Iceland has been my favourite vacation destination to date and it’s not hard to see why. The country has everything I love about travelling: amazing natural attractions, fun city adventures and a manageable itinerary! My first visit was a 10-day road trip on the Iceland Ring Road with a few days spent in Reykjavik. My second visit is this Iceland winter itinerary for 4 days. You’ll love it!
This 4-day Iceland winter itinerary is a mix of guided tours and Reykjavik-based exploring. It’s ideal for those who want to experience glaciers, waterfalls, and the Northern Lights, without doing a full self-drive in unpredictable winter weather.
Visiting in summer instead? Check out my 4-day Iceland summer itinerary featuring puffins, long daylight hours, and hot springs.
Quick Facts: Winter in Iceland
- Best Time to Visit: November to March
- Base: Reykjavik
- Getting Around: Guided tour or 4WD rental
- Chance to See Northern Lights: High (no cloud cover and dark nights needed)
- Unique Winter Experience: Ice Cave Tour and Glacier Tour in Iceland
- Must-Pack Item: Waterproof boots and thermal layers
When to Visit Iceland
The best time to visit Iceland is year round. This may not seem helpful but you really cannot go wrong with visiting Iceland in any month. The summer months are milder and have almost 24 hour daylight. This means there is loads of sunlight to enjoy outdoor activities and stretch your days out. Winters are still mild and winter activities in Iceland are unique: Icelandic Ice Caves, a glacier walk or catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. The shoulder seasons (typically April/May and September/October) are a great time to visit if you’re on a budget.
The best time to see the Northern Lights in Iceland is September to late March. The nights are longer and darker. If your main goal when visiting Iceland is to see the Northern Lights, plan to spend a few nights outside the city for your best chance. The Northern Lights are fickle and need absolute darkness and no cloud coverage for the best experience. I’ve now been twice and haven’t seen them yet!
What to Wear in Iceland in Winter
When you visit, you’ll likely hear “if you don’t like the weather in Iceland, wait five minutes”. While this seems like a joke, it’s so true! One minute it could be pouring rain and the next it’s a bright, sunny sky. Generally, Iceland climate is cold and windy for most of the year. However, the temperature is fairly moderate due to the ocean and Gulf Stream. July is the hottest month in Iceland and averages around 10-15°C (about 50°-59° Fahrenheit). The winter months average around 0 °C (32 °F) in southeast Iceland and about -10°C in the north. If you don’t like the cold but want to enjoy unique winter experiences, stick to the southern part of Iceland.
Year round, you want to pack a lot of layering options. Because the weather changes so frequently in Iceland, having options to bundle up in more layers if you’re cold, or stripping off layers when you get warm will help you have a pleasant experience in the country. In the winter, you will want long sleeve shirts, warmer sweaters, long pants, snow pants, a winter jacket and winter boots. Year round, make sure to pack a waterproof jacket and shoes that can get wet (or bring extra changes of socks). I wouldn’t bother with an umbrella in Iceland because of the wind!
Read more: Ultimate Iceland Winter Packing List To Stay Warm and Dry
Where to Stay in Iceland
It would take about 10 hours to drive non-stop from the west side of Iceland to the east, which gives you a sense of how “small” the country is. You can easily spend 4 days in Reykjavik and do day trips from the city. Day trips can be done by rental car or booking tours from Reykjavik. This itinerary spends 2 nights in Reykjavik and 1 night in southeast Iceland for maximum enjoyment.
Travel Iceland on a Budget
BudgetYourTrip.com is an incredibly handy and accurate tool to determine a budget for a trip. I use this to plan all my trips. Something I didn’t quite grasp when doing my budget was how expensive food is in Iceland. While Iceland sustainably sources their groceries, and many fruits and vegetables are grown year-round in greenhouses using geothermal energy (of which there is an abundance in Iceland), Iceland imports a lot of food/farming equipment and has a 14% VAT tax on food which drives prices up.
Ways to save: shop at the BONUS Grocery Store to stock up on food. Shopping at local grocery stores and making your own food is always an easy way to save on food. Another tip is to eat out for lunch instead of dinner to save a few bucks. Stop at the natural hot springs that are on the side of the Ring Road rather than go to Blue Lagoon.
Read more: How to Plan to Visit Iceland on a Budget
Seeing the Northern Lights in Winter in Iceland
One of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Auroras are an elusive sight. Auroras can be seen in both the northern and southern hemisphere, but they have different names. The Aurora Borealis (or the Northern Lights) are seen in the northern hemisphere and the Aurora Australis (or the Southern Lights) are seen in the southern hemisphere. They are both from the same natural phenomenon and artistically light up the night sky. You can see them dancing in the sky and it’s magical!
While I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of photos and videos on the web, it’s important to note you cannot see them like this in person. The auroras are not nearly as vibrant to the naked eye since our eyes do not see well in low light. Cameras and our phones, on the other hand, can capture so much more light in one image than what our eyes can see. When the aurora is more active, you can see the lights dancing in the sky and a faint green or pink hue. However, when the aurora isn’t as active, it may just look like light grey streaks in the sky. So, while the photos in this blog post are very minimally edited, they still don’t look this vibrant in person. It’s not fake! We just can’t see colours the same way cameras do.
If you see stars, you have a 99% chance of seeing the lights in the Northwest Territories. If you don’t see stars then it’s too cloudy and you have a 0% chance of seeing them. Like I said, an elusive phenomenon! Because of this, I recommend going out at least a few nights in a row to have the best chance of seeing them.
4-day Winter Iceland Itinerary
There are an abundance of day tours from Reykjavik, such as visiting the Golden Circle, southeast Iceland, westfjords, and more! You can enjoy winter in Iceland on a budget, and ultimately your budget will depend on what YOU really want to do. Blue Lagoon is a wonderful option for those who don’t mind spending a bit more on a relaxing day at the spa. This 4-day itinerary is perfect for February travel in Iceland.
Day 1: Iceland Golden Circle in Winter
The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa in southwest Iceland with a range of prices: comfort (cheapest), premium (mid-range) or luxury (most expensive). The Golden Circle is an area in southwest Iceland with three of the top tourist attractions: Thingvellir National Park, the Geysir Geothermal Area, and Gullfoss waterfall. If you’re looking for a relaxing visit, start at the Blue Lagoon but if you’re looking for an adventurous start, head to the Golden Circle. Both of these options are great for visiting Iceland in the Winter to see the most popular destinations in the country.
Is Blue Lagoon worth it? If you enjoy spas and taking time to relax, absolutely! The comfort package allows you to visit without breaking the bank. If you plan to have lunch/dinner at the Lava Restaurant, I do recommend the Premium package.
If you’re arriving on a red-eye, book your Blue Lagoon visit for the morning to relax before checking into your hotel.
Pro tip: Blue Lagoon is closer to the airport than to Reykjavik, making it ideal for arrival or departure days.
Golden Circle: You can book a tour or rent a car and drive to the Golden Circle yourself (about a 2 hour drive). A tour is easy to book and allows you to sit back and enjoy the drive; however, you have much more freedom renting a car and driving yourself. You’ll find there are a lot of places to stop along the way for scenic pictures and a beautiful drive. Most tours include a stop at the Gulfoss waterfall, Thingvellir National Park and Geysir Park.
Reykjavik: After the Blue Lagoon or the Golden Circle, head back to Reykjavik to stay for the night. There are plenty of options and staying anywhere west of Highway 40 is a reasonable walk to downtown. Anything close to the Hallgrimskirkja (Church) is in the centre of downtown and the hustle and bustle of Reykjavik.
Day 2: Explore the South Coast of Iceland in Winter
For the second and third day, I recommend booking an Arctic Adventures excursion to avoid having to drive in the winter weather yourself: it can be quite terrifying, especially if you’re not used to driving in snow and ice. I recommend the Ice Cave 2-day tour, including a hotel stay in Vik in the winter.
- Stop at Seljalandsfoss (the waterfall you can walk behind)
- Gljufrabui (the waterfall through the crevice)
- Skogafoss
- Vik to stop for lunch
- Diamond Beach and Jökulsárlón Glacier.
LegendTime: A Viking named Þrasi Þórólfsson is said to have hidden treasure behind Skógafoss. Later on, three men at Skógar decided to retrieve the chest and eventually got a hook on the chest ring and, when they pulled, the ring detached and is can be found in the Skógar Museum. The chest can still be found at the bottom of the rainbow.
Day 3: Ice Cave Excursion
This is a very unique Iceland winter experience so I highly recommend it. Breakfast is included in the price of the excursion, and you’ll be picked up to switch vehicles to go to the ice cave. The vehicles have huge tires that are definitely required for driving on a glacier! You cannot do an Ice Cave tour by yourself.
The ice cave is SO COOL! The light blue caves are new ice and the black ice caves very old and are black from the ash that is in the ice.
If there’s time, the bus driver may make one stop at the black sand beach and Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. It is likely that it will be so windy that the black sand will be whiping up around you! One thing to note is if you do rent a car, make sure you hold on to your doors!
Want to compare the most popular regions? Read my Golden Circle vs. South Coast guide and find out which one I think is overrated.
Day 4: Things to do in Reykjavik, Iceland in Winter
Spend at least 1 of your 4 days in Iceland in the capital city. For breakfast, stop at Brass Restaurant or Sandholt. Reykjavik is a very walkable city, so put on your comfortable shoes and spend some time getting to know Iceland’s capital city. There are a variety of murals to search for, museums to enjoy, free attractions like the Sun Voyager and Harpa Concert Hall.
The City Card is worth it if you are spending most of the day in the city. My personal favourite museums are the Settlement Exhibition and the Icelandic Phallological Museum. The Settlement Exhibition is a museum that was built on an archaeological dig that uncovered a viking longhouse in the city. The museum is very interactive and offers a great overview of the settlement of the vikings in Iceland.
If souvenir shopping is more your style, shop along Laugavegur and, if you didn’t get to the night before, stop at Hallgrímskirkja for panoramic views and the Sun Voyager statue on the waterfront.
Looking for souvenirs? Don’t miss Icelandic wool sweaters (lopapeysa), lava rock jewelry, and handmade soaps.
Want to spend more than 4 days in Iceland? Read my 10-day Ring Road itinerary to see more of what this amazing country has to offer.