This article is part of the Complete Guide to Photography in Iceland
Iceland is a different place in the summer and winter, and you’ll need to first decide on what version of Iceland you want to visit. In the winter, you’ll find beautiful snowy landscapes with a barren atmosphere and the potential for aurora overhead, perfect for minimalist photography. In the summer, Iceland is more accessible and colourful, with the possibility of visiting the centre of the country and more spots around the coast.
The landscape in Iceland looks best in summer or winter when you will have the most access (summer) or the most distinctive atmosphere (winter). However, late spring is best for wildlife, and a few locations look good with autumn colours.
The only way to fully explore Iceland is with more than one visit, but I recommend winter for your first trip. Travel is more difficult, and the spots you can access are more limited, but the landscape is so distinctive and the chance of aurora so exciting that a winter experience in Iceland is incredibly memorable.
This article describes what you can expect from each season in Iceland.
Visiting Iceland in Spring
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March 15th: 0744-1929
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Spring is a quiet season in Iceland, and there are fewer visitors in the remote areas. At the beginning of the season, you might capture aurora, and at the end, there are wildflowers and wildlife, so you’ll have to carefully choose your timing during spring.
If wildlife and bird photography is your priority, the end of spring could be the ideal time to visit with a trip around the best bird-watching locations in the country (start with Grímsey and Látrabjarg). You can see plenty of wildlife in the summer, but the end of spring can be the optimum time, with plenty of animals and fewer humans.
In the early months of spring, you can still see the aurora on a clear night. However, the landscape does not look at its best just after the winter snow has melted, and the conditions are not reliable enough to guarantee snow and ice. If your focus is the winter landscape, it’s better to make a clear commitment to the winter rather than wait for the unpredictability of spring.
Even in late spring, the Highlands are still inaccessible, making this one of the least rewarding times to visit for landscape photography. If you do want to visit Iceland’s interior, you’ll need to wait until the snow has melted, and a spring visit will likely limit your movements to the coast.
Visiting Iceland in Summer
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August 15th: 0520-2141
The extra landscape photography locations accessible in the summer make this one of the best times to visit Iceland. There are few places in the world to access such barren landscapes and areas where so few other people venture. If you enjoy wildlife photography, summer is a great time to visit Iceland and capture the nesting birds.
Summer is the season when Iceland is fully open, and you’ll also have more opportunities to kayak, do boat tours, watch wildlife, hike and try other outdoor adventures. If your trip is a blend of activities and photography, this is the season with the most to do.
However, Iceland is more expensive and busy in the summer, and your trip will require more planning, a larger budget, or more adaptations, such as renting a camper van. The best light of the day can be late at night or early in the morning, and getting the most from the landscape will require effort and organisation.
You won’t see the aurora, of course, and the atmosphere and colour palette of your images will be very different from those taken in winter. However, if you are drawn to the barren wilderness of central Iceland, the summer is your only opportunity to access every part of the country.
Visiting Iceland in Autumn
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September 15th: 0651-1951
October 15th: 0819-1806
November 15th: 0958-1625
An autumn visit to Iceland is very different at the beginning and end of the season. In September, you might still have access to parts of the Highlands and be able to visit more remote spots with fewer visitors. By November, you are more likely to see the aurora, and with less winter driving and snow than if you visit later in the year.
Autumn can be a great time to visit Iceland if you want to optimise your budget and prefer to travel outside of peak season. If you are lucky with the conditions, you can have a similar experience to the summer or winter, but with the advantages of a quieter part of the tourist season.
However, Autumn can be brown and rainy, and your trip will depend on getting the right conditions. If you are determined to visit the Highlands and remote landscape photography spots of the interior, summer is a more reliable time to plan a trip. If you are looking for winter scenes of snow and aurora, you’ll have more certainty in February. An autumn landscape photography trip can work well, but you’ll need the right conditions.
If you are focused on wildlife photography, I don’t recommend Iceland in the autumn, when it’s likely that most of the birds will have migrated at the end of the nesting season.
Visiting Iceland in Winter
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December 15th: 1117-1529
January 15th: 1056-1618
February 15th: 0924-1800
The adventure of navigating Iceland in the winter is a small price for a spectacular landscape, which (I think) looks best in the snow. Iceland is sparse, full of open plains and bare, rocky peaks - a layer of snow can further simplify the landscape, and make it possible to capture beautiful minimalist images with a wide lens.
Although parts of Iceland are inaccessible and seeing the aurora is never guaranteed, winter in Iceland has a great atmosphere, and you can capture some incredible scenes of the snow-covered landscape.
There is little wildlife in Iceland during the winter, and it’s much more difficult to visit the Highlands, limiting your photography opportunities. There are plenty of good, accessible locations, but some of the scenes you might hope to capture will be impossible. Many restaurants and other facilities are also closed for the season, so you’ll need to plan carefully to visit remote areas.
Winter driving in Iceland can be an added stress if you are not excited about the adventure. Accessibility will slow down your trip, making it longer to travel between locations and more likely that weather conditions will delay your planned itinerary.
However, with a little planning and patience, winter is an exciting time to visit Iceland and can allow you to create some spectacular images of this otherworldly place.
Summary
The best time to visit Iceland depends on what you want to achieve with your photography, but the clearest choices are winter (for beautiful snowy landscapes) or summer (for full access to the interior).
The weather can be difficult at any time of year in Iceland, so you’ll need to be prepared with warm layers and waterproofs whenever you visit. However, the landscape changes character over the course of the year, wildlife appears in distinct seasons, and the opportunity to photograph aurora alters with the length of the night. The photograph you capture in Iceland will be very different in each season, and timing is the first choice to make when considering your trip.
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