Northern lights at Kirkjufell 2026-27

Is 2026-27 a good winter for the northern lights in Iceland?

Yes. The Sun passed solar maximum in 2024-25, and the declining phase still produces strong geomagnetic storms, only less often.

In October 2024 NASA and NOAA announced that the Sun had reached its solar maximum period and expected it to last "another year or so before the Sun enters the declining phase". They added that "though less frequent, scientists often see fairly significant storms during the declining phase of the solar cycle."

NOAA's solar cycle progression page expects cycle 26 to begin between 2029 and 2032. For winter 2026-27 that means fewer headline storms than in 2024, and still plenty of aurora this far north. Iceland sits under the auroral oval, so a quiet night can still show a green band if the sky is clear.

When is it dark enough at Kirkjufell, month by month?

From late August to mid April. The darkest sky runs from about 19:00 to 08:00 at the December solstice, shrinking to about 23:00 to 03:30 by early April.

The aurora shows up best in a fully dark sky, after astronomical twilight ends. The windows below are calculated for Grundarfjörður, 2 km from the mountain. Faint aurora can show earlier, in the deep blue after sunset, and strong displays start as soon as the sky is dim.

From May to July there is no real night here at all. Around the June solstice you get the midnight sun instead, which our photo guide covers.

Which nights does the moon spoil in winter 2026-27?

The week around each full moon brightens the sky. Aim for the nights around the new moon: 9 November, 9 December, 7 January, 6 February and 8 March.

A bright moon does not hide a strong aurora, and some photographers like the way it lights the mountain. For faint displays, though, a dark sky helps a lot. Plan a Kirkjufell night within about five days of a new moon if you can. The dates below are standard astronomical calculations, in UTC, which is Iceland's time all year.

Can you see the northern lights at Kirkjufell on a day tour?

Not in practice. Day tours from Reykjavik reach Kirkjufell in daylight or dusk and head back long before full dark. Nobody can promise an aurora.

The Snæfellsnes day tours are built for daylight. Even the ones that end at Kirkjufell leave the falls in the late afternoon and drive 2.5 hours back to Reykjavik. On a clear night you might see the lights from the bus window on the drive home, and one January guest on the farm-lunch tour said the guide "made us PhDs on the Northern Lights on the ride home". A lecture is not a sighting. Book a day tour for the peninsula, never for the aurora.

Reykjavik aurora tours do not come here either. Kirkjufell is too far for an evening trip, so they hunt for clear sky nearer the city. The closest option among the tours on this site is the two-day Snæfellsnes tour, which ends day one at Kirkjufell and sleeps in Borgarnes, away from Reykjavik's light. It does not include an aurora outing, so treat the evening as a bonus.

Two slower days with a night in Borgarnes, the Víðgelmir lava cave on day two, and a chance to look up away from the city lights.

★ 4.9 · 2 days · from $559

Explore the two-day Snæfellsnes tour → Tour details

How do you plan a northern lights night at Kirkjufell?

Stay in Grundarfjörður or nearby, watch the cloud forecast, and go out on the clearest night with a headlamp, spikes and the parking app ready.

The Icelandic Met Office's aurora forecast shows the cloud cover map for the whole country, with clear sky in white, plus an activity number from 0 to 9. Snæfellsnes catches weather off the Atlantic, so a clear gap matters more than a high number. Check NOAA's 30-minute forecast once you are out.

Practical bits: the car park at the falls charges 24 hours a day, every day, so pay in the app at night too (fees and payment). The path to the falls is icy and unlit, the road beside it carries traffic, and Grundarfjörður's harbour lights make a good foreground from across the fjord. Drive the 2.5 hours from Reykjavik in daylight and sleep near the mountain, then read the photography guide for camera settings.

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