Packing list for the Nordics in winter and the northern lights
Reykjavik, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn from November to March: two different colds, one wet and windy and one dry and still, four to six hours of daylight in December, sidewalks of polished ice, and the kit that gets you through a night of standing in a field waiting for the sky.
On a phone with Waystop installed, the button adds the list to your trip as a bag you can tick off. Otherwise copy it and paste it into Waystop’s Chat with “add this to my packing list”.
Checked October 10, 2026.
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0 of 18 packed
A shell over insulation
0/5Feet and the ice
0/3The northern lights kit
0/5Pools, saunas and the small things
0/5What the weather is like
Reykjavik in January averages a high of 37°F (3°C) and a low of 28°F (-2°C), with about 87 mm of rain and sleet on 15 wet days and a wind that makes it feel well below freezing. Helsinki is drier and colder: a high of 30°F (-1°C), a low of 21°F (-6°C), around 53 mm of precipitation mostly as snow, and about 37 hours of sunshine in the whole month. Oslo and Tallinn sit close to Helsinki, Stockholm a degree or two milder. December gives Reykjavik about four hours of daylight and the other four cities around six.
- An umbrellaReykjavik's wind inverts it in a minute, and in Helsinki the precipitation is snow. A hood on a proper shell does the job.
- Cotton anything as a base layerCotton holds sweat and sleet and then chills you. Wear merino or a synthetic thermal under everything.
- Cash in krónur, kroner, kronor or eurosEvery bus, museum, pool and hot dog stand takes a tap, and some Swedish cafes refuse bills altogether.
- Ice cleatsGas stations, supermarkets and Clas Ohlson sell rubber spikes that stretch over any boot, from about November, for roughly the price of lunch. Locals wear them from December.
- A sauna seat coverFinnish and Estonian public saunas ask you to sit on one, and supermarkets sell disposable ones for a euro or two.
- A lopapeysaThe Icelandic wool sweater is sold in every Reykjavik shop, and the Handknitting Association sells hand-knitted ones. Expect to pay a lot for the real thing.
Worth knowing
- December daylight is short and the cities differ: Reykjavik gets about four hours around the solstice, with sunrise after 11 a.m. and sunset before 4 p.m., while Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn get around six, roughly 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Put the harbour, the old town and anything outdoors between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and leave museums, pools and dinner for the dark.
- Plan four-hour city days, not eight: the outdoor part is over by mid afternoon, so two outdoor stops and one indoor one is a full day, and Waystop's hours check will tell you which museum stays open past 5 p.m. for the evening slot.
- Check the aurora forecast the afternoon before, not the morning: the Icelandic Met Office and the Finnish Meteorological Institute publish cloud cover and activity maps, and a clear sky matters more than a high activity number. In the cities you need to get at least 20 minutes beyond the street lights; a tour or a rental car does that, a tram does not.
Trips to pack this for
Never leave the charger in the hotel again.
Waystop keeps a list for each bag and each person. On the morning you change hotels it walks you through a quick pack-up check, and Chat can suggest items to add when you ask what to bring.