Chasing The Northern Lights - Iceland

At the end of January, I took a flight up (2 hours 30 minutes) up to Reykjavík in Iceland...to experience this beautiful country known as the land of Fire & Ice, that everyone has been talking about.

With routes from Birmingham, Manchester and London - there are a range a dates and durations possible. Transfer to the city is just a short ride either by coach or taxi of around 45 minutes/1 hour. Reykjavík offers a good choice of hotels, from budget to five-star - along with Self Catering options too

It may be one of the smallest capital cities in Europe, however it seems there's a multitude of various events all year round - most visitors tend to go between November until March in the hope of seeing Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights).

We had packed our weekend with a variety of excursions, which I'd recommend is the best way to see everything in a short amount of time. A trip to the Blue Lagoon, some 40 minutes out of the city - it is renowned for its health benefits and mineral-rich, geothermal seawater, which have made it one of the most visited locations in Iceland....it is definitely worth a few hours of your day! It is an outdoor spa is located simply in a lava field in Grindavík on the Reykjanes Peninsula, so don't forget your swimsuit!

We were also hoping to see the Northern Lights - the glowing patterns of light that twist and turn restlessly in the sky are created by electrically-charged particles that make the thin air shine...and we were very lucky, we did see them on our last night! For this we took our excursion with Superjeep - where we were taken to the coldest/highest point, I would highly recommend this - as they can go to many off road destinations unlike standard coach excursions could.

We also pre booked The Golden Circle excursion which again is another popular tourist route from Reykjavik. This trip covers about 300 km distance from Reykjavik to central Iceland and back. The three main stops on the route are the national park Thingvellir, the waterfall Gullfoss (Golden Falls) - absolutely stunning and spectacular waterfall that is a must see. The geothermal active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur - these are also very interesting to watch too!

I really loved my visit to Iceland - it was very different and unique to any other city I've been to and the Icelanders are also considered to be the friendliest nation in the world, so why not try a visit there yourself!