At the end of September we headed to Iceland for a long weekend road trip over 4 days.
We’ve always wanted to go to Iceland to see the Northern Lights and some of the crazy landscapes. Unfortunately the weather was pretty terrible and we didn’t see the lights but we still had a lovely time. We had lots of warm clothes & waterproofs with us so we could bear getting out of the car to go see the sights which were almost always worth it!
So, for anyone interested in going (or are just interested in what we did), here’s our route….
Day 1: The Golden Circle & Reykjavik
We headed straight from the airport to the Golden Circle. As the name suggests, this is a roughly circular route from Reykjavik which can be done in a day and has numerous interesting things to see & do on the way round. We stopped at:
Thingvellir National Park – this has the divide between 2 tectonic plates, crazy geography, the site that the Icelandic parliament was formed and the option to go snorkelling between the plates in 2 degree water (which we obv did). The snorkelling was pretty cool with bright blue clear water with incredible visibility. We went with Arctic Adventures, but all companies seemed to be the same in terms of price / professionalism etc.
Geysir geothermal area – this spot gave the name to geysers (hot springs) all over the world due to it’s ginormous exploding geyser Strokkur (it actually explodes 20 metres in the air every 10 minutes or so!)
Gulfoss waterfall – an incredibly powerful large waterfall that gets you soaked.
Kerið (d) – a weird colourful volcanic crater.
Reykjavik – we were pretty tired by the time we got back but had a little time to explore the main street of Reykjavik before dinner. It’s full of quaint gift shops and has heated pavements so it doesn’t get icy! We had dinner at the highly recommended Fiskmarkaðurinn (Fish Market restaurant). It was pretty expensive but tasty.
Sleep Reykjavik – we stayed at Ice Apartments Reykjavik. It was super central and really nice – would highly recommend.
Tips:
- Pick up a map of the Golden Circle in the airport as it has all this marked on
- Buy booze as you leave the airport (it’s super expensive everywhere else)
- Get excess car insurance before you go, they’ll try to scare you into buying their expensive sand storm policies at the airport!
Day 2: Reykjavik to Vik
We spent most of the morning in Reykjavik before having around 2.5 hours drive to Vik with plenty of stops on route.
Reykjavik – wandered around the rest of the city centre visiting the harbour and the cathedral. As usual, a good amount of time was spent with David hunting out the best coffee in town, finding the most hipster place ever Reykjavik Roasters. There are 2 in town (we obviously sampled both). To be fair to David, they were actually really good.
Seljalandsfoss waterfall – really cool high waterfall that you can walk behind (wear waterproofs and look for rainbows!)
Gljufrabui waterfall – this is a 1/4 mile walk left of Seljalandsfoss. Make sure you wade through the gorge into the gap and you can get right up close. Pretty cool but temporarily killed David’s camera.
Skogafoss waterfall – this one is pretty huge – you can’t miss it from the road. You can walk right up to the bottom and also up the steps at the side to see from the top.
Airplane wreck on the black beach at Sólheimasandur – as the title suggests, this is an abandoned wrecked plane on a black sand beach right next to the sea. It’s pretty cool but very popular (with people climbing all over it) and it was a much longer walk than we were expecting (about 1 hour each way). I haven’t decided if it was worth it yet.
Dryholaey – a small peninsular with a hole in the rock. We only viewed from the main road rather than taking the detour down to it but it could be nice for photos?
Vik – small town with not many hotels given it is one of the main stopping points for people doing this trip. We weren’t feeling optimistic about our food options around here (most places seemed to be closed on the evening) but ended up having pretty good food at Sudur Vik.
Sleep Vik – we stayed at Hotel Katla Hofdabrekka. It was basic and very expensive, with an average to bad breakfast. Has a hot tub though.
Tips:
- You have to pay at all the car parks of the different sites (and they have quite a few parking wardens) – pretty sure we paid with card at all of them
- Buy car snacks in a supermarket – we stopped at a cafe for lunch and spent £14 on a bowl of soup!
- Book hotels pretty far in advance, especially for towns down on the south coast – there isn’t much choice and they are very expensive so if you want somewhere decent, be speedy
Day 3: Vik to Skaftafell
We spent a bit of time in the morning looking around the sights close to Vik and then headed to Skaftafell (approx. 2 hour drive). David’s camera wasn’t stopped working (after he took it into yesterday’s waterfalls) so we don’t have many pics from here.
Reynisfjara basalt column beach – really cool natural caves & cliffs that look like sculptures down on the black beach. Huge waves too. It was pretty stormy for us so seemed like the windiest place on earth while we were constantly stabbed with whipped up black stones. Still, definitely worth a stop.
Skaftafell National Park – this is home to two huge glaciers and plenty of walking trails. We’d booked a 6 hour glacier hike which unfortunately got cancelled due to the stormy weather, such a shame. There were other walking options from the visitor centre so we ended up going to the bottom of the glacier to see all the bright blue icebergs.
Sleep Skaftafell – Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon. It was lovely hotel with an excellent restaurant, really cool surroundings & a sauna. We’d definitely recommend eating & sleeping here. It also would have been the perfect place to see the North Lights if it wasn’t cloudy as there is no light pollution around.
Day 4: Skaftafell to Reykjavik
We had a couple of stops in the morning close to the hotel before our relatively long drive back to Reykjavik (around 4.5 hours).
Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon – this was so beautiful so definitely worth heading further along the coast. The glacier lagoon is filled with bright blue icebergs and seals. Also if you get there early on the morning it is such an alien landscape with loads of icebergs on the black sand beach.
We also visited the smaller Fjallsárlón glacier lagoon which is much the same. If we’d had more time there was a nice walk between them.
Reykjavik – we didn’t really spend much more time in the city, just headed out for speedy dinner at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, a food stand with excellent hotdogs – cheap food for a change!!
The Blue Lagoon – the milky bright blue thermal pools close to Reykjavik. Although it was pretty busy, it is a must do in Iceland. We went at 7pm which was about an hour before sunset. This turned out to be perfect as more people were leaving than entering and we got to see it in the daylight and in the dark which were both cool.
Sleep Reykjavik – we stayed at Eyja Guldsmeden Hotel, lovely rooms but further out of town (the other place was probably better).
Tips:
- Book the Blue Lagoon well in advance to get your choice of time
- Bear in mind if you want to see the Northern Lights, you’re best off going end of Sept to end of Feb (as it doesn’t get dark enough during the rest of the year)
Newlyweds New Adventure 