Things To Do In Reykjavík In November

If you’ve decided to visit Iceland in November, then you’ll find plenty of ways to enjoy our island and its capital city. Numerous vibrant festivals brighten Reykjavík’s dark November nights, and you’ll be joining us at the time of year when tourist numbers are at a minimum. So, with locals possibly just outnumbering visitors for once, you can look forward to getting more of a feel for the real Reykjavík!

Festivals of music, dance and technology

In early November, the capital welcomes an influx of musicians and music fans to the nation’s premier music festival: Iceland Airwaves. For three days — the 7th to the 9th of November in 2024 — downtown Reykjavík simply vibrates with music. Venues all over the city host multiple artist concerts, the bars are busy with pre-gig meetups, and the streets are alive with a festival buzz.

Previous years have featured the cream of Icelandic music, such as Of Monsters And Men, GusGus and Sigur Rós, and every year, an international cohort of music industry figures comes to sniff out the next big thing in Icelandic music. So if you’re a music lover, Iceland Airwaves needs to be on your list of things to do in Reykjavík in November.

Hot on the heels of Iceland Airwaves comes the Reykjavík Dance Festival, another unmissable fixture in the city’s cultural calendar. Taking place from the 13th to the 17th of November 2024, this festival of creative movement aims to make dance as inclusive as possible: previous years have even included a rave for babies!

And completing our trio of unmissable November events in the capital, look out for RAFLOST — The Icelandic Festival Of Electronic Arts — which will take place around the beginning of November 2024. This long-established festival brings together creatives from a range of disciplines to explore art through technology.

The Day of the Icelandic Tongue

Another important aspect of Icelandic culture is our language, and although Icelanders are always happy to speak English to visitors, we also take great care in preserving our mother tongue. For example, Icelandic society tends to invent its own words for new things rather than borrow words from other languages: our word for computer — tölvu — is made up of the Icelandic words for number (tala) and prophetess (völva).

Every year we celebrate our linguistic heritage with Dagur Íslenskrar Tungu (The Day of the Icelandic Tongue) on November 16th, which is the birthday of the Icelandic poet Jónas Hallgrímsson. Look out for festival activities, and try to use an Icelandic phrase or two as you go about town. A great place to start is “takk fyrir”, which means thank you!

Get inside the glacier

One advantage of the weather getting colder in Iceland is that it opens up the possibility of visiting ice caves or glacier caves to give them their proper name. These natural beauties form in summer when melted ice flows down through a glacier, creating cavities which can reach quite substantial dimensions. When the freezing weather returns, the structures formed become more solid and much safer to enter.

Langjökull, the closest glacier to Reykjavík, often houses ice caves, which are possible to visit on a day trip from the capital. You’ll need to go with an authorised tour, as the safety and logistical issues of such a trip are not to be underestimated, and tour operators have the specialist vehicles required to safely access the glacier.

But if you’d prefer your glacier cave experience a little closer to town, Perlan has created an ice cave and glacier exhibition to entertain and inform. Our man-made ice cave was constructed using 350 tonnes of ice and snow from Icelandic mountains and offers you the chance to walk the 100m long cave structure in complete comfort and safety.

To partner our ice cave, our interactive exhibit on glaciers provides information on how important these huge reserves of ice are to Iceland’s climate regulation and freshwater systems. The exhibit highlights how rising global temperatures are causing the glaciers to disappear and the massive problems now resulting.

Surf’s up… even in Iceland!

To experience icy water of another kind, surfing is something you can do in Reykjavík in November. That might seem like a strange idea; after all, most people associate surfing with warmer climates such as Hawaii or Bali. But November brings strong winds to the west coast of Iceland, and the waves created along the coast of the Reykjanes Peninsula — just a short drive from the capital — create great surfing spots at places like Sandvík.

Of course, you’ll need more than a pair of board shorts and a rashguard: the sea temperature will be a frigid 6 to 8 degrees Celsius (42 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit). But the tour operators in Reykjavik can get you fitted out with a wetsuit and everything else that you’ll require. 

So if you’re steely enough to face Icelandic waters in midwinter, you should add catching some North Atlantic breakers to your list of things to do in Reykjavík in November.

FAQ

Is Reykjavík worth visiting in November?

Our beautiful, multi-faceted city is worth visiting all year round; when you visit, it should be based simply on the kind of experience you’re looking for.

In November, the city comes into its own culture, with the internationally famous Iceland Airwaves music festival and the vibrant Reykjavík Dance Festival both taking place.

Dark nights create amazing conditions in which to hunt the northern lights, and if you’re a fan of snowy Nordic cityscapes you’re very likely to get a good dusting of the white stuff at some point in November. The coming of the long dark nights also means that both the city authorities and residents put up Christmas lights at the earliest opportunity in November, giving the capital a cosy glow.

Can you visit the Golden Circle in November?

The Golden Circle is a group of attractions near Reykjavík which lie on a circular road route. It is generally held to comprise the geysers at Geysir, Þingvellir National Park and the Gullfoss waterfall, but it can also include the Secret Lagoon geothermal pool at Flúðir, the volcanic crater at Kerið and the historic cathedral at Skálholt.

These locations are open all year round, so yes — you can visit them in November. Some, like the geysers and the national park, are natural attractions that are never closed (although you´ll want to visit in daylight). Others, such as the Secret Lagoon, have opening hours that vary throughout the year, so check before travelling. Be aware that some paths at Gullfoss might close due to icy conditions underfoot. 

Can you go to the Blue Lagoon in November?

The Blue Lagoon is open every day of the year. And given that those warm blue waters are best enjoyed when the air has a chill to it, November would be a great time to sample them. 

In the last few years, the Reykjanes peninsula on which the Blue Lagoon is situated has experienced several volcanic eruptions, reminding us why that warm blue water is warm in the first place! You can find out more about these exciting volcanic events in Perlan’s volcano show, in which we look at the first of these eruptions and investigate the underlying science.

But as wonderful as The Blue Lagoon is, don’t forget that Iceland is replete with geothermally heated water in which to relax. The Sky Lagoon in Kópavogur — the town snuggled up under the southwest side of Reykjavík — and the Secret Lagoon geothermal pool at Flúðir (see above) are both also good options.

Can you see the northern lights in Iceland in November?

The northern lights — also known as aurora borealis — are a wonder of nature, and nature doesn’t perform on cue. But having said that, the long dark nights of November provide excellent opportunities to see them. 

To give yourself the best chance, try to find locations away from sources of urban light; in Reykjavík, the peninsula at Seltjarnarnes is one of the best spots. But if you’re out of luck, don’t despair. You can always visit Perlan’s Áróra Northern Lights Show to learn how an aurora comes about while enjoying a projected display of northern lights in our state-of-the-art planetarium.