Winter in Iceland – magical or fright­ening?

Happy New Year! 2025 is over and history, and almost at the same time also my first year of life. Which means: It was my birthday! Sadly there was no cake, but instead an abso­lute knockout gift: a plush crab. I love it! Almost as much as the real crab skel­etons that the sea constantly washes up on the beach. With those, however, it’s always “eww, yuck, stop,” and I have to spit them out. The plush crab, on the other paw, I’m allowed to work on with great pleasure until my little teeth start wobbling.

But enough about my chewing adven­tures – I want to tell you some­thing else. It’s winter. And about winter in Iceland, the wildest rumors are circu­lating: an icy hell and instant death by cold the moment you stick your nose outside. And eternal dark­ness with no glimmer of light!
As a native Icelander, I can only wag my tail tiredly and say: total nonsense! Fairly speaking, I do have a thick coat and an integ­rated night-vision mode. Two-leggers without these super­powers prob­ably start complaining much faster.

First, the most important news about the light: even in the depths of winter, the sun never disap­pears completely from Iceland. Depending on whether you’re in the north or the south, and how many moun­tains surround you, it shows up for a longer or shorter visit. The shortest day is December 21. Here in West Iceland, in Búðardalur, the sun then peeks above the horizon for about 3.5 hours – roughly between 11:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Outside of that, it plays hide-and-seek. Obvi­ously, it doesn’t become pitch-black the moment it disap­pears. After sunset – and of course before sunrise – there is twilight. Lots of twilight. So even in winter there are several more or less bright hours that can be used for all kinds of adven­tures. Still, of course, dark­ness domin­ates clearly for a few weeks. The positive side: there’s much more oppor­tunity to spot the Northern Lights.

What’s espe­cially great about Iceland’s winter months is that the sun never climbs very high and creeps just above the horizon. You can hardly tell where sunrise ends and sunset begins. That means the land­scape and the sea are bathed in glowing, colorful light for hours. My human carer is happy because she doesn’t have to rush when taking photos, and I’m happy because I can thor­oughly sniff around the wilder­ness during that time. She doesn’t even notice if I find one of those crab skel­etons on the beach. Yay!

After the shortest day, the bright hours increase at a galloping pace. By the end of January, the sun is already above the horizon for nearly 7 hours, and by the end of February almost 10 hours. And it keeps going like that until even­tu­ally it doesn’t get dark at all anymore and even I start thinking: close the curtain, I want to sleep! But that’s a story for another time.

If you’d like detailed inform­a­tion about sunrises and sunsets, you can check here, for example:

https://wate.com/sun/icelandww.time­andd

Sea, sandy beach, endlessly dreamy sunrises and sunsets – you might be tempted to grab a deck chair and enjoy the show by the water with a drink in hand. But before you pack your swim­suit, let’s take a look at the temper­at­ures…

The average winter temper­ature here by the sea in the west is around freezing. So not really suit­able for a lazy beach day, but also not so bad that your ears freeze forever. Occa­sion­ally frozen ears at temper­at­ures below –10 °C can happen, but at least here in Búðardalur that's rather rare. In other regions of Iceland, it can appar­ently get much colder – and with much more snow. On our fjord, not that much snow usually sticks around. And if there is some, the wind some­times just blows it away again. Which is a shame, because I love racing through the white splendor like a crazy ptar­migan.

Of course, it can also get really rough, espe­cially when an icy wind blows. To be honest, it blows pretty often – some­times so hard that it completely messes up my furry hair­style. If snow­fall joins in, it can get uncom­fort­able outside. A raging snowstorm can make driving a real chal­lenge, and some­times roads even have to be closed. But as long as I’ve been running around on this earth, that hasn’t happened here in Búðardalur. The main road is duti­fully cleared, and I’m not allowed to lick the road because it’s salted.

When it’s really windy and cold, the human bipeds don’t like going outside with me quite as much. Happy is the one who doesn’t have a furry four-legger with a full bladder and a wild urge to explore. Because then you can sit comfort­ably inside and enjoy a warm coffee, tea, or cocoa. And I have a hot tip for you: a holiday home at the Mystic Light Lodge. Imagine snug­gling up in a blanket and looking through the huge mirrored windows at the howling nature outside.
Of course also in nice weather, the holiday home is an exper­i­ence. You can watch the special sunsets and sunrises right from bed. Through the large skylight above the bed, count­less stars and the Northern Lights can be admired. Or you can jump into the hot tub and soak up nature and weather with all your senses while sitting in hot water. Dreamy, isn’t it? Even the biggest winter grump will find peace there. Paw on it!

I love winter in Iceland no matter what – whether romping around outside, feeling the forces of nature, or lying cozily on my back inside with all paws stretched out. I can highly recom­mend a trip to Iceland in winter. You just shouldn’t do it completely unpre­pared. A few tips from my side:

• Continu­ously inform your­self about weather and road condi­tions. Both can change in a heart­beat. Never ignore warn­ings. Here you’ll always find the most up-to-date inform­a­tion (also avail­able as apps):

  - Weather: https://en.vedur.is/weather/fore­casts/areas 

  - Road condi­tions: www.road.is 

  - General safety inform­a­tion and warn­ings: https://safetravel.is 

• Don’t fixate on a rigid plan – the weather might ruin it. Stay flex­ible and open to last-minute changes.

• Don’t over­pack your days with too many activ­ities. Be aware that daylight hours are limited and weather can cause delays.

• Rent a car with four-wheel drive, winter tires, and studs.

• Bring warm clothes and shoes. Dressing in layers works best. I espe­cially like that thermal stuff – then you smell like a sheep. Don’t forget a thick hat and gloves. And you should be able to pack your­self water­proof from top to bottom, including shoes.
  Oh, and you should also bring swim­wear. There are oppor­tun­ities every­where to splash around in hot lagoons and pools.

Finally, a picture of a phenomenon that my bipeds and I were able to discover for the first time last New Year’s Eve: Nacreous clouds!
For these to form, so many factors up in the sky have to come together at once that they appear very rarely. One of the require­ments is bitter cold, because somehow ice crys­tals and sunlight have to interact.

Soo, I hope I’ve been able to take away a bit of the fear of Iceland’s winter. Now I have to go check on my plush crab.

Sif
Head of Enter­tain­ment
Mystic Light Lodge