4 Day Northern Lights Special – South Iceland

4 Day Northern Lights Special – South Iceland

The Northern Lights are one of the most spectacular phenomena on earth and Iceland offers perfect landscapes to enjoy the winter night scenery. This 4 Day Northern Lights Tour offers an incredible opportunity to combine hunting for the Northern Lights with a range of fantastic winter activities and excursions into the Icelandic nature.  

Highlights:

• Northern Lights evening tour
• Reykjavik in winter
• Gullfoss waterfall
• Lake Þingvallavatn and the Thingvellir national park
• Geyser Strokkur
• Seljalandsfoss waterfall
• Skogafoss waterfall
• Reynisfjara
• Views of glaciers

Daily itinerary

Day 1:
Upon arrival in Keflavik international airport transfer to Reykjavik city by flybus shuttle. Check-in at the hotel where you stay for 3 nights. Free time until the evening.
At 21:00 be ready for your evening adventure: the Northern Lights tour! We drive out into the countryside to escape the city lights. The guides will decide the tour destination on the travel day, taking into account the aurora forecast as well as cloud cover to maximize the chances of spotting the magical northern lights. Depending on best option our destination may be Þingvellir national park at Lake Þingvallavatn, Reykjanes peninsula with its lava fields or Borgarfjörður area.
We recommend that you bring along warm clothes and sturdy shoes. A camera on tripod is also a good idea for this tour.

Day 2:
The Golden Circle day tour
The Golden Circle is a must-do day tour out of Reykjavik. It offers you the opportunity to discover some of the highlights of southwest Iceland. It also provides you with a general insight into Icelandic history, geology, its people and its rich cultural heritage.
After pick-up, we start the tour by driving to Iceland‘s first national park, the Thingvellir National Park. This is the birthplace of a nation as well as of the first Icelandic democracy when the Viking chieftains decided to establish their first parliament (Althingi) or “general assembly“ in 930 AD. Many events took place in the area, including the introduction of Christianity in the year 1000 AD and the declaration of independence from the Danish Kings on June 17, 1944.

Besides its historical and cultural importance, the park displays a unique geology and natural landscapes. There one can learn about the tectonic activity or the so-called continental drift, the boundary between the North American and Eurasian plate tectonics. Thingvellir is one of the only sites on Earth where the effects of these two major tectonic plates drifting apart can be observed.

Renowned for its outstanding natural beauty, Thingvellir National Park served as one of the main filming locations of Game of Thrones in Iceland. There, you can experience the site the same way encountered or seen by the cast of the White Walkers and the trail of the Wildlings from North of the Wall.

After a short walk through the area, we continue towards the Geysir geothermal area. There you have enough time to discover Strokkur, one of the most active geysers in the world. It spouts hot water and steam at a height of 20 – 25 meters every 5 to 8 minutes.

After a lunch break in the area, we head towards Gullfoss, the “Golden Waterfall”, Europe’s second most powerful waterfall. It is located on the Hvita, “White River”, one of Iceland’s major glacier rivers.

21:00 Complimentary Northern lights tour if no lights were spotted the night before.

Accommodation in Reykjavik
Standard rooms with private facilites, including breakfast.

Day 3:
The South Shore day tour
The South Coast of Iceland has so much to offer and to be seen. This part of the country is very rich in magnificent and diverse landscapes, ranging from vast farmlands, active volcanoes, numerous ice caps, glacier outlets and glacier rivers, amazing waterfalls, wide black sandy plains and beaches of black and fascinating basalt rock formations. The area is also renowned for its abundant bird life.
The tour provides a lot of information about Iceland, its geology, its rich culture and its landscapes.
After pick up, we start driving along Highway #1. On the way, we stop to visit some of the main highlights of the south coast. Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss, both of them are amazingly beautiful waterfalls that receive their water directly from Eyjafjallajokull glacier that sits on top of the volcano of the same name that erupted in 2010 and affected air traffic in Europe at that time.
Reynisfjara black sandy beach where you will discover some amazing basalt rock formations (columnar basalt) and the black volcanic sand. During the summer season(from May to end of August) puffins can be seen on top of the cliffs in the area. That is one of their main breeding areas in Iceland.
We also visit Vik village where you have enough time to enjoy a lunch break. There you can also visit the local wool factory before starting our drive back to Reykjavik.
Solheimajokull and outlet (snout) originating from Myrdalsjokull, Iceland´s fourth largest glacier. There we go for a short walk to get closer to the glacier. This is one of the best examples about how fast glaciers melt due to global warming(climate change).

Day 4:
Flybus transfer to Keflavik airport in time for your flight departure. If you flight is late afternoon it is possible to add a visit to the Blue Lagoon as part of your airport transfer (surcharge, needs to be pre-booked).

Dates & prices

Departures: Daily from 1. October – 30. March

Price per person – Standard group travel (max 35-40 pax pr. coach/group):

Price per person – Small group travel (max 16 pax pr. group):

Package includes:

• Transfers from/to Keflavik airport
• 3 nights accommodation in Reykjavik, sharing double/twin room with private facilities, including breakfast
• 1 x Northern Lights evening guided tour from Reykjavik
• The Golden Circle day tour
• South Shore Adventure day tour

Good to know

The tour can be combined with the North Iceland programme. Extra nights in Reykjavik can easily be added to the itinerary.

The itinerary may need to be adapted or changed depending upon prevailing weather/road conditions.

For the Northern Lights forecast, please check this site for daily reports: http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora.

Please note: Aurora Borealis is a natural phenomenon dependent on weather and sightings cannot be guaranteed every night. Complimentary retry another evening if the northern lights are not seen on the tour on day 1.