Day 1 (Sunday November 19)
Blue Lagoon – Headed straight from the airport on the first bus to the Blue Lagoon at 7:30 am (if you’re not renting a car, I would definitely recommend buying a round trip from the airport -> Blue Lagoon -> Reykjavik -> back to airport from Reyjkavik Excursions). This turned out to be perfect for a few reasons:
- The lagoon is near the airport and closer to the airport than Reykjavik
- We were the first group to get there when it opened so it wasn’t as crowded as it normally is later in the day
- It was still pitch black when we arrived and it gave the lagoon a cool, eerie feel that you don’t get during the day, and we got to watch the sun rise which was incredible!
- There’s nothing better after a long flight and jetlag than relaxing in the warm waters of the lagoon
Reykjavik
Harpa Music Hall – SO beautiful, especially at sunset
Dinner – Svarta Kaffid – This was a super cute and cozy cafe, recommended by our host at Heida’s Home. She told us it was the best soup in town, and it’s true – it was the best bowl of soup ever!!!
The only thing they serve each day is two types of soups for $18 (which is fairly reasonable considering Iceland is so expensive) – you just pick the one you want and they scoop it into a bread bowl and it’s hearty, and delicious, and perfect after a chilly day walking around Reykjavik
Lodging – Heida’s Home (very homey, cute, and has kitchens)
Day 2 (Monday November 20)
Thingvellir National Park – site of Ireland’s first parliament, beautiful views
Gullfoss “Golden Waterfall” – huge and so beautiful
Stopped to pet some Icelandic horses – small and furry and so cute!
They didn’t seem to like Willy quite as much…or maybe they liked him too much?
Geysir Geothermal Area – lunch
Fjadrargljufur Canyon
Seljalandsfoss Waterfall – normally in the summer you can walk around behind it, but in the winter the path behind the waterfall is too icy/frozen to walk
Dinner – Eldstó Art Café – Hvolsvollur is a tiny little village, so other than the restaurant at the hotel, there are basically three places to eat: some pizza place, a buffet, and this cafe (we just wanted a warm bowl of soup so we opted for this cafe)
Northern lights – it was a clear night and we were in a tiny village with very little light pollution so the conditions were perfect to catch the Northern lights. We met this woman from Brazil who had a DSLR camera but didn’t know how to use the slow shutter speed setting to capture photos of the Northern lights, so we taught her how to use her camera and we took these fun slow shutter speed photos.
Day 3 (Tuesday November 21)
Glacier hiking at Sólheimajökull – This was probably one of the coolest days. We got crampons and went glacier hiking and got to go in this cool mini ice cave!
Reynisfjara – Black Sand Beach
We were supposed to continue on, but a huge snowstorm was coming so we were forced to spend the night and not go any further
Day 4 (Wednesday November 22)
Sadly, because of the snow storm, we weren’t able to go to the ice caves at Vatnajökull glacier or to the diamond beach, which were the parts I was most excited about.
Ended up having a relaxing day at a museum and cafe
We hit up a couple more waterfalls on our way back to Reykjavik
Skógafoss Waterfall
Urriðafoss Falls
Dinner – Osta Budin – Traditional Icelandic food. The food here was good and interesting (we had reindeer and some other weird meats), but definitely pricey (though food is pricey in general in Iceland)
