So you’re going to Iceland for a week. What do you do? You can see the entire country in 8 days on the Ring Road, or you can choose to focus on a more concentrated portion. Here’s how we spent our 8-day stay in the land of fire & ice.
(Note: Typically, I like to budget travel. However, this was not that trip. The total cost for this trip was around $2,000 USD for 8 days. It can be done cheaper!)
Day 1-2: Reykjavík
We flew into Keflavik, as most people do, and checked into the KEX Hostel in Reykjavik. It was a clean, quiet, and cozy hostel with a spanning view of they bay. The lobby is dressed like an old library with recycled bird cages hanging from the ceilings. One might imagine that Edgar Allen Poe would have admired the space. There is a large wrap around bar that serves food and drink, with a happy hour from 3-7pm. Overall, a nice place to stay–and just a 3 minute walk from downtown.
Our first evening we visited the famous Blue Lagoon. Some people write this off their to-do list in Iceland, as it is undoubtedly touristy (and pricey!). We managed to lower our cost a little bit by going at night. Our 9pm time slot ended up being perfect (and saved us $40USD)! We arrived with about 1.5 hours of sunlight left..the sky hazy, the sun golden, and the water warm!
We spent the whole next day exploring Reykjavík, which is less of a city and more of a big, colorful fishing town. We had some extra color added, visiting during pride week! We visited Hallgrimskirkja Church downtown, making sure to buy a ticket to the top of which provides breathtaking views of the capital.
That evening we made our way down by the waterfront to a restaurant called Sægrefinn (or Seabaron) for a delicious Icelandic meal of blue ling fish spears and their famous lobster soup. If you’re feeling chilly walking around the city and looking for some warm, flavorful seafood, this is a must!
Day 3: Vík
We got up early, helped ourselves to the breakfast buffet at KEX Hostel, and made our way out east to the little fishing village of Vík to see the famous Black Sand Beaches. It should take you about 2.5 hours along Route 1 to get to Vík, though it ended up taking us closer to 3 or 3.5 with stopping for photos etc. The most significant stop was at Urriðafoss, Iceland’s most voluminous waterfall!
Our first stop after checking into our hostel was to drive back to Dyrhólaey, a nature preserve along the coast. We were headed there with the optimistic hope that we would see the puffin colonies before they took off for the summer (they typically mate from June-early August and begin to depart around mid-late august). With a little patience and some luck…we saw loads of puffins! They’re even cuter than you’d imagine!
Next stop: Reynisfjara aka the Black Sand Beach
Reynisfjara is pretty gorgeous, but packed with tourists. We were really impressed with the dramatic basalt columns. However, I couldn’t help but feel like if we had done a little more digging, we would have been able to track down a more elusive, less crowded black sandy coastline. Anyone else have this experience?
Day 4-5: Fimmvörðuháls Trek
I won’t go into too much detail about the hike, because I wrote a pretty extensive post about it already. If you want to read more about Fimmvörðuháls, visit here. What I will say though is that if you have an extra couple of days and enjoy nature and unbeatable views, this hike is a must. This was personally my favorite two days of the trip. We booked a bunk at the Utivíst Hut about halfway through the trail to break up the 25km. So worth it!
Day 5-6: The Golden Circle
The evening and following day post-hike we dedicated some time to seeing points on The Golden Circle. We drove from Seljalandsfoss to Fluðir, where we spent one night, relaxing our sore muscles in the Gamla Laugin (Secret Lagoon) before heading back to our Air BnB. If you are doing the Golden Circle, 10/10 make the Secret Lagoon a stop on the way. It was my favorite hot pot of the trip!
Snorkeling at Silfra Fissure
The next day we continued around the Golden Circle, making a stop at Gulfoss before heading to Þingvellir National Park where the Silfra Fissure is located. Snorkeling here was a really unique experience–floating merrily along between the American and Eurasian continents. The water is constantly flowing from the glacier Langjökull directly into the fissure, so you are the first person to ever come in contact with it upon entering! How cool! Our guide encouraged us to take a sip right when we entered because of how pure it was. The water is VERY cold and absolutely delicious.
Because the water temperature was somewhere below freezing, a large portion of the tour is dedicated to wriggling into a dry suit. If you’ve never worn a dry suit before, I will say, it is a feat to get on. They advise you to wear thermals and warm, wool socks underneath to keep you warm. Your face and hands are still pretty freezing, though! At $130 a person through dive.is, I would say this excursion was well worth it. When else will you get to swim between the continents and drink the water while doing it?!
Day 6: Into the Glacier & Akranes
On this day, we headed out to Langjökull Glacier. The trip on the monster truck bus was pricey, clocking in around $150 a person (again, not a budget trip!), but how often to you get to go INSIDE a glacier?
These tunnel networks within the glacier offer visitors a chance to see the mystifying blue ice that lies beneath the icy surface. Looking up through glacial moulins and crevasses and seeing ice formations from this perspective was really eye opening.
Part of what made this day so special was the journey out onto the glacier itself. The truck is HUGE! And it has to be in order to climb up to the peak of the glacier that lies at 1,300m. Don’t forget your sunglasses, because the world up here is blindingly white.
After our day on the glacier, we made a quick pit stop in Akranes to see the lighthouse. It was a lovely place to watch the sunset and a peaceful way to end the day.
Day 7: Reykjadalur Hot Spring Thermal River
One of our final stops on our Iceland itinerary was the Reykjadalur Thermal Hot Springs on the Hveragerdi River Hike Trail. The trailhead is easy to find, and just a 40-minute drive southeast of Reykjavik. From there, it’s about 2 miles or so to the hot spring with almost 1,000 feet elevation gain.
One things to note about this hot spring: it isn’t exactly “serene”. This hot spring reminded me more of a massive pool party! People playing music, having picnics, etc. This was clearly the place to be on a Saturday for the locals!
The hike is quite scenic, and the sheep along the way look very happy to have their own personal sauna. The ascent is a little steep, so don’t embark on this hike thinking it will be a total walk in the park–you need to earn your hot springs soak!!
Day 8: Back to Reykjavík!
Our last day/night brought us back to Rekjavík before flying out the next day. All in all, I felt like our itinerary was pretty well rounded. While we didn’t see the entire country along the ring road, we were able to really appreciate what Iceland had to offer in certain places.
Did you do anything on this itinerary? What was your favorite part about Iceland?
Nomad Nina 