Stand on the northern tip of the Melrakkaslétta peninsula on a clear night and you are about 3 kilometers short of the Arctic Circle. You can't see the line, of course. It runs through open sea just offshore, and nearly every visitor who drives up here expecting to step across it leaves a little disappointed.
So, is Iceland in the Arctic Circle? Almost, but not quite. The mainland stops just south of the line, and the only part of the country that sits on it is Grímsey, a small island 40 kilometers off the north coast. If crossing the Arctic Circle is on your list, that island is where you have to go.
Hvítserkur on the Vatnsnes peninsula in North Iceland. The whole mainland, including its far north, lies just below the Arctic Circle.
Is Iceland in the Arctic Circle?
Mainland Iceland is not in the Arctic Circle, but the island of Grímsey is. The Arctic Circle currently runs at about 66°33′N, and the mainland's northernmost point, Rifstangi, sits at roughly 66°32′N. That leaves the coast a few kilometers short of the line, while Grímsey straddles it.
The answer surprises people because Iceland feels so Arctic. It has glaciers and long winter nights, and it shares the drift ice of the Greenland Sea. Yet Reykjavík, at about 64°N, is farther south than Tromsø in Norway or Rovaniemi in Finland, and the Gulf Stream keeps its coastal winters milder than its latitude suggests.
What the Arctic Circle actually is
The Arctic Circle is the southernmost line of latitude where the sun can stay above the horizon for a full 24 hours at the June solstice and stay below it at the December solstice. Its position depends on the tilt of Earth's axis, which wobbles slowly over a cycle of about 40,000 years.
Right now that wobble is pushing the circle north. At Grímsey it moves about 14.5 meters a year, according to the Akureyri municipality's Grímsey pages, which is why the island has to keep updating where it marks the line.
Is Iceland above or north of the Arctic Circle?
Only a sliver of it is. Grímsey is the one inhabited place in Iceland north of the line, and the circle first crossed the island in 1717. As it creeps north, more of the island falls south of it, and current estimates have it leaving Grímsey for open sea around 2047.
There is also Kolbeinsey, a tiny eroding rock about 105 kilometers north of the mainland at 67°08′N. It is the northernmost point of Iceland, but nobody lives there and it is not a place you can visit. For travelers, Grímsey is the only realistic way to cross the line on Icelandic soil.
Puffins on a grassy clifftop. Grímsey's sea cliffs hold large summer colonies of puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills and murres.
How far is Iceland from the Arctic Circle?
The north coast of the mainland is about 3 kilometers from the Arctic Circle at its closest. That point is the low gravel spit at Rifstangi on Melrakkaslétta, which a 2016 survey by the National Land Survey of Iceland found to be 68 meters farther north than the lighthouse spit at Hraunhafnartangi, which had long held the title.
Reykjavík is much farther away. The capital sits roughly 270 kilometers south of the circle, and most of the south coast is farther still. If you are only visiting the southwest, the Arctic Circle is a five- to six-hour drive and a ferry ride away.
Visiting the mainland's northern tip
The northernmost lighthouse on the mainland stands at Hraunhafnartangi, a short walk from Route 870. Rifstangi itself is a longer walk over rough ground, and driving off-road to reach it is illegal.
Nearby, the village of Raufarhöfn on the northeast coast is home to the Arctic Henge, a large stone monument built to frame the midnight sun. It is the closest you can get to the line without a boat, and it is a windy, slightly eerie place to watch a summer sunset that barely happens.
Where is the Arctic Circle in Iceland?
The Arctic Circle crosses Iceland only on Grímsey. On the island, the line is marked by Orbis et Globus, a stone sphere weighing about eight tonnes that was set in place in 2017. The sphere is rolled to the circle's new position every so often, so its spot in a few years will not match old photos.
Visitors walk out to the sphere from the harbor in about an hour, crossing the island's grassy plateau and the seabird cliffs along the way. You can also buy a certificate on the island to prove you crossed, which is a small souvenir most people are happy to take home.
A visitor photographing puffins at the cliff edge. On Grímsey the walk to the Arctic Circle marker passes nesting cliffs like these in summer.
What Grímsey is like
Grímsey covers just 5.3 square kilometers and is home to fewer than 100 people, most of them in the small harbor settlement of Sandvík. Fishing has always been the island's living, and the cliffs on its east side are among Iceland's best places to see puffins between late spring and August.
Expect a small airstrip, a guesthouse, a swimming pool and a harbor café, but not much else. Its church burned down in September 2021, and a new one was consecrated in August 2025.
How to get to the Arctic Circle in Iceland
There are two ways to reach Grímsey: the Sæfari ferry from the harbor town of Dalvík or a short flight from Akureyri. Either way, check the current timetable before you plan the day around it, because schedules change by season and sailings can be canceled in bad weather.
Taking the ferry from Dalvík
The ferry leaves from Dalvík, about 40 minutes' drive north of Akureyri. The crossing takes roughly three hours each way, and sailings run three to five days a week depending on the season. Tickets and the latest timetable are on the Road Administration's Sæfari ferry page, and summer sailings often sell out.
On most summer sailings you get several hours on the island before the return trip. That is enough time to walk out to the sphere and back past the bird cliffs, with a meal at the harbor before you leave. The open-sea crossing can be rough, so take seasickness tablets before you board if you are prone to it.
Boats moored in an Icelandic harbor. The Grímsey ferry runs year-round, with more sailings in summer.
Flying from Akureyri
Norlandair flies small propeller planes from Akureyri to Grímsey, and the flight takes about 30 minutes. It is the faster choice and often gives you a view of the island from the air. Flights run only a few days a week, and Norlandair publishes its current domestic flight schedule on its site.
Many travelers combine the two, flying out and sailing back. Base yourself in Akureyri, the largest town in the north, and you can reach either departure point easily.
Does Iceland get the midnight sun?
Yes. Even though most of Iceland is south of the Arctic Circle, it is close enough that summer nights barely get dark. At the June solstice, Reykjavík has about 21 hours of daylight and Akureyri just under 24, with the sun dipping only briefly below the horizon.
On Grímsey, the sun does not set at all around the summer solstice. That is the one place in Iceland with the true midnight sun. Our guide to Iceland's midnight sun season has ideas for using those long nights well.
Winter runs the other way. Around the December solstice, Reykjavík gets roughly four hours of daylight and Akureyri about three. Grímsey gets around two, so the sun still rises there, if only just.
Goðafoss in North Iceland. Long summer evenings in the north give you more daylight for stops like this than you get in the south.
Northern lights near the Arctic Circle
You do not need to cross the Arctic Circle to see the aurora. Iceland sits under the auroral oval, the ring around the magnetic pole where northern lights are most active, so the whole country gets them from September to early April.
North Iceland often has an edge, because its inland valleys can be clearer and drier than the southwest. A night out on a Forest Lagoon and northern lights evening near Akureyri pairs a geothermal soak with a guided aurora hunt, which beats standing in a cold parking lot.
The northern lights over a coastal lighthouse. Clear, dark nights anywhere in Iceland can bring aurora displays like this.
Planning a trip to Iceland's Arctic edge
Reaching the Arctic Circle in Iceland takes a little planning, but it rewards the effort. A night in Akureyri and a day trip out to Grímsey make a satisfying detour from the Ring Road, especially between June and August, when the ferry runs most often and the puffins are on the cliffs.
If you want to see the island properly, read up on Grímsey before you go. It covers where to stay on the island and how long a visit really needs.
Crossing a line you cannot see is a strange thrill, and Grímsey makes it a memorable one.
For help fitting the far north into a wider Iceland itinerary, tell us how far north you want to go and we will plan a route around it.
