Experience Iceland! Apart from the long, dark nights of winter and those sensational northern lights, which illuminate the night skies between September and April every year, Iceland is one of the few places in the world where you can observe the midnight sun. During the summer months (from mid-May to mid-August), Iceland is flooded with daylight for almost twenty-four hours a day and for a short span of time in June, the sun is still visible at midnight – a phenomena known as the midnight sun. The light is mostly direct but there are a few short hours before dawn when the sun remains dipped just below the horizon casting an enchanting glow in the skies behind the mountains and beyond the sea.
The midnight sun, which can be observed in Iceland and other countries with high latitudes such as Greenland and Norway, happens as a result of the Earth’s axis which is tilted towards the sun during the summer. The effect is reversed at the South Pole, and also during the winter when it’s tilted away from the sun giving us those long dark days instead.
If you’re wondering how on earth we sleep, the answer is we either use blackout blinds or sleep masks. Sometimes we don’t even bother and stay awake to enjoy the midnight sun and those few magical hours before dawn.
