Iceland - Reykjavik & Surrounding Countryside

We arrived on a red eye and so got there early morning. Once we got into town, we went straight to a local bakery for coffee and breakfast. The Icelandics know how to eat! Food there is generally delicious, albeit very expensive (but the whole country is expensive). We rented a car as we knew we were going to be traveling on day trips and wanted to freedom to do so. After breakfast, we settled at our airbnb, and after a nap went out to explore Reykjavik. It’s a pretty small city, and easy to walk through in one day. We walked the now famous rainbow walkway to Hallgrimskirkja Church at the top of the square with its gorgeous tower. There is tons of shopping and food on this strip. We got crepes from a crepery - they are famous in Iceland, and worth the hype. We had dinner at Sæta Svínið Gastropub and ended up going back 3 times that trip - it was our FAVORITE place.
That evening, we had reservations at the Blue Lagoon hot spring. Get your tickets well in advance (like, over a month out) as the time slots sell out fast. There are a few different packages and add ones like mud masks and drinks that you can add. It was amazing at sunset time.

We drove the golden circle on day 2, which took us basically the whole day. The first stop was Thingvellir National Park, where is the only place you can see the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates above sea level. You can walk through the Rift Valley they created or stand at the top for a gorgeous view. If you’re there in the spring or summer, you can hike or even snorkel there. We were there in winter, so couldn’t do so. They have a market and cafe there as well.

We then drove to the Geyser Geothermal area, where you can see 2 big geysers erupt every 10 minutes or so. There is also a hotel and restaurant here in case you needed to stop for lunch or a rest. Finally, we drove to Gullfoss Waterfall. It is a magnificent almost triple decker waterfall that you can walk up the side to see it from multiple angles. It’s one of Icelands biggest and most famous waterfalls. On our way back, we stopped at Kerio Crater, which isn’t technically on the Golden circle but is not far off. It was frozen over and we hiked down inside of it for a small pit stop.

On our way home, we stopped on the side of the road to pet some Icelandic ponies! They are extremely friendly, and if they are just on the side of the road, even behind a fence, you are allowed to stop and say hi to them. If they are on someone’s property, obviously don’t do that (this is rare, as most of Iceland isn’t populated). Highly recommend!

We headed south a couple hours to the famous Skogafoss (and multiple other smaller waterfalls along the way). Bring a poncho if its winter or if you don’t want to get too wet. You can hike up the face of the waterfall on manmade stairs, or stand near the bottom of it. It falls from a huge height, so standing too close isn’t recommended. After Skogafoss, we headed to Katla Glacier/ Volcano to climb a glacier! We booked a guided tour through GetYourGuide for this, and it was amazing. It was absolutely freezing, so dress accordingly. This took a few hours, and after this we were exhausted. The famous black sand beach with the basalt columns is about another hour drive South if you have time and feel up to it. We headed back home for dinner and to settle in after a big day.

We drove north west a few hours to head to the Snaefellsnes peninsula, where there are countless things you can see along the way and the way home. Pit stops we made were: The little black church, the rock arch at Arnastapi, Saxholl Crater (you walk up this one and can see amazing views from the top), and lastly, Kirkjufellsfoss - the famous waterfall & lone mountain where they have filmed Game of Thrones. We took pit stops at every place along the way to explore, climb, take pictures, etc. We packed ourselves a lunch from a deli / small grocery market as we knew wed be on the road all day. Before heading home, we stopped in a small,historic fishing village for dinner and ended up having some amazing and unique pizza. This is an entire day trip! But the Snaefellsnes peninsula has so much to offer and we didn’t even cover half of the attractions that you can see there.

In the morning, we spent more time exploring Reykjavik and went to The Viking Museum. It is a super small and cheap-ish museum experience about the early Vikings. Other museums in Reykjavik include the Phallic museum, art museums, and a much bigger Museum about Iceland that we visited the next day, We walked around the harbor and got traditional Icelandic Hot Dogs for lunch from a hot dog stand - a MUST try- then got drinks at a local pub. There are also many Irish pubs and bars / clubs in Reykjavik. It’s a relatively young city and the nightlife is pretty lively. In the afternoon, we had scheduled another GetYourGuide tour to go lava caving, where you descend under the earth to climb and walk through caves that have been formed by previous volcanic eruptions. It was a really awesome experience! I highly recommend GetYourGuide for any tours you may want to do. In the evening, we had dinner at a new spot where we specifically got Lamb Stew - a cozy Icelandic staple, crepes on the way home, and got ready for our last day.

We only had about half day on our last day, so we decided to visit the Perlan, which is a large, modern museum perched atop a hill over Reykjavik that teaches you about the geography, wildlife, and history of Iceland. They even have a real ice cave exhibit that you can walk through and explore as well as other interactive marine focused exhibits. It was actually a really awesome museum! It took a few hours, and we had one last breakfast before heading to the airport for our sad flights home.