← Iceland by month

Iceland in December.

The shortest days, the Yule Lads, Christmas markets, and one of the biggest amateur fireworks displays on Earth.

Straight from the app. Get Icebreaker for the live version: tonight's aurora, the weather where you are, and what's open.

December is four hours of daylight and a country that has decided to make the most of it. Thirteen Yule Lads come down from the mountains one a night from the 12th, leaving sweets or potatoes in shoes on windowsills. Þorláksmessa on the 23rd fills Laugavegur with people eating fermented skate and buying last presents; Christmas begins at six on the 24th, the city goes silent on the 25th and only half wakes up on the 26th. Then New Year's Eve: bonfires in the evening, the comedy review on television, and fireworks set off by every household at once at midnight.

Light and weather

Daylight: 5 hours at the start, 4 h 10 min at the solstice; sunrise around 11:15, sunset around 15:30 mid-month. Northern lights: Yes, on clear nights.

What's on in December

• The Yule Lads, 12 to 24 December: one arrives each night, from Sheep-Cot Clod to Candle Beggar. Shoes go in windows. Bad children get a potato.
• Þorláksmessa, 23 December: skate dinners, late shopping and street music on Laugavegur.
• Christmas Eve, 24 December: everything closes by early afternoon and Christmas starts at 18:00. Christmas Day is shut, pools included; on the 26th the pools and some shops open again, on shorter hours.
• New Year's Eve: neighbourhood bonfires from about 20:30, Áramótaskaupið on television at 22:30, and the fireworks at midnight, sold by the rescue squads to fund themselves.

What's open, what's closed

Ring Road open with storm closures, sometimes for days. Golden Circle and south coast day trips run in the daylight window. Ice caves and glacier walks at their best. Vínbúðin keeps short hours on 24 and 31 December (in recent years until 13:00 on the 24th in Reykjavík) and is closed on 25 and 26 December and 1 January; buy on the 23rd like everyone else.

What to do

• Christmas and New Year in Reykjavík, date by date
• A hot tub on the darkest days of the year
• Aurora in the longest nights
• No TV on Thursdays and other things we banned
• What is open on the holidays
• Ice cave tours, at their best
• Glacier walks, at their best
• Northern lights tours, on the longest nights

What to pack

Full winter kit, crampons, and something warm to stand at a bonfire in. Ear protection for midnight on the 31st is not a joke.

Prices and crowds

Low until about the 20th, then the highest of the winter through New Year, then low again from 2 January.

Verdict

Come 1–15 December for winter without the surcharge, or over New Year for the fireworks and pay for it.