Iceland trip report

[dutchgirl678]

We went to Iceland from June 24 - July 7 (just missing the latest volcanic eruption) with me, DH, and our 12- and 15-year old.

We arrived at 6AM with our Icelandair flight from PDX. We weren't too impressed with them. Not a lot of leg room and you had to pay for everything (except soda). They didn't give out headphones for free, a full meal was $24 so we brought our own sandwiches. We rented a car with Blue car rental, super easy to deal with. I checked in online a few days before, and they sent an email with a code to a lock box to pick up the keys in their office, close to the airport. The car, a Nissan Qashqai was parked in the back and we had also rented a Wifi hotspot which was already in the car.

Day 1:

Drove around the Reykjanes peninsula for a few hours. Stopped at Kökulist bakery for the best donuts/pastries and coffee. Stopped at the bridge that connects the two continental plates and by the ocean where we saw some spectacular waves crashing on the rocks. Some of the road was unpaved and there were arctic terns in the middle of the road in some spots. Headed to the Blue Lagoon for our 10AM appointment. We spent about 2 hours there, just bobbing around, relaxing. We got our free face mask and drink. It didn't feel crowded at all. Afterwards we drove to our 3-bedroom house just outside of Borgarnes where we stayed for 5 days.

Day 2: Drove around the Snaefellsnes peninsula. Beautiful place with lots of great sights such as Arnarstapi, Londrangar, Djupasalonssandur, etc.

Day 3: Went to Snaefellsnes again, this time starting in Stykkisholmur where we shared the best fish and chips from a small food cart. Went to Kirkjufell.

Day 4: A rainy and cold day so we decided to go towards Reykholt. We climbed the Grabrok crater and went to the Glanni waterfall (where we were met by a big swarm of flies! Did you know Iceland has no mosquitoes?). Stopped at a goat farm (where they charged us quite a lot to interact with the goats but we didn't care because it was something fun to do even in the rain). Had the best pylsur (Icelandic hot dog) at a food cart near the Krauma spa. They had a green house where you could sit and eat it. Raining hard now, we still went to see the Hraunfossar waterfalls, which were still a spectacular sight.

Day 5: Thingvellir NP. Really cool walk. This was one of the most crowded places we visited but once we got away from the visitor center it thinned out. We walked to the Oxararfoss waterfall and then to Silfra where we saw lots of people getting into the water to snorkel and see the fissure between the two continents under water. We then drove to Gulfoss and on the way back stopped at the Strokkur Geyser. We had recently been to Yellowstone, so the geyser was a bit of a letdown but we did see it erupt. It was so quick though that I barely got a photo. It erupts every 5-10 minutes but we didn't wait for the next one.

Day 6: We drove to our next destination on the South coast, a cottage in Asolfsskali on a working cow farm. Stopped at Seljalandsfoss on the way and made the short hike to see Gljufrabui. Had a wonderful dinner at Gamla Fjosid, a restaurant in a converted cow barn.

Day 7: Skogafoss. Despite there being several people there, including people on horseback, it didn't feel crowded at all. Afterwards, we hiked up to the top of the falls and continued on top to see 3 or 4 more waterfalls. There were some fools up there with their bikes, no idea how they were planning to ride there as the path was rocky and there were lots of steps. Not many people that stop here have the time to do this hike, so it was a very pleasant experience. Had fish and chips for lunch again, this time at Mia's country van which is real close to Skogafoss. Afterwards we stopped at the Skogar museum which was really cool and then we hiked around the museum to the Kvernufoss waterfall.

We went to Reynisfjara beach. It was a Yellow flag day which meant you had to be careful of sneaker waves. We walked a safe distance from the shoreline, shaking our heads at people that got super close to take close-up photos of the waves. Got to a rocky outcrop and decided we didn't want to go further because there were big waves up ahead. As we were standing on top of the rocks, I was taking photos of the waves, all of a sudden a big wave came right at us. I just saw it hitting my feet (I was the lowest person on the rocks from our family). Instead of letting it wash over me, I panicked and jumped off the rock onto the sandy beach and headed away from the ocean. I was up to my ankles in the water but didn't get swept away, still not great since I only had hiking shoes with me. My DD was wearing two pairs of socks for some reason, so I took one pair and I wore my DH's gigantic hiking shoes.

We had dinner at Smidjan Brugghus in Vik. We had high hopes for this brew pub but it was a bit of a letdown. They forgot to add my son's order and my DH's fries were cold and undercooked. Afterwards we drove back to our cottage. Since it is summer the sun doesn't set until 11:30pm so we had gorgeous light. We stopped at the Dyrholaey lighthouse and view point and saw puffins there not too far from where we were standing. I took lots of photos.

Day 8: This was a slower day since we had done and seen so many things the previous day. We drove to see the Gigjagja (Yoda) cave, stopped at Uxafotafoss and then drove up to the Katla volcano to a camping spot called Thakgil. We had to stop and turn around because the gravel road got too rough and it started to rain. Stopped at Skogafoss again on the way back.

Day 9: We took the ferry to the Westman islands. We had stopped at the ferry station a few days ago to see about taking our car on the ferry, but it was already full so we just walked on. This meant we weren't able to go see the puffins at the south end of the island, but we had already seen them luckily. We visited the Eildheimar museum about the volcanic eruption of 1973 which buried 150 houses and we climbed the Eldfell crater. It was incredibly windy up top so it was a challenging hike but great views from the top. We had dinner at The brothers brewery where we ordered pizza from a nearby restaurant using a QR code. Everything in Iceland could be paid with Apple Pay, even public restrooms in the middle of nowhere!

Day 10: We drove to Jokulsarlon (glacier lagoon) and Diamond Beach and Fjallsarlon. The glaciers felt incredibly cold with a fierce wind coming off them. But it was so beautiful! Seriously the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Sad to think that in 200 years Iceland may not have any glacier left thanks to climate change. We had lunch at a food truck at Jokulsarlon. We drove back and hiked to Svartifoss and had a decent hamburger dinner at a gas station. Then went to our (tiny) house near Kirkjubaejarklaustur. It was only for one night luckily.

Day 11: We drove back towards Reykjavik. Stopped for lunch at Ölverk pizza and brewery, which was great. Easily found our apartment in Reykjavik which was just a block away from the main drag

Day 12: Walked all over Reykjavik. Went to the Hallgrimskirkja but came back in the evening to climb the tower.

Day 13: We visited Perlan, a cool museum with a lava show about the 2021 eruption, a northern lights show, and a real ice cave. After that we made one more stop for fish and chips and then we went to return our rental car and get on our flight back home.

We saw a ton of stuff in West/South Iceland and had a great vacation. Still sorting through the 1000s of photos . Feel free to ask for details if you're interested.

[mrsd2006]

Sounds amazing. Do you think 13 days was too long or not long enough? Can you post a few pics? Is Iceland expensive compared to other countries? We just got back from Norway and it was very expensive.

[dutchgirl678]

I thought 13 days was enough but we didn't set out to do the entire Ring road. I would have loved to see the West Fjords and the Myvatn area, but I also felt like our vacation was long enough.

Yes, Iceland is expensive, especially eating out. We usually bought breakfast and sodas/snacks at the local supermarket. When we got fish and chips we would get two portions and share them between the 4 of us. But we did eat out in restaurants a few times. Reykjavik seemed more expensive than other towns. Many places serve soup which is still not that cheap (about $19) but it came with fresh bread and butter and usually one free refill. Alcohol you have to buy at special stores and they are either open 11-6 or 2-6.

Let me work on uploading some photos.

[dutchgirl678]

Photos:

Budakirkja, Snaefellsnes peninsula

Hraunfossar

Seljalandsfoss

Skogafoss

Kvernufoss

Eldheimar, Vestmannaeyjar

View from Eldfell, Vestmannaeyjar

Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon

Svartifoss

Rainbow street, Reykjavik

[mrsd2006]

Those pics are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

[RockNVoll]

Excellent trip report, thanks for sharing! I don't think I've seen many people spend more than a week, often much less, there so this is super interesting. Gorgeous photos, too!

[jamaicam]

That sounds like a really great vacation!

[bee20]

Weird question, but how different did the outdoors in Iceland feel from PDX? People keep suggesting Iceland to me but greenery, waterfalls, the ocean and rocks just sorta sounds like the PNW where we live. Obviously the cities would be different but I don't want to go halfway around the world to hike in the same climate, you know?

[dutchgirl678]

bee20, not a weird question. We also live in PDX. It felt really different to me. The whole country is beautiful nature with much less urban life. Only Reykjavik is a bigger city and even then it is much smaller than most American cities. There are not as many trees as in the PNW and the volcanoes have created many different landscapes with lots of waterfalls, some of which you can get very close to. The glaciers were spectacular, they took my breath away. We saw tons of Icelandic horses, puffins, and other wildlife.

[bee20]

dutchgirl678, Thanks, sounds like it felt enough like a "trip".

[dutchgirl678]

bee20, definitely!

[wise_rita]

Jul 12, 2023 11:20:28 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

We went to Iceland from June 24 - July 7 (just missing the latest volcanic eruption)

I saw it!  Flying through Iceland on the 13th.  The pilot pointed it out.

It was pretty cool and I'm just glad it didn't ground air traffic for an indefinite period of time!

[dutchgirl678]

Aug 5, 2023 13:26:26 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

Jul 12, 2023 11:20:28 GMT -5 dutchgirl678 said:

We went to Iceland from June 24 - July 7 (just missing the latest volcanic eruption)

I saw it!  Flying through Iceland on the 13th.  The pilot pointed it out.

It was pretty cool and I'm just glad it didn't ground air traffic for an indefinite period of time!

So cool! This is one of the smaller eruptions so luckily it doesn't impact air traffic. It looks like it is almost done spewing lava now (according to the live cams at ruv.is).

[mrsukyankee]

What a cool trip!

[cheekywife]

gorgeous photos and great trip report, dutchgirl678! we're doing a brief iceland stopover on our way home from stockholm.

[dutchgirl678]

Jan 29, 2024 9:25:59 GMT -5 cheekywife said:

gorgeous photos and great trip report, dutchgirl678 ! we're doing a brief iceland stopover on our way home from stockholm.

How much time will you have?

[cheekywife]

dutchgirl678, just 48 hours

[dutchgirl678]

cheekywife,I don't know what the weather will be like, but if you have a full day I would take a day trip for instance with Arctic Adventures and either do a South Coast tour or a Golden Circle tour. Reykjavik itself is great, but pretty small so if you only had half a day there you could see most things. We did go to the Blue Lagoon after arrival because we had never been to Iceland before, but a lot of people rave about the Sky Lagoon which is much less touristy.

[cheekywife]

thanks, dutchgirl678! i'll look into those tours. i'm leaning towards sky lagoon too. we know it will be just a tiny taste of iceland but i'm still really excited for it. i'm considering the lagoon for our last morning since our flight isn't until almost 5pm.

[frlcb]

Feb 2, 2024 19:36:16 GMT -5 cheekywife said:

thanks, dutchgirl678 ! i'll look into those tours. i'm leaning towards sky lagoon too. we know it will be just a tiny taste of iceland but i'm still really excited for it. i'm considering the lagoon for our last morning since our flight isn't until almost 5pm.

when are you going? The Blue Lagoon is currently closed and they don't know when it will open again - and if there is another volcano it will shut down again. We are going in 2.5 weeks and we booked sky lagoon (which, full disclosure, we know one of the founder/owners but have heard amazing things about it)

[cheekywife]

frlcb, we're going in early may. we're definitely doing sky lagoon, not blue. and if we can't go, NBD.

dutchgirl678, i booked the south coast tour with arctic adventures. so excited!

[cheekywife]

dutchgirl678, thanks again for the arctic adventures rec, we did the south coast day tour and it was AMAZING! we didn't get to a lagoon but we'll definitely go back at some point.

[dutchgirl678]

cheekywife, I'm so glad to hear it! I can't wait to read your trip report.