Northern Lights Quest of Iceland - 6 Days/5 Nights

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Northern Lights Quest of Iceland - 6 Days/5 Nights

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

from $3295

See dates, price and what is included at the operator

Six days of winter darkness and green skies

This tour starts in Reykjavik and spends six days and five nights chasing the northern lights across Iceland. CIE Tours runs it as a fully guided package in English, so you travel with a guide who handles the logistics and watches the forecasts. The itinerary is built around the aurora, but the daylight hours are not wasted. You move between the classic stops of the south and west, with the lights as the evening goal. The price starts at 3,295 USD, which puts it at the upper end of five and six day packages in this catalogue. It suits travellers who want the structure of a guided group rather than renting a car and chasing clear skies on their own. The tour runs from Reykjavik itself, so you do not need to factor in a transfer from another city.

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

What the price covers and what it does not

The 3,295 USD entry price includes your food for the trip. CIE Tours states this explicitly, so meals are part of what you pay for. The guiding is also fully covered, with an English speaking guide accompanying the group throughout the six days. Beyond that, the operator does not break down what else sits inside the price, such as accommodation or transport between stops. You should assume those are part of the package, since this is a guided tour rather than a self drive arrangement, but the operator does not itemise them.

No official fees apply at any of the places on the itinerary. None of the stops charges admission or parking, so you will not face a gate cost during the day. There is no free cancellation on this tour. That is worth noting before you book, because it is the exception among similar listings. Most tours in this group allow you to cancel without a charge, but this one does not. If your plans might change, you need to be sure before committing. The operator does not state what the cancellation policy is beyond that, so you would need to ask directly if you want the details.

What the missing score means

This tour has no rating yet. That is the honest core of this page. It does not mean the tour is bad, and it does not mean it is good. It means nobody has come back and left a score, so there is no evidence to weigh. In a category of 62 tours, it sits at rank 42, which is ordered by the strength of evidence rather than by quality. With no ratings behind it, that rank is simply a placeholder.

The comparable tours in this group do have scores. The 5 Day Laugavegur Trek has a 4.7 from 14 ratings. The Iceland Northern Lights tour also has a 4.7 from 14. The Northern Lights Escape, at six days like this one, has a 4.6 from 51 ratings. The Land of the Northern Lights has a 4.4 from 183 ratings. Those numbers give you a sense of what travellers think of similar itineraries. This tour has none of that yet. You are an early customer, and your review would be the first. That is not a warning, but it is a fact to weigh against the price.

Winter months and the hours between dusk and dawn

The northern lights only show in darkness, which in Iceland means the months from September through March. The temperature chart above shows what that means for this tour. In September, the high reaches 11 degrees and the low sits at 6. By October, the high drops to 8 and the low to 3. November brings a high of 5 and a low around freezing. December, January and February all hover near a high of 3 degrees and a low of minus 2. March stays similar, with a high of 4 and a low of minus 1.

The tour runs six days, so you are not spending a full winter in the cold. You are out for a week of short daylight hours and long nights. The aurora needs those long nights to appear, so the season is exactly what makes the tour possible. The cold is manageable if you dress for it, but it is constant. April and May warm up, with highs of 7 and then 10 degrees, but the nights shorten and the lights fade. For this particular tour, the window is the dark half of the year, and the temperatures above are what you will face.

What happens when the tour gets moving

The tour departs from Reykjavik, so your first day starts in the capital. The guide meets the group and sets the plan for the next six days. The itinerary moves between the sights of southern and western Iceland, with the aurora as the evening focus. The guide watches the forecast and decides where to go for the best chance of clear skies. That means the plan can shift at short notice, which is normal for a lights tour.

The stops themselves are straightforward. You are visiting Icelandic sights, which tend to be open air with a car park and a path. There is no staffed entrance at most of them, and no ticket to buy. The weather is the main variable. Rain and wind can make a stop uncomfortable, and snow can close roads entirely. If the guide turns back because conditions are unsafe, that is the guide doing the job properly. The cold is a factor all day, not just at night, so you want layers that work for both the daytime stops and the evening waits for the lights.

Who should book this tour

This tour suits travellers who want the aurora handled for them. You do not need to rent a car, plan a route, or watch the weather forecasts yourself. The guide does that. It also suits people who prefer to travel with a group and have meals included, since the food is part of the price. The fully guided format means you are not navigating on your own, which helps if you are new to winter driving or to Iceland.

It does not suit budget travellers. At 3,295 USD, this is among the most expensive 13 percent of the 62 tours in its category. The range in that group starts at 644 USD and reaches 7,595, so you are paying well above the middle. If the price matters, the Land of the Northern Lights tour offers five days from 1,645 USD, or the Northern Lights Escape runs six days from 2,265 USD. Both are cheaper, and both have ratings you can read. This tour has no ratings yet, so you are booking without that safety net. If you want evidence from past travellers before you spend, one of those alternatives gives it to you. If you want a guided, all inclusive structure and are willing to pay for it, this tour is built for that.

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Northern Lights Quest of Iceland - 6 Days/5 Nights

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 $3295

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