New Years Land Of The Northern Lights Comfort - 5 days

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New Years Land Of The Northern Lights Comfort - 5 days

• Guide works in English
• Duration per the operator: 5 days

from $2967

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Five days of winter light and dark

This tour takes you out of Reykjavik for five days in the darkest season, when the sun barely clears the horizon and the northern lights have the sky mostly to themselves. The departure point is Reykjavik itself, and the operator, On The Go Tours, runs the trip in English with a fully guided format. From the city you head into the countryside, where the lack of artificial light gives the aurora its best chance to show. The price starts at 2,967 USD, which places it among the more expensive options for a five or six day package in this catalogue. The tour is built around comfort rather than roughing it, so you sleep indoors and travel between stops without carrying your own gear. It suits travellers who want the winter landscape and the lights without the physical demands of a trekking holiday. The five days include the New Year period, which means you spend the turn of the year in Iceland rather than at home.

Photographs from On The Go Tours's listing. They show the package, not necessarily your day.

What the price covers

The operator states that food is included across the five days, so your main meals are part of the upfront cost. Guiding is fully covered as well, with an English speaking guide accompanying the group throughout. What you pay at the start is the tour price itself, and no official fees are added on top for the places on the itinerary. The sights you visit do not charge admission or parking, and the operator does not list any optional extras that you would pay for separately on the day. You should budget for your own drinks and snacks beyond the included meals, as well as any personal purchases, but the operator does not break those down as fixed costs. The price of 2,967 USD is the entry point, and the final amount can vary depending on when you book and what accommodation category you choose within the comfort tier. There is no free cancellation on this tour, which is worth noting before you commit. If your plans change, you will not be able to walk away without a penalty, so travel insurance becomes a practical part of the budget.

What the score means

This tour has no customer rating yet. That is the honest core of the page: it is unevidenced, not bad. With no reviews behind it, you cannot measure how previous travellers felt about the guiding, the pace or the comfort level. It ranks 33 of 62 in its category, a middle position that reflects the absence of data rather than any judgement on quality. The comparable tours in the same group all carry ratings, from 4.4 out of 183 reviews to 4.7 out of 14, so you have something to measure those against. This one offers no such anchor. What you are buying is a promise from the operator, not a track record. If you are the kind of traveller who relies on other people's experiences to choose, you will have to weigh the lack of feedback against the specifics of the itinerary and the price. The absence of a rating is not a warning, but it is a gap you should notice.

Winter's short days and long nights

The tour runs in the New Year period, which in Iceland means daylight is scarce. In December and January, the average high in Reykjavik sits at 3 degrees and the low drops to minus 2. The sun rises late and sets early, giving you perhaps four or five hours of usable light each day. That shapes the whole trip. Sightseeing happens in a compressed window, and the darkness that follows is exactly what you want for the northern lights. The aurora does not care about your schedule, so the tour builds in evening and night hours for chasing it. February stays similar, with highs around 3 degrees, while March edges up to 4 and the days lengthen noticeably. If you book the New Year departure, you are committing to the coldest, darkest part of the year. The trade-off is that the lights are often at their most active around the equinoxes, and the long nights give more opportunities to spot them. Daytime temperatures hover near freezing, so the cold is constant rather than extreme, but it does not let up.

What happens on the ground

The tour is fully guided, which means you are not left to navigate on your own. The guide handles the logistics of moving between stops and reading the conditions. In winter, weather can close roads without warning, and a guide who turns back is doing the job properly. The sights themselves are outdoors and exposed, so the cold and wind are part of the experience. The waterfalls and viewpoints you visit have paths that stay wet all year and freeze in winter, so sturdy footwear matters. There is no indoor reception at most of these places, and no staff waiting to welcome you. You arrive, you look, you move on. The guide decides how long each stop deserves based on the light and the weather. Evenings are given over to the aurora hunt, which means waiting outside in the dark, sometimes for a long time, with no guarantee that the sky will cooperate. The comfort part of the tour name refers to your accommodation and transport, not to the conditions at the sights themselves.

Who should book this

This tour suits travellers who want to see the northern lights without the physical effort of a trek. You sleep in proper accommodation, eat included meals, and let a guide make the decisions. It is a good fit for a first visit to Iceland in winter, when you want the landscape and the lights but not the uncertainty of driving yourself on icy roads. It is not for anyone who wants to set their own pace or spend long days hiking. If that sounds more like you, the 5-Day Laugavegur Trek in Huts runs for the same length and costs nearly the same, but it replaces the comfort tier with hut accommodation and a demanding trail. That tour has a 4.7 rating from 14 reviews, so it comes with some evidence behind it. This New Year tour, by contrast, has no reviews at all, and it costs more than several comparable packages. The Land of the Northern Lights tour, also five days, starts at 1,645 USD and carries a 4.4 rating from 183 reviews, making it a cheaper and better documented alternative if the New Year timing is not essential to you.

TourRadar

New Years Land Of The Northern Lights Comfort - 5 days

Dates, remaining places and the current version of what is included are at the operator. This page reflects the partner catalogue as exported in September 2026.

from $2967

Check availabilityFree cancellation