What are the chances to see the northern lights in Iceland?

Destinations Iceland
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Northern lights have been in my bucket list for years, but I never found the right time to travel! I’ve heard December is a good time - though I want to hear from travellers that have been there, what was your experience like? Did you get to see them? Would you recommend Lapland instead?

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Iceland I am not sure, but I would recommend the Lapland area (Finland, Sweden and Norway) as it is higher latitude and inside the artic circle. If you go from August to April/May you are pretty much guaranteed to see it on clear nights.

I think if your main reason for the trip is to see the Aurora, this might be a better bet :smiley:

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honestly, we have been on 11th April in Iceland and we have them seen twice.
While it would have been good to be 1-2 months earlier to see them stronger it all was dependent to have a good guide who is pointing out when they might show up tonight and we have been lucky with our guide as he was personally an expert and knew for the whole week where they will show up.

The second most important thing was that we had overnight stops in remote areas where no light pollution happens so really open fields. The weather should not be cloudy and as said it should be as dark as possible.

I also was in December on 14 days on a cruise to see the Northern Lights and have not seen them at all as the ship moved daily and it was very hard to catch them. So I think to choose a tour/route that allows you to stop full evening/nights in a few remote areas is the best trick/tip.

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Hey @micatravels

As I mentioned in this thread ( Northern Lights in Norway or Iceland? ) I went to Iceland in April and saw the Northern lights. They were a bit dimmer than maybe over deep winter, but still got to see them 3 times!

As our tour guide said, there are a lot of environmental conditions that plays into you seeing them. The skies should be clear with no clouds, no light pollution from lights, and then also the solar activity. Going on tour and having a guide be on the look out for you was the best way for us to make sure we see them.

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