Northern Lights Exploration

DAY 1 Reykjavik
Your tour commences with an arrival transfer to your hotel. Enjoy the remainder of your day at leisure.

Stay at Hotel Klettur (3 star) or similar

DAY 2 Reykjavik – Borgarnes
Explore Iceland’s exciting capital on a morning city tour. Afterwards travel west to Borgarnes where you will learn about Iceland’s earliest days at the Settlement Centre. Later you will continue towards Borgarfjorour, also known as the Saga Valley, where you will have the opportunity to climb the Grábrók volcano crater and visit Deildartunguhver, Europe's most powerful hot spring. Also visit the waterfalls and lava field at Hraunfossar before arriving in Borgarnes for check in at your hotel. This evening is reserved for a lecture about the Northern Lights followed by a search for the Northern Lights.

Stay at Hotel Hamar (3 star) or similar
Meals included: Breakfast

DAY 3 Borgarnes / Snæfellsnes Peninsula
Discover the Snæfellsnes Peninsula which juts out from Iceland’s West Coast. See the rugged mountain range, lava fields, volcanic craters, sandy beaches and high cliffs. Visit the fishing village of Grundarfjörður, a place with an impressive coastline and mountains, lakes and waterfalls behind the village. One of the most photographed and famous mountain in Iceland, Kirkjufell, can be seen jutting out into the bay. Visit Arnarstapi and Hellnar before experiencing the area from below, inside Vatnshellir cave. We take you 35m underground and about 200m into the lava tube under the glacier Snæfellsjökull. On your return to Borgarnes your guide will share some practical tips on how to photograph the Auroras and naturally once darkness falls you will be out on the hunt for the dancing lights.

Stay at Hotel Hamar (3 star) or similar
Meals included: Breakfast

DAY 4 Borgarnes – Thingvellir – Hella
Today you will travel to Thingvellir National Park where the North American and European tectonic plates meet, followed by a visit to the iconic “Golden Falls” of Gulfoss and walk through the active geothermal area of Geysir where you will see Strokkur (The Churn), a geyser which erupts at regular intervals with its white column of boiling water reaching as high as 30m. The chef of Restaurant Geysir invites you to taste freshly baked hot spring bread served with Icelandic butter, geothermally boiled eggs and herring. In the afternoon, you learn about the Icelandic horse, its special qualities and history and visit a geothermal greenhouse, before arriving at your hotel in South Iceland. Tonight, step into the darkness to search for the Northern Lights amidst the peace and stillness of rural Iceland.

Stay at Landhotel (4 star) or similar
Meals included: Breakfast

DAY 5 Hella – Kirkjubaejarklaustur
Travel along the South coast, stopping at the Lava & Volcano Exhibition Center, to learn about geology and active volcanoes. Further east you will visit one of Iceland’s finest folk museums. This museum contains an outstanding collection of farm and domestic artefacts from Iceland’s past and several turf-built houses. Nearby is Skógafoss Waterfall which is 60 meters high and one of the most impressive waterfalls in the country. In the afternoon take a stroll on the black lava beach and along bird cliffs at Reynisfjara in South Iceland. Overnight at your hotel located near the Kirkjubæjarklaustur in the Vatnajökull National Park region, a wonderful location for chasing the Northern Lights.

Stay at Fosshotel Nupar (3 star) or similar
Meals included: Breakfast

DAY 6 Kirkjubaejarklaustur / Vatnajokull
Today’s exploration is all about glaciers, ice and icebergs. Your first stop is Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon filled with floating icebergs, where you can explore this extraordinary site and maybe see seals swimming in arctic waters. There is also an opportunity to walk on the black sandy beach where large icebergs get stranded. Afterwards, visit the tiny turf church at Hof and spend time at Europe’s largest national park, Vatnajökull, which covers 14% of Iceland and home to Europe's largest glacier. If you want to try something different, why not take an optional Ice Cave tour? Heading off with a local guide from Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, you can delve into a local ice cave and explore deep within it. Whether you take the optional tour or not, In the evening enjoy a film presentation about the Northern Lights followed by a search of the Auroras in this remote and quiet region.

Stay at Fosshotel Nupar (3 star) or similar
Meals included: Breakfast

DAY 7 Kirkjubaejarklaustur – Blue Lagoon – Reykjavik
This morning you will travel across the Eldhraun lava field to the village of Vík, where you can stop for the perfect photo opportunity - the black lava beach with high bird cliffs and pounding waves is very impressive. Further west you will see the high but narrow Seljalandsfoss waterfall before reaching the famous Blue Lagoon.

Stay at Hotel Klettur (3 star) or similar
Meals included: Breakfast

DAY 8 Reykjavik
Your tour concludes with a departure transfer for your onward journey.

Meals included: Breakfast