Iceland

Day 1

After spending the previous 8 days exploring the fjords of Norway with friends, we landed in Reykjavik, Iceland on the afternoon of June 15th.

When booking items for Iceland we discovered that rental cars were much more expensive than we were used to. We eventually found a decent deal through Icerental 4×4 so Christian and I shuttled there after arriving to pickup our car. Once arriving we discovered that instead of fairly new vehicle that is typical for rental cars, we received an older Suzuki Grand Vitara. After completing all of the paperwork and making note of all the preexisting exterior and interior damage (while getting rained on), Christian and I headed back to the airport to pickup the girls.

We dropped off our luggage at our AirBnB in Reykjavik before heading north towards the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. On the way we stopped at Grillhúsið in Borgarnes for dinner and to stretch our legs. After dinner we reached the peninsula and visited Kirkjufellsfoss waterfall. It was a short walk from the parking lot to reach an overlook, but our walk turned into a run on the way back to the car as wind and rain rolled in.

We continued our scenic drive around Snæfellsnes Peninsula with views of the ocean and sparse landscape. Our last point of interest for the day was the Búðakirkja church. The small wooden church is over 170 years old and sits right next to the ocean in a lava field.

Day 2

Our second day in Iceland started off with a relaxing visit to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa that is listed as one of National Geographic’s 25 wonders of the world. The heated water has a light blue milky color due to the silica, algae, and other minerals. The water temperature ranges from 98-104 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the lagoon.

We dried off around 11:30 a.m. and headed south towards Vik. Our fist stop in Vik was for coffee at Skool Beans Cafe. This is a former school but turned into a coffee shop. You order inside the bus and then they serve your drink to you from a window. For lunch we grabbed sandwiches from a nearby grocery since we wanted something lighter.

Our next stop was the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach. The black sand beach is a popular tourist attraction and it was easy to see why. The black sand was surrounded by towering rock walls, columnar basalt and the ocean all contract each other and make for a beautiful setting. The black sand is a mix of black volcanic ash and dark rocks.

We took in the scenery and explored the beach by checking out the cave and climbing around on the columns of basalt. Make sure to pay attention to the waves when visiting Reynisfjara, as it is one of the most dangerous locations in Iceland. The beach is known for sneaker waves that suddenly appear and can knock people off their feet and pull them into the strong ocean currents. There are no lifeguards at the beach due to rescue attempts being considered too dangerous.

Near the black sand beach is Dyrhólaey, a small peninsula with an iconic arch structure. During the summer Iceland is a destination for migrating birds. As we climbed up towards the peak, we discovered Puffins zooming through the skies and flying in and out of their cliff side nests. The small marine birds attracted a crowd of onlookers and we spent some time watching with them.

Once back on the road we ignored the advice of music artist TLC and went chasing waterfalls. While on the way to our first waterfall stop we passed a sign for Sólheimajökull Glacier. The trailhead parking lot was just a short drive off the highway and from the lot we could see the glacier, so we decided to hike out to it!

The marked trail led from the parking lot to a viewing platform. We then had an easy climb down a nearby slope and walked along the waters edge until reaching the glacier. There are signs prohibiting people from climbing up too far onto the glacier without proper gear, but it was neat to be able to touch the glacier ice that was on the edge.

The black sediment on the glacier is from previous volcanic eruptions that have left the ice covered in black volcanic ash.

After Sólheimajökull Glacier we checked out Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls.

Skógafoss was our first stop. It is one of the largest waterfalls in Iceland with a drop of 197 feet and spans 82 feet in width. We had researched both of our waterfall stops when planning our trip so I knew we could get behind one of them. After walking out to view the waterfall, Christian and I thought we could get behind it. The girls didn’t see a way so they stood and watched us as we ran into the mist. It turns out this is NOT the waterfall you can get behind (at least not without scuba gear).

Once retreating from the water we did our best to dry off and headed towards Seljalandsfoss. The water at Seljalandsfoss drops 200 feet but is much less powerful than Skógafoss. What Seljalandsfoss does have is a cavern that allows a path to easily walk behind the water fall.

The final stop of the day was a stop at Kentucky Fried Chicken (we like to eat fancy food while traveling) to take the last pieces of popcorn chicken before they closed.

Day 3

Our final day in Iceland (June 17th) just so happened to be Icelandic National Day. We initially planned to finish the Golden Circle and visit downtown Reykjavik on the way to the airport later in the day, but due to street closures we decided to start our day at Hallgrímskirkja.

Hallgrímskirkja is a Luthern parish church known for it’s unique design consisting of a curved spire and side wings.

The rest of our day we spent visiting the remaining destinations along the Golden Circle.

Thingvellir National Park was our first Golden Circle stop of the day and is known as the birthplace of Iceland as their parliament was founded on property in 930. The park is also unique for for it’s location as it is setting on both the North-American and Eurasion Techtonic plates. The plates drift apart roughly 3/4″ (2cm) a year which has created the Almannagjá Gorge. This is the only place in the world where you can touch both continents at the same time!

The park is also famous for being a filming site for the popular TV show Game of Thrones.

Unfortunately for us, there was one negative that came from our visit to the Thingvellir National Park, a parking ticket. We arrived before the visitor center was open and parked in the lot near an overlook trail. We read a sign in the parking lot that said parking was free outside of operating hours, and we didn’t see any booth or attendant to pay on the way out, so we assumed we were okay. When we returned our rental car we discovered that we had been fined $45 for failing to pay to park…. the parking kiosk was in the bathroom.

Next we stopped at the Geysir Geothermal Area and watched Strokkur erupt multiple times.

While not technically part of the Golden Circle, we decided to stop at the Kerið volcanic crater. This was a large crater lake that was formed from a volcano collapsing after an eruption.

Our final waterfall of the trip was Gullfoss, which means ‘Golden Falls.’

We finished our day of exploration with pizza from Hofland Eatery before heading to drop the rental car off and check in for our flight home.

Luckily our car passed the rigorous post-rental inspection and we checked in for Iceland Air flight from Reykjavík to Chicago. On our flight we were surprised when everyone was given cake to celebrate Icelandic National Day!

Final Thoughts

We spent 6+ months planning our Norway and Iceland adventure and it turned out to be one of our favorite trips. Even though we spent a lot of time on the road in Iceland, the sights were stunning and we were able to see some incredibly unique landscapes. In the future we may plan another trip to Iceland in the winter so we can witness the Northern Lights!