Visitors coming to Akureyri during Christmas and New Year can enjoy the cultural festive celebrations of the holidays along with colourful Christmas lights & decorations. New Year´s Eve is greatly celebrated in Iceland and you can attend an enormous town bonfire and watch a fantastic firework display that lights up the night sky above the town. Every year the atmosphere is amazing. For Event Calender click here (english) but as not all event planners are adding info into our english version we reccomend to have a look at the icelandic overview as well here.

Hotel Kea offers accommodation and restaurant service during the holidays and many smaller guesthouses and apartments offer accommodation with self-catering facilities. Note that the hotel restaurants must be pre booked for dinner over Christmas and New Year´s Eve.

Opening hours in other restaurants, shops etc. varies during the holidays, most close around noon on the 24th December and reopen on the 26th December the same applies to New Year´s Eve. For further details - see the overview for Christmas and New Year.

The largest ski area in Iceland Hlíðarfjall ( www.hlidarfjall.is/en ) is open during most of the winter holidays and most of the tour operators in town offer various tours during the holidays.

For information on available activities and opening hours on general basis during the winter season.

How to get there:
Icelandair (www.icelandair.com) flies to Keflavik Airport in south Iceland from many European and North American destinations. These flights can easily be combined with a domestic flight from the domestic airport in Reykjavik to Akureyri. The domestic flights take about 45 minutes and are offered several times a day (www.icelandair.com). It is also possible drive between Reykjavík and Akureyri a distance of approx 400 km along the main road no 1. Scheduled busses run daily www.straeto.is and the bus ride takes about 6-7 hours. By private car the drive takes about 5 hrs.

Related to the Christmas also visit The Christmas Cat at Ráðhústorg Square.

Enjoy the advent

It‘s quite possible to find interesting things to do during the advent, even though the events are not many. Here we have suggestions for what the family can do together in the advent.

• Walk around town. Akureyri has quite a few interesting walking routes, check suggestions here. It gets dark quite early so it might be clever to bring a flashlight.
• Check out the Christmas lights and decorations. Have a walk around town or a drive to take a look at the decorations.
• The Botanical Garden has a romantic athmosphere this time of year. The Garden is lit.
• Play in the snow, make snowmen and women or build a snowhouse.
• The Christmas House. A visit to the Christmas House brings the festive spirit. Only 10 minutes drive from Akureyri.
• Kjarnaskógur woodland. Playgrounds, labyrinth, interesting hiking routes etc. There are paths for cross-country skiing and slopes for sleigh rides. Find more information on the area here.
• Akureyri Art Trail. Walk between the interesting outdoor art in Akureyri. You can find the brochure online or at the places mentioned at the bottom of the list.
• Krossanesborgir. Beautiful area with easy walking trails. Also there are information signs to read and if the sky is clear at night, this can be a great spot for northern lights hunting.
• Historical information boards. You will find the Historical Information Boards at various locations in the town center and in the oldest part of town (Innbærinn). They tell the story of houses, districts and places. Each board has a QR code with further information.
• Find information on activities and sights here and check out what‘s on in Akureyri here. and more events here
• Brochures and maps can be found in the reception of the Library, Akureyri Art Museum and Akureyri Geothermal Pool.