We’re planning a honeymoon trip to Iceland for the first half of July and would like any advice or help planning it. Our vague outline is to spend a day or to in Reykavik before taking our rental car for a week or so of hiking, sightseeing, exploring, etc. I don’t think we’ll be bringing overnight backpacking gear but we are both experienced and fit hikers so we plan to do some long day hikes.
I have the idea of spending 2-3 days in a few locations getting to know an area and then moving on to the next. I don’t think that gives us time to do a full loop around the island so we’re trying to figure out which areas we should concentrate on to avoid spending all our time in the car.
Any suggestions of places to stay, how to best get around in a rental car, what to bring, etc would be welcome.
I spent a few days in Iceland in July last year. We were super lucky with the weather - most days it was around 20 degrees Celsius, which apparently is really rare even at that time of year. So pack clothes for all eventualities. We visited the Blue Lagoon, a famous natural spa located between the airport and Reykjavik. It was expensive but worth it, in my opinion. I would suggest spending at least half a day there. We also ate at the restaurant there - again it was pricey, but I would say it was at least 4/5 star cuisine.
Another day we spent whale watching, if you like boats and/or whales/dolphins I would say this is also well worth it, the guide was excellent and had a great sense of humour. We also visited the continental divide (pretty impressive but not a lot to do there) and a huge waterfall - I think it was called Gulfoss or something like that - likewise. The only thing we didn’t get to do was visit a glacier or do much hiking in the less accessible parts of the country, due to lack of time. Reykjavik is a lovely city to wander around for a day as well.
We thoroughly enjoyed and hope you do too, we would love to go back.
I too say “go to the Blue Lagoon”. Yes, it is incredibly touristy but it is also remarkably relaxing. Maybe do it after you’ve been there for a few days. The big tour to do is “The Golden Circle”, which takes in Gullfoss (a trully epic waterfall), Geysir, defunct volcano craters and a hydroelectric power station. Additionally, I really enjoyed this one:
The black volcanic rock beach on the South cost, near Vik, with the natural stone pillars climbing out of a really quite harsh Atlantic was just … alien. In a good way.
I actually found Reykjavik to be really quite boring. Grey stone and corrugated iron. Get out of there as quickly as possible.
I always recommend this in threads like this, but only because it was really that fun - check out Goecco Tours. They’re small (8-10 people) tours that are generally run in a van instead of a bus. The tour guides are locals that are enthusiastic about their country and excited to show it off to you. It’s not a cushy and comfortable tour - you don’t stop for a long lunch, you might be slightly cramped in the van at times, you might be tired and cranky by the end of it. But it’s usually a hell of an adventure. There’s something to be said about having the safety and knowledge of being with an experienced tour guide but also the spontaneity of that guide saying “We’ve never really been down that dirt road … anyone else curious about what’s down there?” and then just going.
We took the Glacial Lagoon Tour. Left Reykjavik at 8 am, traveled all the way to the east coast, all the way back, dropped off at 2 am. Along the way, we stopped off many times and I saw some of the most amazing stuff I’ve ever seen.
I spent 2 weeks in Iceland this past August, and it was the best trip of my life. I went with one other friend. We had arrangements for 2 nights accommodations in Reykjavik, but nothing planned beyond that. We bought a Ring Road bus passport and made our way around the country by bus/hitchhiking. We camped about half the time and stayed in hostels and guesthouses the rest of the time. I heartily recommend trying to get a couple days travel away from Reykjavik to the more rural parts of the country. Akueryri, the “Capital of the North,” was awesome. There is another geothermic spa near Myvatn that is smaller, but less crowded than the Blue Lagoon. One of my favorite activities was hiking around the hills surrounding the tiny fishing town of Egisstadir on the eastern coast. It was like walking around in a postcard - no one else around (except for sheep).
In addition to the landscape being beautiful, the people were extremely friendly. We felt welcome everywhere, and people went out of their way to help us out. I would go back tomorrow if I could!
I went about 3 years ago, but didn’t rent a car, so no advice there.
Definitely check out the Blue Lagoon, it is touristy, but it’s really nice.
Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon is awesome, but it’s a long way from Reykavik
Thingvellir, Gulfoss, and Geysir are all cool and relatively close together - again, touristy, but for a reason
One of the coolest things I did, which I recommend, was a ‘tour’ with like 3 other people and a driver where we got into a souped up Land Rover and went offroading out on the glacier - good fun.
I concur that Reykavik is a little ‘blah.’ There is a road named Baldursgata, though - worth a picture if you’re the gamer type.
Also, Reykavik Airport and Keflavik Airport are not the same… long story involving not enough sleep and a very accomodating tour agency.
From different sets of friends who have gone recently, the advice I can pass on is to budget a lot for food. Dining is expensive everywhere there, and the options may be very limited (and there’s no longer McDonald’s there either ;)).
Thanks for the advice. I’ve gotten the impression that food is very expensive so we are budgeting for that. I think we’ll only be spending two nights in Reykavik (one at the start and one at the end) and the rest of the time we’ll be traveling, with the main focus being getting to places we can hike and sightsee.