If you have a car and if you're doing the Golden Circle (which is amazing!) I will put in a plug for Fontana Wellness in Laugarvatn is hands down our favorite. (fontana-dot-is)

Posted by
4 posts

A highlight of my trip was a visit to the Hveragerdi Hot Spring River Trail / Reykjadalur Hike. You can go on your own, although I did it with a group and guide as I was travelling alone. You properly get out in nature here. I also went to one of the local pools for the real experience, rather than Blue Lagoon. There was a good one about a 20+ minute walk from where I stayed (Kex hostel).

Also, there is a local woman who runs walking tours and dinners at home; check out I Heart Reykjavik. It can be so touristy there, with so many North Americans jumping on the easy layover with Iceland Air, that getting authentic experiences in is really important if you are a traveller rather than tourist.