Iceland
Northern lights in East Iceland
5 viewing spots around East Iceland, chosen for a dark sky and an open view. For each one: how dark it is, which way it looks, where to park and how to get there. Near the edge of the auroral oval: aurora on most active nights, low in the northern sky on quiet ones.
- Viewing spots
- 5
- Dark or very dark
- 4
- Magnetic latitude
- 64.6°
- Clearest dark month
- March 22 % of hours clear or partly clear
Which of these spots is clear tonight, and when? Aurora Atlas scores every spot hour by hour from the cloud forecast, darkness, the moon and live aurora activity, with live camera stills.
See tonight's live scores for East Iceland in Aurora AtlasViewing spots
- Lagarfljót shore at Fellabær Flat shoreline of the long Lagarfljót lake beside the bridge between Egilsstaðir and Fellabær, a few minutes from…
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Hengifoss car park
Car park below the Hengifoss trail on the west side of Lagarfljót, about 35 km from Egilsstaðir, with no settlement…
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Seyðisfjörður fjord
Narrow fjord over the Fjarðarheiði pass from Egilsstaðir; the mountain walls hide stray light, so walk to the dark…
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Borgarfjörður eystri
Small village at the end of Road 94, about 70 km from Egilsstaðir, whose mountains frame a wide dark bay; a quiet…
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Stokksnes / Vestrahorn
Black-sand spit east of Höfn below the Vestrahorn peaks, where tidal pools can mirror the aurora at low tide; the land…
Drive times are estimates from the middle of East Iceland by straight-line distance, as the app estimates them before it knows your route; ferries and winter closures are not counted.
Good to know in East Iceland
- Try inland when the fjords are cloudy Sea fog and low cloud often fill the East Fjords while the Fljótsdalshérað valley around Egilsstaðir stays clear. Check the Icelandic Met Office cloud forecast and head inland before crossing a pass towards the coast. Source
- Check the passes on umferdin.is Every route out of Egilsstaðir to the fjords climbs a mountain pass (Fjarðarheiði, Fagradalur, Vatnsskarð) that can close in snow or wind at night. Look up the pass on umferdin.is before leaving and turn back if conditions change. Source