Iceland | Tricks and tips to see the Northern Lights

One of the reasons that most attracts all travelers' attention when traveling to the Arctic regions is being able to see the northern lights: Northern Lights, as they are also called.

But we must admit that it is not always easy to see them, so we are going to tell you everything you need to know to get the perfect experience.

Many times trips have a main theme and of course if you travel to iceland In a time other than summer, the issue is clear; the Aurora borealis.

And it is not precisely for lack of impressive places to see in Iceland, but it is a very important addition.

Of course, not every night you have the chance to see the northern lights, which would be a perfect complement to a day of excursion to the island of ice and fire.

What are the northern lights?

There have been hundreds of explanations given by the different Arctic inhabitants of “those colored lights in the sky”, especially those related to the gods.

But beyond spiritual explanations, today scientists already know the true reason for its appearance, and curiously the origin of its formation is outside our planet.

Summarizing the scientific explanation in an understandable way, the Aurora borealis They arise from the Sun and are expressed on the Earth.

Solar eruptions release materials that are launched into space, and when they reach our planet they collide with the atmosphere and the Earth's magnetism gives them shape.

As they descend through the atmosphere, the particles decompose and leave these incredible shapes and colors.

Conditions to see the northern lights

For those of you who are going to travel to Iceland to see the northern lights For the first time, you have to know that several factors need to come together.

First of all, a place with low or no light pollution and to be near the magnetic poles of the Earth, and in this case Iceland fulfills it.

Also that there is many hours at night; That is why in summer you cannot see the northern lights.

Another basic condition is let the weather be good, since if there are clouds, even if there are auroras, they cannot be seen.

The problem is that in winter, when there are more hours of daylight, the weather is usually bad, and in summer, when there are fewer clouds, there are not enough hours of darkness.

If you have many hours of darkness and there are also no clouds, here comes the intensity of the aurora.

Not all days are the same, Northern Lights They are formed by the magnetism of the Earth near the poles and the intensity is variable; That is why it is necessary to use an application or web page where you can see the aurora intensity forecasts.

The good thing is that on 80 percent of clear days, you can see them.

Where to see Northern Lights in Iceland

This question has a fairly easy answer.

Except the capital, Reykjavik, all the rest of the island is good place to see northern lights, although there is a nuance that we will tell you later.

The entire island has very very low light pollution, so it is not necessary to look for a particular place.

Furthermore, there is hardly any population outside Reykjavik and a couple of other cities, so it's really easy to find a place to see them.

The peninsula of Snaefellsnes, for example, is a very good place to see them, or the southwest of the island near Vik, and, of course, in the northern part of iceland, which is the least populated area.

I won't even mention the interior of the island, because no one lives there and it is obviously a very good place to see the northern lights.

Best time to see the Northern Lights in Iceland

If you were thinking travel to Iceland in summer to see the aurorasForget it, because the day has almost 24 hours of light, and in those conditions it is impossible.

For hours of light, the best time is winter, but it is usually very cold and the sky is usually cloudy, so although the conditions are ideal, it can happen that you travel for an entire week and not have a single clear day.

Furthermore, the appearance of Northern Lights It is unpredictable with more than 24 hours in advance.

From September to April they can be seen in Iceland, and the day in the middle of winter can have almost 24 hours of darkness.

But, in our opinion, The best time is the beginning of November and the end of February, when the days are dark enough to see auroras, but there is also daylight and better weather.

Keep in mind that when planning the trip it is not a good idea to obsess over seeing them because the weather is very capricious, and it is likely that you will not be able to see them even if you go on a good date.

That is why we recommend travel to iceland on a date when you also have enough hours of daylight to be able to visit the attractive places that the island contains.

Tour and excursions to see the northern lights in Iceland

Precisely on our last and recent trip to Iceland we wanted search for northern lights.

We took the trip with the travel agency Polar Lands, specialists in trips to arctic areas, and norwegian.

We had already been with them in our trip to greenland and we repeat the experience as they do, since on all their tours we sleep in areas specially sought to have zero light pollution.

Best App to see the Northern Lights

When it comes to seeing the Northern Lights we usually always use the same one. app.

The application is called Aurora and it's free, it works for both Android as if to IOS, and sends warnings when the northern lights are expected to appear.

To do this you must have your location activated and the application sends you a notification when you are in an area of ​​influence of auroras and warns you 30 minutes before they appear.

It has a map that shows you where it is expected to be seen, and the good thing about it is that it also tells you the evolution and the areas of the world where it is visible.

It also shows you a prediction in percentage of the probabilities that they can be seen and the clouds that will be in the area.

If you have a van or are able to move around, you can create a route to go to the areas of the island where you will see them best.

Is the weather forecast reliable?

Keep in mind that nowadays weather forecasts are usually quite reliable since many aspects of daily life depend on it, such as airplanes.

But it is also true that the wind blows a lot in Iceland and the fronts can change direction.

Therefore, keep in mind that they can fail, although changes usually occur especially when you look at the forecast for several days.

If you look for information from one day to the next, it rarely fails.

How to photograph northern lights

The best advice we can give you is to enjoy the auroras and forget about taking photos.

We say this because there are times when the moment to see the auroras is very short, and you would not be the first who, between placing the camera and configuring it, in the end you miss them.

Especially if you are new to photography.

The camera requires a configuration and if you don't have practice, taking photos in the dark and the excitement of seeing them can make things complicated.

But if you are convinced that you want to photograph them but you don't know about photography, we are going to help you get the photo of your dreams.

Setting up your camera to view the Northern Lights

Several aspects must be taken into account.

The first and fundamental thing is that the camera has manual settingsIf not, it is almost impossible.

Many times people who don't know buy some compact cameras because they are small and cheap and they don't want to spend a lot of money, but when they get there they realize that they cannot configure them manually.

It is not necessary to spend a fortune on the camera, but without manual settings you cannot do anything.

I'm not going to give you a photography class because it would require an entire article, but roughly speaking, you have to take long exposure photos.

Although you can raise the ISO y open the diaphragm, which will help give luminosity, the fundamental thing is that the exhibithion time be between 3 and 10 seconds for each photo.

If you take a longer exposure, about 30 seconds, the shapes that make the auroras will not be seen in the photo; The entire sky will be seen green, but without texture.

If you don't know what we're talking about and it sounds Chinese, watch this video from our fellow photographer first. Joan Vendrell, which explains the basics of photography.

Can you take photos of the northern lights with your mobile camera?

We are often asked this question and that is why we include it.

To take a photo with your mobileAs with conventional cameras, you must have manual settings that allow you to take long exposures.

Most cell phones do not have them.

And you will tell me... I have seen videos of people taking photos with their cell phones.

It must be taken into account that many times these photos have been taken in perfect conditions.

If the auroras are very intense and it is completely clear, you can do them with your cell phone, but you have to be very lucky

Can you make a video of the northern lights?

It is the same case as taking photos with your cell phone, if the day is perfect, they are the most intense auroras of the year and you have a good cell phone, it is possible that you record them.

Although what can be done is time lapse; If you set the camera to take 300 photos in a row you can have an incredible perspective of the movement of the auroras.

On our last trip we had the opportunity to do them and you can see them at the beginning of our video of the trip to Iceland that you have at the beginning of the article.

Where to see the northern lights in Reykjavík?

Before our last trip, if you had asked me about the best place to see the northern lights in reykjavík, I would have told you to forget, it is impossible.

But we have discovered that if you are lucky on a good day, it is possible to see them, just like from the plane.

In principle, a city of 220.000 inhabitants is not a good place to see the northern lights by the light of the city, so if you want to see them it is important that you stay away from light pollution.

You have to try to look into the darkness of the ocean, look for an area that faces the sea.

Of course, don't think that it is easy, I would tell you that with almost 95% probability you will not be able to see the auroras in Reykjavík.

And finally, we leave you with a question that has been on our minds whenever we have traveled to see the Northern Lights, and that we have been debating with our traveling companions.

Forgetting about photos, when you see the northern lights live, what color do you see them?