Visiting Iceland in winter

Iceland in winter

In Iceland there used to be only two seasons: half the year was winter (from the end of October to the end of March) and the other half of the year was summer (from the end of March to the end of October).

Today meteorologists refer to the 4 months of December to March as winter in Iceland, then 2 months of spring (April and May), 4 months of summer (June to September) and 2 months of autumn (October and November).

And winter in Iceland can be pretty much anything - from bright sunshine and northern lights in the dark to less than 10 meters of visibility, from a lot of snow to a lot of snow to a little snow and no snow at all, from temperatures above zero to temperatures down to -20° for days, from cloudburst to dry and from a little wind and a lot of wind to extreme storms and weather warnings with road closures for days, during which you should not even leave the house. (And hope the storm and precipitation don't do too much damage.)

So it's not possible to have fixed plans in winter, you always have to check at short notice what the weather is like (vedur.is) and the road conditions (umferdin.is) and then decide spontaneously.

When we meet up with friends in winter, we always add: "...we still have to make it dependent on the weather. We'll get in touch!"

Visiting Iceland in winter

When we have lovely visitors here in our Iceland house in the winter, they have always been people who had already visited us in the summer. So you already had a certain impression and wanted to experience “Iceland in winter” again.

But that also means that we were able to take it easy, didn't show as much as possible, but rather went on short excursions and rested comfortably at home. And of course swimming in the hot

This year we had child no. 2 and his girlfriend visiting after New Year's Eve.

Their vacation wishes were to experience lots of snow and the Northern Lights, and even though they knew neither was guaranteed, even in winter in Iceland, they were lucky. On the drive home from the airport the northern lights danced over Hveragerði and here we were able to trudge through the deep snow to the house; We left the car at the front of the path, at the beginning of our driveway - there was just too much snow to be able to drive to the house. So your holiday wishes were fulfilled in the first few hours!

Well, maybe it wasn't exactly one of their vacation wishes that our water pipe was frozen when we got home - it was -19° that day and somehow our water connection took a toll on that. But we already have a bit of a routine and we have several large water bottles with bottled tap water here as a precaution, so that at least the toilet and hand washing are guaranteed for some time. And by the next morning we had thawed the water pipe again.

I found it particularly nice that child no. 2 and his girlfriend were here over January 6th and we were able to enjoy Þrettándi celebrations together in Selfoss, the farewell to Christmas with the celebratory torchlight procession of the Yule Lads through the town, the big Brenna and the fireworks display next to the sports field.

Otherwise we only went on a few smaller trips in the area:

Golden Circle - Geyser and Gullfoss

The first day we went to Geysir , Gullfoss and petted the horses .

I always find the Strokkur geyser a worthwhile visit anyway; I could stand in front of it for hours every time and wait for the big blue bubble and the next eruption. I won't get bored of this!

And the large waterfall Gullfoss is also worth seeing, and when frozen over in winter it looks completely different than in summer.

We also made a short stop on road 35 from Geysir to Gullfoss - there is a farm called Brú on the left side. There is a parking lot and a fenced-in pasture right next to the road, and there are some Icelandic horses here especially for visitors. They are particularly friendly and patient and can be petted (if they want to and come to the fence). You can also get “horse candy” from the vending machine and feed it to the animals. This means visitors can experience the Icelandic horses up close without endangering themselves, other road users or the horses themselves.

From Brúarfoss to Laugarvatn

Another day we were at Brúarfoss, in Laugarvatn and had ice cream on a dairy farm along the way.

The Brúarfoss waterfall, the "bridge waterfall", with its bright turquoise-blue color is for me simply one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland. And since summer 2023, you no longer have to park on road 37 (Laugarvatnsvegur) and hike the 3.5 km long and sometimes difficult/muddy route to the waterfall, but can easily drive almost to the waterfall by car. Both the new road to the parking lot and the footpath from the parking lot to the waterfall were very well cleared when we were there. You get really good value for your parking fees!

We then drove over Laugarvatn and made a short stop there and admired the hot springs next to the Fontana swimming pool and the small mounds of earth on the shore of the lake in which the delicious rye bread is baked here.

We also made a stop along the way and enjoyed homemade ice cream on a farm with a view of the cowshed.

Trip to Reykjavík

We spent one day in Reykjavík, just walking around, shopping and enjoying the city atmosphere.

Kerið crater

On the last day we only went on a trip to the Kerið crater and, wrapped up nice and warm, walked around the top of the crater rim.

All in all a nice quiet and cozy visit, with lots of snow and northern lights. And I think we enjoyed our visit too and had a lot to talk about afterwards - including the frozen water pipe and the burst tire on the way back to the airport. But everything went well and we had a very nice time here!

[Translated from here.]