Iceland in March.

Daylight tips into surplus, the aurora still shows early in the month, and Beer Day opens it.

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

March is the month of the equinox, when Reykjavík gets back the same daylight as everyone else and keeps gaining. Snow melts in the lowlands and blows back in a week later; the weather is unstable in both directions. Early March still has proper aurora nights; by the end the sky is too bright by ten. Beer Day, 1 March, marks the day in 1989 when beer became legal again, and the bars take it seriously.

Light and weather

Daylight: 10 h 30 min at the start, 13 h 20 min by the end; sunrise around 08:30, sunset around 19:00 mid-month. Northern lights: Yes, on clear nights.

High: 4 °C
Low: −1 °C
Rain and snow: 81 mm
Sunshine: 110 hours
Wind: 5.2 m/s
Daylight: 10 h 30 min at the start, 13 h 20 min by the end

Reykjavík averages, 1991–2020 (Veðurstofan)

What's on in March

Beer Day, 1 March: the anniversary of legal beer, celebrated in every bar in the country. See the history page for how Iceland went 74 years without beer, 54 of them with vodka on sale.
Bolludagur to Öskudagur fall in early March in the years when Easter is late.
Easter falls in March some years, and the whole country takes five days off from Maundy Thursday; Vínbúðin and most shops close on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

What's open, what's closed

Ring Road usually fully drivable by late March, with closures in storms. Highlands shut. Ice caves run until the melt makes them unsafe, usually late March. Whale watching picks up.

What to do

What to pack

Winter kit still, plus sunglasses. March can give you +8 °C and a blizzard in the same afternoon.

Prices and crowds

Low to medium. Easter week is the exception, when Icelanders travel too.

Verdict

Good for photographers who want snow, light and aurora on one trip.