Guest post by infrequenttraveler
Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
Day 1
- Hvolsvöllur
- Skógafoss
- Reynisfjara
- Vik
- Sólheimajökull
- Seljalandsfoss
- Markaðurinn
Our flight arrived at 7 PM the night before and we just picked up our rental car and drove to our Airbnb in Reykjavik.
We booked a south coast day tour through Your Day Tours that picked us up and took us to all the stops:
Hvolsvöllur- snack stop
Skógafoss- waterfall
Reynisfjara- black sand beach
Vik- small fishing village
Sólheimajökull- glacier
Seljalandsfoss- waterfall you can walk behind
While we appreciated the history and insights the tour guide shared, we could have done it on our own instead of a tour. If we had our own car, we could have spent the amount of time we wanted at each place instead of their pace. There’s 23 hours of daylight so we could have made it a longer day. While the waterfalls were crowded, none of the places seemed too bad and they were all worth stopping at.
When we got back to Reykjavik around 6 pm, we had dinner at Grill Markadurinn. Iceland is very expensive in general, and we knew this place was going to be even more so. It was worth every dollar – excellent atmosphere and food.
Day 2
- Blue Lagoon
- Geysir
- Friðheimar
- Bruarfoss
We had tickets for a 10 am entry to the Blue Lagoon – the best. Such a cool space, the air is cold but the water is perfect. Get a beer and a face mask and spend some time there. Get tickets early, they could sell out.
There are natural hot springs that don’t cost, but we loved the amenities and convenience of the Blue Lagoon.
We then went around what is known as the Golden Circle route. Geysir was really crowded and I can’t say it was really worth it.
Fridheimar is a 100% botanically grown tomato farm, pollenated by bees. Unlimited tomato soup, everything is tomato (beer, cocktails, bread). Awesome experience.
Bruarfoss is the stunning blue waterfall and a great hike. Not very easy to find; we parked off the side of the road and followed the water, not really sure if we were going the right way. We saw one person walking back because it isn’t well marked and made us think we should turn around, but shortly after we passed another person who confirmed we were on the right path. We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to do this because it was around 9 PM when we parked, but luckily there was plenty of light.
Day 3
- Hallgrimskirkja
- Icelandic Street Food
- Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur
We spent the day walking around downtown Reykjavik. Hallgrimskirkja is the tall church and coolest-looking building in the country.
For comfort food (soup in a bread bowl), hit up Iceland Street Food. More affordable and tons of locals, everyone eats together. Must go here.
Stop at Baejarins for the quintessential Icelandic hot dog.
We saw everything we wanted to do, but of course you could spend more time in Iceland. It’s is a place we would definitely go back to. We did the stopover through Iceland Air, which was such an awesome add-on to our trip to another European country.
Traveled in June 2019
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