Things To Do In Reykjavík In October

October visitors to Iceland will find our island nation on the cusp of winter but not yet in the icy grip of that darkest part of the year. In many ways, this is one of the best months to sample our capital city: the tourist hordes have gone, but it's still possible to travel and see the sights without the crazy overcrowding. 

Lighting the Imagine Peace Tower

The Imagine Peace Tower is an installation created by John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, in memory of the late Beatle. It sits on the island of Viðey in the Kollafjörður Bay, just northeast of Reykjavík. 

The tower comprises a plinth which shoots an intense column of light up into the sky during the hours of darkness. It's only lit at certain times of the year, one of those periods starting on October 9th (Lennon's birthday) and ending on December 9th (the day that he was shot). 

Yoko visits Reykjavík every year to switch her creation on for winter, and you can get a boat out to Viðey to join the ceremony. Otherwise, if you're in Reykjavík when it's lit, you can't miss this luminous wish for world peace penetrating the night sky. 

Iceland’s premier festival of film

The Reykjavík International Film Festival starts in late September but carries on until October 6th and is a huge event in the city's cultural calendar. The festival is run by an independent non-profit organisation working year-round to bring the best of Icelandic and international cinema to the city over eleven days.

There will be cinematic screenings, seminars, lectures, discussions and much more at various locations around the city, so make sure to include the festival in your list of things to do in Reykjavík this October.

Last call for whales and puffins

As Icelandic society gets ready for winter, the island's nature also prepares for the colder, darker months. 

The puffins which nest around our coast — including on the little islands just a stone's throw from the capital — are getting ready to fly to warmer climes for six months or so. The majestic humpback and minke whales, which grace the waters around Reykjavík in summer, are also getting ready for their annual Caribbean holiday.

So this is your last realistic call for puffin and whale watching until late April, and the boat operators based in the city's old harbour area will happily take you out with fingers crossed. But if your birds have flown and your whales have set sail, you can always get a flavour of Iceland's wonderful aquatic wildlife at Perlan. 

The interactive cinematic experience of our Underwater World exhibit will give you the low-down on Iceland's 20-plus species of baleen and toothed whales. Our realistic reconstruction of Látrabjarg cliff, a famous puffin nesting site in the Westfjords, allows you to stand at the very foot of the rock face and look up at the sites of nesting puffins. 

Both these exhibits are truly awesome experiences and should come high on your list of things to do in Reykjavík in October.

Dip into Icelandic swimming pool culture

Icelanders love their swimming pools. Most communities have public pools, and in a country that is never short of geothermally heated water, they often boast hot tubs and even steam rooms.

The local swimming pool (or sundlaug) serves as much as a social centre as a place to swim. It has always been a gathering point where the populace meets to swap news, discuss politics or just chat about the weather. And they're a great social equaliser: regardless of a person's walk of life, everyone looks the same in their swimming gear.

There are several choices of pools in Reykjavík, but the biggest and arguably the best is Laugardalslaug. See some Reykjavík's best swimming pools here. Situated about 3km east of the city centre, it's right next to the capital's botanical gardens and zoo. So you can visit all three in one excursion, if you time it right.

Laugardalslaug has two outdoor pools with waterslides and one pool indoors; seven hot tubs, one of which is filled with saltwater; a sauna and a beach volleyball court. Getting into hot water is so much more pleasurable when there's a nip in the air, so a dip into the 'sundlaug' culture is something you should definitely add to your list of things to do in Reykjavík in October.

Visit lava tubes made by volcanoes

The wild volcanic nature of the Reykjanes Peninsula, just south of the capital, has shown itself many times over the last few years as fresh eruptions have taken place with dramatic results.

But these pyroclastic events have been going on for millennia and have already left their distinctive marks on the land. One such volcanic relic is the Leiðarendi lava tube, located around 30 minutes drive from Reykjavík.

The tube — which is actually two tubes — was formed by two separate eruptions one thousand and two thousand years ago. As the lava flow cooled and hardened from the outside, the still liquid rock on the inside continued to flow and left the cavity that you can now enter. Stalactites and stalagmites grow from the cave's ceiling and floor, and the colours of the minerals brought up by the eruption — green from the copper, yellow from the sulphur and red from the iron — give the lava cave a rainbow feel.

You can visit Leiðarendi on a day trip from Reykjavík, but you should do so with an official tour company as entering the caves on your own can be very dangerous. Before you go, make sure you catch Perlan's volcano show to learn about volcanic activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula and the awesome natural forces that created the lava tunnels.

FAQ

Is Iceland in October worth it?

Is it worth your while? Yes, absolutely. Is it worth your money? Still, yes, although, be warned that Iceland is a remote island nation and has never been a bargain-basement holiday destination due to the fact that nearly everything needs to be imported.

The month of October is when Iceland slides into wintertime, but the days are still long enough to see the sights, and the most frigid days of midwinter are still some way off. The crazy crowds of the summer high season are gone, and you might even get some cool photos of the geysers at Geysir without getting poked in the ear by a fellow traveller's selfie stick. 

Can I wear jeans in Iceland in October?

You can wear whatever you like, my friend — Icelanders are quite relaxed about things like dress codes. But if you're asking about garments appropriate to the weather, then you need to remember two things: October usually sees some high rainfall figures, and denim is awful at drying out quickly.

You'd be much better served by a lightweight pair of water-resistant hiking pants with long thermal underwear underneath. That will keep the wind, rain and general chilliness away from your legs and avoid heavy, sodden denim clinging to your thighs after a downpour.

By all means, do bring a pair of jeans if you intend to go hopping around the bars of Reykjavík, but when packing for your trip, prioritise function over fashion. The environment tends to inform how Icelanders dress, and you'd be well advised to follow suit.

Will you see the northern lights in Iceland in October?

As well as being the world's most northerly capital city, Reykjavík also wears the crown for being the only capital city from which the northern lights, or aurora borealis, are regularly seen.

The aurora are caused by charged particles which stream from the sun towards Earth. They hit our atmosphere up high, giving energy to molecules of nitrogen and oxygen gas; these, in turn, give that energy off as shimmering sheets of light in beautiful green, pink and purple hues.

The peaks of this phenomenon occur around the spring equinox, which takes place near the end of March, and the autumnal equinox towards the end of September. So, as we go into October, Aurora spotters will benefit from being close to that point of peak activity (and the earlier in the month, the better).

But to see the lights, you also need dark skies, and October will certainly deliver those. By the time we reach Halloween, the sun is only putting in an eight-hour shift — rising at 9 am and setting at 5 pm — leaving plenty of lovely darkness in which to hunt that ethereal glow. 

Give yourself the best chance by getting away from urban light pollution as much as possible; one great spot is the Seltjarnarnes Peninsula, which is just a short bus ride away from downtown Reykjavík.

Before you venture into the night to spend a few chilly hours staring at the sky, do visit our Áróra exhibit to find out all you can about this fascinating natural wonder. This immersive show, which employs high-definition audiovisual systems in Iceland's only planetarium to demonstrate and explain the northern lights, is a must on your list of things to do in Reykjavík in October.