Chasing the Northern Lights - Iceland

Ekspakk

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We just finished our Iceland trip, it's indeed a very beautiful place with a unique landscape. Just got lucky that it didn't rain during our 7 days, but the wind is really brutal.

Last comment, things are really bloody expensive! First night we got back to Edinburgh, I find things "very cheap" compare to Iceland hehe
 

wanderlex

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We just finished our Iceland trip, it's indeed a very beautiful place with a unique landscape. Just got lucky that it didn't rain during our 7 days, but the wind is really brutal.

Last comment, things are really bloody expensive! First night we got back to Edinburgh, I find things "very cheap" compare to Iceland hehe

Haha I agree, felt the same way when I left Iceland and started using Euro in Germany lol
 

bosscaster

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To those who self-drove to catch Northern Light, appreciate if you can share your strategy.

I understand that dark night, clear skies and decent aurora activity are required for any decent chance. Do I just drive around those areas shown on weather forecast site and hope for the best?

Thanks.
 

Ekspakk

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^ We didn't self drive, but we book a northern lights tour, so I will share what I learned during the tour. Basically for the tour company, they will always look for northern lights regardless of the forecast as long as the sky is clear. For them, forecast is merely a forecast and is not always 100% reliable, meaning northern lights can show up even if the forecast is really low and there's also possibility that it will not appear even if the forecast is high activity.

This is actually what we experienced during our stay, on our first day trying to see the northern lights, the forecast was good and we had clear sky but we didn't saw anything that night. 2 nights after, forecast is just at level 3 but we had an incredible display of northern lights, it showed up all over the sky in all directions which lasted for hours.

Lastly according to them, northern lights appear high in the atmosphere that if it shows up, it should be visible all through out Iceland as long as the sky is clear.
 

Perisher

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^ We didn't self drive, but we book a northern lights tour, so I will share what I learned during the tour. Basically for the tour company, they will always look for northern lights regardless of the forecast as long as the sky is clear. For them, forecast is merely a forecast and is not always 100% reliable, meaning northern lights can show up even if the forecast is really low and there's also possibility that it will not appear even if the forecast is high activity.

This is actually what we experienced during our stay, on our first day trying to see the northern lights, the forecast was good and we had clear sky but we didn't saw anything that night. 2 nights after, forecast is just at level 3 but we had an incredible display of northern lights, it showed up all over the sky in all directions which lasted for hours.

Lastly according to them, northern lights appear high in the atmosphere that if it shows up, it should be visible all through out Iceland as long as the sky is clear.

oh cool. thank for sharing.
 

Perisher

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We just finished our Iceland trip, it's indeed a very beautiful place with a unique landscape. Just got lucky that it didn't rain during our 7 days, but the wind is really brutal.

Last comment, things are really bloody expensive! First night we got back to Edinburgh, I find things "very cheap" compare to Iceland hehe

Regarding this, may I know how much is your total expenses for this trip?
 

SGJoe86

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Lucky me, an active thread on Iceland :D
I'm planning to trip end of this year, targeting mid to end December. Intending to spend at least 5 days in Iceland, doing self-drive and covering Reykjavik to Jökulsárlón or Hofn, traveling party of 2 or 4 (unconfirmed).
Would 5 days be too much or too little? Budget no issue as I'm planning to AirBnB the crap out of Iceland, and put my funds in getting a proper 4x4 :)
 

Perisher

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Lucky me, an active thread on Iceland :D
I'm planning to trip end of this year, targeting mid to end December. Intending to spend at least 5 days in Iceland, doing self-drive and covering Reykjavik to Jökulsárlón or Hofn, traveling party of 2 or 4 (unconfirmed).
Would 5 days be too much or too little? Budget no issue as I'm planning to AirBnB the crap out of Iceland, and put my funds in getting a proper 4x4 :)

I'm planning to go year end and use Airbnb too. :D
I think if you wanna see the Northern light, you might wanna extend to 10 days...
 

SGJoe86

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Aye, did thought of that, but I wasn't planning on covering the entire Ring Road, that's why only planned for 5 days heading down south-east and back, but getting air ticket is proving to be a challenge (planning to use my Miles).
Plus, wife and myself wants to catch at least one Christmas market, so our transit is The Netherlands, gotta cater 2-4 days there. Iceland ain't that well known for the Christmas stuff, but I would like to see their free-for-all fireworks on New Year's Eve.
For catching of Northern Lights, it really comes down to luck. My sis friend just came back on the 14th Feb, managed to catch at least once. My cousin is there on honeymoon now (since 7th Feb, back this Sunday), so far no sighting. A lot depends on your present location and overhead cloud coverage.

PS: I've been monitoring this site on a daily basis from my desk. Quite accurate readings as Iceland Met Service is more generic, plus they have sky cameras over the Scandinavian countries, so if there's aurora sighting over those areas, high chance of encounter over Iceland :)
 
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Perisher

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Aye, did thought of that, but I wasn't planning on covering the entire Ring Road, that's why only planned for 5 days heading down south-east and back, but getting air ticket is proving to be a challenge (planning to use my Miles).
Plus, wife and myself wants to catch at least one Christmas market, so our transit is The Netherlands, gotta cater 2-4 days there. Iceland ain't that well known for the Christmas stuff, but I would like to see their free-for-all fireworks on New Year's Eve.
For catching of Northern Lights, it really comes down to luck. My sis friend just came back on the 14th Feb, managed to catch at least once. My cousin is there on honeymoon now (since 7th Feb, back this Sunday), so far no sighting. A lot depends on your present location and overhead cloud coverage.

PS: I've been monitoring this site on a daily basis from my desk. Quite accurate readings as Iceland Met Service is more generic, plus they have sky cameras over the Scandinavian countries, so if there's aurora sighting over those areas, high chance of encounter over Iceland :)

Thank for the sharing. Will check that site.
We are avoiding the Xmas period as things would be even more pricey I believe.
 

SGJoe86

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Thank for the sharing. Will check that site.
We are avoiding the Xmas period as things would be even more pricey I believe.
Oh crap, I actually forgot about the increased price during that period! My budget was planned for first week of November, then I shifted it to Christmas at wife's request, but the price point slipped my mind!
Guess it's back to the drawing board for me :(
 

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Whoa! Was that hotel, hostel, or AirBnB? o_O"

Apartment K on Agoda. I'm doing Iceland > Greenland > Iceland and didn't book accoms for when I get back to Iceland and decided to go for Airbnb instead.
 

Perisher

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book your accoms early. one of the places i got tripled in price.

At this time? it's like 9months in advance? :s22:

I thought I would have plenty of time to book something in Nov and not worry about price jacking up... Well, still gonna do at my own pace but will make decisions faster...
 

Din0saurus

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At this time? it's like 9months in advance? :s22:

I thought I would have plenty of time to book something in Nov and not worry about price jacking up... Well, still gonna do at my own pace but will make decisions faster...
not at this time of course. might not even be possible to do it more than 6mths in advance. i did it 2mths ahead (which is uncharacteristically early for me) and already some places were not available. checked again yesterday prices tripled.

words like early/late and cheap/expensive are pretty useless without context. :s13:
 

SGJoe86

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At this time? it's like 9months in advance? :s22:

I thought I would have plenty of time to book something in Nov and not worry about price jacking up... Well, still gonna do at my own pace but will make decisions faster...
Actually, some hot AirBnB properties are showing booked reservations in November already. Folks like me are planning really early, and targeting to book my tickets latest by next week :o

Btw, those that had gone to Iceland, which airline and country did you guys transit in? Different country hoping over to Iceland different price.
 

Din0saurus

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Actually, some hot AirBnB properties are showing booked reservations in November already. Folks like me are planning really early, and targeting to book my tickets latest by next week :o

Btw, those that had gone to Iceland, which airline and country did you guys transit in? Different country hoping over to Iceland different price.

I'm doing Finnair via Helsinki. Stopovers are around 8hrs regardless of country when I checked so I just picked the cheapest one with 1 stopover. Having 2 transits wouldn't leave you with much time to head out and the 8hrs would just be wasted.

Also, doing the booking as an open jaw is the same price, giving me 1 extra night in Helsinki due to budget constraints. You can do more nights and take a boat out to St Petersburg or Tallinn, but I'm sure there's a limit to the number of days you can do a stopover before the price goes up.
 

jackieatbtu

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Actually, some hot AirBnB properties are showing booked reservations in November already. Folks like me are planning really early, and targeting to book my tickets latest by next week :o

Btw, those that had gone to Iceland, which airline and country did you guys transit in? Different country hoping over to Iceland different price.

I flew via Icelandair from Copenhagen to KEF ($107.1). And, KEF to London Heathrow ($89.27). Prices all in GBP. LON-KEF return seems to have the best prices that I saw during my planning. I only flew via Copenhagen cause I stayed at Prague before my Iceland trip.
 

SGJoe86

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I flew via Icelandair from Copenhagen to KEF ($107.1). And, KEF to London Heathrow ($89.27). Prices all in GBP. LON-KEF return seems to have the best prices that I saw during my planning. I only flew via Copenhagen cause I stayed at Prague before my Iceland trip.
Did you remember how far advance you purchased your transit tickets?
Icelandair from Copenhagen to KEF and KEF to Amsterdam is at 290.10 GBP now, that 100 GBP more than what you paid for >_<
 
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