Northern lights in Stykkishólmur tonight

Súgandisey is a small rocky island connected to Stykkishólmur harbour by a short walkway. The lighthouse sits at the top of a 50 m basalt outcrop and gives a 360-degree ocean horizon. The north face of the island looks directly across Breiðafjörður bay with no land visible to the north or northwest for over 60 km. The walkway and steps to the lighthouse summit are maintained and lit at low intensity - turn away from any lights once on the summit. The island is one of the most accessible combined aurora and ocean horizon positions in Iceland: 10 minutes on foot from the town centre, full circular sky, and Bortle 2 conditions over the open bay.

The north shore of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula above Stykkishólmur faces directly across Breiðafjörður, a bay of 40,000 offshore islands and skerries. On still nights the bay surface mirrors aurora over an enormous area. The minor road north of town runs close to the shore with several pull-ins. Settlement is sparse - the road connects a handful of remote farms with no significant light sources. Breiðafjörður is one of Iceland's great bird and marine habitat bays, and at night the absence of development in any direction gives Bortle 2 conditions throughout. Any aurora active enough to reflect in the bay is amplified dramatically by the still water surface.

Helgafell is a 73 m volcanic hill 5 km south of Stykkishólmur, considered sacred in the Icelandic sagas and associated with the first settlers of the peninsula. The summit gives elevated views north over Breiðafjörður and south across the flat farmland toward Snæfellsjökull. The walking path to the top is short - around 10 minutes from the car park at the base. There is a tradition of making a wish at the summit without speaking or looking back, which is a better frame of mind than checking a phone during an aurora display. The elevated position above the flat peninsula gives a wide unobstructed sky arc in all directions.