Iceland in November

Itinerary to make the most of your 5 days in this amazing country..

November in Iceland is a great time to visit, because you’re able to do day activities as well as enjoy the Northern Lights, if you’re lucky. You get about 6 hours of sunlight, which is good to cover most of Iceland during the day, over a 5 day period. And the evening hours allow you to experience the Northern Lights. Booking tours is the best way to get around at this time of the year. Renting a car, although allowing you the flexibility of making your own schedule, will be dependent on the severity of the weather.

Warning: 5 days would imply no buffer. So if you’re unlucky and have some weather related cancellations in your trip, you will not have much flexibility to accommodate those activities.

Day 1:

• Land early morning and head to hotel accomodation. Try to book something in the city center, as tour pick ups and drop offs will be easier. Tours only pick you up from your hotel, if you’re in the city center and living outside of Reykjavik is inconvenient if you don’t have a car. Grab breakfast.
• Pick up around 10a scheduled for Snorkeling at the Silfra tectonic fissures at the Thingvellar National Park. Booked with dive.is. You will not be disappointed. They took care of everything from pick up to our equipment (you need dry suits since the water is near freezing) to hot chocolates and cookies after. There is an option for scuba diving as well, the water is clear as can be with 100m of visibility and has no underwater marine life owing to the temperature of the water so not much difference between diving and snorkeling.
• Evening in Reykjavik, exploring downtown and grab dinner. Head for a late evening Northern Lights tour, if the weather permits. Reykjavik is too bright to see the lights in all its glory, so a tour would drive you outside of the city to an area with lesser light pollution. We booked a tour with trips.is, not recommended at all. The guide didn’t speak English very well and appeared to have limited knowledge of the area. Go with another agency, there are plenty!

For the next 3 days, we booked a tour with Extreme Iceland. Our tour guide was Thor, and he was amazing!! He was extremely knowledgeable, and had the best stories. Very accomodating and he showed a real desire to show you a good time. Highly recommended tour, and if you get Thor — you will have nothing to complain about. We did the Jokulsarlon, Golden Circle and Ice Caving — Three Day Tour

Day 2: Day 1 of the Extreme Iceland Tour

• Golden Circle
• Walk in Thingvellar National Park (Silfra Fissure)
• Geysers
• Many many beautiful waterfalls — too many to count!
• Overnight in Hotel Katla in Vik

Day 3: Day 2 of the Extreme Iceland Tour

• Reynisfjara Beach — Black Sand Beach
• Jokulsarlon — Glacier Lagoon
• Vatnajokull Ice Caves
• Overnight Hali Country Hotel

Day 4: Last day of the Extreme Iceland Tour

• Jokusarlon — Glacier Lagoon for sunrise
• Svinafellsjokull — Glacier tongue of the Vatnajokull Glacier
• Drive back through South Icelandic roads to Reykjavic (Icelandic horses, Lava fields, gorgeous landscapes)
• Spent the evening indulging in a scrumptious dinner and dessert in the city center followed by more northern lights viewing by the Harbor in Reykjavik

Day 5: Last day of our tour

• Blue Lagoon, on our way to Keflavik for our flight back. Loved it so much and so relaxing!

Hope you enjoy this gorgeous country!