Northern lights tour from Reykjavik: all nine compared

Every listing on this page promises the same thing and none of them can guarantee it. So the question is not which tour shows you the aurora — none of them can — but which one gives you the best chance on the night you happen to be here.

That comes down to one thing: how far the vehicle can go, and how late it can decide. A coach with eighty people has a destination chosen in the late afternoon, a driver on a schedule and a car park to fit into. A minibus with twelve can be told at half past nine that the Reykjanes peninsula has cleared and be standing there by half ten.

Icelandic weather is patchy in exactly the way that makes this matter. It is rarely overcast everywhere at once. On most nights part of the country is clear, and the whole skill of an aurora guide is knowing which part and being able to reach it.

That is what the extra twenty-three dollars buys. Not legroom.

Late afternoon. The operator decides whether to run at all and messages you. A cancellation is not a failure — it means somebody read the forecast honestly rather than driving eighty people around in the rain.

Around nine. Pickup, almost always from a designated bus stop rather than your hotel door. Be there five minutes early; they do not wait long.

Nine to ten. Out of the city. The glare of Reykjavik drops behind within twenty minutes and the sky goes properly dark.

Ten to midnight. The waiting. Somewhere dark, facing north, out of the wind if the guide is any good. Your eyes need fifteen to twenty minutes to adapt, and this is the part people cut short.

Midnight to one. Back in the city. If nothing appeared you are booked onto another night at no cost.

Coach, $71. The classic. Cheapest seat in the city, hot cocoa and cinnamon buns, and more reviews than anything else here by a wide margin. It goes to established stopping points and stays there.

Minibus, $94 to $157. A dozen people, a guide who is still watching the cloud map at nine, and the freedom to drive somewhere else. This is the category we would book from.

Super jeep, $196. Everything the minibus does, plus the ability to leave the road entirely. Reaches viewpoints the coaches never see. Whether that is worth the extra depends on how much you dislike sharing a car park.

Boat, $91. Two hours out of the old harbour. The sea has one real advantage — there is nothing between you and the horizon — and one real disadvantage: a boat cannot chase a gap in the cloud any faster than it sails.