Iceland
When I Went:
March 2012, August 2016, and July 2019
Itinerary:
March 2012
Reykjavik, Golden Circle, Vík
Transportation: tour buses/tour through Iceland Tours (Northern Lights Splendor)
How long: 5 days, 4 nights
August 2016
Reykjavik, Hella, Landmannalaugar, Vik, Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Snæfellsnes Peninsula
Transportation: rental car through Sixt.
How long: 9 days, 8 nights
July 2019
Reykjavik, South Coast
Transportation: rental car through Sixt.
How long: 2 days
Notes:
1) Iceland holds a special place in my heart and those who know me well might call me slightly ~obsessed~ with it. It was the first trip I planned by myself without my family AND it was the first time I was in falling snow. People think that is outrageous, but growing up in southern CA, there wasn't much snowfall so cut me some slack ;)
2) Things are fairly expensive! When I went in 2012, the country was recovery from their economy crisis so things weren't too expensive. Flash forward to 2016 and things were VERY different. It seems like they have made quite the recovery!
3) March and August are very different in terms of scenery and weather. Keep that in mind when you are planning your trip. Both are beautiful in their own way. I've had friends go in October and had bad luck with weather. My parents also went in October 2017 and had great luck with weather. That's just Iceland for you!
4) I've been asked for recommendations for Iceland more than any other country I have been to!
5) I've seen northern lights in Iceland twice, once in March and once in September. :)
6) I plan to go back again at least a few more times before all is said and done!
Reykjavik (3-5 days)
Transportation:
The Keflavík International Airport is around 40 minutes away from the center of the city. In 2012, we paid for an airport shuttle, and in 2016 we picked up our rental car at the airport.
Accommodations:
In 2012, we stayed in CenterHotel Plaza at the center of the city. It was a nice modern hotel with restaurants and shops within walking distance. That hotel option came with the tour package we booked.
In 2016, we stayed in an Airbnb a little outside of the main part of the city. That Airbnb was a bit small, but fine for 1-2 people.
Note: If you go to the Golden Circle or Blue Lagoon, you can do day trips from Reykjavik.
Activities:
Harpa Concert Hall- even if you don't care for concerts/classical music or there isn't one you can attend while you're there, you should at least go inside. The architecture is visually very stunning. This is also not a far walk if you're walking around the city.
We saw a classical concert in 2016 that was pretty cheap. The interior was a lot moodier and darker than I envisioned. It was a cool experience and I would recommend checking out their schedule while you're in town.
Hallgrimskirkja Church- This is at the city center and you can't miss it since it's the tallest building in the area. I don't remember how much it took to go up to the top of the church, but it was not too expensive. You get a good 360° of the city.
Icelandic Phallological Museum- okay, this is a weird one. There was some gagging and giggling happening while walking through the museum. It was very small so probably wouldn't take you more than 30 minutes unless you're really into it. Haha.
Perlan - When I went to the Perlan, it was still mainly a restaurant. It says that the Perlan restaurant merged with another one and it's now mostly a museum. I also read that there is a free bus from the city that you can take. It's a little outside of the city center so you'll either need to take that or drive there.
Food:
Brauð & Co- sometimes I laugh at the fact that when someone tells me they're going to Iceland, I say, 'OMG! You have to go to this bakery in Reykjavik!'
We smelled this bakery before we saw it. It's in a cute colorful building and everything looks and smells so good. The cinnamon roll and chocolate scone fresh out of the oven is to die for. I have such fond memories of it. It was so good we came back the next day to get some before we flew home. Go here so I can live vicariously through you.
Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur- In Icelandic, this translates to 'the best hot dog in town'. There are a few toppings that come with it, but you can opt to leave some off if you'd like. To be honest, it was six years since I had it so I can't remember all the details, but I remember it being good. It's a small stand located near the harbor and not too far from Harpa.
Reykjavik Fish & Chips and Icelandic Fish & Chips - We had a lot of fish & chips this trip. It's something I tend to do when I got to island/coastal countries. Both of these restaurants were near the water and were casual.
OnNom Chocolate - I saw this chocolate at a ton of stores in Iceland. I brought some back as gifts for friends and myself. You can also take a factory tour at their facility in Reykjavik (I did not do that).
Blue Lagoon
Transportation:
In winter 2012, we added this to our tour package. A shuttle picked us up from the airport. In 2016, we got there via rental car.
I went to the Blue Lagoon both times and it's a must do while you're in Iceland. The first time I went was in winter and we went straight from the airport. It was a really nice introduction to Iceland. It was so cool to be in the warm water and surrounded by snow.
It's convenient to do coming or going to the airport. However, something about the water/silica dries out your hair afterwards. This might be a bit annoying if you have long hair like me. And as I said before, this is also something you can do while staying in Reykjavik since it's not a far drive.
We got the premium package the second time I went. That included a mud and algae face mask and a drink from the bar. They also offer massages, but I couldn't commit to spending that much money on it.
Food:
There is a restaurant and cafe inside. We ate at Lava Restaurant. I kind of felt like I was eating inside a cave cause of the architecture, but there were large windows that gave you a view of the lagoon that added some light.
I don't remember what we paid for for our meal, but as you can imagine it probably wasn't the cheapest. There's an a la carte, two, or three course option.
Golden Circle
Transportation:
In winter 2012, this was part of our tour package. In 2016, we drove there in our rental car. It was less than a two hour drive to get here.
Gullfoss
I did not have good luck with weather either time. The first time it was snowing and the second time it was raining. It's still cool to see how big the waterfall is. You can walk on the side of it to get different views. There is also a shop next to it that has a lot of great souvenir options.
Geysir
I probably hadn't seen a geyser since I visited Yellowstone as a kid so this was kind of exciting. Haha.
It erupts pretty often so you should be able to catch it. Once you see it bubbling, get your camera ready!
Þingvellir National Park
I don't think I got enough time here both times. One because we were on a tour and second because it was very rainy and windy and not enjoyable to be outside. It seems like a pretty big area to explore. If the weather is nice, I'm sure you could spend most of the day here.
In the winter, the weather was actually pretty good and looked like a winter wonderland. We walked to the The Mid-Atlantic Ridge where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet. It's crazy to know that those plates are spreading apart as time goes on.
Northern Lights
We saw northern lights through a northern lights tour. I have absolutely no idea where we drove to, but the key is to drive away from the city lights and find a clear sky. We booked tours a total of three nights. The first night I saw it faintly through my camera, the second night we saw it clearly, but it was short. The third night we didn't have much luck.
In 2016, we were eating at our hotel and heard the reception say that there were northern lights outside. We could see it pretty clearly from our hotel, but we also drove to a dark road to try to take some pictures.
If you're booking tours, be prepared to have to book more than one to see it. If you have a car, I'm sure you can look up some spots online to go to.
Enough time?
A few days in Reykjavik as your base to do the things listed above seems like a good amount of time.
South Coast - Vík - Landmannalaugar (3 days)
Transportation:
It's a 2.5 hour drive to Vík from Reykjavik, but there are some sights that you should stop at along the way. If you're on a tour, you'll probably be out all day, but come back to Reykjavik at night. It's possible to make it a day trip, but it can be exhausting.
Activities:
Seljalandsfoss - A popular waterfall that you cannot miss from the highway. You can walk behind the waterfall, but it can be slippery so watch out. If you continue on the path to the right, you will see another smaller waterfall or two. If you keep going, you will see this hidden path through some rocks where there is another waterfall.
Skógafoss - Another great waterfall. Climb up to the top! It's worth the view and it looks like you could be going for quite a ways. We did not go all the way to the top, but we probably went halfway.
Landmannalaugar - to my knowledge, visiting this area is only possible during the summer (mid-June to early September). We booked a ride there through Landmannalaugar Tours. We drove to Hella and got picked up by a bus. The ride was very bumpy so if you get motion sickness, definitely bring something for that.
Dyrhólaey - the ride up the hill was a bit scary. It's a narrow road and on top of that, the wind was insane. Once you reach the top, you can see the coastline, cool rock formations, and a lighthouse.
Reynisfjara Beach - known for having black sand from lava and basalt columns. This is a pretty unique beach that you should stop at if you're on the south coast.
Vestmannaeyjar - I did not go here, but a friend said they took a boat to this island and saw puffins. I believe this is only available during the summer.
Skogar Museum - this was included on our tour the way to Vík. There were some small houses covered in grass and inside were various exhibits.
Jökulsárlón - this is the famous glacier lagoon. We booked the zodiac tour which are the small rafts vs the larger boat. This was a crazy ride and I thought I was doing to fall over a few times. Hang on tight and keep your camera covered cause water might splash on you. We rode around the lagoon and got kind of close to the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier at the end of the lagoon. It was cool to ride past all the small and large glaciers.
Vatnajökull National Park - It's a very large national park and the largest one in Western Europe. Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe. The visitor center is in Skaftafell. We took a hike to Svartifoss waterfall. It was a very easy walk to the waterfall.
The Skaftafell ice cave is very well known and I think it's only available for tours in the fall/winter. I believe I saw that hiking on the glacier is available year round though. I didn't get to either, but would love to come back and explore the national park more.
Fjaðrárgljúfur - this is a cool river canyon between Vík and the glacier lagoon. Apparently this gained more popularity after Justin Bieber filmed his music video, I'll Show You, there. That whole music video is basically the most popular south coast attractions.
Anyway, it's cool to see the rock formations. I didn't see anyone down in the canyon next to the river, but I'm guessing you could go down there if you wanted to.
Random
I have no idea where we were since this was 6 years ago and I didn't bother to write this down for my future travel blog ;)
We booked a glacier walk tour that was supposed to take part on Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland’s fourth largest, but it got canceled because of weather. It was near Vík, a couple hours away from Reykjavik. Instead we were offered a horseback riding tour , so we decided to go for it. It was my first time on a horse and to top it off, it was in the snow. Pretty cool experience to say the least.
I also have some pictures of some glaciers, but not sure where they are from. Maybe part of Eyjafjallajökull?
Enough time?
1.5-2 days to visit those three things would be good. Jökulsárlón and Fjaðrárgljúfur don't take long, but Vatnajökull National Park is large so you'd want to spend more time there.
Accommodations:
Stracta Hotel - We stayed in a room with two beds and a shared bathroom. There were plenty of clean, available bathrooms so it wasn't a huge deal. It was a cute hotel with a restaurant and sauna. Since we went to Landmannalaugar for the day, we didn't want to drive to far after that.
We were also lucky enough to see northern lights! They can start as early as late August and go until April-ish. I was lucky enough to also see them my first time in Iceland.
Hotel Laki - this was in between Hella/Vík and Jökulsárlón. It was a nice hotel and a bit secluded. We had dinner at the restaurant since there wasn't anything else around. It was also really windy and raining hard when we were in this area.
Snæfellsnes Peninsula / Western Iceland (2 days)
Getting there:
The drive from Reykjavik to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula was very easy. We made some stops along the way, but if you were going straight to the national park, it would take around 2.5 hours.
Accommodations:
We stayed in Rif at an Airbnb. It was a good distance from the national park.
Activities:
Hraunfossar - this was on the way to the peninsula area. It's a long series of little waterfalls.
Gerðuberg Cliffs - this was also on the way. There was nobody here except for sheep and cows. It's a large plateau of basalt columns with a view that went on for miles.
Kirkjufellsfoss - this is a popular photo spot in Iceland. Parking was limited, but I got my picture in before it started raining.
Snaefellsjoekull National Park
Djúpalónssandur (beach) - I really enjoyed walking along the water and going further up alongside the cliffs. We didn't go all the way since the weather was supposed to turn. I can imagine this being really great with good weather.
Malarrifsviti lighthouse - it was very windy and rainy by the time we got here. We were going to Londrangar, which we actually didn't go to cause of the conditions, but we stumbled upon this lighthouse.
Food
Hraun - so there weren't many restaurant options haha. BUT this was a cute restaurant that had a very cozy feeling and the food was good too. We ended up going here both nights!
Enough time?
I would've loved another day and better weather :)
