Chasing the Northern Lights - Iceland

Francesco Totti

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Just returned from a 6-day trip.

Mainly self drove, only managed to cover the GC, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, South coast area until Jokulsarlon.

The only regret I had is the short span I had there and if not for some special circumstances which did not enable me to change accommodations daily that could have saved A LOT of time and petrol costs.

Definitely planning to go back there again to do the Route 1 with a more appropriate itinerary!
 

coolhead

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Just returned from a 6-day trip.

Mainly self drove, only managed to cover the GC, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, South coast area until Jokulsarlon.

The only regret I had is the short span I had there and if not for some special circumstances which did not enable me to change accommodations daily that could have saved A LOT of time and petrol costs.

Definitely planning to go back there again to do the Route 1 with a more appropriate itinerary!

Did u manage to catch the lights? U should be in the middle of the coronal outburst last few days.
 

Francesco Totti

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Anyway, I happen to have a new and untapped 5GB (Data Only) Simmin sim card.

Bought for 2300kr and willing to let go at $20 (Expires on the 8th Nov 2016, Iceland timing)

PM me if interested and will show receipt upon meetup.
 
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Francesco Totti

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Did u manage to catch the lights? U should be in the middle of the coronal outburst last few days.

If anyone was there during the same period as I was, they would have grumbled just as we did due to the bad weather plus my location was quite bad (somewhere near Selfoss).

It was constantly raining and clouds were heavy from where we were for the first 4 nights.

Only managed to briefly see them during the last 2 nights (Thur and Fri) and that was only because I drove up near to Blonduos after following vedur's forecast that the North area will have a high chance of viewing the aurora.

I am sure those at Akureyri definitely can enjoy a even better view but too bad timing did not allow us so. The furthest I could get to was Blonduos and had to go South in which I was able to catch glimpses of it too.

The best tip I can give is the vedur website are quite accurate thus far based on my observations and one more thing to add: the moon can ruin your experience for the lights too (Yes, mine was also full moon even for the last 2 nights) :(
 

coolhead

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Hi Guys,

I booked the 7 day ring road package tour with Extreme Iceland:
https://www.extremeiceland.is/en/packages/winter-packages/the-ring-road

I still have 2 full free days. Any recommendations on other tours I should go for that is not covered in the above? Or anything else I should do instead?

Thanks.

see if you can book a 1 day tour to snaefellsnes peninsula. I'm not sure if it can be covered in 1 day but worth a try. If you have provisioned for time in allocation for Reykjavik sight-seeing, then you can try 2 days of snaefellsnes peninsula, it'll be less rushed.
 

coolhead

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If anyone was there during the same period as I was, they would have grumbled just as we did due to the bad weather plus my location was quite bad (somewhere near Selfoss).

It was constantly raining and clouds were heavy from where we were for the first 4 nights.

Only managed to briefly see them during the last 2 nights (Thur and Fri) and that was only because I drove up near to Blonduos after following vedur's forecast that the North area will have a high chance of viewing the aurora.

I am sure those at Akureyri definitely can enjoy a even better view but too bad timing did not allow us so. The furthest I could get to was Blonduos and had to go South in which I was able to catch glimpses of it too.

The best tip I can give is the vedur website are quite accurate thus far based on my observations and one more thing to add: the moon can ruin your experience for the lights too (Yes, mine was also full moon even for the last 2 nights) :(

Agreed vedur.is is really accurate. I use them as well to forecast wind and rain before I make my road trips. Surprisingly north Iceland had better weather in the first half of October, seeing that alot of icelanders are recommending us to go to south Iceland for a better chance of weather and northern lights.
But at the least, it's happy knowing you get to catch the lights. :)
 

Francesco Totti

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Hi Guys,

I booked the 7 day ring road package tour with Extreme Iceland:
https://www.extremeiceland.is/en/packages/winter-packages/the-ring-road

I still have 2 full free days. Any recommendations on other tours I should go for that is not covered in the above? Or anything else I should do instead?

Thanks.

During winter period? If so, I might not able to offer the best solutions compared to those who can

If not, here goes: Ice cave tours, snowmobiling, ATV riding, glacial walks/climbs, horse riding... all quite costly but I also encourage self drive can so visit more places :o
 

Francesco Totti

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Agreed vedur.is is really accurate. I use them as well to forecast wind and rain before I make my road trips. Surprisingly north Iceland had better weather in the first half of October, seeing that alot of icelanders are recommending us to go to south Iceland for a better chance of weather and northern lights.
But at the least, it's happy knowing you get to catch the lights. :)

Yeah bro, that's the consensus I had too and partly the reason I chose the South area when planning for this trip.

Turns out, almost all my days I spent there was where the clouds were dark dark green on vedur :(
 
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raindance

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Ok thanks guys, I'll check out snaefellsnes peninsula.

I don't have winter driving experience so would prefer not to self drive this trip :o
 

ping56

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Anyone went to Akureyri? planning to go there for two full days to ski and catch northern lights. any suggestions on what to do there?
 

coolhead

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Anyone went to Akureyri? planning to go there for two full days to ski and catch northern lights. any suggestions on what to do there?

akureyri is a pretty small city. It's mainly a stopover for me to go to other areas. Apart from trying out the restaurants like the famous Fish and Chips and Noa's restaurant, akureyri church, i do not recall doing much else there :)
 

coolhead

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Ok thanks guys, I'll check out snaefellsnes peninsula.

I don't have winter driving experience so would prefer not to self drive this trip :o

It's a risk to take if you self-drive. I am not sure when it snows but that's the scary part if combined with wind.
 

ping56

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akureyri is a pretty small city. It's mainly a stopover for me to go to other areas. Apart from trying out the restaurants like the famous Fish and Chips and Noa's restaurant, akureyri church, i do not recall doing much else there :)

I wanted to go there because I read online that the northern part of iceland has a higher chance of seeing the northern lights than the south? not sure how true but these few days as I was visiting the website of Extreme Iceland, I saw that they cancelled the northern light tours from Reykjavik. did a bit of research around the area. thinking to take a day tour to lake myvant, then perhaps somewhere else? just wanted to be as north as possible. lol
 

maggoth

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We
I wanted to go there because I read online that the northern part of iceland has a higher chance of seeing the northern lights than the south? not sure how true but these few days as I was visiting the website of Extreme Iceland, I saw that they cancelled the northern light tours from Reykjavik. did a bit of research around the area. thinking to take a day tour to lake myvant, then perhaps somewhere else? just wanted to be as north as possible. lol
Will recommend the myvatn area instead of akureyri. Akureyri really does not have much to see as compared to myvatn but you do need a full day to cover most of the sights in myvatn though especially if you want to visit the myvatn nature baths.
 

nomoney25

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Just returned from a 6-day trip.

Mainly self drove, only managed to cover the GC, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, South coast area until Jokulsarlon.

The only regret I had is the short span I had there and if not for some special circumstances which did not enable me to change accommodations daily that could have saved A LOT of time and petrol costs.

Definitely planning to go back there again to do the Route 1 with a more appropriate itinerary!

Bro. I was in the same shoe as u. Reach on 9 Oct sun and spend the next 4 days in rain over the southern coast. Went to Fjadrárgljúfur along the way and saw a group of few guys that might be Singaporean. Also went to gjain too. Knowing that high chances of northern light on the Thursday night. I traveled to Hvammstangi from Reykjavik. A round trip of almost 450km! I just glad I even to witness over there. U r even more toward the northern part. U should see it right?

I had clocked over 2000km in 6 days. Even more than the entire round trip of route1 even though I didn't go to the eastern and northern side of iceland. Personally I find myself driving from Reykjavik to Snæfellsnes not worth. I won't not recommended it for those who have a tight time schedule over in Iceland.
 

nomoney25

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By the way. I also have my leftover data sim card to let go for those who keen. I kiasu and have about 8Gb data left. I topped up 10gb for 3300isk immediately I bought the data sim ! Just Pm me and I guaranteed u a superb saving as iceland is really a expensive country.
 

Ekspakk

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see if you can book a 1 day tour to snaefellsnes peninsula. I'm not sure if it can be covered in 1 day but worth a try. If you have provisioned for time in allocation for Reykjavik sight-seeing, then you can try 2 days of snaefellsnes peninsula, it'll be less rushed.
I booked a 1 day of Snaefellsnes peninsula during winter and I find it a bit underwhelming. The scenery are just okay and you'll gonna spend more time in the car. It looks so different though since everything will be frozen and covered in snow.
 

coolhead

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Will recommend the myvatn area instead of akureyri. Akureyri really does not have much to see as compared to myvatn but you do need a full day to cover most of the sights in myvatn though especially if you want to visit the myvatn nature baths.
Totally agree with this. In fact, I spent 2 nights at Lake Myvatn and it was absolutely worth it. Alot of nature to see there.

I wanted to go there because I read online that the northern part of iceland has a higher chance of seeing the northern lights than the south? not sure how true but these few days as I was visiting the website of Extreme Iceland, I saw that they cancelled the northern light tours from Reykjavik. did a bit of research around the area. thinking to take a day tour to lake myvant, then perhaps somewhere else? just wanted to be as north as possible. lol

I can't say much since I only track the weather last few months. But it seems rather based on luck. Like for next few days, both the north and south have equal chances of being cloudy.

I booked a 1 day of Snaefellsnes peninsula during winter and I find it a bit underwhelming. The scenery are just okay and you'll gonna spend more time in the car. It looks so different though since everything will be frozen and covered in snow.

It's true some time is spent travelling in the car. There are quite a few things to see at Snaefellsnes peninsula:
Eldborg volcanic caldera, gerouberg basalt columns, vatnshellir cave, djupalonssandur black sand beach, bjarnarhofn shark museum, vatnaleid, the scenic route taken by walter mitty to seyðisfjörður.

But it's not the top of my trip at Iceland. If I were to rank the top 3, it will be 1) Northern lights, 2) Lake Myvatn, 3) Snaefellsnes Peninsula.
 

maggoth

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Weather actually turned for the better from Fri in the south when I arrived. Very little wind and sunny. Way too sunny cos the sun was in my face when i drove. Then since yesterday late in the afternoon started to drizzle and this morning raining. Had planned on visiting seljavallalaug pool early in the morning cos I live about 10 mins from there but seems like 泡汤 already (pun intended)
 
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