UK to Iceland Flight Time: Direct Routes by Airport, Airline and Season

A HelloRoam Iceland eSIM, installed at home before you fly, connects to Nova or Síminn when you land, so your Flybus booking, maps and hire-car emails work from the arrivals hall.

Keflavík Airport lists direct flights from 11 UK airports

Isavia, which runs Keflavík Airport, publishes the airline, season and flight time for each route on its route list for Keflavík. On 1 October 2026 it listed these UK airports, London's four first and the rest roughly from south to north.

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London is the only UK city with four airports on the list, and three of them (Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton) have flights all year. Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow are the other all-year options. Stansted, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds Bradford and Newcastle only have winter flights, so for a direct summer flight, travellers near them need one of the all-year airports instead. Belfast, Cardiff, East Midlands and Aberdeen are not on the list at all. Liverpool isn't on it yet either, but easyJet says its new Liverpool to Reykjavík route starts on 2 November 2026, twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.

Keflavík labels these routes "Winter" without giving dates, and says its plan is subject to change, so check the airline's own timetable for exact dates before you book.

If a comparison site still shows Play, skip it. Play flew between London and Keflavík in 2025, and Isavia's review of that year records the airline's bankruptcy.

Two UK routes skip Keflavík. Akureyri Airport, in the north of Iceland, says easyJet flies between Akureyri and London twice a week in winter. easyJet also flies to Akureyri from Manchester, and Visit Akureyri says this winter's Manchester flights start on 26 October 2026, on Mondays and Fridays. Confirm this season's timetable with easyJet before you plan a trip around either route.

Scotland has the shortest flights and the south of England the longest

Distance explains the spread. Glasgow and Edinburgh are the closest airports on the list, so their flights are about an hour shorter than Heathrow's, with the Midlands and the North of England in between.

Comparison sites tend to quote one average for "London to Reykjavík", which blends several airports and airlines. The times in the table are Keflavík Airport's own figures, one per route, listed for flights leaving Keflavík. The flight out from the UK can run a few minutes longer or shorter, so check the exact time in your airline's timetable and on your booking.

For a flight that is in the air today, Keflavík Airport's live arrivals board shows the scheduled and estimated landing time, the airline and the baggage belt.

Iceland keeps GMT all year, so summer arrivals look an hour early

Iceland never changes its clocks. Article 1 of Iceland's 1968 time law says hours are counted by Greenwich Mean Time all year round, everywhere in the country. The UK moves to British Summer Time from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October, as GOV.UK sets out. Manchester Airport's Reykjavík guide says Iceland moves to GMT plus one in summer, as the UK does. It does not.

• Late October to late March: the UK and Iceland show the same time. This winter, that runs from 25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027.
• Late March to late October: Iceland is 1 hour behind the UK.

Picture a Heathrow flight that leaves at 13:00 and takes 3 hours 15 minutes. In winter it lands at 16:15 in Iceland. In summer it lands at 15:15 Icelandic time, so the clocks show just 2 hours 15 minutes between departure and arrival. Coming home in summer works the other way: a 3-hour-15-minute flight that leaves Keflavík at 17:00 reaches Heathrow at 21:15 UK time.

Book your airport transfer or hire car for the Icelandic arrival time on your booking, not the UK time you set off with.

British visitors favour winter, with a peak in February

Iceland's busiest months are July and August, but British travellers keep a different calendar. The Icelandic Tourist Board counts foreign visitors as they leave through Keflavík each month, and its 2025 visitor figures put the British peak in February and the overall peak in August.

In February 2025 about one foreign visitor in four leaving Keflavík was British. In June it was fewer than one in 20. The February peak came round again in 2026, with 35,393 British visitors, the highest British month of the year so far.

None of the official sources used here names a cheapest month to fly, and fares move by date and airline. The counts do show when demand is low: December and January were Iceland's quietest months overall in 2025, and June was the quietest for British visitors. If your dates are flexible, compare fares outside February, the British peak.

Winter is also when the extra UK routes run. If the northern lights are your reason to go, the Icelandic Met Office says the aurora needs dark and partly clear skies, and its aurora and cloud forecast maps cloud cover next to expected aurora activity.

Summer trips rely on the all-year routes and meet Keflavík at its busiest. Isavia counted the airport's busiest day of 2025 on 3 August, with 36,694 guests.

No ferry sails from the UK to Iceland

The ferry route to Iceland starts in Denmark. Smyril Line's MS Norröna sails from Hirtshals in Denmark, via Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands, to Seyðisfjörður in East Iceland, weekly from spring to November. The crossing takes 2 nights in summer, leaving Hirtshals on Tuesdays, and 3 nights in spring and autumn, leaving on Sundays.

It suits drivers who want their own car, camper or motorbike in Iceland. Few visitors use it: the Icelandic Tourist Board counted about 18,100 arriving on Norröna in 2025, against around 2.27 million by air through Keflavík.

Cruise ships do sail to Iceland from UK ports. Ambassador Cruise Line's Iceland cruises, for example, leave from London Tilbury, Liverpool, Belfast and Dundee.

Keflavík sits 50 km from Reykjavík, with four ways into the city

Keflavík Airport is on the Reykjanes peninsula, about 50 km from Reykjavík city centre. These are the airport's transfer options:

• Flybus: about 45 minutes to the BSÍ bus terminal, leaving 40 minutes after each plane lands, with stops in Garðabær, Hafnarfjörður and at selected hotels. The airport recommends booking ahead.
• Strætó route 55: the public bus between the airport and BSÍ, via Hafnarfjörður.
• Taxi: available at the airport 24 hours a day.
• Hire car: Avis, Europcar, Hertz and Sixt have desks inside the terminal, and many other firms meet you in the arrivals hall or run a shuttle.

The terminal has free Wi-Fi with no login, on the KEF - FreeWiFi network. It is an open public network, and the airport recommends a VPN for anything like online banking. Flybus lists free Wi-Fi on its coaches too. If you are collecting a hire car, set up mobile data before you leave the terminal so maps work on the road. If you'd rather stay on your usual phone plan, compare UK network roaming charges with a travel eSIM.

HelloRoam's Iceland plans use Nova and Síminn, two of Iceland's mobile networks. Set yours up on home Wi-Fi with our steps for installing an eSIM before you fly, and check your phone supports eSIM first if you're not sure. If the eSIM doesn't connect on landing, HelloRoam support answers 24/7.

UK passport holders need the right passport dates and may register for EES

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) sets out Iceland's entry rules for people travelling on a full British citizen passport. As of 1 October 2026, its Iceland entry requirements page says:

• Iceland follows Schengen rules. You can visit as a tourist for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa, and days spent in other Schengen countries in the previous 180 days count towards those 90.
• Your passport must have been issued less than 10 years before the day you arrive, and must expire at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area.
• The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) is being brought in. On your first visit you may be asked to give fingerprints and a photo at a booth before passport control. It is free and needs no action before you travel, but it can mean longer waits at the border.
• Border officers may ask to see a return or onward ticket, and proof that you have enough money for your stay.

If your passport is near either date limit, check UK passport renewal times before you book. If you're unsure how the rules apply to you, GOV.UK points you to the Icelandic Embassy in the UK. Rules change, so read the FCDO page again shortly before you fly.