We spent the last few days of July and beginning of August on an absolutely incredible trip to Iceland! I spent a lot of time pulling together our complete itinerary and it was really fun to see it all come together. We packed so much into our limited time there!
We left on Monday night (7/29) from Chicago at 9:30 pm and arrived in Reykjavik around 8:30 am the next morning! Jemma and I sat together and Nate and Jade sat across the aisle from each other a few rows up. Not a single one of us slept more than an hour/hour and half on the 6 hour flight.
Our plan for the day was to tour Reykjavik and to stay awake until at least 7:00 pm Iceland time!
First stop after getting our rental car was breakfast at Kökulist Bakarí about 10 minutes from the airport!
Next was Fly Over Iceland! We all loved this so much and got us even more excited for what we would be seeing (and smelling) over the next few days. :)
We spent the rest of the day touring the downtown area. Our first stop was at this "famous" hot dog stand Baejarins Beztu Pylsur. The girls got their hot dog with just ketchup, while Nate and I tried it with all the traditional ingredients (raw onions, crispy onions, ketchup, mustard and remoulade). We didn't mention to the girls until after that Icelandic hot dogs include lamb. :)
Next was a visit to Hallgrimskirkja! Hallgrimskirkja is both a national monument and active church housing the largest organ in the country. We climbed to the top of the tower and were treated with panoramic views of Reykjavik and the sounding of the bells. I must admit that we all napped in the car for about 30 minutes prior to our visit here. :)
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Next we went to check in to our apartment (the blue one)! We picked this place based on it's location. It was completely walkable to all the sites, shops and restaurants! We hung out there for a little bit and played a few games before heading out to grab dinner and check out some shops!
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We walked down the Rainbow Street, had dinner at Yuzu Burger inside the Posthus Food Hall, did some souvenir shopping and then wrapped up the day with ice cream at Valdi's.
The next morning we were up bright and early and walked to a nearby bakery, Braud & Co, for the best cinnamon rolls!
We checked out of our apartment, packed up the car and headed out to explore The Golden Circle, probably Iceland's most popular scenic route for tourists.
Our first stop of the day was at Thingvellir National Park. Here we saw Almannagja, a large rift that marks the boundary of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The plates are slowly shifting apart at approximately 2 cm per year. We also saw Oxararfoss waterfall.
Next we stopped at the Geothermal Bakery at Laugarvatn Fontana. Here they bake bread in the ground for 24 hours using geothermal energy! We took the tour and got to see first hand a pot of fresh bread being dug out of the ground! Afterward we got to taste the warm bread with Icelandic butter and smoked trout! Such a unique experience!
Next stop was Efstidalur Dairy Farm for ice cream! The ice cream is made from the milk of their own cows! The girls had fun on the jumping pillow too!
Next up was Bruarfoss! While not as mighty as some waterfalls we saw this was definitely a favorite of ours simply due to the beautiful blue water!
The next stop along the route was Strokkur Geysir. Every few minutes it erupts shooting water up to 100 ft. in the air. Jade ended up capturing the best video of it erupting. We also saw the Great Geysir which used to be among the most notable geysers in the world, but now is dormant.
Next stop along the route was Gullfoss Waterfall! We had a quick lunch/snack at the cafe here.
The final stop on our Golden Circle route was Kerið Crater. It was raining when we arrived but we toughed it out and still managed to walk the entire path around the top of the crater.
We were pretty tired from a long day of activities and headed from here to check into our cottage! It was adorable and perfectly secluded! The owner of the place actually lives here and was away on vacation. We freshened up a little and then headed into the town of Sellfoss for dinner at Kaffi Krus.
The next morning we had a little trouble checking out of that place as it was in a gated community and you needed to call the host to let you in and out the first and last time. It was pretty early in the morning and she wasn't answering our call, so we went back to the property to grab the gate key and returned it later that morning. It was a slight inconvenience, but we talked to the host via FaceTime when leaving (as I accidentally dialed it that way) so that ended up being kind of fun!
We were a little behind schedule because of the gate situation so our first stop was a super quick breakfast at Almar Bakari before heading to our horseback riding tour at Eldhestar Farm. We booked the 1.5-2 hour tour which took us along meadows and through lava fields. We even got to cross a small river about 10 minutes into the ride. The water came up to our feet in the stirrups which was a little scary! This was the first time any of us had ridden a horse like this, so we were all a little nervous. The girls were such troopers and we ended up having a lot of fun! The bright orange jumpsuits are our rain gear! :)
After the tour we stopped for gas and grabbed sandwiches for lunch before beginning our trek along the south coast!
The first stop was Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. This waterfall is unique in that there is a path you can walk that goes behind the waterfall! We all got soaked but loved the experience so much!
Just a short walk down the path we came across some random waterfalls before coming to Gljúfrabúifoss, which was actually kind of hidden behind a cliff. We had to walk through a cave like area to get a closer view!
Next stop was Skogafoss! Here we climbed over 500 stairs to see the falls from above! You could get close to the bottom of the falls as well!
From here we headed to our next Airbnb in the town of Vik. We loved the location and the great views from the back yard! As a bonus, the owner's cat Billy got to join us for our stay! He loves being outside and we were told that if we let him out he would be back at bed time! We had dinner at Black Crust Pizza, which was delicious!
It was a gorgeous night for us to continue sightseeing so we took full advantage of the extended hours of daylight! Next stop was The Dyrhólaey Cliffs. Here we were blessed with gorgeous views and puffins!
The next morning we packed up our things and headed to our next destination. We grabbed some granola bars that the host had left us for breakfast! We drove about 2 hours to get reach Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe where we would go on a guided hike! Due to the large amount of melted ice it takes roughly 20 minutes of walking to even reach the glacier. Once we reached the glacier we attached crampons to our boots and the guide taught us how to walk on ice! The walk to and from the glacier was a little rough, but once we were there it was so cool and some of our favorite moments of the trip! The girls thought it was pretty cool that they could drink water straight from the glacier!
We were given some chocolate bars and coffee afterwards and then headed east about 30 minutes to the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon! We had lunch and looked around a little but it was windy and raining pretty hard so we tried to stay warm and dry in the car prior to our tour. We were supposed to go out into the lagoon on a zodiac boat which gets right up next to the icebergs, but unfortunately our tour was cancelled as we were suiting up due to high winds! We were able to book the amphibian tour which is on a larger boat that doesn't go as close, but was still running! It was raining and extremely windy, but still a really cool experience!
We had planned to stop at Diamond Beach afterward, but due to our delayed tour and the fact that we were all pretty wet and cold we decided to pull into the lot and Nate jumped out to see if it was worth it for us to get out! Diamond Beach is known for it's iceberg fragments that drift ashore and line the beach. The size and amount varies by the hour! Nate snapped a picture and deemed it not worth it! :)
We started making our way back the way we came and stopped for dinner at Systrakaffi. We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and this was about the only place to stop! The views along the way were so beautiful, you could literally stop (or take a picture out the window) every few minutes! Dinner was great though and we were all happy and ready to sit down to eat!
We continued our drive back the way we came and stopped at our next Airbnb for the night! It was the cutest cabin about 20 km off the main road! We all enjoyed the Icelandic breakfast that was provided for us and Nate and the girls took advantage of the hot tub!
The next day was our last full day so we continued on our way back towards Reykjavik stopping again in Vik, this time for a tour of Katla Ice Cave! The other family on our tour didn't show up, so we essentially got a private tour! It worked out great because it was still extremely windy and the extra attention and care we got climbing around was quite welcomed!
It took us a good 45 minutes by truck to make our way to the glacier! This was probably the most adventures thing we did. There wasn't more than a simple rope to hold on it and it wasn't even in all areas. Since the glacier formations change every day some of the pathways they had gone on the day before had changed and were now unusable, so some new paths were being carved out for us as we went along. Luckily we already had some practice walking on ice from the day before, but the 40+ mph winds added an extra bit of challenge! :)
Once we got back and warmed up a bit we had lunch at the Strondin Pub in Vik and snapped a few pictures of the "famous" church (you could see the church up on the hill from the backyard of our Airbnb with the cat).
From here we drove about 3 hours to Keflavik to visit the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa! The lagoon has a large open air pool and several smaller pool ranging in temperature from 98-102°F. Our entrance fee included a face mask and drink! We spent about an hour and half in here relaxing and exploring!
On our way out we stopped to look at the lava from the most recent eruption in March of this year. It completely closed off this road and access to Grindavik.
From here we checked into our final spot, a tiny little cabin with a nice common space where we had Domino's pizza for dinner! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and trying to repack all of our stuff to fly home!
We had breakfast at the same bakery we stopped at when we arrived and then dropped off the rental car and headed to the airport! We had a jam packed schedule but it was all so amazing and we wouldn't have wanted it anyone other way! We're so thankful for safe travels and this time together!
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