✦ LANDHOTEL
An hour and a half from Reykjavík, and nothing on the horizon.
Landhotel sits on Route 26 in the farmland north of Hella, ten minutes off the Ring Road and far enough from both Hella and Hvolsvöllur that neither town puts a glow in the sky. It is open all year, and on an active night you can walk out of the lobby and already be somewhere dark enough to look up.
Check dates on Booking.comSelf-drive · No sighting guarantee · Booked through Booking.com
Superb — across 1,124 guest reviews on Booking.com
- 9.5 Comfort
- 9.4 Staff
- 9.4 Cleanliness
- 9.2 Facilities
The hotel
Landhotel is a full hotel rather than a guesthouse — 69 rooms in three sizes, a restaurant doing an à la carte dinner from Icelandic farms and producers nearby, and a wellness area with a sauna and a hot tub. It is the largest of the places listed here, and the easiest one to reach on a first trip: the turn off Route 1 is shortly before Hella, and the last stretch is ten minutes.
- 69 rooms · Standard 25 m² and Superior 27 m², both sleeping 2–3
- Family rooms 30 m² · sleeping up to five
- Restaurant on site · breakfast 07:00–10:00, lunch 12:00–13:30, dinner 18:30–21:30
- Wellness area · sauna and hot tub, plus a gym and a play room
- Open all year · free parking, EV charging, free Wi-Fi
You do not have to stay awake
The hardest part of a northern-lights trip is not the driving. It is that the good hour usually lands somewhere between midnight and three, on a night you had already given up on.
Landhotel runs a free northern-lights wake-up call: if the sky opens during the night, staff ring your room so you can step outside or just look out of the window. They also keep two cameras pointed at the sky, streaming on their own site through the winter with timelapses from previous nights, and the same view runs on a screen in the lounge — so you can sit somewhere warm and still know what the sky is doing.
That is the hotel's own service, not ours. What the app adds is the hours before it: live scores for the spots around you, refreshed every five minutes, so you can decide over dinner whether tonight is worth driving for or worth waiting out indoors.
Both cameras, right now
These are the hotel's own feeds, the same ones running on the screen in the lounge. The still refreshes on its own; press Watch live for the stream.
Press Watch live for the stream.
Press Watch live for the stream.
Both cameras are operated by Landhotel in Hella, South Iceland, and are shown here with their permission. Times on the image are Icelandic time, which is UTC all year.
More on the cameras, including timelapses of previous nights, on our live webcam page.
Where to point the car
You will not need to go far — the grounds are dark enough on a decent night. These are the places we would try, in order, if you want a foreground.
Don't have a car yet? Compare rentals and campervans across 30+ Icelandic suppliers — winter tyres matter more on Route 26 in February than the price does. We earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend.
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The hotel grounds 0 minutes
Walk out of the door. There is open farmland in every direction and no town within sight, which is the whole reason this place is on the list — on an active night it is often enough, and in a February gale it is the only sensible option.
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Hella and the South Iceland plains ~17 km as the crow flies
Flat, open and very exposed — one of the 135 spots the app scores every five minutes. Good when the wind is behaving and you want a wide horizon. Very little shelter, so check the forecast first.
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Secret Lagoon, Flúðir ~19 km as the crow flies
A natural geothermal pool in the village, scored in the app like the rest. Watch the walkways around the pool in winter — they ice over.
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Kerið ~32 km as the crow flies
The crater lake, and a rare foreground with actual shape to it. The rim gets slippery in wet weather. Also scored in the app.
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Seljalandsfoss ~42 km as the crow flies
The obvious one, and worth the drive on a clear, quiet night. The path behind the falls is closed in winter and the spray freezes everything near it — stay well back and bring waterproofs.
Route 26 and the side roads off it are rural and can drift shut in a hurry. Check road.is before every trip, and if it looks wrong, turn around — the grounds are always there.
What you get
What you are paying for
- A room — booked through Booking.com, on the hotel's terms
Free for everyone, guest or not
- The Aurora Iceland app — free, no account needed
- Live scores for the spots around Hella — refreshed every 5 minutes
- A recommended self-drive route — the list above, and where to start
Anyone can download the app, guest or not. It is not an extra you are paying for here, and it is not a guided service. You drive, you decide, you watch the sky.
Check dates
Landhotel is listed on Booking.com, where you will find live availability, current prices and their cancellation terms.
Check dates on Booking.comWe earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which stays we list or how the spots around them are scored.
Questions
When is aurora season?
A usable window opens around 16 August and runs to late April — whenever the nights are properly dark. The genuinely dark stretch, with the sun a full 18° below the horizon, is 2 September to 8 April; either side of that you get nautical twilight, which shows a bright display but hides a faint one. Midsummer is too bright to see anything, however active the sun is.
How far is it from Reykjavík?
Around 80 km, which the hotel puts at 80–90 minutes: east on Route 1, then the turn onto Route 26 shortly before Hella and about ten minutes more. It is the same drive from Keflavík airport, give or take.
Do I need a car?
Yes. There is no public transport to the door, and the spots worth reaching are spread across the plains. In winter, check road.is before you set off anywhere.
Will someone take me out to see the lights?
No — this is a self-drive stay, not a tour. You get the room, and the app tells you when and where conditions look good. Where you go is your call.
Is it dark enough this close to the Ring Road?
The hotel is about ten minutes off Route 1 and roughly 17 km from Hella, with farmland in between. There is no town glow in the immediate surroundings — which is also, honestly, why its Booking.com location score is its lowest category. Remote is the point here.
How many nights should I book?
More than one, if you can. The weather gets more chances to cooperate, and there is no way to schedule a clear sky in advance.
Get the forecast first
Free. 135 spots across Iceland, scored every 5 minutes. No account needed.