Iceland in January

January is the month Iceland climbs back out of the dark. It opens with 4 hours 23 minutes of daylight in Reykjavík and closes with almost 7 - a gain of roughly two and a half hours, which makes a late-January trip feel quite different from one in the first week. It is also one of the two quietest months for visitors, and the month when Icelanders start eating fermented shark.

Daylight: The Month Turns Around

Note how the north catches up. On 1 January Akureyri has nearly an hour less daylight than Reykjavík; by the 31st the gap has closed to under half an hour. Add an hour or so of usable twilight either side of these times, and remember the sun stays low all day, which is why January light is so good for photography and so poor for driving into.

Weather And Temperature

Where these numbers come from. The Icelandic Met Office publishes 30-year normals tables for 1961-1990 only - there is no published 1991-2020 table. We computed these from the Met Office's own monthly station files across the 30 years to 2020, and checked them against its CLIMAT sheets, which state each month's rainfall as a percentage of the 1991-2020 mean: backing out their figure reproduces ours to within 0.1 mm. They are computed, not published, and we would rather say so than imply an official table exists.

The headline is that Iceland in January is not as cold as its latitude implies - Reykjavík hovers around freezing rather than well below it. Akureyri averages about a degree colder. What the averages hide is the wind: 5.3 m/s in Reykjavík as a monthly mean, with gales frequent, and the felt temperature in one of those is nothing like 0.7 °C. Note also the sunshine figure, which is not a misprint: 22.6 hours for the entire month in Reykjavík, and 6.5 in Akureyri.

Northern Lights: An Honest Assessment

January has long dark nights, and plenty of people see the aurora. But the claim that January is the aurora month does not survive scrutiny, and we would rather set the expectation properly.

Darkness is necessary but not sufficient. No official Icelandic source ranks months for aurora likelihood. Two things actually count against January: geomagnetic activity peaks statistically around the equinoxes, which favours late September to October and March to April rather than midwinter; and Met Office cloud records for 1991-2020 show Reykjavík is fractionally cloudier in January than in December. What January gives you is hours of darkness to work with. Plan several nights, stay mobile, and check the aurora and cloud forecast at en.vedur.is each evening.

Þorri: The Midwinter Feasting Month

On Friday 22 January 2027, Iceland enters Þorri, the fourth month of winter in the old Icelandic calendar. The rule is the Friday of the thirteenth week of winter, which lands between 19 and 26 January depending on the year. That first day is Bóndadagur, when a wife is traditionally to treat her husband well; the month ends on Konudagur, when the favour is returned.

Through Þorri, Icelanders hold þorrablót: feasts of cured, smoked and fermented food, eaten with a good deal of schnapps and a good deal of laughing at outsiders' reactions. The spread includes fermented shark, singed sheep heads, soured ram testicles, blood and liver pudding, smoked lamb and dried fish. Worth knowing that this is not ancient ceremonial food: the word þorramatur only entered Icelandic after the mid-twentieth century, and what is on the table is essentially ordinary old Icelandic everyday fare, repackaged as tradition.

Most þorrablót are private - clubs, workplaces, community associations - rather than public events, so they rarely appear in advance listings. Restaurants that serve þorramatur tend to announce it close to the date.

What Else Is On

1 January is the only public holiday in January or February - it is the sole statutory holiday in either month under Icelandic law. Bóndadagur and Konudagur are observances, not days off.

Is January Really The Quietest Month?

Nearly, but the claim is repeated more confidently than the data supports. Icelandic Tourist Board figures for foreign departures through Keflavík:

January was the lower of the two in 2024, and December was lower in 2025, so neither is reliably "the quietest month". The ratio to peak season moves as well, which is why we generate it rather than round it: January was 38.9% of August volume in 2025 but 45.5% in 2024, and December 38.3% and 50.6% across the same two years. What holds across both years is the ranking, not the percentage. February is a different matter - it ran 22 per cent busier than January in 2025, so the two months should not be treated as equivalent.

Ice Caves And Glaciers

Two different things get called "the ice cave season", and it is worth separating them. The regulated window in Vatnajökull National Park runs October to April - that is a rule, not a marketing convention. Tightened after a fatal cave collapse at Breiðamerkurjökull in August 2024. Tours run under contract with daily risk assessments and a limit of eight to sixteen guests per guide. The typical operating season, when conditions are usually reliable, is narrower at November to March. January sits comfortably inside both. A midwinter thaw or heavy rain is itself a hazard: a Met Office and University of Iceland assessment notes caves act as drainage conduits, so a warm spell can close them mid-season.

Driving In January

Deep winter. Storms close roads at short notice, ice is normal, and the daylight window runs from four to seven hours over the month. The highland F-roads are shut - across 2021 to 2025 no highland route opened earlier than 23 May. Read winter driving for what the law actually requires on tyres, which is not what most guides say, and check umferdin.is the morning of each drive.

Related Guides

Compare with December, the darkest month, and February, which gains daylight faster than any other month. The when to visit hub sets the months side by side, and winter is a strong season for hot springs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Much Daylight Does Iceland Get In January?

More than most people expect, and it changes fast. Reykjavík has 4 hours 23 minutes of daylight on 1 January, sunrise 11:20 and sunset 15:43. By 31 January that has grown to 6 hours 59 minutes, sunrise 10:13 and sunset 17:12. The month gains about two and a half hours, so a trip in late January feels materially different from one in the first week. Akureyri in the north runs about an hour shorter at the start of the month, closing to under half an hour by the end.

How Cold Is Iceland In January?

Milder than its latitude suggests, thanks to the Gulf Stream. The Reykjavík mean for January is about 0.7 °C, with an average daily high near 3.2 °C and low near -1.7 °C. Akureyri in the north averages -0.5 °C. Those are averages: cold snaps well below -10 °C happen, as do mild wet spells above freezing. The wind matters more than the thermometer - Reykjavík averages 5.3 m/s in January, and the felt temperature in a gale is far lower than the number.

Is January A Good Month For The Northern Lights?

It is a reasonable month, but we would be misleading you to call it the best. January has long dark nights, which is necessary but not sufficient. No official Icelandic source ranks months for aurora, and two things cut against January specifically: geomagnetic activity peaks statistically around the equinoxes, favouring late September to October and March to April, and Met Office cloud data for 1991 to 2020 shows Reykjavík is marginally cloudier in January than in December. Plan several nights, stay mobile and check the forecast at en.vedur.is each evening.

Is January The Quietest Month To Visit Iceland?

It is one of the two quietest, but not reliably the quietest. Icelandic Tourist Board figures for foreign departures through Keflavík show January 2024 at 128,061 against December at 142,448, so January was lower. In 2025 that reversed: December at 120,016 was slightly below January at 121,590. The honest statement is that January and December are consistently the two lowest months, and which of them comes bottom varies by year. Their share of peak-August volume also moves: January ran 38.9% of August in 2025 but 45.5% in 2024.

What Is Þorri And Can Visitors Join A Þorrablót?

Þorri is the fourth month of winter in the old Icelandic calendar, beginning on the Friday of the thirteenth week of winter - which falls between 19 and 26 January, and is Friday 22 January in 2027. That first day is Bóndadagur. Through Þorri, Icelanders hold þorrablót feasts featuring cured and preserved foods: fermented shark, singed sheep heads, soured ram testicles, blood pudding and dried fish. Most are private club, workplace or community events rather than public ones, so individual public dinners tend to be announced by venues close to the date rather than listed in advance.

Can You Drive The Ring Road In January?

Yes, but treat it as a genuinely different exercise from a summer loop. Storms close sections at short notice, the daylight window is four to seven hours, and the highland F-roads are shut - no F-road has opened earlier than 23 May in any year since 2021. Add days rather than hours to your plan, check umferdin.is and vedur.is every morning rather than the night before, and be ready to change the route. Many January visitors base themselves in the south-west and take day trips instead of attempting the full circuit.

Sources

Temperature and precipitation computed from Veðurstofa Íslands monthly station data for Reykjavík and Akureyri, 1991-2020, cross-checked against the Met Office's CLIMAT sheets. Daylight computed with the NOAA sunrise and sunset algorithm and validated against the figures already published on our December page. Calendar rules and dates from Almanak Háskóla Íslands; Þorri and Þorrablót history from Vísindavefurinn. Visitor numbers from Ferðamálastofa. Aurora guidance from the Icelandic Met Office. Event dates for 2027 are published where stated and marked as unpublished where they are not.

Last updated: 2026-08-08 · Reviewed against official sources.