Christmas and New Year in Iceland by car

Our hours over Christmas and New Year

Our office at Bogatröð 1, near Keflavík Airport, keeps its usual hours (04:00–18:00) on every day of the holidays except four: on 24 and 31 December we close at 12:00, and on 25 December and 1 January we are closed all day. Within opening hours, just tell us your flight and we meet you at the terminal.

• Closed days: on 25 December and 1 January there are no pickups or returns, not even on request, and our booking form won't accept those dates.
• Outside opening hours: a pickup or return at Keflavík Airport is possible only on request, agreed in advance, for €75 each, shuttle included — or €150 each after 12:00 on 24 and 31 December. The fee is shown before you pay, and your confirmation states the meeting time and place.
• Flight delays: tell us as soon as you know. A pickup after 12:00 on 24 or 31 December is possible only on request, and we can't promise it; on 25 December and 1 January there is none.
• Day and night: phone and WhatsApp on +354 779 9499, and email to info@ringroadcars.is, are answered around the clock; at night, breakdowns and emergencies come first. In an emergency, call 112.

Daylight at Christmas and New Year

Christmas falls at the darkest time of the year. In Reykjavík the sun is up for only about 4 hours: it rises around 11:20 and sets around 15:30 on Christmas Eve and around 15:45 on New Year's Day. Twilight adds about an hour of usable light at each end of the day.

The times come from the University of Iceland's almanac (Almanak Háskóla Íslands), rounded to 5 minutes; first light and dark are when the sun is 6° below the horizon, about the limit for working outdoors without lights. The days lengthen quickly after New Year, and the north gets even less light: in Akureyri the sun is up for only about 3 hours at Christmas (11:40–14:45 on 24 December). For the rest of the year, see driving in Iceland month by month.

• Drive the long stretches in the light hours, and aim to be at your main stop of the day around midday.
• Keep night driving short: Safetravel warns that limited daylight can make winter driving harder.
• Keep a buffer day before your flight home.

Weather and roads over the holidays

Snow, ice and storms are possible on any day in December and January, holidays included, and a storm can close roads for hours or days, mountain passes most often. Check the weather and the roads every day — Safetravel's advice is to look at the forecast at least once a day — and again before mountain passes:

• Weather warnings: vedur.is issues yellow, orange and red warnings by region. Wind is the biggest risk on Icelandic roads.
• Roads: the road map on umferdin.is is updated 07:00–22:00 every day in winter; outside those hours, conditions can change before the map shows it. By phone: 1777, 06:30–22:00 every day, year round.
• Snow clearing: Vegagerðin aims to clear the roads it services before morning traffic on its service days, but not every road is serviced every day. Early on a holiday morning, don't assume a road is clear: check umferdin.is first.
• Travel plan: before a long drive, leave a travel plan with Safetravel, with a contact who isn't traveling with you.
• Fuel and supplies: keep the tank above half — most fuel stations are self-service and take a card with a PIN at any hour (fuel in Iceland) — and carry warm clothes, water, food and a charged phone.
• Car and tires: from November to March we strongly recommend AWD or 4×4, with Comfort as our default winter pick, and every car has winter tires from 1 November to 14 April at no extra charge.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: what to expect

Most Icelanders celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, 24 December (aðfangadagur), with dinner and then gifts. The 24th is a half holiday, and Christmas Day (jóladagur, 25 December) and 26 December (annar í jólum) are public holidays.

• Shops: according to Visit Iceland, grocery stores are generally open until noon on 24 December, closed on the 25th and open again on the 26th or 27th. Buy food and fill the tank by the morning of the 24th.
• Restaurants: opening hours vary around Christmas, and some restaurants may be closed or have limited hours on 24, 25 and 26 December, so book ahead.
• Your car: pick it up by 12:00 on 24 December — later that day only on request, agreed in advance, for €150 — and plan no pickup or return on 25 December, when we are closed. On 26 December we keep our usual hours.
• On Christmas Day: plan short drives from where you stay, with food, water and a tank at least half full, and check umferdin.is before you set off.

New Year's Eve and Þrettándinn as a driver

New Year's Eve (gamlárskvöld) is celebrated with bonfires (brennur) in the evening and a sky full of fireworks around midnight. Grocery stores close at noon on 31 December, stay closed on New Year's Day and open again on 2 or 3 January (Visit Iceland). We are open 04:00–12:00 on 31 December and closed on 1 January.

• Bonfires: Reykjavík publishes its list before New Year's Eve. For 2025 it planned ten, most to be lit at 20:30; they are not lit if the wind is over 10 m/s (decided before noon on 31 December), and the city asks people to walk there because vehicle access is limited. See the city's page.
• Fireworks: the public may set them off from 28 December to 6 January, but not between 22:00 and 10:00, except on New Year's night (Icelandic Police, in Icelandic). The rescue teams of ICE-SAR (Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjörg) lead fireworks sales in Iceland; the sales have been one of their main fundraisers for over 50 years.
• Around midnight: expect fireworks, crowds and smoke in towns — the city warns that air quality can be poor in the first hours of the new year. Finish your driving before the evening if you can, park legally and well away from bonfires, and never stop on the road to watch.
• Alcohol: don't drive after drinking. Under the Traffic Act (No. 77/2019, art. 49), no one may drive under the influence of alcohol, and a driver with 0.2‰ of alcohol in the blood is deemed unable to drive safely; as Safetravel puts it, you can't drive even after one drink.
• Þrettándinn (6 January): the last day of Christmas, when the last Yule Lad returns to the mountains, is marked with a bonfire and fireworks in some towns — in 2026, Reykjavík planned one bonfire, at Gufunesbær. It is also the last day the public may set off fireworks.

The road-use charge over New Year

Our road-use charge is €12 from 1 January 2027 (€10.50 in 2026) per started rental day, shown next to every price and added as its own line in your quote. Each started rental day — 24 hours from your pickup time — is charged at the amount for the year it starts in, so a rental over New Year is charged day by day.

The state sets the kilometer fee behind this charge and can change it every year; our amount for each year is in our price list, and the amount in your booking confirmation applies to your booking. See Iceland's kilometer fee for the official rates, including the change proposed for 2027.

Day trips that fit the short days

With about 4 hours of sun, plan one area a day and set off at first light. The distances are Vegagerðin's official road distances from Reykjavík; the driving times are the minimum at 90 km/h, the highest speed limit in Iceland — in winter, allow more.

Near the airport, the Reykjanes Peninsula suits an arrival or departure day. The long nights have an upside, too: on a clear, dark night the northern lights can appear anywhere in Iceland — drive away from town lights and park only in a proper parking area (northern lights by car). For the whole Ring Road in winter, plan at least 10 days with buffer days (the Ring Road in winter).

Questions about Christmas and New Year by car