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This family-friendly tour combines two popular activities: whale watching and our magical aurora tour. Join us on a whale watching cruise departing from the old harbor of Reykjavik in the afternoon, and once night falls, hop on a minibus to hunt for the legendary Aurora Borealis.
This trip combines our Whale Watching tour from Reykjavik and Magical Auroras – Northern Lights tour. Book this tour to save on both activities!
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Get the best value for money by booking a combo tour for up to 10% less!
Whale sightings are extremely common in Iceland, where marine life is very active! Take a boat tour from Reykjavík and spot frolicking dolphins or whales in their natural habitat while coasting through Faxaflói Bay. As weather and sea conditions play a significant role in what we see from the boat, you can’t be sure what you’ll find, but each day is sure to be special and unique. No two whale-watching trips are ever the same.
The sea creatures we usually see on our tours are minke whales, humpback whales, white-beaked dolphins, and harbor porpoises. Our fun and knowledgeable guides will entertain you with fun facts about Icelandic marine life while you search for these majestic creatures.
After your cruise to see the whales, you’ll have a few hours to prepare for our Northern Lights minibus tour. Our magical auroras tour departs from Reykjavík in the evening, driving deep into the countryside and away from city lights. This way, you’ll get the best chance to catch the solar activity of this natural phenomenon at its glittering best. Admiring the flickering lights as they dance through the star-studded sky is an experience you simply won’t forget.
Your guide will take free photographs of you and the aurora so you can keep the memory of this awesome night alive!
For the Whale Watching adventure, pick-up starts at 12:00 p.m. from your hotel or a nearby meeting point in Reykjavík.
For the Northern Lights adventure, pick-up is at either 20:30 (8:30 p.m.) or 21:30 (9:30 p.m.) (depending on the season) from your hotel or a nearby meeting point in Reykjavík.
For both the Northern Lights and whale-watching sections of the tour, it can take up to 30 minutes to collect all of the guests. Your patience is much appreciated.
Available pick-up points: Arctic Adventures pick-up list.
Since the spectacle of the Northern Lights is very much weather-dependent, if no aurora is seen, you’ll have unlimited re-tries valid for up to 3 years. That’s right, you’ll be able to re-join the chase of Northern Lights until it’s a successful one!
What to do in this case? Our Customer Care is ready to help you and book your next re-try.
Please keep in mind that refunds are not issued when a tour takes place but no Northern Lights are seen. During a re-try, the tour is operated on a minibus.
These are two separate tours and if one of the tours gets canceled, the other will still be available for you to join.
The Northern Lights are natural phenomena and we unfortunately cannot promise you will see them on our tours. Their appearance depends upon atmospheric and weather conditions, which are factors entirely out of our control.
For more information on the Northern Lights, please have a look at our Northern Lights information.
Unfortunately, there isn’t just one simple answer to this question.
Your camera doesn't have a single setting that will guarantee excellent pictures. But if you have manual controls, playing with different mixtures of ISO, aperture, and exposure settings is usually preferable. As a general rule, ISO settings of 800 to 3200, f/2.8 to f/5.6, and shutter speeds of 15 to 30 seconds have been found to be successful.
Keep in mind that ISO settings between 800 and 3200, f/2.8 and f/5.6, and shutter speeds between 15 and 30 seconds have produced excellent results.
Results from various combinations can vary greatly. You can take faster exposures with a higher ISO setting, but the photographs can turn up grainier as a result.
If the shutter speed is above 15 seconds it will result in a slight star movement.
In low-light situations, wider-angle lenses are typically more adaptable, while longer lenses provide you with more compositional alternatives. Make sure to take off any lens filters because they could cause image distortion. Most likely, using a manual setting for infinite focal length will get the greatest results.
Since the spectacle of the Northern Lights is very much weather-dependent, if no aurora is seen, you’ll have unlimited re-tries valid for up to 3 years. That’s right, you’ll be able to re-join the chase of Northern Lights until it’s a successful one!
What to do in this case? Our Customer Care is ready to help you and book your next re-try.
Please keep in mind that refunds are not issued when a tour takes place but no Northern Lights are seen. During a re-try, the tour is operated on a minibus.
When Northern Lights tours are cancelled it’s usually due to unfavourable weather conditions.
In that case, your options will be to:
1. Reschedule for another day.
2. Find another tour to embark on and use the deposit for it.
3. Get fully refunded.
Please contact our Customer Care team to re-book your tour.
The Northern Lights are a pretty difficult thing to predict. You can check the Icelandic Meteorological Office website to see the forecast - if the level is high and the skies are clear then it’s very likely that the tour is going ahead. We do update our website’s tour departure sheet with the information at 17:00 at the latest. If the tour is canceled, you will receive an email from us notifying you.
If we think there is no chance at all of seeing the lights, we will cancel the tour. We don’t want to bring you out and disappoint you if there will definitely be no aurora activity.
Yes, the guide will take a photo of you with the Northern Lights behind you. These can be single or group photos and are free of charge.
The Northern Lights season is said to be from late August until mid-April. However, if you want to increase your chances of seeing them, it is best to wait until the colder winter months, from mid-September until March.
If luck and weather are on your side, then you will be able to see the aurora borealis above the inviting streets of Reykjavik. Whether you see the lights or not depends on two unique factors. The first is the weather: If the sky is clear, with no clouds, then you are halfway to seeing the astonishing spectacle that is the Northern Lights (although light pollution can sometimes be a problem). Increased solar activity is the second factor, so if these two are both favorable at the same time you may well be able to see the Northern Lights from Reykjavik.
If you're visiting during winter, typically from mid-October to mid-April, we highly recommend using lightweight crampons (also called ice spikes) for added safety on icy paths while sightseeing. You can purchase them during the booking process to ensure a more secure and comfortable experience.
Find more details about crampons and ice spikes in this guide.
