Reykjavík · Iceland
Hvítanes · Hvalfjörður
Roadside rest area on Road 47 on the south shore of Hvalfjörður, about an hour from Reykjavík if you take the fjord road instead of the tunnel. The mountains around the fjord screen the city glow, and on a calm night the water can mirror the aurora.
See tonight's live score and best time to go for Hvítanes in Aurora Atlas
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Why it works for the aurora
- View
- North across several kilometres of fjord to the thinly settled north shore; the Grundartangi industrial lights sit low in the west..
- Darkness
- Dark sky, grade 1 on a scale from 0 (darkest) to 5. Little artificial light; a good place for faint aurora and the Milky Way.
- Aurora
- Near the edge of the auroral oval: aurora on most active nights, low in the northern sky on quiet ones.
Getting there
- Distance
- About 40 km by road from Reykjavík (estimate), roughly 45 min by car.
- Parking
- Free rest area beside Road 47, open around the clock.
- Coordinates
- 64.3621, -21.5150 · Open in OpenStreetMap
Before you go
Road 47 is narrow with little shoulder and often icy in winter: park only inside the rest area.
Dress for standing still in the cold, bring a head torch with a red light, and park only where parking is allowed. A forecast is guidance, not a promise: check the road and weather warnings for Iceland before a night drive. See our winter safety note.
Spot information from visitreykjavik.is.