New year in Reykjavik

[Ostagazuzulum]

Hi all, looking for some advice please.

DD is turning 13 just after Xmas. She's desperate to go to Reykjavik. I've been and loves it and DH would really like to go. I'm thinking about taking them for her Birthday and his Xmas gift between Xmas/ new year. However I thought it would be good to do 3 nights over new year and celebrate 2024 there.

Question is, is there much going in New Year's Day or does everything shut down? I don't want us ti be trapped in a hotel on New Year's Day.

Dates I'm looking at are 30th Dec - 2nd jan.

I want to do northern lights, golden circle, blue lagoon and poss snowmobile excursion. Is it doable or should I look at flying on 28th and coming back on New Year's Eve?

I flew out New Year’s Day . Nothing was closed although obviously didn’t try to do trips that day

I've never been there at New Year but the fireworks are unbelievable - no official displays as far as I know but the Icelandic SAR (Search and Rescue) sells them to raise funds and everyone buys them.

To do it the Icelandic way you also have to watch the annual NYE comedy show - and they usually have English subtitles now too.

guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/new-year-s-eve-in-iceland

A lot of shops and restaurants will be closed but I imagine there would still be some things open for tourists.

The main risk of going at that time of year is storms and other bad weather. So you can book tours etc but you do have to be prepared to accept that it could all be cancelled and that this is not actually that unlikely. It's not generally a nice time of year, weather wise.

If you want to party in Reykjavík on NYE, it's great but obviously that's not what you're going to be doing with a 13 year old.

The fireworks and bonfires are a lot of fun. I don't think the NYE sketch show will be that funny to you unless you live in Iceland and are familiar with the national news over the last year / Icelandic politics and public figures. There are a lot of jokes about things that happened that year which you wouldn't get, though you might appreciate some of the more general sketches.