Recommended overnight excursion outside Reykjavik in November

I'm interested in getting out of Reykjavik for a night in the hopes of seeing some nature outside of the city and perhaps a better chance of seeing brilliant Northern lights.

Probably a good idea to look at the weather forecast then, and decide at short notice. The "nature" will largely be limited to landscape at that time of year as most birds go out to sea or fly south for the winter.

Hopefully somewhere around 1-2 hr journey from Reykjavik would be ideal

There aren't actually a great many options in that distance range. Some people go to Hveragerdi, where pleasant places to stay are sometimes mentioned on this forum, and things such as the Hengill hiking area with its warm stream and lava caves to explore are in the vicinity. Less than an hour away. There's Borgarnes, with more lava caves, waterfalls and so forth in the area, also less than an hour. Hella is noted for a very nice hotel, and distant views of the highlands, but is at the upper end of the travel time budget. Snaefellsness Is going to break the travel time budget, but both Arnarstapi (south coast) and Stykkisholmur (north coast, not so far west) are attractive places to stay. You realise you will only have very short daylight hours so somewhere pleasant to stay will probably be relevant to you, as you'll have a very long evening to entertain yourself, and there won't be much going on in "town" outside Reykjavik.

stokkseyri? You can eat at the much loved fjöruborðið restaurant. I'm not sure what kind of guesthouses are available in the town but pretty much anywhere that's not Reykjavík will have plenty of "nature". It's kind of all there is once you leave the big city.

Thank icexpat and iviehoff. This is very helpful! Iviehoff, what is the travel time to Arnarstapi and Stykkisholmur? I did realize the daylight hours were going to be short, thanks!

http://www.vegagerdin.is/vegakerfid/vegalengdir/tafla-yfir-ymsar-leidir/

vicinity of 2h to 2h30.