Northern Lights Quest of Iceland - 6 Days/5 Nights (15 destinations)

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Northern Lights Quest of Iceland - 6 Days/5 Nights (15 destinations)

• Guide works in English
• Duration per the operator: 6 days

from $3236

See dates, price and what is included at the operator

Six days and five nights under the Arctic sky

This tour is a six-day, five-night circuit of Iceland built around the northern lights, operated by CIE Tours and starting from Reykjavik. It reaches 15 destinations across the country, which makes it a full loop rather than a single-night chase from the capital. The itinerary is fully guided, with an English-speaking guide accompanying the group for the entire duration. Meals are included along the way, which matters on a route that moves between remote settlements where dining options are thin. The price starts at 3,236 USD per person, and that entry figure places this among the more expensive packages in its category of five- and six-day tours. The tour runs for the full six days, so you are committing to a longer stretch on the road than the five-day alternatives in the same group. It suits travellers who want the aurora as the organising idea but also want the rest of Iceland covered in the same trip, since the 15 stops take in more than just dark-sky viewing points.

Photographs from the operator CIE Tours. They show the listing, not your day.

What the price covers and what it does not

The 3,236 USD entry price covers the guiding, the transport between the 15 destinations, and your meals for the six days. CIE Tours states explicitly that food is included, which removes the usual daily budgeting for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The guiding is fully guided and in English, so there is no separate charge for a local specialist at individual stops. No admission or parking fees apply at any of the places on the itinerary, and none are added on the day. The operator does not offer free cancellation on this booking, which is worth noting before you commit; most listings in this category grant it, but this one does not. There are no official surcharges published for this tour beyond the entry price, and the operator does not list any optional extras for sale. What you see in the base price is what the tour costs, apart from your own spending money for items outside the included meals.

A score that has not been earned yet

This tour has no customer rating attached to it. That is not a mark against it, but it does mean you are booking on the strength of the itinerary and the operator's reputation rather than on the accumulated experience of previous travellers. In its category of 62 five- and six-day packages, it sits at rank 55 when ordered by evidence strength, which reflects the absence of reviews rather than any measure of quality. The comparable tours in the same group all carry ratings: the 5-Day Laugavegur Trek in Huts has 4.7 from 14 reviews, Iceland Northern Lights has 4.7 from 14, Northern Lights Escape has 4.6 from 51, and Land of the Northern Lights has 4.4 from 183. Against those, this tour is the unproven option. The price, however, places it in the most expensive 15 percent of its group, so you would be paying a premium without the reassurance of past customer feedback. If verified experiences matter to you, the Northern Lights Escape at 2,265 USD with 51 ratings behind it offers a cheaper and better-documented alternative in the same six-day format.

When the dark hours work in your favour

The northern lights season in Iceland runs through the months when the nights are long enough to show them, and Reykjavik's temperatures chart the practical limits of that window. From September through March, average highs stay between 3 and 11 degrees Celsius, with lows dropping to around freezing or below from November to February. Those are the months when the aurora is most reliably visible, but they are also the coldest, and a six-day tour in December or January means spending long evening hours outdoors in temperatures around 3 degrees Celsius at best and minus 2 at night. The shoulder months of September and March offer a better balance, with highs of 11 and 4 degrees respectively, and still enough darkness after sunset for aurora viewing. From April onward the averages climb to 7 degrees and higher, and by May the high reaches 10 degrees with the midnight sun approaching, which effectively ends the season. For a tour of this length, the practical window is September through March, with the caveat that the deepest winter months give you the most dark hours but the least comfortable conditions for standing outside waiting for the sky to change.

What to expect once the tour begins

The tour departs from Reykjavik, and your first day starts in the city before the route heads out across the country. The 15 destinations are spread over six days, which means a substantial amount of driving between stops, with the guide managing the schedule. The stops themselves are the standard Icelandic sights along the route, and the weather will shape what you actually see. If conditions turn, the guide has the authority to adjust the plan, and a day that was meant for one location may shift to another or shorten. The northern lights component is necessarily weather-dependent, and the guide will make the call on where and when to stop for viewing based on cloud cover and activity. You are in the guide's hands for the full six days, so the practical reality is that you follow the itinerary as it unfolds rather than controlling your own pace. The tour includes all your meals, which means the group stops together for food at set points in the day, and you do not need to plan where to eat between destinations.

Who should book this tour and who should look elsewhere

This tour suits travellers who want the northern lights as the centrepiece but do not want to organise a self-drive circuit of Iceland to see them. The fully guided format with meals included removes the logistics of routing, dining and accommodation decisions, which makes it a strong fit for first-time visitors to Iceland who prefer a structured package. The six-day length and 15 stops give you a broad sweep of the country rather than a single-purpose aurora chase, so it also works for those who want the classic Icelandic sights covered in the same trip. It is not for budget-conscious travellers; at 3,236 USD it sits in the most expensive tier of its category, and the lack of any customer rating means you are taking a chance on an unproven product. It is also not for those who want flexibility, since there is no free cancellation and the itinerary is fixed. If you want a cheaper six-day northern lights tour with verified reviews, the Northern Lights Escape at 2,265 USD with a 4.6 rating from 51 travellers is the direct alternative. If you prefer a shorter commitment, the five-day options in the same category, such as Iceland Northern Lights at 2,770 USD, also carry documented ratings and cost less.

TOURRADAR

Northern Lights Quest of Iceland - 6 Days/5 Nights (15 destinations)

Dates, remaining places and the current version of what is included are at the operator. This page reflects the state of the catalogue, not the state of this morning.

from $3236

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