January 11, 2021

The Northern Lights Tour. A night to remember!

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Iceland. The Night A Dream Came True.

What? Iceland Northern Lights Tour.

When? September 2018

Who with? Time Tours https://timetours.is/

How much? £45 / 7600 Icelandic Krona per person

How long? We got picked up from Reykjavik at 9:40pm and were out until around 2am.

The Tour Pick up.

We got picked up for our Northern Lights Tour at a local bus stop. Time Tours will arrange to collect you from where you are staying or your nearest bus stop which was great as we didn’t have to mission it to somewhere to start the tour.

Yes that means you have to stop to pick up other passengers but one of the great things about Time Tours is that it doesn’t have loads and loads of people on the one tour.

There were 16 people on my tour, including myself and my parents. We were the third pick up and so there were only 4 pick ups after us. They were also only a few minutes drive so everyone was on the bus very quickly.

We were greeted by our fantastic guide Tommi. Upon seeing Tommi come out of the bus to greet us, I couldn’t help but blurt out how ridiculously excited I was.

It Starts…..

I explained that seeing the Northern Lights was a life-long dream of mine and that I really, really hoped we would be lucky and see the lights this evening!

Tommi smiled and said to me “Don’t worry….they are already here.” I must have looked confused, thinking… ‘what is he on about? I cant see any lights?”

We were in the middle of Reykjavik and there were bright city lights all around us which supposedly stop you from being able to see the lights there.

Tommi told me to hold an arm up and cover the city lights which dotted the streets around us. I thought he was having me on and this was some hilarious Icelandic ruse that he tried on all overexcited, annoying foreigners.

I was expecting a bout of hysterical laughter and a slap on the back any moment to break the joke. But sure enough, with the city lights covered, I could see a faint green glow along the horizon. I stood there transfixed, disbelieving that they were already here. Tommi said “well, hurry along! Get on the bus! We don’t want to miss them!”

The Northern Lights Tour itself.

The tour was amazing and I was so glad that I’d put a lot of research into different Iceland Northern Lights tour options before finally settling on Time Tours. Their fantastic reputation exists for a reason. I saw many other tours with dozens of people on and I cannot believe they had an experience like ours.

Tommi was talking with colleagues on his radio whilst we were driving, to get updates on the movement of the lights. He would predict where the lights would show and we would drive to prime locations to catch them. I felt like I was in the movie Twister, except hunting something much more mysterious and beautiful.

The Lights. Oh, the Northern Lights.

We saw the lights multiple times and in multiple locations and Tommi made sure he took photos of everyone in each location. He certainly knows what to do with a camera, as you can see! Tommi uploaded all the photos to facebook afterwards and even emailed extra ones to me personally. You get these incredible photos at no extra charge.

We hunted the lights for hours. We saw that other tours were starting the drop off the trail and it was quite late now, after midnight. But Tommi had a feeling the lights were going to create a spectacular final display if we just held out a bit longer.

The Magical Tour Finale.

I was already so happy with what we had seen on this Northern Lights tour but Tommi was intent on everyone getting to see as much as they could. So after the other tours called it a night, we drove further into the depths of the wilderness. We waited and waited…. and eventually it paid off.

We saw the most incredible light display over this open wilderness and it was honestly unbelievable. My eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. I’m so grateful to Tommi and Time Tours for giving me an experience that is seared into my mind like magic.

I do really think for £45 per person this was such incredible value for money. For what it included, and for the photos you will also have access to, it’s really a no-brainer in my opinion. At the time of my visit, Time Tours were also offering the chance to join a second tour on another evening if you didn’t see the lights on your first tour. What more could you want?