5 Reasons to Fall In Love with Winter in Iceland

The plane barely touched ground on my home turf and I already felt a pang of longing to go back. For the past couple of days, I had been formulating a plan in my head to return to this place, even though I had not even left yet. But this was Iceland: the dream destination for many photographers and travelers alike who have a keen appreciation of the vast open and remote landscape. Iceland has become a very popular travel destination in the last several years, but I had yet to discover this on my own. Wishing not to put off the trip any longer, I booked my flight for November, excited but unsure what to expect from visiting Iceland in winter time. And as a true warm weather devotee, I had many reservations…Eight days later and I am here to tell you that Iceland in winter time turned out to be one of my favorite trips to date. Here are five major reasons I fell in love with the country during its coldest season:

1)            THE SNOW COVERED PEAKS AND VALLEYS

Our car made yet another sharp turn and just as we thought the view could not get any better, there it was right in front of us. Out in the distance, the slope of the snow-covered mountain gave way to an ice-covered foundation. This cascade of a completely frozen snow turning into a glacier was visible miles ahead of us. We pulled over once more that day, well aware that yet another stop would mean driving to our destination in the dark. But the view could not be overlooked. As we stood on the side of the road taking it all in, there was not another person in sight. This was pretty much the story of our entire trip to Iceland. A sharp turn, a cluster of mountains in the distance, a shimmering sea down below and a herd of horses grazing the mostly barren, snow covered land. Every corner more beautiful than the last, the countless photographic opportunities begged to be explored. Seeing the landscape covered in snow made it all more surreal.

2)          THE EVER CHANGING LIGHT

The winter light in Iceland is somewhat of a peculiar phenomenon for me. On the first day in Reykjavik, I eagerly check my weather app to plan for a sunrise shoot. I was stunned to find out that the sun does not actually rise until 9:30AM! So what that meant is that I could actually sleep in AND still get to shoot in the golden hour light at the same time? How could one get so lucky? J What was even more amazing is that the light actually stayed somewhat low throughout the day creating perfect shooting opportunities the entire time. I didn’t have to go crazy planning or rearrange out travel schedule around the best light, because, well, best light was present all the time! This truly was the greatest gift winter in Iceland could have given me.

3)           THE ICE CAVES

During my initial travel search, I discovered that Iceland in the winter means you can explore hidden worlds made entirely out of blue ice! All my hesitation about the trip dissipated instantly as I pictured myself standing under an azure blue wall of pure ice, something I could not even have dreamed up in my wildest imagination. As it turns out, ice cave exploration is one of those exceptional opportunities that are only available in Iceland during winter time. What’s even more interesting is that every season the caves disappear and new ones form, so the cave we visited this time will likely not be there the following year. The concept of seeing and experiencing something so incredibly unique and impermanent is what I consider to be one of the best things of all time that travel has to offer.  

4)          THE EMPTY ROADS

Disclaimer: I do not actually know what the roads in Iceland look like any other time of the year. But what I do know is that in winter time, they are pretty much empty! We found ourselves driving alone for many kilometers (or miles if you prefer) at a time with not another car in sight in either direction. This made me feel somewhat safer on the often icy and snowy roads and yet unsafe at the same time, having the vague realization that if we were to get into any kind of trouble, there would likely be no one around to ask for help! However, there is something serene about driving through a remote area of a snowy mountain, relying on your own skills and trusting that the road will lead you to where you are supposed to end up. Having a functional four wheel drive, a few amazing travel companions as well as a tank full of gas definitely doesn’t hurt either.

5)           THE NORTHERN LIGHTS

The story, or should I rather say, my story of Northern Lights goes something like this: it was our last day on the island. So far, for the past seven days, we had absolutely no luck seeing the famous aurora borealis. We kept checking the sky almost every night, hoping to experience this incredible phenomenon or at least to get a glimpse of what it’s all about. Something always stood in the way: either the sky was too cloudy or the weather too windy or the universe was just not ready to give us a show of its most spectacular occurrence, no matter how much we begged. However, the night before last, we spontaneously changed our plans. We were going to drive back to Reykjavik first thing in the morning and spend our last night there. However, as we discovered an amazing geothermal spa in the northern city of Husavik the night before with the most spectacular view of the mountains and ocean, we decided to come back here in the morning and leave for Reykjavik in the afternoon instead, breaking up the trip in half and stopping for a night somewhere in between. This turned out to be the best decision we could have made. The guest house we randomly decided to rent a room in came to be in the middle of nowhere. The night was cold but windless with thousands of stars studding the dark, cloudless sky. Earlier that morning, I had asked the girls (my travel companions) to visualize seeing the Northern Lights, imagining being there when they show up across the horizon. Whether they listened to me or not, the universe certainly did…As we stood in the middle of a dirt road, surrounded by complete darkness and stillness of the night, we gazed upwards and saw a faint white band painting the sky above. Was this it? What are the northern lights supposed to look like anyway? How can we be certain we are seeing them? I had set up my camera on a tripod earlier and knowing that the sensor of a DSLR picks up the lights much stronger than the human eye, I decided to take a test photo. What we saw on the LCD screen made us leap with joy! The white band was in fact, the Northern Lights! I am sure we were quite the sight, dancing and hugging and screaming with joy in the middle of this road, that is if anyone was actually there to see us J But, just like many times before on this trip, there was not a single person around, just us and the sky and the aurora revealing itself to us in its splendor. The white band we initially saw eventually turned into green ribbons of light, which became stronger and more vibrant as time went on. Around midnight, the ribbons started dancing and changing location. There was not much left in us but awe. This experience took on a spiritual quality and left us speechless for the rest of the night.

As I write this post, I’m coming to a realization that I didn’t specifically choose to travel to Iceland in the winter time. I chose to travel to Iceland simply because I wanted to travel to Iceland. I’ve been wanting to travel to Iceland for a very long time and I simply decided to just do it. When I booked my ticket, I didn’t actually know anything about going there in winter time. I just knew I wanted to see it and I was not going to make any more excuses not to. It turned out to be one of my favorite trips of all time. Why are we so afraid to just do things we so frequently want to do, but find a reason not to? What’s truly stopping us? Let Iceland in winter be a reminder that sometimes choosing the less popular route and simply going for it can turn out to be much more rewarding than expected.