Have you ever felt like you are on a different planet and having the most wonderful adventure? I had this feeling the entire time my husband and I were on our recent trip to Iceland! It is was one of my favorite places! We saw a crazy amount of out of this world spectacular landscapes including amazing waterfalls, black sandy beaches, crystal ice caves, mountains covered in snow, and hot springs peeking out of glaciers! It was an out of this world experience! In this blog i will share the sights of our amazing adventure in Iceland!
DAY 1
02.22.2020 | Saturday
ARRIVAL
Our adventure starts from sunny warm Florida to Reykjavik (Keflavik Airport) in Iceland. We arrived the following day, 02.22 at 6:05 in the morning on Saturday. We rented an SUV and soon entered a snowy winter wonderland! From Keflavik airport we drove to the Blue Lagoon hot spring for an 8:00am reservation. We spent a couple hours relaxing and exploring the lagoon. The excursion included theraputic face masks and refreshments while we relaxed in the hot spring! We followed that with lunch at The Lava Restaurant that overlooks the Lagoon. Both of us had a traditional Icelandic fish entre that was delicious! It was really cool to watch the snow fall in the lagoon as we ate our lunch! We got back into our SUV and began our 45 minute drive to Reykjavik. My husband drove and had to stick his head out the window to stay awake after more than 24 hours with no sleep. We arrived in Reykjavik and checked in to the Reykjavik Residence Hotel. After a short siesta we did a little exploring around our hotel and ate at a local Scandinavian restaurant. Later we met up with some friends and went out for a northern lights sightseeing tour. From everything I've researched it looks like seeing northern lights is an experience of a lifetime. However, if the likelihood of seeing the lights is less than 3 (on a scale of 1-9) and the concierge does not look real enthusiastic about your chances of seeing the lights DO NOT waste your time and money! You will just end up riding an hour and a half on a tour bus to get cold, tired, and bored!
Place to stay:
Reykjavik Residence Hotel is 45 minutes away from Keflavik airport. We stayed here for a couple nights. The room was nice, cozy and clean and the nespresso coffee machine was pretty nice and the coffee was really good. The bathroom sink is very tiny but the bed and the dining area was pretty good size. Beware that there are several Reyjavik Residence Hotel units and it took us a few minutes to find the one to check in. They also do not have there own parking but we were able to park right across the street from our unit. There is also a paid parking lot not far from the hotel. We had to pay to park on the street but it was not very expensive and there are parking machines that take US credit cards close by.
Place to eat:
Scandinavian Restaurant and Smørrebrød. Our first evening, we had a delicious authentic Scandinavian meal.
DAY 2
02.23.2020 | Sunday
Tour of The Golden Circle (Self-Drive)
First Stop: Thingvellir National Park
It snowed heavily and was quite windy most of the day. It felt like I was in a gigantic snow globe. We had several days like that and after living in the Philippines and Florida it was a super cool experience for me!! We parked at the Visitor's center and immediately went hiking around the park. In addition to some spectacular views of the nearby snow covered mountains, rivers, and an ice covered waterfall, we were able to see some of the first parliament buildings. My husband also went on a snorkeling tour of the fissure that separates the European and North American techtonic plates. I was more than happy to just walk along the fissure!
2nd Stop, Geysir
About an hour down the road we parked at Geysir. This is a geothermal park kind of like Yellowstone with several geysirs and hot springs. The main attraction here was a geysir called Stokar that spewed water and steam every few minutes. We were able to get some of the Stokar eruptions on video that was super cool!!
3rd Stop, Gulfoss (golden waterfall):
Another half hour down the golden circle road we came up to one of the highlights of our trip. It is a multi level natural waterfall that has more energy and water volume than Niagra Falls. My husband insists that it is more spectacular than Niagra Falls! It was slated to be modified for hydroelectric power but fortunately has been left untouched. In spite of the blowing snow (that made it look even cooler) we were able to walk close to the top and bottom of the Falls and get some great pictures and photos of it!
1st stop; Skogafoss Waterfall & Seljalandsfoss Falls
Skogafoss is a 2 hr drive from Rekyjavik. Lots of beautiful sceneries to see on our way to these falls.
2nd stop; Gljúfrafoss or Gljúfrabúi
Gljufrafoss is a small waterfall north of the larger falls of Seljalandsfoss in Iceland. This hidden waterfall, is a few minute walk from Skogafoss Waterfall. It was windy and snowy the day we went but it didn't stopped us from going on the top of the rock close to the waterfall. We defintely got wet going in this spot but all worth it to hear and feel the waterfall. You definitely don't want to miss this one if you're stopping at Skogafoss.
3rd Stop; Ice Cave Tour
From Skogafoss, we drove to our Katla Ice Cave Tour meeting place in Vik (Icewear Magasin). Here, we meet up with our Tour Guide and our group. We booked our tour ahead of time from Arctic Adventures online and it cost $138/person for a 3 hour tour.
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