Iceland in December (saving for reference)

TOP THINGS TO DO IN ICELAND IN DECEMBER

December is a special time in Reykjavik and all of Iceland. The Christmas season is a huge thing for us locals and that means that almost every single person will be happily filled with that warm Christmas spirit from the end of November and through the whole holiday season.

Here are a few suggestions for awesome things to do in Reykjavik, Iceland that is especially awesome in December:

• Wrap yourself in all your layers of clothes, take a romantic walk in down town Reykjavik and try to find all 13 hidden hologram Santa Clauses around the city (they will be hiding in windows and on buildings!). Also, you must stop to enjoy warm coffee/hot chocolate and Icelandic pastries at some local shop that you can’t pronounce the name of! (Psst! If you don’t know where to begin, here is a blog about our top coffee shops in town!).

• Try to see the Northern Lights! December is one of the best months of the year and has the highest chance of seeing the Northern lights. You have two ways to do this; either renting a car to search for them yourself or going on a guided northern lights tour. Both have their pro’s and cons. Renting your own car can be a lot of fun since you’ll be able to take it at your own pace which is always nice. But it would be nice to have 4×4 all-wheel drive car since the roads can get slippery during winter. Going on a Northern Lights tour is my first recommendation for Northern Lights as you’ll have an expert scouting out the best areas in Iceland to give you the absolute highest chances of seeing the lights. The tour also teaches you the basic tricks to be able to photograph the Northern Lights which adds a lot of fun to the experience. Regardless of which option you’ll go with – I wish you the best of luck on your northern lights hunting adventure!

• Enjoy some winter activity! To make the absolute most of your winter wonderland trip to Iceland, do something awesome in the snow! My personal favorite is Snowmobiling on top of glaciers! An adrenaline adventure mixed in with glacier sightseeing. How cool does that sound? Other fantastic recommendations is going on a glacier hiking/ice climbing adventure, to visit ice caves or simply go out and play in the snow!

• Bath in amazing hot water in the cold! You won’t find any more local thing to do in Iceland. You can either bath in our awesome local swimming pools that are all around Reykjavik or visit a natural hot spring in the countryside! The local pools in town are easy to reach and affordable – Here you can read about my personal favorite swimming pool in down town Reykjavik. There are tons of absolutely amazing natural hot springs, hidden – and scattered around Iceland. However, most of them are very hard to reach during winter and some roads might be closed (Here is our blog on Natural Hot Spring). But we also offer one kick-ass tour that will in one day take you around some of the most breathtaking sights of Iceland and end at one of my favorite natural hot springs in the country. You can view the Golden Circle and Hot Spring tour here.

• Eat the best local Icelandic (and warm) food in December. Ask anyone that has traveled to Iceland what they think about Icelandic food … it is amazing! Or at least we believe so. And Reykjavik is the foodie capital! Every restaurant in Reykjavik will, of course, be serving outstanding food but the seasonal specialty during the cold winter months are warm, hearty cuisines and If you are a foodie, you should not hesitate to join our Reykjavik Food Walk!
  But please notice that if you are travelling close to Christmas or New Years Eve, you need to book your tickets far in advance since we will get fully booked.

• Visit some of the many great museums in Reykjavik. My favorites are The National Museum of Iceland for history and what it means to be an Icelander (allow 1-2 hours here), The Settlement Exhibition Reykjavik 871+-2 (yes, the name is this long haha) but this is an super interesting place that will take you back to the viking age & the museum is built on top of one of the oldest man-made structures found in Iceland. Two more interesting museums to visit are RAM (The Reykjavik Art museum) and of course, the Penis museum (… The Icelandic Phallological Museum). Yes, you read that correctly …