When WOWAir started flights from San Francisco, I couldn’t miss a chance to take advantage of low fares to Iceland. The country has been on my “must visit” list for many years, but there was always something else ahead of it on the list. $250 round trip. Yes, let’s make it happen. At that point, I didn’t know about Icelandic prices on everything.
We landed a few hours behind a schedule due to a late departure. A plane tire wasn’t inflated enough, and a pilot reversed taking off when we were already on a runway. Upon landing the pilot announced that something happened at the airport and we had to wait inside. The airport was closed. I started googling to see what’s happening. There was a plane coming from Greenland. Apparently, the passengers from that flight just took off. The airport was shut down to find those passengers and make them go through the customs. Someone messed up somewhere.
By the time I’ve picked up a rental car and reached a hotel, it was already late for any type of touristy activities. My mom and I took shower and went to bed. We had a long day ahead of us.
Today plan is to explore The Golden Circle. From an online search, the Golden Circle appear to be the main tourist attraction in Iceland. First, it is close to the capital, and, second, it has major island highlights.
Breakfast at a hotel. Then 1 hour of driving to Þingvellir. Roads are good, not busy, easy drive. We walked around for about an hour. It was cold, but good cold.
Another hour of driving and we reached Center. The total walking took no more than 30 minutes. But we took half an hour to have coffee and a cake at the Geysir Center.
From Geysir Center to Gullfoss was only 10 minutes of driving.
That’s where was cold. The wind was hard and super cold. Stairs down to an observation deck took 5 minutes. We walked for half an hour then head inside a tourist center where we had lunch and shopped for some souvenirs. A bowl of soup was 17$! At first, I thought the cafeteria is in a touristy place, therefore high prices. Nope…
In my schedule, I put Secret Lagoon. However, when we arrived, I didn’t like how it looks. Large pond with many people. Skipped
We stayed overnight on a farm, Kalfholt B&B. The house has very distant neighbors. A sunrise over a frozen field was beautiful. Nearby we found a lighthouse and had a sunset walk.
Exploring the southern part of the country. Today all stops are along the coast.
After a breakfast, we headed to Reynisfjara, a black sand beach. The day was rainy. Yet it didn’t spoil the place beauty. Actually, the rain only highlighted the black color of sand and cliffs. There were only 2 other people.
Two hours of driving from the Reynisfjara beach to Skaftafell Park where I’ve booked a tour to an ice cave. March 31 was the last day of the tour. Ice was melting and what we saw was far far from the pictures that made me visit the place. The overall experience was dissatisfactory. First, we had too many stops on the way to the cave, second, we only saw a dirty small hole in a glacier. I understand that nature is unpredictable and the tour agency cannot provide 100% satisfactory results, yet I was disappointed. Also, it was upsetting because of a relatively high price the tour costs: 180$ per person for 2 hours of a walk
Our place for sleeping where we also had a dinner. I wanted to stay near Jökulsárlón lagoon but found zero hotels immediately next to the lagoon. We liked that small guest house with very nice owners.
Today we are continuing driving along the coast exploring the eastern part of the country.
Jökulsárlón lagoon – here it is! Breathtaking! Floating icebergs are incredible.
Stodvarfjorður was a place to stretch after 3.5 hours of driving. A coastal road in morning colors was amazing. The town is nothing to note. Just a tiny coastal town.
The reason I wanted to visit the town is that I’ve read it was a French town. I guess I had unsupported hopes for some nice cafes, restaurants or architecture. It was just a tiny tiny town. That’s it. There was nothing Frenchy in its appearance. Anyway, coffee and a quick bite were worth the stop.
I’ve picked Olga guesthouse in Egilsstadir. The owner was a welcoming person. He had an iPad (or some kind of pad) with an app that tracked Aurora Borealis. So he told us that according to the app there will be northern lights tonight. Sure thing. The best time to see it is supposedly midnight or 11 pm. My mom fell asleep and I was reading. At 11 I woke up my mom and we drove up to a mountain, which was suggested by the owner. One hour of waiting….freezing cold. But the car has to be off for complete darkness. I saw photographers with large lenses, tripods waiting outside. Well… past midnight. Clouds came and covered the sky. No northern lights for us. What a bummer!
Again, this is a highly recommended town by online reviews. It was pretty, but not pretty enough to consider re-visiting it. A drive over a mountain (where we were waiting for the northern lights) awed me. We wanted to have a dinner there, but something didn’t work out. We didn’t walk outside, only drove through the town and left. We had a good pizza back at Egilsstadir: Salt Cafe and Bistro.
Today we are moving away from the Eastern part of the country into Northeastern.
A hike to Hengifoss was very nice. It wasn’t hard and it wasn’t easy. Morning colors are great!
Huge waterfall. The road leading to it was super picturesque.
The guesthouse had a shared kitchen. We went to a local grocery store nearby and bought some local snacks.
The second day in the Northeast part of Iceland with many stops around Myvatn lake.
st (besides employees) to arrive. I didn’t find anything fascinating about the place though. A coffee shop/cafeteria inside a tourist office sells tasty black bread that made on geothermal heat/steam. We bought one, however, it didn’t last long. In a few days, it got moldy.We started our day at this small park. We were the fir
Hverfjall crater is only 10 minutes away from Dimmuborgir. A hike to the crater is a moderate one. It’s steep, yet short. We circled the rim and took down another trail. Maybe because there were no people around and black and white, very contrast colors around, it felt as on another planet.
I guess if you could still swim in the cave, that would be an interesting spot to visit. It was different. I’ve never seen hot springs or hot ponds of water in a cave. There are people of people bathing in it back in a day, however, not anymore. It was closed for a public access due to some unstable hazardous grounds. Not much walk to do. Maybe 15 minutes the most.
Our next stop was planned for Krafla crater hike. I’ve read the reviews and the place looked inviting. However, when we drop to a top of a nearby mountain, past a power plant, the road ended filled with snow. At that point, I had no idea where to go, although we could drive over snow. But since there were no signs where hikes are or which way we need to go, I just turned around.
After we turned around Krafla crater, on the way back to Myvatn Nature Bath (you pass by them when driving from Hverfjall/Dimmuborgir to Krafla), we stopped by a geothermal area that reminded me of Yellowstone. Surreal. Colors, steam, boiling sound, etc.
Before jumping into the water that looked amazingly blue, we had a lunch at Myvatn cafe. Their soups and that special typical bread, Rúgbrauð, was very good. We didn’t make it to Blue Lagoon because I didn’t realize how much in advance I had to make a reservation. Therefore, I cannot compare. Myvatn also has (comparing based on pictures I saw) super blue waters and geothermal steam sauna. It is cheaper and doesn’t require reservations. It’s also smaller. I couldn’t stay long in the water. Although water warm cozy warm, outside wind was chilly. My nose and ears were so cold. I kept going back and force to the sauna. My mom stayed longer. In 40 minutes I was done. I went to the cafeteria, which had full wall windows overlooking the lagoon. That’s where I was taking pictures of my mom. By 2 PM we were ready to continue the trip.
Our drive to Godafoss was in complete solitude. We didn’t see a single car going toward us. Again, it was freezing cold by the waterfall. It was definitely worth a visit.
I remember Akureyri because I’ve got a parking ticket there. We walked on a main street, checked out souvenir shops and had coffee with cakes at Blaa Kannan. It was a cute little town. I also saw a signage of Einstök beer. That’s where it is from 🙂
I had a reservation for 9 PM for floating in an infinity pool. We arrived Hofsos around 7:30 PM planning to had dinner prior to swimming. To my surprise, the town didn’t have a single eatery open. As an employee at the pool told me, they are closed for the season. Then I asked if we can move our reservation to now, and they said no. So I’ve canceled our floating because there was absolutely nothing to do around there, plus we were hungry. So we went to our hotel.
Today the plan was to visit Western Region: Bjarnarhöfn Shark Museum, Kirkjufell Mountain, Djúpalónssandur beach, Vatnshellir Cave (I pre-paid a tour), and Gerðuberg Cliffs. However, we had to cancel the plan altogether. During the night we’ve got fresh snow. Google Maps took me on a side road, which turned into a complete ice-covered road at one point. I told my mom I feel very uncomfortable driving in such conditions. That was my first time driving on ice. My mom agreed to turn around. We went straight to Reykjavik.
Today was the day to devote to Iceland capital. It is awesome! There are so many coffee shops, cafes, restaurants.
We spent the day leisurely walking around, visited the national museum. I loved the museum. It had so much information, history… well… that’s what museums do… yet, I want to highlight it!
The tapas food is so tasty and different. I loved the concept and menu. Plus they have good drinks. Highly recommend!
Today we were flying back to San Francisco. At Reykjavik Airport I saw some interesting local alcohol.
