Christmas in Iceland: Yule Lads and New Year in Reykjavik

23 and 24 December: skata, Christmas Eve and reduced opening hours

Þorláksmessa and Christmas Eve

23 and 24 December Christmas Eve dinner from 6 pm Reduced opening hours Skata and hangikjöt

On 23 December, Icelanders eat skata, fermented skate served with potatoes, rye bread and melted butter, often washed down with a glass of brennivín. The dish gives off a very strong smell of ammonia, and many restaurants offer it as an option rather than on the menu. Grapevine ran a piece on the day in 2016 and notes that Saint Þorlákur was canonised in 1984. The city stays lively until late in the evening.

Reykjavik’s Christmas market ran from 30 November to 23 December in 2025, according to an extract from the city, with hours recorded as 4 pm to 8 pm on Thursdays and 1 pm to 8 pm from Friday to Sunday. For 2026, one guide announces an opening from 28 November to 23 December, closed on the 25th. This projection is not verified, and no 2026 date has been confirmed by an open source.

24 December, aðfangadagur, is the real Christmas Day. Dinner starts at 6 pm, when the church bells ring, with a family meal that often includes smoked lamb (hangikjöt) and a Christmas buffet. Presents are opened after dinner. Some families then attend midnight mass, whose 2026 times we could not check. For a visitor, the point to watch is the evening meal: according to Drive Reykjavík, restaurants and shops close or reduce their hours in the afternoon.

The only 2026 hours we could confirm for the 24th come from a guide published in December 2025 and checked on 9 October 2026. Krónan opens until 3 pm, and the Hagkaup stores in Skeifan and Garðabær until 4 pm. The table below gives these figures. For the other chains, we have no verified 2026 value: check their website before you go.

Key points

• On the 24th, from 6 pm: dinner, then presents.
• On the 23rd: skata is often offered as an option at restaurants.
• On the 25th and 26th: public holidays. Drive Reykjavík reports closures on the 25th, so plan your meals in advance.

Pixidia tip: do your food shopping on the morning of the 24th or the evening before. The chains listed close between 3 pm and 4 pm on the 24th.

If you’re looking for something to do over these days, a three-hour food walk in Reykjavik runs with free cancellation and instant confirmation, according to Viator. It does not run on 24, 25 or 31 December or on 1 January: check before you book.

Reykjavik Food Walk – Local Foodie Adventure in Iceland €264.64 for 2 adults (€132.32 per person), 3 hours, open on 22 of 26 days from 12 December to 6 January (checked 21 October 2026) · ★ 4.9 (2382 Viator reviews)

Book my spot

Source: iceland-highlights, guide published on 3 December 2025, checked on 9 October 2026, consulted on 21 October 2026. Confirm the hours on each chain’s website.

The 13 Yule Lads: who they are and when they visit

Thirteen pranksters, one ogress and a cat

13 Yule Lads Arrivals from 12 to 24 December Ending on 6 January Shoe at the window

The Jólasveinar, or Yule Lads, are thirteen mischief-makers who come down from the mountains one night at a time during the thirteen nights before Christmas. Their mother is Grýla, an ogress who, according to legend, eats naughty children. Their father is Leppalúði, according to Destination Islande. The Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat, completes the family: according to Destination Islande and Icelandic Frenchies, it devours anyone who has not received a new item of clothing before Christmas.

During these nights, children leave a shoe on the windowsill. In the morning, well-behaved children find a small present or a sweet, and naughty ones a potato, sometimes an old carrot according to one source. Several guides and hotels mention this tradition. We do not attribute any historical origin to it: the sources we read describe it without dating it.

Each of the thirteen has a habit linked to rural life in the past. Stekkjastaur pesters the ewes for their milk, limping on stiff legs. Stúfur, the smallest, scrapes the burnt leftovers from the bottom of the pots. Þvörusleikir licks wooden spoons, Skyrgámur gorges on skyr from the stores, Bjúgnakrækir hooks sausages down from the smokehouse, and Gluggagægir peers through windows. The table below gives the thirteen names, their English names from Visit Reykjavik, the arrival date and the calculated departure.

The order matters. The first, Stekkjastaur, arrives on Saturday 12 December 2026, then one a night. The last, Kertasníkir, arrives on Thursday 24 December. They leave in the same order, one by one, thirteen nights after arriving: Visit Reykjavik says, for example, that Stekkjastaur leaves on 25 December and Kertasníkir on 6 January. The cycle therefore ends on 6 January, Þrettándinn, which Icelandic Frenchies presents as the official end of the festive season.

Two points remain to be confirmed. The fifth lad is spelled Pottaskefill or Pottasleikir depending on the source. More importantly, the official Visit Reykjavik page gives « 6-29 December » for him, which looks like a typo: the series has him arrive on 16 December, a date that Destination Islande and Icelandic Frenchies also give. We could not confirm it on the official page, so the table flags it with a caveat.

Key points

• Thirteen names to remember, in Icelandic and English, each with its habit.
• A calendar to pin up: arrivals from 12 to 24 December, departures from 25 December to 6 January.
• A tradition to share with children: the shoe at the window.

Source: Visit Reykjavik, checked on 21 October 2026. Departures calculated with the 13-night rule, confirmed by the page for Stekkjastaur and Kertasníkir.

25 and 26 December: public holidays and museums

25 and 26 December are public holidays. The 26th, Annar í jólum, is the second day of the festivities, often spent with friends, according to Icelandic Frenchies. Drive Reykjavík, in a guide published in September 2026, reports closures on the afternoon of 24 December, on 25 December and on 1 January; the source does not mention the 26th. Plan your meals, shopping and travel before the evening of the 24th.

For museums, the Aurora Reykjavik page is the only one we read with detailed hours. It is dated 20 December 2024 (going by its URL) and describes the 2024-2025 season, not 2026. The table below gives these hours with that caveat. The Maritime Museum was closed from 24 to 26 December in 2024-2025. The Árbær museum is not in the table: two sources give contradictory hours for the holidays, so confirm directly with the museum.

These figures do not apply to winter 2026. Check each venue’s website before you plan a visit, especially if you are counting on a museum on the 24th or 25th.

Source: Aurora Reykjavik (page dated 20 December 2024), checked on 21 October 2026. Hours for the 2024-2025 season, to be confirmed for 2026.

31 December: bonfires, fireworks and midnight in Reykjavik

New Year’s Eve is spent in the street more than indoors. It follows three phases: neighbourhood bonfires around 8 pm, the TV programme at 10:30 pm, then fireworks that peak between 11:30 pm and 12:30 am, with the main display at midnight. The table below sets out the details. It reproduces the 2025 edition, because the 2026 programme had not been published when we checked.

The bonfires are community events. The city of Reykjavik counted ten sites in 2025, run by the council or by associations, according to the Grapevine. Guides mention Laugardalur, Ægissíða, Geirsnef and Skerjafjörður, where the start is at 9 pm according to the Grapevine. The 2026 programme had not been published when we checked: the city publishes it in December, according to an extract from its website.

The fireworks are not a municipal show. We found no official announcement of a display. Local people set them off, often bought from stalls run by rescue teams. The start of sales is disputed: sources cite late December, « between Christmas and New Year’s Day », or even mid-December. We do not publish a date. Check with Landsbjörg before you go.

Source: MyCar (published 24 July 2026) and Grapevine (31 December 2025), checked on 21 October 2026.

For the midnight fireworks, the most cited spot is Hallgrímskirkja, on the Skólavörðuholt hill. Grapevine describes it as the best view, in front of the church. Other options include Perlan and the Öskjuhlíð hill, Tjörnin lake in the city centre, and Grandi harbour. Plan to arrive early and dress warmly.

Air quality at the turn of the year should be checked on the city’s websites for the night of the 31st: the page could not be read when we consulted it.

After midnight the party carries on in the bars. Laugavegur and Austurstræti are cited until 4:30 am or 5:00 am in the 2025 edition, according to The Icelandic Guide, which also says that pharmacies are closed on 1 January. We have not checked restaurant hours for the evening of the 31st: confirm directly with the venue.

For a ranking of New Year spots, read our New Year 2027: The 10 Best Places to Celebrate with Fireworks. This article does not repeat that ranking.

Keflavik, shuttles and driving: getting around

Keflavik airport is about 50 km from Reykjavik. The trip is made by the Flybus shuttle. The displayed fare is 3,999 ISK for an adult, for a journey of about 45 minutes, with two 23 kg bags included. The shuttle leaves shortly after each arrival, usually at intervals of 30 to 60 minutes. The first departure from BSÍ in Reykjavik is at 4:00 am, the last at 10:30 pm.

The Flybus website does not say whether the displayed ticket is one-way or return. Check on flybus.is before you buy, especially if you travel at Christmas, when timetables can change.

A taxi operates 24 hours a day according to the airport’s website, but we did not record a fare. Strætó city buses also serve the airport. For the holidays, the Strætó calendar we could read covers the 2024-2025 season: Saturday timetable on 24 and 31 December, last buses around 3 pm. We did not find the 2026 calendar.

Sources: flybus.is, kefairport.com, straeto.is, checked on 21 October 2026.

For driving, road conditions are checked on umferdin.is and wind forecasts on vedur.is. Winter tyre rules must be checked with Samgöngustofa before you leave: we did not find an open official source for the dates. If you rent a car for the Ring Road or to leave the capital, see our guide to hiring a car in Iceland. For the route itself, see our Ring Road guide.

What other guides don’t tell you

Three points checked on official or open pages, which the mainstream guides we read either leave out or leave vague.

• The Yule Lads do not all leave on 25 December. They leave one by one, thirteen nights after arriving, and the last one leaves on 6 January. Visit Reykjavik (consulted on 21 October 2026).
• Christmas dinner is on the 24th, not the 31st. Dinner starts at 6 pm, when the bells ring, according to Icelandic Frenchies (published 5 December 2023) and Destination Islande (consulted on 21 October 2026). The official pages we read do not give a time.
• 6 January ends the festivities, but not necessarily the fireworks. Icelandic Frenchies presents 6 January as the official end of the festive season (consulted on 21 October 2026) and notes that fireworks take place during this period, without confirming that it is the last night of the season.