Iceland

Iceland has been somewhere I have had on my bucket list for a long time! I thought it would be somewhere so different to anywhere I had been before and I was most certainly right. The landscapes and views are just stunning, snow as far as you can see, dramatic coastlines, incredible waterfalls and colourful towns. I couldn’t recommend this beautiful country enough – such a fun destination to escape to.

We went at the end of February and it really was amazing, there was a lot of fresh snow and it was as you would imagine, freezing!  I would love to go back and visit in the summer months too as it looks totally different – lush and green with fields of flowers and beautiful rivers!

As everyone says, Iceland is pretty expensive so be prepared for this, but personally I think you can make it cheap if you want to. Of course you will want to do the main things such as the Blue Lagoon which is a bit pricey, but most attractions are free, there are some cheap Airbnb’s and if you do self-catering and don’t eat out, you really don’t need to spend much! Car hire is super cheap, the petrol is not, but it’s still cheaper than getting tour buses around. So just some things to think about!

How did we get there?

Believe it or not, Iceland is not far to get to from the UK! I always had it in my head that it would be a long flight but it was only 2 hours 45 from London. When you land in Iceland in Keflavik, it is about a 40 minute drive to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland which is where most people tend to base themselves.

Getting around in Iceland is pretty easy, you have 2 main options: either hire a car and drive around yourself or go on tours where they drive you between the sights.

We chose to hire a car for 2 main reasons, 1) flexibility, we wanted to fit a lot of sights into a short amount of time and didn’t want to be restricted by tours with set schedules (also to stop and see the ponies!) and 2) it’s much cheaper. We paid around £80 including insurance for the whole weekend. Fuel is quite expensive and we did a lot of driving but it was worth it.

Are the roads safe to drive on? We were a bit apprehensive about this before we went but luckily everything was fine. If we went again we would opt for a slightly bigger car, maybe a 4×4 with bigger wheels and a bit more power as there was quite a lot of snow in places. If you are a confident driver, you should have no problem, just drive sensibly and carry water and snacks at all times as you can go for hours without seeing a shop!

Where did we stay and for how long?

Working full time jobs and savouring our 25 days annual leave, my boyfriend and I don’t like to waste days off! So we only went to Iceland for 2 nights! I would recommend going for a little longer to make it more relaxing unless you just love to fit as much into as little time as possible like we do! 

We found a really cute little Airbnb in a small town just a 10 minute drive from Reykjavik called Hafnarfjörður. I couldn’t recommend this little cabin any more, it was just perfect. Small and cosy with lovely fresh towels and sheets, snacks in the cupboards, drinks in the fridge and lots of scandi decor! We arrived quite late at night and it was magical arriving and seeing our little cottage surrounded by deep snow with no footprints anywhere!

There were a few shops and restaurants in this town that you could walk to but Iceland is fairly expensive, especially for eating out, so we choose to do self-catering and stay in. There are not many shops and restaurants around in general except for in Reykjavik city so if you want to have more of a buzz I would recommend staying there. We actually ate in both evenings and took a packed lunch out with us for the day which allowed us to do Iceland on the cheap, so would recommend this as an option if you don’t want to spend too much money!

What did we do whilst we were there?

Before we went I did a lot of planning of the main sights to see! We also looked through all the guidebooks and maps in the Airbnb the night before we set off to map out a route we would drive! I think I underestimated the distance between things, sometimes we would drive for 2 hours to get from one sight to the next but overall, I am really happy with the route we took ,we crammed a lot in and saw everything we aimed to see. Below is a map and a list of the places we visited and in order:

Saturday:

1st Stop – Blue Lagoon Thermal Spa

This is probably the most famous tourist spot in Iceland so we thought we had to go! This made our trip and I would definitely recommend a visit here. You have to pre-book online and it is best to do this in advance as it can get quite busy. It costs about £70 per person and you choose a time of arrival but you are welcome to stay for as long as you like. This price also includes a mud face mask and a drink of your choice which you can actually have in the lagoon! We were really impressed with the facilities, drinks and the whole experience.

We were torn whether to go early in the morning or late at night but we thought we would rather go early then have the whole day to explore rather than rush back in the evening for a certain time. We went as it opened at 8 am and were happy with our decision as it was really quiet when we arrived and it started dark and then got lighter which was cool! 

If you want to splash the cash, you can actually stay in the hotel here or have lunch or a spa retreat day which looked amazing!

Tips: before you go into the reception area, turn left and walk a couple of metres and there is a lagoon which you can’t swim in but it is bright blue and perfect for photos! Also, when in the lagoon, people said it but I didn’t believe them, put LOADS of the conditioner they give you on your hair before going in the water or tie it up. Mine stayed knotty and a weird texture for about 3 days afterwards and it wasn’t great!

2nd Stop – Seljalandsfoss

We drove here from the Blue Lagoon which took us just over 2 hours! This was the first waterfall we saw in Iceland and it was a great one. We spotted it from a distance in the car and it looked pretty big but once we were right under it, it was even more impressive! You can walk around the sides to get an even better view! At this stop you just have to pay to park and the walk is just a couple of minutes over to the waterfall. You can’t miss it!

3rd Stop – Skogafoss

About 25 minutes on is the next waterfall and probably the most well known in Iceland – Skogafoss! It is free parking here and it was pretty busy when we went. This waterfall is huge and there are steps you can climb up the right hand side so you can look right down on the waterfall from above. There was a lot of snow when we went and the steps were pretty treacherous, people were just sliding back down on their bums as it was so slippery!! If you aren’t afraid to get wet, you can walk really close to the waterfall to get what I imagine would be an amazing photo but we got wet enough from the spray let alone getting closer! What I loved about this waterfall is that the view from the top looks right out to sea so you can see for so far – beautiful!

4th Stop – Solheimajokull Glacier

Another 20 minutes on, you will find the glacier! You park up for free then walk for about 15 minutes for the main view! Unfortunately, when we went, there was so much snow, the view that I thought would look like ice was just covered in snow, so it wasn’t that impressive. However, seeing other people’s photos, I think if you get a good day, this place would be magical! If you have longer and want to explore further, you can do a proper glacier hiking tour where you set off with a guide, ice-picks, special clothing and equipment which looks pretty cool!

5th Stop – Reynisfjara

Back in the car for another 30 minutes you will reach Reynisfjara Beach, famous for its cool rock formations and black sand. This beach was awesome, it was so dramatic with the big rocks and crashing waves. It was also super super windy which kind of added to the overall atmosphere. Definitely worth a visit, I hadn’t seen anything like it before! From here, after a quick hot drink in the cafe to warm up, we headed all the way back towards Reykjavik which took 2.5 hours in the car.

6th Stop – Grotta Lighthouse

About 10 minutes in the car from the centre of Reykjavik town, you can park up by the Grotta lighthouse. This is a popular place to wait around to see the Northern Lights! Given time constraints, we didn’t book onto a tour to spot the Northern Lights and thought we would just try and see them ourselves.

The Grotta Lighthouse didn’t disappoint!! We used the App – ‘My Aurora Forecast’ to track the Northern Lights, it shows you where they are, if you are in a zone and your chance of seeing them. Based on other’s reviews online from the week before we went, it seemed around 9pm was a good time to see them. We had a cosy dinner in the cabin then put loads of layers on and headed out to the lighthouse.

Within minutes of arriving we saw the Northern Lights! Although they only lasted for about 2 minutes and they weren’t super clear, we saw them!! They kind of look like a streak in the sky but when you take a photo and edit the exposure they look a lot clearer! We waited around an hour hoping to see them again but that’s all we got, still definitely a bucket list tick!

We heard others that paid for a guided tour to see the Northern Lights where they drive you inland to the middle of the National Park where there is no light pollution and they saw them super clearly, if you have the time and money I think this would be great!

Sunday:

1st Stop – Kerid Crater Lake

First stop of the day on Sunday was the crater lake! It is about 55 minutes driving from Reykjavik and is very easy to find as you can see the free car park from the road and the walk up is about 5 minutes. Unfortunately for us it was a similar experience to the glacier – covered in deep snow, we couldn’t actually see the water in the lake, everything was just white! So it wasn’t what I had expected from the photos. But if you have less snow I would definitely recommend stopping here if it is en-route!

2nd Stop – Gullfoss

Another 40 minutes on from Kerid is Gullfoss waterfall. Although quite far to get to, it was the furthest point we travelled to this day and we passed back through other spots on our list so it made a good round trip.

Parking is free and there is a big café which makes it a good place to stop at. The walk from the car is only a few minutes and there are designated viewing platforms to see this incredible waterfall. Wider and not so high as the others, this waterfall is vast. It was so beautiful with bright blue streams of water shining out of the snow. It was also the coldest place we stopped during our whole trip. You can’t tell from the photos but it was incredibly windy and I had to brave taking my gloves off to get some photos!! Worth it even though I couldn’t feel my hands for about ten minutes once we were back in the car! This place really is magical, we even witnessed a proposal here, what a spot for it!

3rd Stop – Strokkur Geysir

About 10 minutes back down the road from Gullfoss you will find the famous Geysir. We arrived quite early but this place gets pretty busy. There are a number of hot springs to see here. The main Geysir is called Strokkur and it erupts every 8-15 minutes and it’s quite a funny experience as everyone waits patiently around the edge for the magic to happen and it catches you by surprise! We stayed for 2 eruptions and they are pretty impressive!! Definitely worth a visit.

4th Stop – Thingvellir National Park – Öxaráfoss

Another 45 minutes on from the Geysir you arrive at Oxarafoss waterfall in the middle of Thingvellir National Park. The national park is a Unesco World Heritage Site and is one of the stops on the Golden Circle tour. It is famous for many historical reasons but also because it sits in a rift valley caused by the separation of 2 tectonic plates. The Mid-Atlantic Rift divides Iceland: part of the country sits on the North American tectonic plate whilst the other part sits on the Eurasian plate. Iceland is the only place in the world where a rift is above sea-level and is so easily visible. Of course this attracts many geologists and tourists from all over the world.

A great walk you can do is along the Almannagja gorge where you will have a view of many of the amazing geological features including the beautiful Öxaráfoss waterfall. We only really had time to see this one but you could spend a whole day out here.

The driving in the national park got a bit sketchy at times as there was so much snow and the snow tractors hadn’t cleared the roads yet! We saw a couple of cars that had gone too close to the edge of the road and ended up stuck in snow drifts so be careful!

5th Stop – Reykjavik – Hallgrimskirkja

From the national park it took about 40 minutes to get back to Reykjavik. There is lots of free parking around the Hallgrimskirkia church so we just parked here which was super close to the centre of town. The first place we walked around was indeed the Hallgrimskirkia – the tallest church in Iceland, it is almost 75 metres tall. You can pay to go up in the lift to the open air viewing platform at the top where you can see right across the city and out to sea. We got a bit of a cloudy day but it was still incredible.

We then took a stroll around the city which was wonderful! There are lots of cute Scandi shops selling homeware, clothes and gifts which were refreshingly different! As you wander along the brightly coloured streets you keep catching glimpses of the sea, so magical. The water front is just a few streets down from the shops and here you will find the Sun Voyager Viking boat sculpture which is pretty cool with the ocean in the background. There are also a lot of good spots to eat and drink around the town so plenty to explore!