Best time to visit Iceland? The reasons why you need visit at least TWICE in your life
Iceland is a country filled with natural wonders in every single corner, and it’s also a country where the sun never sets during summer months and where the northern lights steal the show during the winter months.
For a better understanding of what I mean, I will divide this post in two different parts. The first one explaining 4 reasons why you should visit during summer months, and the second one explaining 4 reasons why you should visit during winter months.
Reasons to visit during Summer
1.The 24h of daylight
First of all, get ready to experience the spectacular phenomenon of the midnight sun! Considering the vicinity of Iceland to the arctic circle, from May to July daylight hours are 24h per day. The sun never sets completely, giving you all the time you need to explore as much as you can from this amazing country. The downside to it is that you kind of lose track of time and might end up reaching your accommodation very late at ‘night’ without even realising.
2.Higher temperature and better climate
Iceland is not a very warm country and weather conditions can be very harsh sometimes with high winds, heavy rain, snow, ice etc. Therefore, knowing that you will be avoiding at least the icy and snowy part of it (unless of course you are on one of the glaciers) it’s a little more comforting considering that you want to make the most of your time in Iceland. Although, that doesn’t mean that you won’t feel cold so make sure to pack your warm clothes, thermals, huts, gloves, a warm and VERY waterproof jacket and your also VERY waterproof hiking shoes. Little tip, forget the umbrella, it can be VERY windy in Iceland and you might end up with a broken umbrella or fly away like Mary Poppins!
3.All roads (or most of them due to occasional maintenance) are open and in better conditions
In Iceland you will only find one circular main road, the Ring Road, which is the only one that remains open and drivable during the winter months. All the other routes heading to the centre of the country are gravel roads recommended with a 4x4 only. The conditions are not so bad but I would not suggest you adventure yourself without a proper car. During my time in Iceland we took a secondary gravel road heading towards Landmannalaugar mountains (that we never reach by the way as the only road available was suddenly closed due to safety issue), little did we know that we had to actually cross a river to continue on the other side of the road. We carefully crossed it when we saw other 4x4 going through but this is definitely something that will put you at risk if you do not have the right vehicle for it. We met an Icelandic couple along the way that informed us about road.is (app is also available). It’s a website constantly updated on road and weather conditions around the country and comes very useful while planning your trip so make sure you always check it out before you start driving, or you might have to drive back, and cross a river AGAIN, for over three hours to get back to the Ring Road. I must say though, the scenery along the way was out of this world so yes we were a little annoyed not knowing that the road was closed, but we didn’t mind spending another few hours in the middle of nowhere with the sun that never sets!
4.Nature and flowers in bloom
The scenery turns green and flowers are in bloom, on the contrary everything becomes more yellowish and white due to the heavy snow during the winter so you barely see some green around which, in my opinion, takes a little of the Icelandic magic away from your experience. See below why.
Reasons to visiting during Winter
1.The Northern Lights!
I don’t think that there is anything else to add to these three words. The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis are something that you MUST see before you die! Of course they are also visible from other parts of the globe but this post is about Iceland so I had to include them as the number 1 reason to visit Iceland in Winter. Only chasing them will be possibly one of the craziest things you will ever do. We also postponed our flight just to see them and thank God we did!
All you need for a good Northern Lights chasing experience are:
-The ‘My Aurora Forecast & Alerts’ App to monitor the forecasts for the Northern Lights -A clear sky -A good 4x4 car as you might end up in the middle of nowhere on a most probably ice road -Very very warm cloths (especially the gloves) -A sturdy tripod and a professional camera for a lifetime of memories (if you don’t have one maybe you’ll be able to capture something with night mode on your smartphone tripod will still be essential though)
Useful tip: Download the app a few weeks before your trip and try to understand how it works. The main things to monitor are the current strength or KP index of the lights (the higher the more chances of seeing them), the percentage or viewing probability, the clouds around your area and therefore where to drive to for clear skies. We drove for over 5 hours to reach the right location but it was totally worth it! One more thing to add in regard to the Northern Lights, many suggest at least one entire week or more in Iceland to be able to get the right weather conditions to see them. Although, we stayed in Iceland for just 5 days. I booked our trip only about 4 weeks before departure. The app gives you a three weeks Northern Lights strength prediction that I studied carefully when planning the trip, of course it’s a prediction so things could change, but at least you’ve got that extra peace of mind and accuracy.
2.Ice Cave Tours
Some Ice Caves can only be visited during the summer months, especially around the Vatnajökull glacier, the largest Glacier in Europe. When visiting Iceland for the second time in November 2019, we did our tour with Arctic Adventures and it was truly beautiful. I went to see the Ice Cave only but I regret not choosing the tour that included the Glacier Walk as well, info in here. Something is on my bucket list for next time. Winter is also the perfect time for Snowmobile tours on glaciers if you're interested, however in most locations these can be done all year around.
3.Cheaper flights, accommodations and car rental prices
Winter months in Iceland are of course low season due to the harsher weather conditions so you will find cheaper flights, accommodation and car rental prices when visiting compared to the rest of the year.
4.Less light more geothermal activities and relax
Considering that you get much less hours of light in the winter (about 4 hours in the month of November when we visited), there is not much you can do during the dark hours, so you will definitely have more time to relax in hot springs and lagoons around the country. Imagine how beautiful it would be to see the Northern Lights while you take a dip in the Blue or Sky Lagoon!
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