In short, everywhere. Iceland is located right under the Auroral Zone, which is the circle where the Northern Lights are most often seen. The middle of this zone lies somewhere along the north coast of Iceland so theoretically the lights are more common in the north of the country but keeping in mind that this zone is usually hundreds of kilometres wide the difference is minimal. Other factors, such as accessibility, quietness, and natural beauty, not to mention the weather and cloud cover are much more important when deciding where to go, cloud cover being the most important of all.

The Solar Wind is always present and therefore the Northern Lights can form at any time. However, during the summer months from mid-April through mid-August there is not enough darkness to see the Northern Lights even if they are forming overhead. From the middle of August to middle of April it is possible to see the Northern Lights if the sky is clear and it is dark outside.

The Northern Lights are visible from the middle of August to the middle of April. Due to reasons not fully understood yet, there activity seem to be a little stronger during the Equinoxes, around the 20th of March and September. Additionally, the weather is usually better during spring and fall, although there is no guarantee. There are, however, great displays during the dark winter months and then there is the added benefit of having more hours of darkness as the Northern lights can form early in the evening and late into the night. Also, there are interesting winter activities to be found in the deep of winter. Either way the whole of winter is a great time to hunt for the Northern Lights.

Best time in a day to watch the Northern Lights should be at midnight, 12:00 at night. That is when, in most places, your location is directly downwind from the Sun and in the darkest area on the night side of earth. However, in Iceland we follow GMT time (London time zone, Longitude 0°) which means when Iceland is directly downwind from the Sun and the time should be 12:00 it is 01:00, one hour ahead of "correct" time. This should then mean that the strongest Northern Lights appear around 01:00 o'clock. This obviously moves the whole timeframe of the best daily viewing period one hour later in Iceland compared to other places with the "right" time. BUT the magnetic field is not perfect straight lines but spirals upwards trailing the counterclockwise rotation of Earth. The centre of the magnetic field and therefore the Auroral Zone is not the North Pole but the Geomagnetic North Pole, the Solar Wind carries the Sun's magnetic field which hits the Earth at an angle and the Earth travels perpendicularly around the Sun at about 107.000 km/h. All these things, and many more, affect where the strongest area of the Auroral Oval is located above us and it is not always the same. Confused yet? Our decades long experience tells us that the best time is generally between 10:00 and 01:00. Rarely do they form before 19:00 and after 04:00. When conditions are decent it is worth it to go out early but usually not as productive to stay out late.