Date
21. Jul 202521. Jul 25
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Photo by Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson / Visit Reykjavík.
There’s something for everyone all year round in Iceland. Come and see for yourself!
Traditionally, the Icelandic New Year is a winning combination of delicious food, family togetherness, and the timeless joy of blowing things up. Come join the fun on the year’s biggest pyrotechnic party night.
To celebrate like a local, start your evening with a special meal, then around 8:30pm it’s time to take a stroll to the nearest bonfire (brenna). You can see locations for these on the City of Reykjavík website.
As the evening progresses, you’ll hear the gleeful bangs of fireworks as kids get impatient for midnight – except for a quiet hour at 10:30pm, as the whole nation tunes into the TV show Áramótaskaupið, a satirical review of the year’s events. Want to check it out? You can watch it worldwide (with English subtitles) via RÚV TV online.
Then when the clock strikes 12, it’s on: over 500 tons of fireworks are unleashed, blanketing skies in a frenzy of light and color.
The local Search and Rescue teams sell fireworks in the lead up to New Year’s Eve as a fundraiser for their much-loved organization, so Icelanders buy up big, and it shows.
Rug up warm to watch the glittering illumination of the capital from atop Öskjuhlíð hill, or by Hallgrímskirkja church downtown. If you’re in the downtown throng, note that it can be noisy, and a little hazy too. In fact, the air quality on January 1 in Reykjavík can be poor, due to the after-effects of so many fireworks.
If you’re coming to join the New Year’s Eve party, maybe you’d like to plan your visit for a week, to get firsthand experience of Iceland’s Christmas traditions, too. It’s a magical time of year!
Alternatively, you can visit for Þrettándinn in Iceland, the grand finale of the Christmas season. Meaning ‘the Thirteenth’ and celebrated on January 6, the day marks the end of Iceland’s 13 days of festive merriment that kick off on Christmas Eve. (In English-speaking countries, Þrettándinn is known as the Twelfth Night.)
Þrettándinn is the last hurrah for seasonal fireworks and big public bonfires, and the night is wrapped in folklore: the Yule Lads slip back to the mountains, the hidden people roam, cows are said to speak, and anything feels possible.
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