Northern lights: 7 stylish Iceland hotels to stay in
Prefer to enjoy the magic of the northern lights from the comfort of a hot tub? Look no further than these stylish Icelandic retreats.
Volcanic Iceland is one of the world’s most active auroral regions. Here are seven ways to see the lights in comfort and style, for those who could do without freezing vigils, sleepless nights and wild-goose chases.
1. Hotel Reykjanes
Dancing lights near Reykjanes (Shutterstock)
At Reykjanes, in north-west Iceland, you can watch the colours of the aurora blaze across the night sky from the waters of a 50-metre-long geothermal pool. The hotel offers a variety of accommodation options too, including private apartments and a campsite. The rooms are fairly plain, but the location more than makes up for it.
During the day you can explore the remote peninsula on foot, rent kayaks or plunge into the waters of Ísafjarðardjúp with one of the hotel’s diving instructors. The area is perfect for spotting wildlife. Arctic foxes scamper across the tundra under the watchful eye of eagles and rare sea birds, while seals bob in the waves. Lighthouses stand on rocky promontories yet the coastline is scattered with fascinating ship-wrecks.
2. ION Hotel
Set against the backdrop of windswept lava fields, Hotel Ion – featured on BBC Two’s series Amazing Hotels – is the perfect setting in which to view the lights. The double-height glass walls of the hotel’s Northern Lights Bar offer panoramic views over Lake Thingvallavatn, as well as soft furnishings and beer from the island’s independent micro-breweries. If you can tear yourself away, there’s also a geothermal pool for outdoor aurora spotting. Northern lights tours, fishing trips, and treks across rugged glaciers can be arranged here too.
3. Hotel Ranga
Hotel Ranga with Northern Lights (@Stefan Liebermann/ Courtesy of Hotel Ranga)
A boutique hotel in southern Iceland near the smoking crater of Eyjafjallajökull, Hotel Ranga offers hot-tubs filled with mineral-rich volcanic water from which to view the aurora. Rooms are furnished with woollen blankets and driftwood furniture and staff are on hand to wake you should the lights appear, so there’s no need to stay up all night.
Whale-watching and Jeep tours can also be organised, as can visits to glacial ice-caves and trips to the island’s Skógar Folk Museum.
4. Hotel Viking
Watch the northern lights in nearby Thingvellir National Park (Shutterstock)
Unless your visit coincides with a particularly intense aurora, light-pollution in the Icelandic capital can make star-gazing a frustrating activity. The city makes a great base, however, with a host of prime aurora-watching spots just a short drive away. The towering rock walls of Almannagjá in the Thingvellir National Park is one of the most popular. The park is the site of the island’s first parliament and the setting for many of the heroic deeds and heated debates that fill the pages of the Icelandic sagas. Stay at quirky Hotel Viking where the mead is always flowing and rooms are decorated with wood carvings from Greenland and the Faroe Islands. If the forecast looks good, you can head to Thingvellir after dinner and be back before midnight.
5. Northern Light Inn
Visitors to Northern Light Inn are provided with detailed aurora forecasts and enjoy commanding views from the panoramic windows of the hotel’s restaurant. The inn is just a short walk from the hot-springs of the island’s famous Blue Lagoon, open until 8pm in the winter months. If you’re lucky, you can bathe in the waters of the spring and watch as solar winds trail ribbons of green light through the thermosphere.
6. Hotel Sel Mývatn
The aurora borealis at Lake Mývatn (Shutterstock)
Hotel Sel Mývatn also boasts volcanic pools, along with a host of diversions for thrill-seeking aurora-hunters. Northern lights chases through the highlands come with a guide and a support team to keep you well supplied with cake and hot chocolate. There are plenty of day-time activities on offer too, with cross-country skiing, super-jeep tours and snowmobile racing on the frozen surface of Lake Mývatn to keep you entertained while you wait for the aurora. The mud pools and bubbling sulphur pits of Námafjall are well worth a visit. So too are the woodlands and lava sculptures of Höfði and the seething waters of Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall.
7. Hotel Budir
An active night for the northern lights around Hotel Budir (Shutterstock)
Standing amid crumpled black lava fields on the tip of the remote Snaefellsnes peninsula, Hotel Budir in West Iceland offers aurora-watching in style. The floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel bar look out over a striking volcanic shoreline to the glacier-topped mountains beyond. The hotel’s breathtaking location is accompanied by an award-winning restaurant which serves seasonal Icelandic cuisine and seafood sourced from neighbouring fishing villages. Eat your fill and retire to the fireside to watch for the swirling colours of the aurora.
