31 December 2026 · Reykjavík
New Year’s Eve 2026 in Reykjavík
There is no official fireworks display in Reykjavík, and no need for one: at midnight the whole city lights the sky itself. Here is how Reykjavík sees the year out, and every New Year’s Eve event for Thursday 31 December 2026 that we could confirm on the venues’ and organisers’ own pages on 12 November 2026.
Updated October 2026
Bonfires, the Áramótaskaup and the midnight fireworks
Visit Reykjavík, the city’s tourism board, describes a night that runs to a timetable every Icelander knows. Families eat together, then walk to a local bonfire, a brenna, to meet the neighbours. From about 10.30pm to 11.35pm the streets fall quiet while the country watches the Áramótaskaup, the national broadcaster’s comedy review of the year. Then the fireworks begin, and many do not wait for midnight.
Reykjavík has no official fireworks display: the show is set off by the residents themselves, and from about 11.30pm the sky over the city is lit in every direction. The great meeting place is Skólavörðuholt, the hill of Hallgrímskirkja, which Visit Reykjavík has named as the central place for fireworks downtown. Bars and clubs open after midnight, and the celebrations often run on into the morning.
The city has not yet published its 2026 bonfires. For New Year’s Eve 2025 it lit ten, from Ægisíða on the shore to Geirsnef and Gufunes, most at 8.30pm, after checking the weather at noon: the fires are not lit if the wind is above 10 metres a second. Fireworks and flares are banned at the bonfires; sparklers are allowed, and the city asks everyone to walk there.
Our advice: wear protective glasses for the midnight crowd on Skólavörðuholt, and if you have a respiratory condition, watch from indoors: the city warns that the air can be poor in the first hours of the year.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © john.purvis · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsVisit Reykjavík: New Year’s Eve in Reykjavík City of Reykjavík: New Year’s bonfires (2025 list)
The last afternoon of the year at Hallgrímskirkja
Hallgrímskirkja’s New Year’s Eve concert, Hátíðarhljómar við áramót (Festive Brass & Organ), is one of the city’s best-loved traditions: festive music for brass and organ as the winter light fades on the last afternoon of the year. In 2026 it is on Thursday 31 December at 4pm, with the brass quintet North Atlantic Brass and the church’s music director, the organist Björn Steinar Sólbergsson. Tickets are ISK 4,900, from tix.is or the church shop.
Concert-goers are let in from 3.15pm and the doors close at 4.15pm; seats cannot be reserved. The church is otherwise open only from 10am to noon that day, and at 6pm it holds its New Year’s Eve evensong (aftansöngur), admission as space allows. On New Year’s Day, Friday 1 January 2027, a festive Mass is sung at 2pm, with the doors open from 1.15pm.
Our advice: after the concert, stay up on the hill; by midnight it is the place to be in Reykjavík.
Hallgrímskirkja: Festive Brass & Organ Hallgrímskirkja: Christmas and New Year opening hours
A gala under the dome: Perlan
Perlan, the glass dome on its wooded hill at Öskjuhlíð, holds a New Year’s Eve gala to ring in 2027. A reception with canapés of lumpfish roe, smoked cod roe and tuna tataki opens at 7.30pm; from 8.30pm to 11pm a four-course dinner with wine pairing follows, from citrus-cured Arctic char and lobster soup to rack of Icelandic lamb and pavlova, with live Icelandic music. At midnight, Champagne and the fireworks all round the city below.
The price is ISK 85,900 per person, and includes a visit to the Perlan museum on a day of your choice between 26 and 31 December 2026. Places are limited; book through Perlan’s own site.
Our advice: no seat in Reykjavík has a wider view of the midnight sky than Perlan’s.
New Year’s Eve dinner
The Hotel Reykjavík Grand serves its New Year’s Eve dinner in Háteigur, the panoramic hall on its fourth floor: welcome drinks at 7.30pm, a four-course dinner at 8pm (there is a vegan menu too), late-night charcuterie, a host for the evening, and sparkling wine and canapés at 11.30pm for the countdown and the view of the fireworks. It costs ISK 36,900 per person.
In the centre, Grillmarkaðurinn on Lækjargata serves a set menu for the whole table to celebrate 2027, from smoked-lamb tartare and lobster tempura to a classic beef Wellington and sticky toffee pudding, at ISK 21,900 per person. Tables are held for two hours, the lounge stays open for drinks, and the restaurant closes at 11.30pm so that everyone can go out for the fireworks.
Monkeys, on Klapparstígur, has two sittings on 31 December 2026, from 5.30pm to 8pm and from 8.30pm to 11pm: six courses with a Moët & Chandon aperitif, from shellfish soup to miso beef tenderloin and a Champagne mousse, at ISK 23,990 per guest, with a sommelier’s wine pairing for ISK 14,990.
Our advice: the early sitting leaves time for a bonfire; the late one ends just as the fireworks begin.
Hotel Reykjavík Grand: festive season Grillmarkaðurinn: New Year’s Eve Monkeys: New Year’s Eve
Concerts at Harpa, either side of the New Year
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Aapo Haapanen from Tampere, Finland · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsBetween Christmas and New Year, on Sunday 27 December at 4pm and 8pm, Vesturport stages its grand concert in tribute to the singer Elly Vilhjálms in Eldborg, Harpa’s main hall, with Katrín Halldóra, a big band and narration by Gísli Örn and Ólafur Egill. Tickets run from ISK 6,990 to ISK 19,990.
The Iceland Symphony Orchestra opens 2027 with its Vienna Concerts, its New Year’s concerts and for years its most popular: Thursday 7 and Friday 8 January at 7.30pm, and Saturday 9 January at 4pm and 7.30pm, in Eldborg. Christoph Koncz conducts, with the soprano Harpa Ósk Björnsdóttir, the tenor Eggert Reginn Kjartansson, operetta favourites and ballroom dancers. Tickets are ISK 4,100 to ISK 12,700.
Our advice: the Vienna Concerts sell out every year; book now, and make an evening of it at Harpa’s harbourside bars.
Harpa: Elly Vilhjálms, between Christmas and New Year Harpa: Vienna Concert, New Year’s Concert 2027
Twelfth Night, and how to plan the night
Christmas in Iceland ends on Twelfth Night, Þrettándinn, on 6 January, when the last of the Yule Lads goes back to the mountains. In 2026 the city held a single Twelfth Night bonfire at Gufunesbær, with the Yule Lads at 6pm and fireworks at 11pm; the plans for Wednesday 6 January 2027 had not been published when we checked.
Our advice: book dinner and the Perlan gala now, as both fill weeks ahead. Walk wherever you can on the night: the bonfires and the hill of Hallgrímskirkja are best reached on foot, and taxis are hard to find after midnight. Dress for a long night outdoors in the Icelandic winter, and see our Christmas in Reykjavík guide for the season before.
City of Reykjavík: Twelfth Night bonfire Christmas in Reykjavík
Questions and answers
Are there fireworks in Reykjavík on New Year’s Eve 2026?
Yes, but not an official display: Reykjavík’s residents set off their own fireworks, and from about 11.30pm the sky over the whole city is lit. The hill of Hallgrímskirkja, Skólavörðuholt, is the most popular place to watch at midnight.
Where are the New Year’s Eve bonfires in Reykjavík?
The city publishes its list in late December. In 2025 there were ten, among them Ægisíða, Laugardalur, Geirsnef and Gufunes, most lit at 8.30pm; they are not lit if the wind is above 10 metres a second, and fireworks are banned at the fires.
What is on at Hallgrímskirkja on New Year’s Eve 2026?
The Festive Brass & Organ concert at 4pm on Thursday 31 December, with North Atlantic Brass and the organist Björn Steinar Sólbergsson (ISK 4,900, from tix.is or the church shop), then the New Year’s Eve evensong at 6pm. A festive Mass follows on New Year’s Day at 2pm.
Details from the organisers’ and venues’ own pages (visitreykjavik.is, reykjavik.is, hallgrimskirkja.is, perlan.is, islandshotel.is, grillmarkadurinn.is, monkeys.is, harpa.is), checked 12 November 2026. Check before you go.