Iceland

I spent a total of seven days in Iceland and was able to go around the whole country. We made the ring road in five days starting from Keflavik airport going counter-clockwise and ending in the capital, Reykjavik where we spent the last two days. Below you’ll find useful information for traveling in Iceland and places we visited/ wanted to visit.

Tips & Information:

Flights to Iceland:

If you are ever going to Europe and have extra time, Icelandair offers a free stopover program. You get to hop off in Iceland for one to five days and then hop back on for the second leg of the flight back home. You basically get two destinations for the price of one!
If you don’t have that much time and want to go straight, WOW Air is their budget airline that offers great prices. Make sure you bring your own food, entertainment, blankets, and pillows unless you’re willing to pay extra for them or have a really boring flight!

Water:
Don’t buy water, Iceland’s bottled water is the same as their tap water as they are both sourced straight from the glacier. Sometimes tap water smells funny because the hot water is from their underground geothermal water which could contain sulfur. If the water smells when you’re trying to drink it just let the cold tap run for 10-20 seconds and you’re good to go! Also fun fact, Iceland is running on 100% renewable energy for electric supply with about 30% of it coming from geothermal power plants and the other 70% from hydro plants.

Food:

Everything in Iceland is expensive as it is an island with most of the goods imported. A simple meal can cost you around $15-$20 or more. If you want to save money, buy food from grocery stores and make your own meals instead of eating out for every meal. If you’re on the go, gas stations have really good and cheap-ish hot dogs. Get “one of everything”, it comes with fried onions, regular onions and put on all the sauces.

Language:
Most people in Iceland (especially young people) speak Icelandic, English, and Danish. So you will be fine using English at most places, but learn a few words in Icelandic!

Living Situation:

We stayed in Airbnbs, hostels, and apartments. We wanted a place to cook dinner and bond so we opted out on the boutique hotels. However, I’ve heard from friends who have stayed in boutique hotels that some places offer a wake-up call service to see the northern lights!

Driving in Iceland:

Gas is expensive, but don’t let that discourage you, the drive is worth it!
If you plan on paying for gas with a card that doesn’t have a four-digit pin code (basically any American credit cards), you have to go inside to pay. This could be inconvenient if you get gas at a self-service station without people, or if it happened to be close. To avoid all of this, I would suggest just buying a prepaid gas card. Also, at Olis/OB (they are the same thing but one is a self-service one), you can ask for a discount card that gets you a free coffee every visit and a small discount on everything else you purchase. Something is better than nothing!
It’s pretty hard to sight a cop in Iceland; after all, it is one of the safest countries in the world. BUT DO NOT LET THAT FOOL YOU; they have speeding cameras!!!! If you get caught they will send you a ticket even after you have left the country.
Very helpful website if you’re driving when the weather is questionable is road.is. This website has live cameras for all the roads and a color-coded system to show the visibility and conditions including if any roads are closed.

Northern Lights:

I visited Iceland mid-March; although it was still pretty cold and not as popular as the summer months, we caught the end of the northern lights season, which is usually from September to March. The chances to see the northern lights all depend on the weather! There is an official aurora borealis forecast on http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/.

If you’re lucky you could just look up and you’ll be able to see it, but if the weather is spotty it gets tricky. We were on a time constraint and didn’t want to risk not seeing it so we booked a tour! It was probably the best $50 I spent in Iceland. The guides were very knowledgeable and when in the dilemma of whether we should wait longer or move to a new spot they knew exactly what to do. The downside to tours is that all the tour buses crowd to the same area so there will be a lot of people trying to get a good shot and walking in and out of people’s pictures.

I also found out that if you do not have a camera, there is an app to take pictures of the northern lights, technology wow! And if you do bring a camera, learn from our mistake and DON’T FORGET A TRIPOD. It will make your life a lot easier and your pictures a lot less blurry!

Places we visited/ wanted to visit:

(Please email me if you would like the map I used!)

Starting from the airport going South:

Blue Lagoon:
Reservations are required for the Blue Lagoon and it is really close to the airport so if you would like, it is pretty convenient to make reservations for either the day you arrive or the day you depart. Despite many people warning me that this place is overrated, I was still very impressed by its beauty and loved every second of it! If you’re interested in more geothermal baths, scroll down for another one!

Kerid Crater: This destination is part of the Golden Circle and it was about an hour from Reykjavik. There is a small fee to enter as it is private property but definitely worth it! We actually did this on the day we got to Reykjavik towards the end of our trip.

Gullfoss: This one is farther down the Golden Circle, unfortunately, we were not able to make it but I’ve heard amazing things!

Seljanlandsfoss: This is one of the famous waterfalls. Supposedly you can walk behind it in the summer, but it was closed off when we visited.

Gljúfrabúi: This waterfall is only a few minutes walk away from the last one but to get to this specific view you would have to walk through the river.

Skógafoss: Another waterfall, but you can walk to the top of this one and see it from above. Really pretty if you can catch a rainbow over it when the lighting is right.

Solheimasandur Plane Wreck: This is a pretty popular place with a plane wreck on a black sand beach but we decided to skip it.

Dyrhólaey: This was probably one of my favorite places in the south of Iceland, the view of the lagoon and the ocean together was breathtaking.

Reynisfjara: This is a beautiful black sand beach with cool basalt columns, but be careful! A few have lost their lives here while not paying attention to the waves.

Vik: One of the main village/town in the south of Iceland where there are a few markets, restaurants and some places to fill up gas. This is a good resting point for some food and gas before hitting the next big village/town.

East:

Kirkjubæjarklaustur: This is supposedly a cool village with attractions nearby; however, we didn’t get a chance to stop by. If you forgot gas in Vik, here you will have another chance!

(Btw, we spent our first night around this area!)

Fjaðrárgljúfur: We did not get to visit this place and it was probably one of our biggest regrets. According to Google images, Fjaðrárgljúfur is a deep canyon with waterfalls that require a tiny bit of hiking to get to but absolutely gorge-ous.

Skaftafell National Park: This national park is part of the Vatnajökull Glacier, the largest glacier in Iceland. There are many trail options here and we did Svartifoss and the walk to the edges of the glacier. Note that you can’t get too far on the glacier without crampons.

Jökulsárlón: Glacier lagoon with blue icebergs in it, one of the most popular destinations in Iceland.

Diamond Beach: It’s connected to Jökulsárlón so pieces of ice end up on this beach. I personally liked this beach more than the lagoon itself!

Höfn: Höfn is the lobster town of Iceland, so of course we had to splurge and try their lobsters! There are really about 3 or 4 restaurants in this town and our apartment host recommended us to dine at Pakkhus. We were impressed by everything we got here from the lobster bisque and a lamb appetizer to the main courses.

Egilsstaðir: This is the next major town on the east side of Iceland, and we were trying to go to Seydisfjordur from here. Seydisfjordur was one of the places I was most excited for, however, due to bad weather conditions, we were stuck in Egilsstaðir and never made it there. Side story on this weather condition: when we were here, we experienced high winds at 20km/s (about 45 mph) and the fresh powdery snow would get blown onto the road causing the visibility to be super low and eventually piling up high enough for some cars to get stuck. At some point, I had to get out of the car to make sure we don’t fall in the ditch only to get blown away by super strong wind on slippery ice. This was probably the most traumatizing event that happened to this Southern California girl in Iceland.

Hengifoss & Hallormsstadhaskogur: These are some nearby attractions but our car got stuck in the snow and we never made it. If you are limited on time, a drive around the lake is nice too.

North:

Dettifoss: This is the most powerful waterfall in Europe; unfortunately, the road was closed on the day we tried to visit due to weather. If you do make it here, drive further and check out Ásbyrgi. The myth is that Odin’s horse created this place because it is shaped like a horseshoe. If you keep going around, you’ll hit Húsavík, which is a pretty town next to the water that we also didn’t get to visit. Our original plan was to take this detour to get to Myvatn.

Mývatn: One of my favorites in Iceland! There are quite a few attractions around the lake.

Mývatn Nature Baths: It was definitely not as busy and expensive as the Blue Lagoon but it’s beautiful too! The water was a bit cooler on the day we went due to high winds so we got 10% discount.

Grjótagjá cave: This is where they shot Game of Thrones and spoiler alert! (It is where Jon Snow and Ygritte got it on) This cave has natural geothermal springs where people used to bathe in, however, IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO BATHE HERE due to the high temperature of the water from geological activities.

Dimmuborgir: Lava formation area with three trails to walk/hike.

Hverfjall: Although we didn’t get a chance to hike up to this crater, it was still beautiful from the bottom.

Goðafoss Waterfall: After leaving Mývatn, we drove about 40 minutes until we hit Godafoss. This waterfall is spectacular; please stop by if you’re anywhere near!

Akureyri: The northern capital and the second largest city in Iceland after Reykjavik, but don’t expect anything crazy as Iceland’s population is only about 350,000. It has many shops and restaurants that stay open a lot later than the ones from other towns in Iceland.

West:

Hvammstangi: This is a village a little before the Westfjords Region, we didn’t have time to explore this region but I would love to next time! If you get to go, check out Latrabjarg!

Snaefellsnes: A popular peninsula that supposedly contains all of Iceland’s main features. We didn’t make it here but if you’re staying around Reykjavik, it is about a 2-hour drive away!

Borgarnes: Another cute little town on the way down to Reykjavik with good ice cream and hot dogs? We’re not sure because we only got gas here.

Esjan: This is a mountain overlooking Reykjavik and you can hike it! We opted out though, so I’ll never know how nice the view really is from the top!

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park: This national park is only about an hour away from Reykjavik with historical and geological significance. This is where the oldest parliament in the world took place back in the 10^th century when the Vikings settled, and it is also where two tectonic plates meet. Unfortunately, I have only been here at night when I was chasing the northern lights so I didn’t get to enjoy its full beauty. If I had more time I would definitely spend a day here!

Reykjavik:

I did a “free” walking tour with City Walk simply by signing up online. It is free because the guides live off of tips/ donations on how much you think the tour is worth. I highly recommend this, it lasts about two hours and you get a lot of great information on Iceland’s culture and history.

Hallgrimskirkja: This is a church in Reykjavik where you can pay $10 to go to the top with a nice view of the city.

FOOD in Reykjavik:

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur: Translates to Best Hot Dog in Town, and in my opinion, it’s alright but worth a try. This place is famous so most of the time there’s a line. The special thing about Icelandic hot dogs is that they’re made with lamb. People eat a lot of lamb and seafood here! There are more sheep than human in Iceland and they’re all free range, organic grass fed sheep.

Sægreifinn: This place is a must try if you’re in town. It’s a cute little restaurant with fish on skewers, amazing lobster soup that they claim is the best in the world and my personal favorite was the dessert: skyr. Skyr is an Icelandic dairy product that tastes like yogurt. But these homemade ones are super fluffy with oats and fruits in it to add flavor and texture, my mouth watered just thinking about them.

Icelandic Street Food: They have a good lamb soup that is very satisfying on a cold day. They also get bonus points for the free baked desserts on the side.

This concludes my trip, but here are some pictures of Icelandic horses. They were definitely the highlight of my trip!