Spend the evening in the hot tub and keep an eye on the sky. A countryside stay gives you time to enjoy the northern lights when they appear.
- Season
- Late August to late April, on clear, dark nights
- Darkest night
- Almost 13 hours of full darkness on 21 December
- Watch from
- A private hot tub at every house
- Reykjavík city centre
- 22 min, 19.9 km
- Your hosts
- Agla & Haffi
| Date | Hours of dark | Dark from | Dark until |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September | 8h 05m | 21:18 | 05:23 |
| 21 October | 11h 21m | 19:32 | 06:53 |
| 21 November | 13h 55m | 18:16 | 08:11 |
| 21 December | 14h 56m | 17:57 | 08:53 |
| 21 January | 13h 48m | 18:44 | 08:32 |
| 21 February | 11h 10m | 20:05 | 07:15 |
| 21 March | 8h 03m | 21:32 | 05:35 |
| 21 April | 2h 56m | 23:57 | 02:53 |
Computed for Mosfellsbær using the NOAA solar position method, in local time (Iceland keeps the same time all year). Dark means the sun is more than 12 degrees below the horizon, enough for a strong display to show. Fainter displays need full darkness, more than 18 degrees, which here runs from around 2 September to 9 April. The northern lights still need a clear sky and solar activity, so no month can guarantee them.
Sunrise, sunset and full darkness for the winter months are in the winter guide.
Late August to late April brings the dark nights needed for aurora viewing. A stay of several nights gives you more opportunities to catch a clear evening.
Check the cloud cover and aurora forecast, dim the outdoor lights and give your eyes time to adjust. A warm layer and a camera are worth keeping by the door.
The sky over the houses is dark enough for a strong display from mid-August to the last week of April, and reliably dark from late August. How much of each night is dark changes a great deal across that span, and the table above shows it for the 21st of each month.
September and October bring the dark back while the days are still long. On 21 September the sky is dark from 21:18 until 05:23, around eight hours, with more than twelve hours of daylight for the Golden Circle or the city.
November to January have the longest nights. On 21 December the sky is dark from 17:57 until 08:53, almost fifteen hours, so you can be watching from the hot tub before dinner. The trade is a short day: 4 hours 8 minutes of daylight at midwinter.
February and March swing back towards the light while the nights stay long enough to watch. By 21 April only about three hours around midnight are dark, and from the last days of April the sky does not get dark enough again until mid-August.
Three things have to come together: darkness, a clear sky and activity on the sun. Darkness is reliable here from late August to late April. The other two change from night to night, so a stay of several nights gives you more chances than a single evening.
City lights wash out all but the strongest displays. The houses sit on the countryside edge of Mosfellsbær, 22 minutes by car from Reykjavík city centre, away from the glow of the city. When the sky starts to move you are already outside, with a hot tub a few steps away.
A phone in night mode does well, and holding it still matters more than the camera. Switch off the lights inside the house, give your eyes a while to adjust to the dark, and keep a warm layer by the door for the moments between the hot tub and the camera.
Updated 25 October 2026
Questions
From late August to late April, when the nights are dark. Midwinter has the longest darkness, almost 13 hours of full darkness on 21 December, while autumn and spring combine dark nights with longer days for exploring. A clear sky matters more than the month, so check the cloud cover forecast on the day.
On a clear, dark night with aurora activity, yes. Every house has its own hot tub outdoors, away from the city lights, so you can watch from the water and go inside to warm up when the sky is quiet. Sightings depend on the weather and on solar activity.
The Icelandic Met Office publishes an aurora forecast together with a cloud cover map at vedur.is. Look for clear skies over the capital area after dark. Activity is shown on a scale from 0 to 9, but on most nights the clouds decide whether you see anything.
Not to get away from the city lights, because the houses are already outside them. You can watch from your own hot tub on your own schedule and stay out as long as the sky is active.
The three houses
Sleeps 4
The Glass House
Glass roof above the bed, private hot tub and barrel sauna.
Sleeps 8
Stairway to Heaven
Rooftop terrace, geothermal hot tub and views across the valley.
Sleeps 10
Oak House Villa
Four bedrooms, a geothermal hot tub and a private sauna.
Contact Agla and Haffi about your stay. +354 775 1832, your hosts at Aurora Hills.