Chasing the Northern Lights - Iceland

Perisher

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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.

You didn't fly from SG?
 

SGJoe86

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You didn't fly from SG?
Probably SG to some part of Europe for Euro holiday, then puddle hopped to Iceland via Copenhagen I guess.
That was my original plan, to tour Europe, but hiccups happened, so that is shelved for next year, but proceed with Iceland first.
 

jarvis

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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.

If you want to book a northern lights tour, I suggest you go with one of those small group tours where they go out in cars instead of joining the big bus tours.

If you're with the big bus tours, you'd only be able to go to big carparks together with the other buses and the other hundreds of tourists. If you're into photography, your shots will be spoilt by all the people who try to take photos using flash or who walk into your photos since you're taking it with like long exposures.

I went with a photography tour. Very good because you get to learn how to take proper photographs of the northern lights. Unfortunately, while I was there, it wasn't strong enough to be seen by the naked eye, but it did turn out ok on the photographs (15-30s exposures).
 

jackieatbtu

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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 >_<

I bought my tickets nine months in advance. Since, I already booked the local tours and hotels, I bought my flight tickets as well. Are you travelling soon and that is why it is more expensive?
 

jackieatbtu

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You didn't fly from SG?

I flew SIN-LON as it was cheaper with many airlines flying the route. I used Lufthansa for about $13XX return but MAS was offering about $200 cheaper for London. Unfortunately my travelling partner did not want to fly MAS.
 

SGJoe86

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I bought my tickets nine months in advance. Since, I already booked the local tours and hotels, I bought my flight tickets as well. Are you travelling soon and that is why it is more expensive?
Haha, I'm planning my trip for December, that's why I'm flipping my table!
 

Ekspakk

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If you want to book a northern lights tour, I suggest you go with one of those small group tours where they go out in cars instead of joining the big bus tours.

If you're with the big bus tours, you'd only be able to go to big carparks together with the other buses and the other hundreds of tourists. If you're into photography, your shots will be spoilt by all the people who try to take photos using flash or who walk into your photos since you're taking it with like long exposures.

I went with a photography tour. Very good because you get to learn how to take proper photographs of the northern lights. Unfortunately, while I was there, it wasn't strong enough to be seen by the naked eye, but it did turn out ok on the photographs (15-30s exposures).
I initially thought the same, but at the end we just booked a bus tour from Reykjavik Excursions to save a little bit and it's actually not that bad. They brought us to a national park (forgot the name) from Reykjavik and the park has enough space for everyone (2 bus in total from same company) to take decent photo's.

So if you don't really need a postcard like photo, I think a bus tour would be okay.
 

jackieatbtu

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Haha, I'm planning my trip for December, that's why I'm flipping my table!

Maybe try switching website country to UK and see if got any difference? I book my CPH-KEF also via UK website and pay in pounds. You still have a long way to go till your trip. Should be cheaper unless it is peak season.
 

SGJoe86

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Maybe try switching website country to UK and see if got any difference? I book my CPH-KEF also via UK website and pay in pounds. You still have a long way to go till your trip. Should be cheaper unless it is peak season.
I've tried both US and UK website, pricing is the same after currency conversion.
Other than looking at Iceland Air, I've checked out WOW Airline as well, supposed to be budget airline. The only good thing is I get to carry more check-in luggage with WOW Air if I try to match the price with Iceland Air.

As of now, 2x tickets on both airlines come up to SGD1220++, ouchie~
Travel date is from 26th Dec to 1st Jan. I tried shifting it forward to early Dec and late Nov, not much difference :-/
 

Din0saurus

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I've tried both US and UK website, pricing is the same after currency conversion.
Other than looking at Iceland Air, I've checked out WOW Airline as well, supposed to be budget airline. The only good thing is I get to carry more check-in luggage with WOW Air if I try to match the price with Iceland Air.

As of now, 2x tickets on both airlines come up to SGD1220++, ouchie~
Travel date is from 26th Dec to 1st Jan. I tried shifting it forward to early Dec and late Nov, not much difference :-/

are you doing this because you have miles to claim for the rtn tix from sg to other parts of Europe? I randomly did a search for rtn tix from cph to kef on 26/12 - 1/1 and wow air is $428 per pax btw. not sure why there's a $200 difference...
 

SGJoe86

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are you doing this because you have miles to claim for the rtn tix from sg to other parts of Europe? I randomly did a search for rtn tix from cph to kef on 26/12 - 1/1 and wow air is $428 per pax btw. not sure why there's a $200 difference...
Yah, I using KF Miles to redeem flights to and fro Europe, and have to split location since SQ doesn't fly from Copenhagen back to SG on 2nd Jan 2017.
The base price for WOW Air is quite reasonable, but I added 1x hand carry and 3x check-in luggage as forward planning first. So those add-ons plus the 2 adult base price tickets comes up to my original figure. Travelling light would help, but I prefer to err on the safe side during the ticket checking (not booking, as those are subjected to changes :D).
 

GrowingCorner

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I just traveled to Iceland in Jan this year. It was really beautiful and amazing!! I just started a blog to share about my experience and tips during my trip there. We are on free and easy throughout our trip and joined 3 activity- focused tours. We chose to transit at London to go Iceland. We flew to London through SIA and Iceland through Icelandair. You may see more at makesimple.wordpress.com. I am still writing up the blog now due to busy CNY period! You may read there periodically for updates.
 

SGJoe86

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I just traveled to Iceland in Jan this year. It was really beautiful and amazing!! I just started a blog to share about my experience and tips during my trip there. We are on free and easy throughout our trip and joined 3 activity- focused tours. We chose to transit at London to go Iceland. We flew to London through SIA and Iceland through Icelandair. You may see more at makesimple.wordpress.com. I am still writing up the blog now due to busy CNY period! You may read there periodically for updates.
I prefer to relac one corner than to grow one :D
*Ahem* Back to topic, hope your article will have useful info for us since most of us in this thread are planning winter trips (summer trip for future, that place looks awesome in green!).
PS: Saw one post regarding luggage limit for Iceland Air, you never opt for extra luggage allowance? Or didn't burst it at all, hence no requirement?
 

Perisher

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I just traveled to Iceland in Jan this year. It was really beautiful and amazing!! I just started a blog to share about my experience and tips during my trip there. We are on free and easy throughout our trip and joined 3 activity- focused tours. We chose to transit at London to go Iceland. We flew to London through SIA and Iceland through Icelandair. You may see more at makesimple.wordpress.com. I am still writing up the blog now due to busy CNY period! You may read there periodically for updates.

Isn't using Finnair cheaper? I checked your airflight tix price. It's about $1.5k overall.

As for your luggage allowance, it's 7kg hand carry + 23kg inflight = 30kg overall yup?
 

Din0saurus

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Isn't using Finnair cheaper? I checked your airflight tix price. It's about $1.5k overall.

As for your luggage allowance, it's 7kg hand carry + 23kg inflight = 30kg overall yup?

KF miles?

Don't think I'll exceed 12kg even with the extra clothing for Greenland, but we shall see.
 

Din0saurus

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For those still contemplating, September might be the best month. Statistically, the equinox months of sep and mar are the best for aurora sightings. Sep is quite a bit warmer than the other months as well and has the lowest precipitation in the winter months. Not sure if lower precipitation correlates with lower cloud cover though.
 

SGJoe86

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For those still contemplating, September might be the best month. Statistically, the equinox months of sep and mar are the best for aurora sightings. Sep is quite a bit warmer than the other months as well and has the lowest precipitation in the winter months. Not sure if lower precipitation correlates with lower cloud cover though.

Bro, some sites claimed March and Sept to be the wettest due to the crossover of seasons. Think the best bet is still Nov to Feb?
 

SGJoe86

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Btw, fellow light chasers that went during the winter months, did you guys use windbreaker as the outer most layer, or do without the breaker and just wear down jacket as the top layer?
 

Din0saurus

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Bro, some sites claimed March and Sept to be the wettest due to the crossover of seasons. Think the best bet is still Nov to Feb?

I used Wikipedia's climate data for reykjavik initially and sep has both the lowest amount of precipitation and precipitation days.

but then I realised that cloud cover is more relevant and this site: https://weatherspark.com/averages/27562/Reykjavik-Capital-Region-Iceland says that it doesn't vary substantially in rekjavik throughout the year.

that would still make sep/mar the best months, with sep being warmer. there are probably better places to catch the northern lights though.

def bring a windproof shell. weather is unpredictable. last tue had 60+ km/h wind speeds and 80+km/h wind gusts.
 
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