We interrupt this bookish content for our annual adventure report! For our getaway this year, my husband (AC) and I hit Iceland for 10 days! As always, thanks to my parents for watching the kids while we went exploring! 😘 Since I heavily depend on travel blogs for tips, ideas, and itineraries, I wanted to put out my recommendations in case it’s helpful for anyone. I’ll describe our itinerary and then give some general thoughts/suggestions.
Itinerary
- Day 1, Sat, 27 Aug: Flew through Chicago to Keflavík on United.
- Day 2, Sun 28 Aug:
- Arrived at 9am (4am central time)
- OMG It was windy and cold. But mostly windy. Did I mention it was WINDY??! Something like 35mph winds on the 28th and 50+mph on the 29th.
- Picked up 4×4 from Ice Rental – recommend.
- Quick & no issues. So glad we got the 4×4 because the roads in Iceland can definitely be dicey.
- Got groceries at the Kronán
- Good location next to the airport & you *will* need the groceries. We basically lived on protein bars (that we packed), apples, nutella, & bread.
- Drove 20 min to Blue Lagoon for noon reservation – highly recommend
- Loved this. Such a clutch move to go right after you get in and are jetlagged out of your mind.
- Drove 50 min to Reykjavik: walked to Hallsgrimkirja Church, Harpa concert hall, Laugavegur Street, and the Sun Voyager Sculpture
- This was nice especially since we were too jetlagged to do anything else.
- Ate at Reykjavik street food.
- Simple but fast & filling. CA had Fish Stew (read: mashed potatoes with fish) and I had Meat Soup (read: chicken noodle plus mystery meat and minus noodles)
- Stayed at Blue House B&B
- Good location. Essentially we were in a two bedroom house, sharing a bathroom with the other guests. But since we went to bed at like 5pm and left at 5am we actually never even saw them.
- Arrived at 9am (4am central time)
- Day 3, Mon, 29 Aug:
- Drove 1 hr to Thingvellir & snorkeled Silfra with Troll Expeditions
- Very interesting to snorkel in dry suit. Allegedly you’re snorkeling through the tectonic plates, but actually “between the plates” is broadly used here. You’re basically looking into crystal clear water in a crevasse. It was interesting but probably not a must do.
- Hiked Öxarárfoss (2.6 mi)
- Nice easy hike to be very overshadowed by future hikes.
- Drove 1 hr to Glymur Waterfall hike (4.3 mi) – recommend
- Great hike! Loved the views, though be warned there is a wide river crossing to be prepared for and well… I may have gotten us a little lost on the way down because there are false cairns everywhere and the actual trail isn’t well marked. 😅 Just remember to stick close to the falls, and you’ll avoid some serious bushwhacking.
- Drove 1.5 hrs to stay at Galleri Laugarvatin – recommend
- Really liked this place! A solid base camp for Golden Circle adventures with a private bathroom
- Drove 1 hr to Thingvellir & snorkeled Silfra with Troll Expeditions
- Day 4, Tue, 30 Aug:
- Drove 20 min to hike Bruarfoss (3.9 mi) – recommend
- Lovely easy hike. The water was very blue.
- Drove 15 min to hike around Geysir
- Pretty crowded here, but can be a quick stop just to watch the geysir and walk around the springs
- Drove 30 min to the Secret Lagoon hot spring
- A very relaxed hot spring turned pool. Supposedly the oldest hot spring pool in Iceland. Not as schmancy as the Blue lagoon, but it was still nice to get our pool noodles and just relax for a bit
- Drove 35 min to Kerid Crater
- Interesting spot to stop at because the crater is rather impressive.
- Drove 25 min to return to galleri laugarvatn
- Ate at the Barnloft – highly recommend
- Excellent burgers & ice cream with a relaxing atmosphere. However… the cow-viewing seats seem kind of weird when you’re eating a burger. Vegetarians beware.
- Drove 20 min to hike Bruarfoss (3.9 mi) – recommend
- Day 5, Wed, Aug 31
- Drove 2.5 hrs to Landmannlauger
- Felt like we were driving to the moon, and we really realized the need for the 4×4. The roads are *rough* and this place was remote. Fingers were definitely crossed we didn’t get a flat tire.
- Blue Peak hike (3.8 mi) – recommend
- We were originally supposed to do Brennisteinsalda as well… but the weather was way rough. The CAT 1 winds at the top were so crazy it knocked me on my butt a few times, which was a little dicey on the narrow ridges (that triggered AC’s acrophobia). So after blue peak we called it. Still, despite the elements, it was a beautiful hike!
- Sigoldugljufur canyon of waterfalls viewpoint – recommend
- You kind of have to park and walk to get here, because it’s unmarked (but it’s on google maps), but the beautiful view is totally worth it.
- Haifoss – recommend
- Another beautiful waterfall viewpoint
- Ate at the Barnloft again.
- Drove 2.5 hrs to Landmannlauger
- Day 6, Thu, Sep 1
- Drove 40 min to Gulfoss – recommend
- Definitely cool if you get here early. This is a big waterfall, but later on the crowds are crazy
- Drove 2 hrs to Kerlingarfjoll and hiked Hveradalir geothermal area – recommend
- So it was freezing and sleeting on us, but we still spent several hours here and it was really cool. Some of the hiking areas are quite steep though, and can get super slick and muddy (like shoe stealing muddy) on narrow ridges. Definitely triggered AC’s acrophobia
- Drove 3 hrs to stay at Loa’s Nest – highly recommend
- Our favorite place we stayed! Private bathroom and cozy room in the horse pastures of Iceland. Also the owners are super personable and had some great recommendations on what to do in the area.
- Eat at Hekla street food – highly recommend
- Delicious fish and chips. Hot, fresh, filling & perfect after a long day.
- Drove 40 min to Gulfoss – recommend
- Day 7, Fri, Sep 2
- Waterfall Way (first 4.2 mi of Fimmvorduhals) – highly recommend
- We were originally planning on doing the whole 15.5 mi point-to-point hike and taking the trex bus back, but AC had injured his leg, so we just did waterfall way. But probably my favorite hike from the whole trip.
- Ate at Hekla street food again
- Waterfall Way (first 4.2 mi of Fimmvorduhals) – highly recommend
- Day 8, Sat, Sep 3
- Big driving day with lots of stops! Hit:
- Nauthasagil – highly recommend
- Really liked this hike! Just wish we had some Wellies to go a little further down the river to the waterfall instead of only rock-hopping part way.
- Baby Yoda Cave
- Right off the main road and worth visiting for the lol factor. It totally looks like baby yoda.
- Dyrholaey arch – highly recommend
- Beautiful views
- Reynisfjara black sand beach – highly recommend
- Very scenic
- Ate at Black Crust Pizzeria in Vik – highly recommend
- Yum! Great pizza, free wifi and chill atmosphere. Definitely recommend, and we hit this place twice.
- Fjadrargljufur Canyon
- Like a shorter, more condensed version of waterfall way, but still beautiful
- Svartifoss – recommend
- After a short hike, a nice waterfall with cool black hexagonal rock formations around it.
- Fjallsarlon glacier lagoon
- A little underwhelming, but right of the main road.
- Diamond Beach – recommend
- Very cool! Apparently if you go out early in the morning you have a good chance seeing seals or whales
- Jokulsarlon Glacier lagoon – recommend
- A bigger, better version of Fjallsarlon
- Ate at Hali Country Hotel
- Can’t recommend this place. We had essentially the same thing we had at Reykjavik Street Food on day 1, but it was like twice the price, and I swear I’d rather have had campbell’s soup out of a can.
- Stayed at Skyrhusid Guest House
- Simple hostel-like accommodation.
- Nauthasagil – highly recommend
- Big driving day with lots of stops! Hit:
- Day 9, Sun, Sep 4
- Drive 1 hr to Vatnajokull Glacier Tour with Arctic Adventure – recommend
- They outfit you with gear and take you up the glacier. We did the 4 hour tour, and it was a cool experience.
- Ate pizza in Vik again
- Drove 2.5 hrs to Seljalandsfoss & Gljufrabui – recommend
- This is right off the main road, so it’s kind of crowded, but you can walk behind Seljanlandsfoss & Gljufrabui is in a cool cave, so even though we’d seen ~1 million waterfalls at this point, they were still unique.
- Drive 2 hr back to Blue House B&B
- Drive 1 hr to Vatnajokull Glacier Tour with Arctic Adventure – recommend
- Day 10, Mon, Sep 5
- 50 min drive back to airport. Return car & fly out. Return home late on 5 Sep.
general thoughts and tips
- Weather & what to bring:
- Come prepared. It drizzled *a lot.* In fact, I’m not sure we had one day when it didn’t rain. We had temperatures from like 29-58 F which wasn’t so bad, but the wind was BRUTAL. I mean you *need* waterproof overpants, a waterproof jacket, a thermal base layer (read: long underwear), waterproof gloves (we brought non-waterproof and regretted it) and I also highly recommend waterproof socks.
- Weird tip
- If you’re doing an outdoor heavy itinerary like this, don’t bother acclimating to the time change. Because the sun is up most of the time, and almost none of these places had an opening time. So for almost the whole trip we were waking up at like 4-5 am, and we had these places nearly all to ourself for the early hours.
- Food
- Omg. Bring as many protein bars as you can because the restaurant choices are extremely limited. Even if you see restaurants on google maps, there’s no guarantee they will be open. You see a lot of tourists eating groceries out of their trunks, and there is a reason for that. The lack of eating options was tough on my foodie husband, and I vowed that our next vacation will definitely have a bigger food element because this was definitely not one of Iceland’s strong points. (Also, food is quite expensive here so there’s that too.
- Language Barrier (or lack there of)
- Everyone we spoke to knew English, but man, there are a lot of long place name words to remember!
- Travel
- Speaking of expensive, gas is SO expensive in Iceland. You have to have a debit card with a pin to buy at the pump, and gas stations aren’t exactly everywhere, so to avoid the nightmare of being stranded in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country, definitely fuel up early and often!
- Also, be sure to download google maps on your phone for offline use and navigating should be fairly simple.
- Things we would do next time.
- There was an active volcano while we were there, and I wish we had been able to hike to it… but it was an 8 mile hike that was kind of out of our way… so we weren’t too choked up about missing it this time.
- I also wish we’d been able to do the whole Fimmvorduhals hike, but if I were to do it next time, I would do that *first* so we’re not hiked out by the time we get there.
- It would’ve been cool to make more of an effort to see the northern lights. But the darkness window in September is super narrow, and it was cloudy almost every day, so there wasn’t really a chance this trip.
- Also, bring waterproof gloves.
- Things I’m glad we didn’t do
- Ring road. Our trip already had a ton of driving in it, and while Iceland is beautiful, we were more happy to get out into it, rather than spend the hours in the car. Especially when I didn’t see a whole lot of more diverse experiences on the north coast. But that was just us!
- Should you go to Iceland?
- If you are a fan of natural beauty and hiking, come prepared for the weather, and don’t mind surviving on proteins bars and Nutella for a few days, I think you will *LOVE* Iceland.
- How much time do you need in Iceland?
- So with 2 travel days, we had 8 days of Iceland fun. But honestly, I think you could have a fantastic trip in half that. You could easily cut out the glaciers to the far east and do half the hikes/waterfalls. But you definitely don’t need more than 8 days unless you are an *avid* hiker or running away from your problems on a remote volcanic island. But just my 2 cents.
Parting thoughts on Iceland
Iceland is the land of foss’s (waterfalls), glaciers, horses, and really long words. It is a unique, beautiful place and was quite the memorable adventure. I’m absolutely glad we went… but, real talk here, I don’t think it’s on our list to revisit. 😅 Oh boy, was that too honest?
Anyways, hopefully this was helpful! If you’d like to see more of our pictures, I posted a reel on tiktok and instagram @hayleyreesechow. Now, it’s time to plan next year’s adventure! If you have any questions about the itinerary, definitely let me know! 😊
Hayley Reese Chow 