Northern Lights Tour from Akureyri, Iceland

From €99 per person for about 3 hours with Imagine Iceland (★4.4 · 132 reviews), including pickup from selected hotels and a second try the following night if a tour runs. The Saga Travel photography tour costs €165 for 3 hours with at most 15 guests, and the Mývatn snowmobile tour €203 for 2.5 hours (6 Oct 2026). Our price guide compares every format from Reykjavik.

Not far: the Imagine Iceland tour drives about 20 minutes out of town to a dark viewpoint and spends about 1.5 hours there, within a 3-hour tour. Tours from Reykjavik usually drive 30 to 60 minutes to reach clear sky. North Iceland has dark countryside close to Akureyri, so less of your evening goes on the road. The guide chooses the viewpoint by the night’s cloud forecast.

Imagine Iceland gives you a second try the following night, as long as a tour runs that night — the only retry among the three tours from the Akureyri area. The Saga Travel photography tour (€165) and the Geo Travel snowmobile tour at Mývatn (€203) state no retry. Book your first night in the north so the second try still fits; if you are in Akureyri for one night only, the retry won’t help.

On the Imagine Iceland tour, yes: it picks up from selected Akureyri hotels, starting 30 minutes before the tour, and drives you in a climate-controlled van. The Saga Travel photography tour starts in Akureyri with drop-off options. For the Mývatn snowmobile tour there is no pickup — you drive yourself to the operator’s farmhouse near Lake Mývatn, east of Akureyri, so you need a car for the evening.

Yes — you need a driver’s license to drive the snowmobile on the Geo Travel tour at Mývatn, and the minimum age is 10. The 2.5-hour tour costs €203 per person and includes the snowmobile, guide, helmet, overalls and insurance. There is no pickup, so you also need a way to reach the operator’s farmhouse near Mývatn. Rated ★4.6 from only 3 reviews, it is an adventure that might include the aurora.

Neither has a better sky — the aurora above both is the same; what differs is the darkness around you and the number of tours. From Akureyri the dark countryside starts about 20 minutes out, and a tour takes about 3 hours from €99. Reykjavik has more than 20 tours on GetYourGuide against three from the Akureyri area, and longer retries — 3 years on the Small-Group Premium ticket. When the north is clear and the south cloudy, Akureyri is the better base.

Tours from Akureyri run from about September to mid-April, the same season as in Reykjavik, when the nights are dark enough. The most active hours are roughly 21:00 to 02:00, with a peak around 22:30 to 01:00. Sources disagree on the best month: Reykjavik Excursions names November to January, the darkest months, while Guide to Iceland names March and calls December the quietest. A clear sky matters more than the month.

About 3 hours on the Imagine Iceland and Saga Travel tours, and 2.5 hours on the Mývatn snowmobile tour. That is shorter than most Reykjavik tours, which run 4 to 5 hours, because the dark countryside is closer: Imagine Iceland drives about 20 minutes out of town and spends about 1.5 hours at the viewpoint. On Imagine Iceland, allow for the pickup round, which starts 30 minutes before the tour.

10 years on the Mývatn snowmobile tour, where drivers also need a license. The Imagine Iceland and Saga Travel listings don’t state a minimum age, so ask the operator before booking with young children. Both run about 3 hours; on Imagine Iceland about 1.5 hours of that is outdoors at the viewpoint, and the drive out of town takes only about 20 minutes — shorter than most tours from Reykjavik.

Dress for standing still outdoors for an hour or more — about 1.5 hours at the viewpoint on the Imagine Iceland tour: thermal layers, a warm insulated jacket, hat, gloves and winter boots with grip. Keep a spare phone or camera battery in an inside pocket, since cold drains batteries fast. On the Mývatn snowmobile tour overalls and a helmet are provided; Saga Travel serves a hot drink and a treat.

Sometimes, on a strong night, but the town’s lights wash out weaker displays. That is why the tours drive out: Imagine Iceland takes about 20 minutes to reach a dark viewpoint chosen by the cloud forecast and stays about 1.5 hours. Before you go, check the Icelandic Met Office cloud-cover map, which looks up to 6 days ahead, and watch the cloud forecast, not only the aurora activity number on its 0–9 scale.

It helps: there are only three tours from the Akureyri area on GetYourGuide, so there are fewer seats than in Reykjavik. Book your first night in the north, so the Imagine Iceland second try the following night still fits your stay, and keep a free evening after the tour in case the guide moves it for weather. If you are in town for just one night, pick the tour you like best for that evening.

Imagine Iceland, rated ★4.4 from 132 reviews, has by far the most reviews of the three tours from the Akureyri area, and it is also the cheapest at €99. Saga Travel’s photography tour has ★4.3 from 38 reviews at €165. The Mývatn snowmobile tour is rated ★4.6, but from only 3 reviews, so its score says little yet. For comparison, the Small-Group Premium minibus from Reykjavik has 3,182 reviews.

Yes — the Saga Travel photography tour (€165, ★4.3 · 38 reviews) includes a hot drink and a treat, along with Wi-Fi on the bus and photos of the lights if they appear. The Imagine Iceland tour (€99) doesn’t mention drinks on the listing, so bring a thermos if you want one at the viewpoint, where you spend about 1.5 hours. The Mývatn snowmobile listing doesn’t mention drinks either.