← Sunrise times by city

Sunrise and sunset in Reykjavík

Quick answer

What time does the sun rise in Reykjavík?

It ranges from about 02:58 at the height of summer (June) to about 11:17 at the darkest point of the year (December). Month-by-month times are below.

Sunrise and sunset through the year

Times for the 15th of each month in Reykjavík local time, 2026.

MonthSunriseSunsetDaylight
January10:5616:195h 23m
February09:2518:018h 36m
March07:4819:2711h 39m
April05:5721:0015h 03m
May04:1422:3618h 22m
June02:5800:0021h 02m
July03:4123:2719h 46m
August05:1921:4716h 28m
September06:5119:5713h 06m
October08:1818:119h 53m
November09:5716:306h 34m
December11:1715:304h 14m

The months that wreck your mornings

In Reykjavík the latest sunrise of the year is around 11:17 in December. If your alarm goes off before that, you are getting up in what your body still considers night. That is not a motivation problem. Your circadian rhythm is driven by light hitting receptors in your eyes, which trigger the cortisol rise that makes you feel awake. No light, no signal — so the usual advice about willpower misses the mechanism entirely.

The full guide to waking up before sunrise covers how to fake the missing dawn, and why light beats discipline for shifting a body clock.

What actually works when the sun is not up yet

  • Put light where you land. A bright lamp on a timer, or a sunrise lamp, gives your body the signal your window is not providing.
  • Get outside within an hour. Even an overcast winter morning delivers far more light than any indoor room.
  • Anchor the wake-up time. Consistency matters more in winter, not less — a drifting schedule plus a dark morning is the worst combination.
  • Remove the easy off switch. Dark mornings produce the deepest sleep inertia of the year, and that is exactly when alarms get dismissed on autopilot.

Other cities

Working out a bedtime for a dark winter wake-up? The sleep calculator will do the maths.

Frequently asked questions

What time does the sun rise in Reykjavík?

It swings a long way across the year. The earliest sunrise is around 02:58 in June, and the latest is around 11:17 in December. The month-by-month table on this page gives the times for the 15th of each month.

When is it darkest in the morning in Reykjavík?

Around December, when the sun does not come up until roughly 11:17. If you get up before that, you are waking in biological night — your body clock has had no light signal yet, which is exactly why winter mornings feel so much harder.

Why is waking up before sunrise so much harder?

Because your circadian rhythm runs on light, not on clocks. Morning light shuts down melatonin and triggers the cortisol rise that makes you feel alert. Before sunrise none of that has happened, so your body is still in night mode when the alarm goes off.

Does a sunrise lamp actually help?

It helps some people, by simulating a dawn your window is not providing. It is not a replacement for an alarm you cannot ignore, though — a gradual light on its own is easy to sleep straight through in the depths of winter.

Why people use Captain Wake to wake up on time

Not because it rings louder. Because it removes every way your half-asleep brain talks you back into bed.

There is no button to tap

Swiping an alarm away is a reflex you can perform while still asleep. A mission needs your thinking brain switched on — and once it is on, sinking back under is much harder.

It survives every trick

Force-quit the app, restart the phone, flip it to silent, turn the volume down. The alarm re-arms and keeps going until the mission is actually done.

It gets you physically upright

Photo and barcode missions are anchored to a spot in another room, so the only way to stop the noise is to stand up and walk there. You cannot pre-stage it from bed.

It fixes the night, not just the morning

A sleep forecast before bed, bedtime reminders and wake-up streaks — because the 6 AM problem usually starts at 1 AM.

Captain Wake

Dark outside is not a reason your alarm accepts.

Captain Wake keeps ringing until you complete a real-world mission — even at 11:17 in the pitch black.

Download on theApp Store
↑