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Christmas and New Year in Reykjavík: what's on, and what's shut.

Christmas in Iceland starts on the evening of the 24th, involves thirteen troll brothers and ends on 6 January with a bonfire. In between, the city shuts from Christmas Eve afternoon through Christmas Day, the pools keep holiday hours, and on New Year's Eve the whole town sets off its own fireworks. Here are the 2026 dates, what's open, and where to be when.

Published 29 October 2026 · Icebreaker · 2026 dates from organisers' pages and listings

Icelanders celebrate on the 24th, not the 25th. Christmas is rung in at 18:00 on Christmas Eve, dinner follows, and the presents are opened after it. The next two days are holidays too, and the city behaves accordingly. Then it wakes up for New Year's Eve, which is louder than anything you've heard, and the season closes on 6 January with a bonfire.

The dates that matter, 2026–27

Pool hours are the City of Reykjavík's for its eight pools, 2026. Shop hours are the usual pattern, not checked shop by shop.

The thirteen Yule Lads

Iceland doesn't have one Santa. It has thirteen jólasveinar, Yule Lads, the sons of the troll Grýla. They come down from the mountains one a night from 12 December, and each one's name tells you what sort of houseguest he is. Children leave a shoe in the window from the 11th, and the Yule Lad of the night leaves a small present in it. Badly behaved children get a potato.

English names as the National Museum of Iceland gives them; other lists translate them differently. Each stays thirteen nights.

Their mother is worse. Grýla comes down from the mountains at Christmas, puts naughty children in a sack and takes them home to her cave, where she lives with her husband Leppalúði. Then there's Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat, a giant cat that goes after anyone who didn't get a new piece of clothing for Christmas. Folklore has been selling knitwear for a long time.

Where to meet the Yule Lads

Árbær Open Air Museum, Sundays 13 and 20 December

The old-fashioned Christmas, in an old farm and its turf houses on the edge of the city. From 13:00 to 16:00 on both Sundays (the museum stays open until 17:00) there's leaf bread (laufabrauð) being carved, smoked lamb (hangikjöt) to taste, fermented skate in the pot, tallow candles being made, a printer making Christmas cards, wool carded and spun, and wood whittled. Yule Lads roam the grounds from 14:00 to 16:00, there's a service in the museum church at 14:00, and singing and dancing round the tree at 15:00.

Free for children, people with disabilities and holders of the Reykjavík City Card or Culture Card; everyone else pays 2,550 ISK.

National Museum of Iceland, every morning (last year)

Last year one Yule Lad visited the National Museum each day from 12 to 24 December at 11:00, in order of arrival. The museum hasn't announced its 2026 dates yet. If it keeps the pattern, a fortnight in Reykjavík gets you all thirteen. Under-18s go free; an adult ticket is 3,300 ISK and works as a pass for a year.

Jólaþorpið in Hafnarfjörður

Grýla and the Yule Lads also turn up at the Christmas Village in Hafnarfjörður, below.

Christmas markets and lights

Jólaþorpið, the Christmas Village in Hafnarfjörður

Twenty Christmas huts on Thorsplan, the square in the middle of Hafnarfjörður, about 10 km south of central Reykjavík. It opens on Friday 13 November 2026 and runs for six weekends: Fridays 17:00–20:00, Saturdays 13:00–20:00 and Sundays 13:00–18:00. The last day is Þorláksmessa, Wednesday 23 December, 13:00–21:00.

Jólaportið at Kolaportið

Kolaportið, the indoor weekend flea market by the Old Harbour, becomes a Christmas market from Saturday 14 November and every weekend until 20 December, open 11:00–17:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.

Austurvöllur and the city centre

The city hasn't published its 2026 Christmas programme yet. Last year the market on Austurvöllur, the square in front of Parliament, opened on 29 November and ran every weekend in December and every day from 18 to 23 December. The square was wrapped in about 10 km of lights, with light tunnels, and there was an ice rink on Ingólfstorg, as in earlier winters.

The tree on Austurvöllur is still called the Oslo tree, though it no longer comes from Oslo. It's felled in Heiðmörk, just outside the city, and Oslo sends books to Reykjavík's schools instead. Last year its lights went on at 16:00 on the first Sunday of Advent. In 2026 that's 29 November, but the city hasn't confirmed it.

Heiðmörk

There's also a Christmas market at Elliðavatnsbær in Heiðmörk, the forest on the edge of the city, on the four Advent weekends (28–29 November and 5–6, 12–13 and 19–20 December), from 12:00 to 17:00. It's easiest by car.

Adventure in the Christmas Forest, Kópavogur

A ticketed theatre walk by flashlight through Guðmundarlundur in Kópavogur, with Grýla, Leppalúði and the Yule Lads along the way, just under an hour, with hot cocoa and gingerbread at the end. Small groups set off every ten minutes after dark, on many dates from 21 November to 30 December, and tickets are 4,900 kr. Check the language before you book.

Christmas concerts and films

December is full of concerts, and most of the Christmas shows for families are in Icelandic. These are the ones worth a visitor's evening; for everything else, see what's on in Reykjavík. Dates and prices are as listed on 29 October 2026, so check the organiser's page before you go.

• Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Advent concert: Thursday 3 December, 19:30, Eldborg in Harpa. Mozart, Haydn's second cello concerto and a symphony by Marianna Martines. 3,100–11,500 kr.
• Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Christmas family concert: Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December at 14:00 and 16:00, Eldborg in Harpa. About an hour with no interval, sign-language interpreted. 4,100–5,100 kr.
• Anne Sofie von Otter, Christmas concert: Thursday 10 December at 18:00 and 20:30, Norðurljós in Harpa.
• Evening Church in December: music and silence at Hallgrímskirkja, run with Reykjavík Cathedral (Dómkirkjan). Thursday 17 December, 20:00, open to all.
• Langholtskirkja's choirs: their 48th Christmas concerts, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 December at 17:00, with hot chocolate and gingerbread at the interval.
• Bubbi Morthens' Þorláksmessa concerts: the Icelandic rock singer's pre-Christmas show, a tradition since 1985. Eldborg in Harpa, Tuesday 22 December at 20:00 and Wednesday 23 December at 22:00; the 23rd is sold out. In Icelandic, and worth it anyway.
• Árstíðir's holiday concert: the Icelandic band's Christmas show, held every year since 2008. This year it's at Fríkirkjan in Reykjavík, Sunday 27 December, 20:00, 5,900 kr.
• Christmas films at Bíó Paradís: Home Alone (5 December), Love Actually (11 December), Home Alone 2 and The Muppet Christmas Carol (12 December), Die Hard (18 December) and Christmas Vacation (19 December).

Þorláksmessa and Christmas Eve

Þorláksmessa, 23 December

St Þorlákur's Mass, after the bishop of Skálholt who died on this day. These days it is mostly about fermented skate, which many Icelanders eat on the 23rd as part of getting ready for Christmas, and which you will smell before you see it. Some restaurants serve it that day. It's also the last proper shopping day: the Christmas Village in Hafnarfjörður stays open until 21:00, and anything you need for the 24th, buy now.

Christmas Eve, 24 December

Shops close early in the afternoon, Christmas is rung in at 18:00, and Icelanders sit down to dinner: usually a meat dish such as ptarmigan, smoked lamb or pork loin. Presents are opened after it, and a lot of them are books. So many books are given for Christmas that the publishing season before it has its own name, jólabókaflóð, the Christmas book flood.

For a visitor that means: do your shopping in the morning, book Christmas Eve dinner well ahead and confirm the restaurant is open that night, and have a plan for the 25th that doesn't depend on anything opening.

Hallgrímskirkja is closed on the 24th except for its services: evening song at 18:00 and the Christmas Eve service at 23:30. On Christmas Day it opens only for the 14:00 service. On the 26th it's open 10:00–16:30, with a service at 14:00 and an organ concert at 17:00.

What's open over the holidays

Pools: City of Reykjavík, all eight city pools, 2026. Hallgrímskirkja: the church's 2026 holiday hours. Supermarkets: Bónus's and Krónan's hours last year; this year's aren't out yet. Most reopen on the 26th or 27th and on 2 January. Buses: Strætó's 2025–26 notice; this year's isn't out yet.

• Wine and spirits: buy them at Vínbúðin, the state-run chain; supermarket shelves stop at beer of 2.25% or less. Vínbúðin hasn't published its 2026 holiday hours yet; in recent years the Reykjavík shops have closed at 13:00 on Christmas Eve and shut on the 25th, 26th and 1 January. If you want wine with Christmas dinner, don't leave it to the 24th.
• Restaurants: book ahead for 24, 25, 26 and 31 December and 1 and 2 January, and check the place is open that night.
• Museums: going by past years, most close on the 24th and 25th, and only some open on the 31st, for a few hours. Check each one's own page.
• The airport bus: Flybus says it meets every arrival at Keflavík, but hasn't published a holiday timetable. Landing on the 24th or 31st? Book your transfer before you fly.
• Tours: plenty list December in their season, northern lights tours included, but that doesn't mean they go on the 24th, 25th or 31st. Check the dates on the tour page before you plan a day around one.

New Year's Eve

Gamlárskvöld, literally the old year's evening, runs in a fixed order: dinner, bonfire, comedy on television, fireworks. Shops close mid-afternoon (last year the supermarkets shut at 15:00–16:00), so get what you need early.

The bonfires, in the evening

Reykjavík lights neighbourhood bonfires, áramótabrennur, in the evening. Last year there were ten, most of them listed for 20:30: two big ones, at Geirsnef and at Gufunes by Gufunesbær, and smaller ones at Ægisíða, Skerjafjörður, Suðurhlíðar below Fossvogur cemetery, Laugardalur, Stekkjarbakki, Rauðavatn, Kléberg on Kjalarnes and Úlfarsfell. The city has published the list in the last week of December in recent years, and the places and times can change.

Áramótaskaupið, late in the evening

Then much of the country goes indoors for Áramótaskaupið, RÚV's comedy review of the year, which has started at about 22:30 in recent years. Last year it was also shown with English subtitles on RÚV 2 and online. You won't get every joke, and nor will everyone in the room.

Midnight

At midnight the sky over the city fills with fireworks, set off by households, not by the council, so there's no single show to go to: anywhere with a view over the rooftops will do. The Grapevine's pick for the biggest view is, as always, in front of Hallgrímskirkja. Wear the safety glasses, cover your ears and keep a hat on. The air gets thick with smoke in the last hours of the year, and last year the city warned of particle pollution, so if you have asthma, watch from indoors.

New Year's Day

Very quiet. The city pools open 13:00–17:00, most shops stay shut until the 2nd or 3rd, and the streets are full of spent rockets. The city sets out containers for the debris, and last year a volunteer clean-up, Glitter No Litter, asked people to turn up at 14:00 at Hljómskálagarður, in Laugarnes, in Kópavogur and in Hafnarfjörður to pick it up.

Fireworks: who sells them, and the rules

Why the rescue teams sell the fireworks

When someone is lost on a glacier, stuck on a mountain pass or in trouble off the coast, the people who come out are usually volunteers from the local rescue team, one of close to a hundred units of ICE-SAR (Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjörg). The first team was founded in the Westman Islands in 1918, after too many fishermen had been lost at sea. The members aren't paid, they buy much of their own gear, and ICE-SAR doesn't charge the people it rescues, so that nobody hesitates to call.

Fireworks pay for most of it. A government report in 2020 called New Year fireworks a tradition of about 60 years in Iceland, and said the rescue teams had sold them for more than 50 of those. They now sell from close to 120 sales points every New Year. Landsbjörg imports the fireworks, and all the profit from each sales point stays with the local team that runs it. The same report put the takings at about 700 million ISK a year, roughly 60–70% of what the teams need to operate, and found that most people who buy fireworks do it partly to support them. The money even helps pay for SafeTravel, the safety service for travellers. The Grapevine's December 2025 cover story, Why We Light Fireworks, tells the story through one volunteer.

It isn't uncontroversial. The smoke pushed particle pollution in the capital area over health limits on about every other New Year in the decade to 2019, and there have been proposals to shorten the sales period or end private sales of the big fireworks. The main argument against doing so has been the one above. Since New Year 2018–19 the rescue teams have also sold Rótarskot, a tree seedling that volunteers plant for you, for people who want to support them without the bang; all the proceeds go to the teams.

The rules

• When they're sold: the big ones (categories 2 and 3) only from 28 December to 6 January. Last year the rescue teams' sales points opened on the 28th.
• When you can set them off: 28 December to 6 January, but not between 22:00 and 10:00, except on New Year's night, when they're legal all night. On 6 January, from 10:00 to 22:00.
• Ages: 12 for the small stuff (category 1), 16 for category 2 and 18 for category 3. Anyone under 18 needs an adult with them.
• Protection: the rescue teams tell everyone to wear fireworks safety glasses, and the regulation recommends eye and ear protection. Take the hint.

Regulation 414/2017 on fireworks, as amended in 2021.

Þrettándinn, 6 January

The thirteenth day of Christmas closes the season. Candle Beggar, the last Yule Lad, goes back to the mountains, and Icelanders see Christmas out with bonfires, the last of the fireworks and, in some towns, a parade of elves and trolls. In 2027 it falls on a Wednesday. Reykjavík hasn't announced its bonfires for it yet.

Daylight, weather and the aurora

Reykjavík, worked out for 2026–27 with NOAA's solar formula, to within a minute or two.

December in Reykjavík averages 3 °C by day and −2 °C at night, with rain or snow on about half the days and 13 hours of sunshine in the whole month. Dress for the wind, not the thermometer, and bring ice grips for your shoes: the pavements freeze. The packing list has the rest, and the December page has the month as a whole.

The upside of four hours of daylight is twenty without the sun. Any clear night over Christmas is a chance at the northern lights, and northern lights tours run through December. Check tonight's aurora forecast, and read how the forecast works before you trust it.

FAQ

Is Christmas in Iceland on the 24th or the 25th?

The 24th. Christmas is rung in at 18:00 on Christmas Eve, with dinner and presents that evening. The 25th and 26th are holidays too.

When do the Yule Lads come?

One a night from 12 December, the last on the 24th. They leave in the same order, one a day from 25 December, and the last goes home on 6 January.

Is anything open in Reykjavík on Christmas Day?

Very little. The city pools and the supermarkets are closed, and Hallgrímskirkja opens only for its 14:00 service. Hotels stay open, and some restaurants do too; book ahead and check.

Are the swimming pools open over Christmas?

Reykjavík's city pools in 2026: 08:00–13:00 on 24 and 31 December, closed on 25 December, 11:00–17:00 on 26 December and 13:00–17:00 on 1 January.

Where do you watch the fireworks on New Year's Eve?

Anywhere with a view over the rooftops; the Grapevine's pick is in front of Hallgrímskirkja. The fireworks are set off by households all over the city, so there's no single show to go to. Go to a neighbourhood bonfire in the evening (last year most were listed for 20:30) and stay out past midnight.

Can visitors set off fireworks in Iceland?

Yes, from 28 December to 6 January, if you're old enough: 16 for category 2, 18 for category 3. Not between 22:00 and 10:00 except on New Year's night, never at the bonfires, and wear safety glasses.