This tour takes you on an extraordinary adventure to explore Iceland‘s famous South Coast
and to see the magical Northern Lights!
From
This combined tour allows you to experience Iceland’s most spectacular natural wonders. Begin your adventure along the untouched Southern coast, where you’ll encounter majestic waterfalls, striking black sand beaches, and impressive glaciers. After returning to Reykjavík, unwind with dinner before rejoining the group for a captivating Northern Lights chase.
Your adventure begins with a morning pick-up from Reykjavík before traveling east over the scenic Hellisheiði mountain pass. As you journey through the southern lowlands, keep an eye out for steaming geothermal fields, wide open farmlands, and herds of Icelandic horses grazing peacefully along the way.
The first destination is Sólheimajökull, a magnificent outlet glacier that branches from Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland’s fourth largest ice cap. This impressive glacier is constantly transforming, forming deep crevasses and mesmerizing blue ice ridges. You’ll have the opportunity to walk close to the glacier, admire its immense size, and learn how it connects to the island’s powerful volcanic forces.
You’ll continue to Reynisfjara, one of the most extraordinary beaches on Earth. Here, the jet-black volcanic sands, towering basalt columns, and roaring Atlantic waves create a landscape that feels almost otherworldly. Offshore, the Reynisdrangar sea stacks rise dramatically from the ocean. In the summer months, puffins and other seabirds can often be spotted nesting on the cliffs. The waves at this beach can be unpredictable and powerful, so stay alert as you take in the raw beauty of this remarkable spot.
Next, we pause in the charming seaside village of Vík, the southernmost town in Iceland. Surrounded by mountains and ocean views, this picturesque place offers a peaceful moment to relax and enjoy the scenery.
On the return journey, you will stop at Skógafoss, one of Iceland’s most iconic waterfalls. The powerful 65-meter (213-foot) cascade plunges from the cliffs, filling the air with mist that often produces colorful rainbows on sunny days. For those seeking a bit of adventure, climb the 527 steps to the viewing platform above for a one-of-a-kind panorama of the waterfall and coastline. The climb is well worth the effort.
Our final stop along the South Coast is Seljalandsfoss. A small path behind the falls allows you to walk completely around the cascade, providing a unique perspective from within. The trail can be slippery, but standing behind a curtain of rushing water is a highlight for many visitors. Be sure to wear waterproof clothing as you are likely to get a little wet.
After exploring the South Coast, you’ll start the drive back to Reykjavík, where you’ll be dropped off at your original pick-up point. You’ll have time to enjoy dinner and explore the city before the evening portion of the tour begins.
The Northern Lights experience depends entirely on weather conditions, so the exact viewing location will be decided closer to departure. The moment the sky begins to glow with shimmering colors is truly spellbinding. Shades of red, orange, rose, and violet often illuminate the night, and Iceland is one of the best places on Earth to witness this phenomenon. Make sure your camera is ready for this extraordinary display of nature.
After the light show concludes, you’ll return to Reykjavík around midnight.
Pick-up is at 8:00 AM from your hotel or a nearby meeting point in Reykjavík. Picking everyone up can take up to 30 minutes, so your patience is much appreciated.
For the Northern Lights adventure, pick-up is at either 20:30 (8:30 PM) or 21:30 (9:30 PM), depending on the season. You’ll find the actual pickup time on your final voucher.
Available pick-up points: Arctic Adventures’ pick-up list.
As the success of the Northern Lights tour is heavily dependent on weather conditions, we reserve the right to cancel the Northern Lights portion until 18:15 (6:15 PM) on the day of the tour. When this happens, we can rebook you for another tour, or you can be fully refunded.
If no aurora is predicted, you’ll have unlimited re-tries valid for up to 3 years.
What to do in this case? Our Customer Care is ready to help you and book your next re-try.
Please keep in mind that refunds are not issued when a tour takes place, but no Northern Lights are seen.
Iceland is known for unforeseeable weather. It is likely that you can see all 4 seasons in one day.
Dressing for that kind of weather can always be demanding, so we suggest dressing in layers. 3 or 4 upper layers are highly recommended, for example, a light t-shirt (preferably wool) next to the skin, then a fleece or heavy wool garment topped off with a waterproof windbreaker.
Jeans are not recommended for our trips as they are not suitable for the weather conditions, they become very heavy, cold and uncomfortable to wear when they get wet.
Lightweight hiking pants, track pants or long cotton pants are convenient and wear wind/waterproof pants over them. There is high UV and sunlight reflecting off on the glacier so we highly recommend using sunglasses and sunscreen even if it is cloudy.
You will need sturdy hiking boots that fit crampons for the glacier hiking tours. If you do not own a pair then we rent out suitable hiking boots as well as a waterproof raincoat and trousers.
It is good to bring your own backpack on our full-day or half-day tours. It’s the best carry-on for a small lunch, extra clothes, and other necessary items.
The scenery on the tour is full of stunning, breathtaking views that you’ll almost definitely want to capture forever, so you should definitely bring your camera along. Your tour guide will also be happy to take your photo.
This is surely a personal choice, we do not deny pregnant women on our glacier trips but we highly recommend you to take a closer look at our trip description and difficulty ratings, they will hopefully give you a better idea. We also recommend you to contact your physician, as pregnant women’s health can be quite different. If you have any further questions or concerns then feel free to contact us.
Lunch is not provided on any of our trips, therefore we recommend you bring your own lunch, snacks, and a bottle of water (you can refill it on the trip). It is especially important to make sure you bring lunch on our longer trips.
Crampons enable you to walk on the glacier ice without slipping. They are metal spikes that we attach to the soles of your hiking shoes.
Yes, we have specially trained and certified glacier guides on every glacier tour that we offer. And for our 3rd party tours we only partner with operators that meet our quality and safety standards.
Yes, we provide you with all the necessary glacier gear for our glacier hiking tours. Ice axes, crampons, harnesses, and helmets are provided. This will help you to complete the tour safely. The minimum shoe size to attach crampons is EU 35.
Iceland is known to have a lot of snow and when the snow stays long enough in one place than it turns to ice. Over long periods of time, the ice layers up becoming huge blocks called glaciers. It forms to create ginormous glaciers that sweep across huge masses of land. Iceland is home of the largest glacier in Europe that is called Vatnajökull. The Glacier Guides can tell you more about and everything you need to know about the Glaciers.
Rain is common in Iceland but we never let the rain be in our way to go forward with our tours.
That’s why we highly recommend appropriate clothing so you can stay warm and dry.
Nature is out of our control and therefore we need to adapt to the weather. Your safety is our priority so if your safety is compromised by going on the tour then we will cancel it and you will get full reimbursement.
The guide on your glacier hiking tour will provide you with all the information you might need when preparing for a glacier hike.
The Northern Lights are natural phenomena and we, unfortunately, cannot promise you will see them. Their appearance depends upon atmospheric and weather conditions.
For more information on the Northern Lights, please have a look at our Northern Lights tours.
We, unfortunately, do not have one simple answer to this question.
There isn’t just one single setting for your camera that ensures great photos. However, if you have manual options, you are probably best served with experimenting with various combinations of ISO, aperture, and exposure settings. As a rule of thumb, ISO setting between 800 and 3200, aperture between f/2 8 and f/5.6, and shutter speed at between 15 seconds and 30 seconds have proven effective.
A good thing to keep in mind, ISO setting between 800 and 3200, aperture between f/2.8 and f/5.6, and shutter speed between 15 seconds and 30 seconds have given great results.
Different combinations may give very different results. Higher ISO setting will allow you to capture faster exposures, but the downside to this might be for example grainier images.
If the shutter speed is above 15 seconds it will result in a slight star movement.
Wider angle lenses are usually more versatile in low light settings, but longer lenses give you different options for compositions. Make sure that you remove all lens filters, as they may distort images. You will probably get the best results with manual setting for infinite focal length.
Reimbursement is not given if the northern lights tour goes ahead and no lights are seen but we do offer you the change to join a Northern Lights Minibus tour free of charge.
Please contact our Customer Care to re-book your tour.
When Northern Lights tours are canceled it’s usually due to unfavorable weather conditions.
In that case, your options will be to:
Please go to the customer portal to re-book your tour or contact us by phone at +354 562 7000.
The northern lights are a pretty difficult thing to predict. We recommend you to check en.vedur.is to see the forecast and if the level is high and the skies are clear then it’s very likely that the tour is going ahead. We do update our website’s tour departure sheet with the information at 17:00 pm the latest. If your tour is canceled then you will receive an email from us.
If we think there is no chance at all of seeing the lights we will cancel the tour. We don’t want to bring you out and disappoint if there is no chance of the lights to be seen.
Yes, the guide on your tour will take a photo of you with the northern lights in the background.
These can be single or group photo’s and are free of charge.
The Northern Lights season is from late August until mid-April. However, if you want to increase your changes of seeing them, it is best to wait until the clear winter months of mid-September until March.
The northern lights depend on luck and weather if that is in your favor than you will be able to see the Aurora Borealis above the inviting streets of Reykjavík. Whether you see the lights or not they depend on two different factors. The first being the weather. If the sky is clear, no clouds, then you are halfway there to seeing the astonishing spectacle that is the Northern Lights (although light pollution can sometimes be a problem). Increased solar activity is the second half so, if these two merge together you may well be able to see the Northern Lights from Reykjavik.
