I spent a few wonderful days in Iceland in 2004, which I did not write up in a past post. I returned to Iceland in 2010 and I will combine the trips in this post. I don’t usually repeat destinations, because there are so many new places to visit, but there was a special reason to return to Iceland – the Northern lights.

I heard quite a bit about Northern Lights when I visited Finland and considered returning there in winter.  However, after a bit of research, I realized that Iceland is a great deal warmer (but not warm) in winter than Finland. It is also not in total darkness, which allows for day time adventures and finally, it easier and less expensive to fly to Reykjavik from NYC with direct flights.

Iceland is a small country, with only 375,000 people.  Charming Reykjavik, the major city has about 120,000 people.  The rest of the country is lightly populated.  

In 2004, we took a package tour with the Hellerings (Dordogne Region post) and saw the highlights; Reykjavik, the geysers, the waterfalls, and the glacier.  We also swam in the Blue Lagoon (fabulous).  The sites were all wonderful and can easily be seen on a 3-day trip. 

 What we didn’t see (until our return in 2010) were the Northern Lights.

On our 2010 trip, we rented a car at the airport and drove along the southern coast to Hotel Ranga, a countryside inn, away from city lights but near many of the tourist attractions that I could visit during the day.  The biggest draw of Hotel Ranga was their commitment to waking the guests (per request) if there was Northern Lights activity during the night.  

Seeing the Northern Lights is like seeing lions on a safari or whales on a whale watching expedition.  You might or you might not.  The action depends on the level of sun spot activity (rated 1 to 10) and cloud cover.  It is also best to be away from city lights, which made staying at Hotel Ranga a bonus.  The first night was disappointing – the skies were totally overcast.

But the next night the skies cleared and the hotel woke us up at 1:00 AM.  I put on my warm clothes, (which were ready next to the bed) and went outside to watch an amazing show of light for the next hour.  The next night the activity started at 11:30pm and was more intense.  The hour plus that I spent in the cold windy night flew by.  There was always something to look at in the ever-changing skies. If you go, do bring lots of layers.  Standing outside in cold windy conditions for one to two hours will not be fun unless you are dressed for it.

Our last night in Ranga was cloudy but the activity level was so high that we still had a great show.

We returned to see the glacier as well as some of the waterfalls.

We saw both the Seljalandsfoss and Gullfoss (foss means falls) in 2004.  This time the falls were frozen or partially frozen. It was a totally new experience.  

Seljalandsfoss is an incredible, 200 foot high waterfall. It was possible to climb up to the top and walk behind it in 2004. However, the walkway was icy and we did not attempt it in 2010.

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Similarly Gullfoss, which is a wide rather than a tall waterfall, was amazing to see in both seasons.

On our one night in Reykjavik, we booked a Northern Lights bus tour.  Luckily the light activity was early that evening – at about 10pm because the tour duration was 9pm to midnight.  If the activity had been later than midnight, we would have missed it.  

Of-course, I returned to the Blue Lagoon for a lovely soak.  The air was cold, but the water was heavenly.

Final comments: 

1. Going off season means fewer tourists, but many restaurants in Reykjavik were closed until spring.  
2. I would highly recommend going to Iceland for the Northern Lights and staying out of town as we did. It was chilly (20s and 30s at night) but not as cold as other northern locations.
3. Plan on staying away from Reykjavik if seeing the Northern Lights is a goal. Also, try to stay 5-7 days, to give the lights a chance to shine.