Iceland

Iceland, the land of fire and ice. What a beautiful place with amazing scenery and experiences unlike anywhere else in the world. Lava rocks, caves, geysers, and of course, hot springs. This was our very first stop in our world adventure tour! We spent eight amazing days here, here are the highlights of our time there.

We covered the west and south parts of Iceland. Nine days is technically enough to circle the island on the ring road, but we decided to cover less area and spend more time exploring the places we visit. This turned out to be the right decision for us; even at this schedule, we felt a bit rushed at certain places, especially at Snæfellsnes peninsula. We like to take our time at places we enjoy, and had we done the ring road in 9 days, it would be a ton of driving and not much time exploring. The first four days were jam packed, then we eased up a bit.

Day 0 - Taking off! Here we go!!!

Day 1 - Fly to Reykjanik, drive to Borgarnes

Day 2 - Explore Borgarfjörður area - Hot springs, waterfalls and lava caves

Day 3 - Magic of Snæfellsnes peninsula

Day 4 - The Golden Circle

Day 5 - South shore - Reykjadalur Hot spring river and Seljalandsfoss waterfall

Day 6 - South shore continued - Fjarðarárgljúfur viewpoint & drive up to the highlands

Day 7 - Highlands and more south shore - Skogafoss and Reynisfiara black sand beach

Day 8 - Reykjavik & Reyjanes peninsula

Day 0 - Taking off!

This is it! The day we’ve been waiting for! We packed up, said goodbye, and left for our year-long journey! The layover in Minneapolis was interesting… we spent some time at the PGA lounge, where the girls got to practice putting a bit while we relaxed in the lounge utilizing our PriorityPass membership. M also found some chocolate with interesting names while roaming around. After the layover, we hopped on the plane to Reykjavik for our first stop!

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DAY 1 (JUL 31, 2019) - ARRIVE IN REYKJAVIK, DRIVE TO BORGARNES

GROBROK CRATER

GLANNI FALLS

We were exhausted upon arriving at Reykjavik, especially with the time change. We rented a car and drove about two hours straight to our hotel at Borgarnes. Finally got to the hotel by around noon, only to find out that check-in time starts at 3pm. We decided to make the best of the wait and went to explore the Grobrok Crater and Glanni Falls, which were about half an hour away. The Grobrok Crater was a massive hole (there’s also another one adjacent to it) a short hike away. The wind was very strong up there. A fun fact: Icelandic people think of “nice weather” as “less windy”, not necessarily sunny. It gets windy often here. We learned from others around here that crowberries are everywhere and you can just pick them and eat them. Truth be told, they’re edible but not very sweet, and you just swallow the tiny seeds.

Glanni Falls is just a short drive away, and a quick walk away from the parking lot. The hotel front desk guy told us we can see salmons swimming upstream if we’re lucky, but we didn’t have such luck that day. The scenery was nice nonetheless. This was our first of many waterfall adventures in Iceland.

We drove back to our hotel in Borgarnes after Glanni Falls and stopped by a grocery store for some food shopping. Food in Iceland is expensive! Luckily, our apartment in Hotel Borgarnes has a nice kitchen where we can prepare our own food and save some money.

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DAY 2 (Aug 1, 2019) - Explore Borgarfjörður area

HRAUNFOSSAR & BARNAFOSS WATERFALL

HAAFELL GOAT FARM

DEILDARTUNGUHVER HOT SPRINGS & Krauma Spa

VÍÐGELMIR LAVA CAVE

HRAUNFOSSAR & BARNAFOSS WATERFALL

On our first day of officially planned fun, we had a really nice breakfast at the hotel. There was fresh bread, pate, deli meat, boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, yogurt and lots of fruits. Yum! We then gathered our stuff and went to Hraunfosser and Barnafoss. They are both next to each other. The waterfall was beautiful. Hraunfosser looks like many many waterfalls in a row. Barnafoss was all about power with the strong current flowing off the mountain. Barnafoss has a sad story behind it. It’s name translate to mean “children’s waterfall.” The legend has it that the parents went to church one day and left the two children behind. When they came back, the kids were gone and all they found were tracks leading to the bridge of the waterfall. The mom got so mad, she destroyed the bridge so that other kids won’t fall into the waterfall ever again.

haafell goat farm

Next stop, Vidgelmir Lava tunnel…or so we thought until we found out it was going to be 32 degree Celsius in the cave with a tour that was going to take 1.5 hours. The weather was unusually warm, so all Ivan was wearing was long sleeves and we had light jackets on…we’ll have to come back. Iceland was unusually warm even for the peak of its summer. It was in the low seventies. During Ivan’s research on Iceland, a goat farm was on the list of places to visit. Since M and A were excited about petting goats, we figured why not. The tour guide and the owner were very nice. They told us about the history of why they are the only goat farm in western Iceland. Turns out goats are considered pets and the brown wool and hornless goats were dying out. The owner didn’t want to see that happen, so she took the few that were left and raised them. But that meant that she had to quarantine them for 10 years…for 10 years, she would not be able to sell anything from the goats. The farm nearly went bankrupted, but an American friend of the owner was able to successfully crowd sourced and saved the farm. Pretty cool! And as a result, M and A were able to hold them and pet the Icelandic goats. At the end of the tour, we had chocolate, vanilla, and mint goat ice cream. So good! Ivan and M’s favorite was vanilla, while Megan and A’s favorite was mint…which is completely different than our usual favorites, especially since M is a die hard chocolate ice cream fan!

Voyagers tips: Park in the lot and visit the small shack where you can pay for the “tour”, where a worker let you pet and hold the goats and tell you about the story of the goat farm. The goat milk ice cream was good. Find out which goat appeared in Game of Thrones.

DEILDARTUNGUHVER HOT SPRINGS

Next stop, Deildartunguhver hot springs, Iceland’s most power hotspring! Man, the names are hard to say! This is the hot spring that provides hot water and heating for a lot of homes, including our hotel that is 40 minutes away! The sulfur created a very potent smell. Whoa, stinky! It’s crazy how you can see the water boiling from the ground. Up the hill from the hot springs was Krauma hot spring spa. Time for relaxation. To get optimal temperature of each temperature-controlled pool, hot and cold water is carefully controlled. Hot water comes from natural hot springs, and cold water is from glacier water. Where else in the world can you get hot spring spas sourced from both natural hot springs and glacier water?? The “cold pool” was more like freezing pool, as Ivan found out.

Voyager tips: Krauma shares the same parking lot as Deildartunguhver Hot Springs. $32 USD per adult, free for kids under 12. Bring your own towel to avoid towel charges.

VÍÐGELMIR LAVA CAVE

The spa was nice but we didn’t stay too long. We wanted to make sure we had enough time to go back to the lava cave. The last tour was at 6 pm. We thought we gave ourselves plenty of time to go back, grab our winter coats and maybe even eat dinner before we head over to the lava caves, but Waze told us otherwise. Ivan had to utilize his speeding skills to get us there quickly. The ETA on Google Maps and Waze were all wrong. We were 5 minutes late but still was able to catch up to the tour. Inside the cave was pretty amazing, including the stalactite, stalagmites, and poop looking formations. It was also neat to experience pitch darkness…it is amazing how your senses sharpen when you lose one of your other senses. Didn’t notice the dripping sounds in the cave, but they were so loud when we turned off all the flashlights. Super cool and totally recommend checking out the lava tubes.

Voyager tips: It’s zero degree Celsius in the cave and the tour takes about an hour. Bring a warm jacket! Call and make reservations first, as some tours are booked up and you cannot enter the cave without joining a tour.

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DAY 3 (Aug 2, 2019) - Snæfellsnes peninsula

Gerduberg Cliffs (Basalt Columns)

Bjarnarfoss waterfall

Raudfeldsgja Gorge (waterfall inside cliff crack)

Anarstapi (walk along the cliffs)

Londrangar Viewpoint

Skardsvik Beach (white sand beach)

Dritvik Djupalonssandur (black sand beach)

Kirkjufell

(Landbrotalaug Hot Pot)

Voyagers tips: Spend two days here if you can afford the time and don’t want to feel rushed. Snaefellsnes peninsula is magical. Make a stop at Landbrotalaug Hot Pot also during these days. We missed it and had to backtrack the next day.

Gerduberg Cliffs (Basalt Columns)

This was a cool stop. The columns seem tall, but it was actually fairly easy to climb to the top. This makes for some cool pictures! Basalt columns are very common, can be seen throughout Iceland.

Bjarnarfoss waterfall

Bjarnarfoss was an accidental stop, it’s not the most popular spots, but we loved it! The hike was a lot of fun, although it does get steep towards the top so be prepared. Since it’s not on most “must-do” lists online, there are fairly few people, which made it more enjoyable. One of our highlights of Snaefullsnes, highly recommended!

Raudfeldsgja Gorge (waterfall inside cliff crack)

This is no ordinary hike like we thought. It is essentially walking in a creek or along the rocky walls of a creek. We didn’t bring our waterproof shoe covers, so it was either finding taller rocks to step on in the narrow creek or finding footholds along the rocky walls on either side. The creek leads up to a small waterfall. The path was so narrow and with so few footholds that one person needs to get out of the way for the other person to get by. It was challenging for all hikers, for sure. Most hikers stopped half way through when things got really tricky. We got half way there and the kids couldn’t make the big straddles necessary, so Megan went back with the kids and Ivan kept going to the end. It was quite exhilarating!

Voyagers tips: Bring waterproof shoes! We actually bought silicone water-proof shoe covers on the trip, which would’ve been awesome, but didn’t bring it that day as we didn’t do sufficient research. The kids could’ve kept going had they brought the shoe covers.

Anarstapi (walk along the cliffs)

Drive to the end of the road for a gorgeous trail along the coast that leads to the neighboring town of Hellnar. We really enjoyed the beautiful scenery on a gorgeous sunny day, and stopped often to take pictures. We got carried away with all the jumping pictures! Since we were running short on time, we didn’t complete the 4-km round-trip hike. Such a pity, it really was gorgeous, and there were some cool views and lava rocks along the path that we missed, plus a cute cafe in Hellnar. Maybe next time. My suggestion to anyone visiting Iceland — Spend two full days in Snaefullnes peninsula to fully enjoy this amazing place!

Voyagers tips: Drive After making the turn from the main road, drive straight through to the end where you hit the dock and park there. There’s a beautiful hike to Hellnar if you have time. There’s supposedly a nice bakery after you get to Hellnar also. If you have two days on Snaefullsnes, which I recomend, then save time to do the full hike. If you only have one day, just go as far as you want and turn back.

Londrangar Viewpoint

Londrangar provides a different costal view along the cliffs. The scenery reminds me of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. Not quite as grand, but the view to the left of the viewpoint was similar. A quick stop along the way, the viewpoint is just a short walk from the parking lot.

Dritvik Djupalonssandur (black sand beach)

This is a fun beach for several reasons. One, there’s a place with stones of varying weights where passerby’s strengths are tested. Two, there’s a cool stone arch you can climb up for a cool picture. Three, a ship crashed onto the beach a long time ago and many people died in this disaster. Big pieces of the ship remains on the beach as evidence of this part of history. Four, the “sand” is more like black pebbles, and the size of the pebbles get smaller as you get closer to the water. Five, the view is gorgeous! Definitely a must-see spot in Iceland.

Skardsvik Beach (white sand beach)

There were surprisingly few people at this awesome beach. It’s not quite “white sand” as they call it, but it’s a nice beach surrounded by black rocky hills, makes for a beautiful view. The kids discovered a tiny cave they can crawl/walk through from one end to another. It was sized for small kids only. We could’ve easily spent half a day here just chilling and enjoying the view if time allowed.

Kirkjufell

Kirkjufell, the most photographed mountain in Iceland. The popular shot is one with waterfall in front on the left and the mountain in the back on the right. The tip of the mountain was hidden by the clouds when we were there, giving it a unique feel. The waterfall itself is relatively small, but the two waterfalls side by side, surrounded by a beautiful view of greenery and the majestic mountain in the back, it really felt like we were in a postcard.

Voyagers tips: To get the postcard view of the waterfall and the mountain together, park on the street and walk around to the other side of the waterfall. If you have an SLR, remember to set it to long shutter speed to get the silky waterfall effect.

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DAY 4 (Aug 3, 2019) - The Golden circle

landbrotalaug hot pot (not part of golden circle)

Þingvellir (thingvellir)

strokkur / geysir

gullfoss waterfall

We took a quick detour back to Snaefullsnes peninsula for the Landbrotalaug Hot Pot (or Hot Spring) before heading down to visit the very popular Golden Circle. This was another full day, each of the four main spots were quite spectacular in their own unique ways!

Landbrotalaug hot pot

While we had a jam packed day in Snaefullsnes peninsula yesterday, there was still one spot there we didn’t hit, and it was a hidden gem A discovered that we really wanted to go check out. So we decided it was worth backtracking for. This tiny little hot spring was just too cool! It’s pretty much the shape of a small pot, hence the nickname “hot pot”, I suppose. There’s a nearby shallow pool also. Since the hot spring is tiny, we were hoping there wouldn’t be other people there. Imagine our disappointment when we saw 15+ cars in the parking lot when we parked. We thought there’s no way we could get in. Luckily, we decided to go check it out anyway. There were lots of people walking around, but when we walked to the shallow pool, there was nobody in there! We happily ran back to get our sandals and towels from our car (we already had swimsuits on under our clothes) and jumped in! Well, not quite… Ivan went in slowly, then eventually the rest of us followed. The shallow pool is divided into three separate pools, one of them has a “faucet” where you can adjust the amount of hot spring water coming in. This part was way too hot. The other two were a bit cooler, so we picked one and went in. It was quite shallow, and the bottom was part rock, part mud. Maybe the hot spring mud’s minerals are good for our skins? Who knows. The small hot spring was full so we waited in the shallow pool. Eventually the hot pot freed up and we went over to try it out. It really was just enough room for two comfortably, four in a squeeze. This was much better than the shallow pool — Much deeper so hot water goes up to your chest, rock bottom so no mud, and the temperature was perfect. We relaxed and had fun taking some pictures, before getting back on the road. This was definitely an unique spot unlike any other. Just don’t be fooled by some youtube videos… it might be empty during off seasons, but it’s no longer a “hidden gem” as many tourists walk around here.

Voyager tips: Visit here with other places on Snaefullsnes. Wear your swimsuits underneath if you want. You may need to wait your turn for the hot spring. Try the shallow pool if you don’t mind a bit of mud. Bring big towels to dry and to help you change. Just know that you won’t get to shower until when you get home at the end of the day.

Þingvellir

Þingvellir, (aka Thingvellir) is an UNESCO world heritage site where you can walk between two continents, at least as far as tectonic plates are concerned. You can walk down the crack, where it is the North American plate on the left and the Eurasian plate to your right. How cool is that??

strokkur / geysir

The word “geyser” came from this very original “geysir” in Iceland. The original geysir is no longer active, but this new kid on the block called Strokkur has replaced it to be THE main geyser in the area. It’s quite active, puts on a show every 6 minutes or so, and it’s glorious! Water around there is quite hot. There’s a nice restaurant across the street where we got some yummy food.

Voyager tips: Strokkur goes off every 6 minutes or so, more frequently than Old Faithful at Yellowstone. The “all you can drink” soup and unlimited bread at ~$20 USD is actually a good deal for Iceland standard, and the quality of food is much better than the typical tourist-attraction restaurants. The special soup of the day, the fish soup, was awesome, and they didn’t mind that we shared it as a family. The server even gave our daughters free chocolate bars!

gullfoss waterfall

Gullfoss is the most powerful waterfall in Iceland, and you can feel its sheer power when standing so close to it. The water loudly roaring, the mist coming up and covering its surroundings, water gushing through continuously. The government is now building a water power plant to draw out the power of this waterfall, great idea!

Voyager tips: Definitely bring rain jackets. You WILL get wet!

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DAY 5 (Aug 4, 2019) - South shore part 1

reykjadalur hot spring river

seljalandsfoss

reykjadalur hot spring river

This is Ivan’s #1 favorite spot in Iceland, and definitely in the top three for all of us. After taking a beautiful 1.5km hike with roughly 200m in elevation with beautiful scenery along the way, you see this amazing hot spa river waiting for you. Get into your swim suits, find a spot based on your desired temperature and space availability, and jump in, relax, and enjoy. The combination of hot spring water, gentle massage of flowing river and beautiful greenery is magical. Sounds like a place that only exists in fairy tales!

Voyagers tips: The bottom half of the hike has lots of small flying bugs; they aren’t mosquitoes and won’t bite, but they’re annoying. Bring face nets/masks if you want to avoid the bugs flying in your face. This place can get crowded, and temperature varies quite a bit from the top to the bottom of the stream. Find the range of temperature you want, find an open spot, and slowly move to your ideal spots as they free up. Remember to bring a big towel, there are no changing rooms.

saljalandsfoss

Saljalandsfoss , where you can walk behind the waterfall. We came prepared: rain jackets, waterproof shoe covers, the whole nine yards. We had high expectations, and Saljalandsfoss did not dissapoint. You can really feel the power of the waterfall when walking behind it. The waterfall was also the perfect backdrop for some awesome pictures. You can even walk to the bottom where the water splashes down, just prepare to get REALLY wet if you do. Definitely a must-do for all Iceland visitors!

Voyagers tip: Walk down the path to get to the bottom of the waterfall behind the fall. It’s crazy and you’ll get drenched, but it’s so much fun!

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DAY 6 (Aug 5, 2019) - the highlands and Fjarðarárgljúfur

The Highlands (Holaskjol)

Fjarðarárgljúfur

The highlands (holaskjol)

We stayed one night in a cabin at the Holaskjol campground, not fully knowing what we were getting ourselves into in terms of the length of gravel roads (F-roads). It took us about 50 minutes of driving 30-60mph on rural hilly gravel roads to our cabin, pretty scary when your car is not built for it. We probably saw less than 10 cars in the 50 minutes of driving. The fear was that if our street tires pop, we’d have a hell of a time getting help. Luckily, we got there just fine, checked in and got some rest in the cabin, and woke up to explore the highlands the next morning. There’s a beautiful waterfall just up the hill from the campground. The highlands is where the locals go to get away from it all. No guardrails, no ropes, no amenities laid out for tourists. Just you and nature, that’s it. The view up there is gorgeous, and the serenity of being out there by ourselves was really special.

Voyagers tips: The long gravel road drive is a serious commitment, make sure you allow time for the drive before visiting. We wouldn’t recommend anyone without 4x4s to visit this spot, but if you have an SUV and are up for the drive, this is certainly a different Iceland experience worth exploring.

Fjarðarárgljúfur

This was less popular until Justin Bieber showed it in his “I’ll Show You” music video. Now it’s so popular they have to close the place down periodically just to let nature recover. Luckily, it was re-opened back in June. The view is beautiful, but since the paths are so tightly controlled, it’s just a nice stroll and enjoying the view. The view is top notch, but our opinion on this spot was mixed. Megan loved the view, whereas Ivan liked other spots where multiple senses were triggered. Maybe the association with Justin Bieber just turned him off.

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DAY 7 (Aug 6, 2019) - south shore continued

skogafoss

reynisfiara beach

skogafoss

Skogafoss - One of the biggest waterfalls in Iceland, standing 62m tall and 25m wide. It’s known to produce beautiful rainbows, that didn’t work out for us, since we visited on a rainy day. Regardless, it was fun to walk up the 527 steps to the top and enjoy the view there, before coming back down and walking right up to the bottom of the waterfall to be drenched. Afterwards, we stopped by Skyrgerdin Cafe & Bistro for lunch. This was our second time eating there, the first time was right after the Reykjadalur Hot Spring River. The food here is so good!

Voyagers tips: if you do make it to Skyrgerdin Cafe & Bistro, splurge for the lamb chops, they’re not cheap but are amazing! Bottomless soup is also very good. Lots of tasty deserts too. If you just go in and sit, you won’t get service. Go up to the counter, tell them you’re eating there, then they’ll come over shortly to take your order. It’s weird, yes, but the food is good.

reynisfiara beach

Reynisfjara - Black sand beach with interesting natural landscaping. A great spot for kids to have fun! The basalt columns here are so neatly cut they look man-made. These columns are the inspiration for the famous Hallgrimskirka Church in Reykjavik. It’s a lot of fun to climb the columns, just make sure you can get back down!

Voyagers tips: It’s always easier to climb up rocks than to get back down. Make sure you can get down before you go up too high!

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DAY 8 (Aug 7, 2019) - reykjavik and the reykjanes peninsula

bridge between continental divide

gunnuhver mud pool

reykjavik

bridge between two continents

The continental divide between North American and Eurasian plates runs diagonally across Iceland, this is another spot in Reykjanes peninsula where the divide occurs. This bridge was built as a symbol of connection and partnership between two continents.

Voyagers tips: There’s a picture of a boy holding the bridge up, you can get this effect if you angle the person precisely in front of the bridge. They encourage people to take this picture and post it online.

gunnuhver geothermal area and mud pool

Gunnuhver - The largest mud pool in Iceland. The steam coming out of this mud pool is ridiculous! Unlike a geyser that goes off every few minutes the steam is just constantly spewing out of this mud pool. It does smell like sulfur here, and we got sprayed a bit when the wind shifted, which turned into white water spots on our jackets. Lots of minerals in this steam. I’ve never seen this much steam in my life!

reykjavik

Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, hosting over two-thirds of Iceland population in its vicinity. It actually feels like a city near city center, and there are actually highways around here. We spent our last day in Reykjavik and the Reykjanes peninsula. The Bridge Between Two Continents is a nice symbolic bridge, and the Gunnuhver Mud Pool constantly spews out a ridiculous amount of steam. Hallgrimskirkja church is an iconic church in Reykjavik, and the inspirational basalt columns show through very clearly. Lastly, Our Voyage Together made a stop at the Sun Voyager, reminding us that our voyage has just begun. This was a great way to wrap up our trip in Iceland before heading out the next morning. Next stop - London!!

Voyagers tips: For Reykjavik, you can park at Hallgrimskirkja and walk around. It’s a bit of a hike down to Sun Voyager, but it’s nice to explore the town on foot and there are some nice cute shops along the way. There are some nice restaurants there in city center near Hallgrimskirkja but the prices are not for the faint of heart.

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