By Andrea My next international trip after Barcelona was about 3 1/2 weeks later. In case you’re not counting as closely as I am, that marks 19 weeks to go at work. 😉 A couple of my friends had decided to go on a couples’ trip to Iceland with their boyfriends and were nice enough to let me tag along. I had been to Iceland earlier in the year with my family for New Year’s, but was excited to see more of the natural beauty on the calm and peaceful island.
Even though my company has a “flexible” vacation policy, I had some work to do and calls to take, so this was going to be a working trip. Fortunately, the time difference meant that it wouldn’t be a problem to explore in the mornings/early afternoons as long as I made time for work in the late afternoons and evenings (on the week days, at least)
We had a group of five for our late October trip: Nina and her boyfriend, Jeremy, Vicki and her boyfriend, Bill, and me. I had traveled internationally with both Nina and Vicki in the past and liked their significant others a lot. Being the fifth wheel can be fraught with peril, but I knew we were going to have a good time with this crew.
Day 1: Blue Lagoon and Dinner in Reykjavik
All five of us live in New York, so we booked the same Delta flight from JFK>KEF. We planned to arrive at JFK early so we could prepare for the red eye with some snacks and lots of wine at the lounge. I knew I’d be able to get two friends into the Sky Club and we were delighted to learn upon arrival that Nina (with her newly gifted Gold status from me) could also get in for free with a guest since she was flying international. Score!
After a very quick red eye flight, we were in Iceland. Sleep-deprived yet exhilarated, I first tried to buy a cappuccino at multiple kiosks and was rejected, being told that one could only order if they were departing from KEF, not arriving. WTF? This made no sense to us, but oh well. Moving on, we had to get through immigration, make a stop at the duty-free store and then pick up our rental SUV. I had learned the hard way on my previous Iceland trip that all the ads in the airport weren’t lying when they proclaimed that buying alcohol at the duty-free store was the cheapest option. That booze ain’t cheap on the remote island of Iceland. We stocked up on wine, beer and a bottle of bourbon and headed toward arrivals (I’m not even going to get into the logic that the guys used when selecting a whiskey… let’s just say it made zero sense).
“Bill, where’s your suitcase?” Vicki asked as we were about to cross the line into the arrivals area, where we would finally be able to order coffee, but would not be able to get back into the main airport. A brief, confused exchange later, it was determined that Bill’s suitcase was still hanging out at duty-free, where he had replaced it with a bag of booze. Oh, priorities. We all ran back to the duty free shop and laughed when we saw Bill’s suitcase sitting on its own where he had left it among the duty free check-out registers. Thankfully, terrorism is not really a thing in Iceland, and nobody bothered to report the suspicious bag left at duty free.
Getting the rental car was a long and drawn-out process (but we finally got some coffee!). Eventually we got on the road and headed toward our first stop: the Blue Lagoon. There is nothing like a dip in a giant, man-made geothermal pool at 10am in the morning to welcome you to a foreign country.
I was honestly expecting the Blue Lagoon to be a crowded, tourist-infested, inauthentic destination, but I still wanted to check it off my list. There were certainly lots of tourists snapping photos all over the place (not that we were any different). However, I didn’t find it overly crowded, which may have been related to our early arrival. We weren’t able to get into our AirBnB until 3pm, so it was a great place to fight our jet lag and relax for a few hours. I also enjoyed the clean and modern Scandinavian facilities.
After a refreshing shower, it was time to head into Reykjavik and grab lunch before we could check into our AirBnB. We decided to stop at the Hlemmur Matholl food hall since it was casual and offered a little of everything. I had the vegan Krosti burger at Krost and it was delicious with a bit of a kick. It also paired well with a glass of Bordeaux.
Finally, we could check into our AirBnB. I was really excited about the place we had booked, and it didn’t disappoint. A 3 BR/3BA apartment in the Central district, just west of the downtown area, it was newly updated with modern and tasteful appliances and decor. It was also the perfect size for our group, with a main living area but separate bedrooms and bathrooms. We settled into our cozy beds for nap time before dinner.
I slept hard during my nap, as I usually do after a short red eye to Europe. I had to get some work done before dinner, so I logged on for a bit and then met the group downstairs for drinks. Dinner was at MatBar and we opted for the five dish tasting menu after weighing the options. This menu included the cauliflower dip and flatbread, grilled scallops with XO sauce, grilled cherry tomatoes, glazed and grilled carrots, some meat that I didn’t eat, and a fish dish that I don’t recall. It was all delicious and we were stuffed at the end of the meal.
We were tired, but our final goal for the night was to see the Northern Lights. The forecast was saying that this night was going to have the most solar activity throughout our trip, even though the cloud cover was pretty substantial. We had to at least give it a try. We drove out to the edge of the city, where we saw a number of other cars parked (hopeful!), but a number of them gradually pulled out and left (our hopes were crushed). After about five minutes of staring at dark and cloudy skies, we gave up and headed home. We were all exhausted and had an early morning scheduled with our food tour of the Golden Circle.
Day 2: Golden Circle/Food Tour
We had researched a number of guided tour options for the trip and ultimately settled on a “Golden Circle Gourmet Food Tasting Tour” through Gray Line Tours. It was a small group tour (ended up being ten people total) that would make stops at all three Golden Circle destinations, while also allowing us to taste some authentic Icelandic cuisine and learn more about the culture. Our tour guide Simon was a sarcastically humorous local of Chilean and Icelandic descent.
“Do you know how long it is to our first stop?” Nina asked shortly after we boarded the bus.
“Yes, I do,” Simon deadpanned. We all looked at him expectantly. Was he going to force her to ask her actual question? Finally, he broke the awkward silence. “Well, I guess you want to know how long it actually is. It should take us about 1 1/2 hours to get to our first stop.” He then launched into an entertaining account of the day’s agenda, allowing us to prepare for the schedule that laid ahead, peppered with his dry sense of humor.
Simon provided us with a lot of knowledge about Iceland on our drive to the first stop of the day, the Thingvellir National Park. I wish I remembered more of it, but we were all in the full throes of jet lag (that is my excuse, at least). The history of Thingvellir was pretty cool, though. It is the site of the original parliament of Iceland and geologically, it is located in the rift valley that separates the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.
Next stop was lunch. Yesssss, we were ready. Simon brought us to a dairy farm for a true farm-to-table experience. The multi-course meal at Efstidalur included salad, bread, cream of mushroom soup and assorted fish and meats alongside root vegetables. The highlight was dessert: ice cream made from the farm cows’ milk. We were able to meet the cows and even got to visit their adorable calves.
Before our next stop, we made a detour to experience some more of Iceland’s animal kingdom. All along the roadside, we kept seeing cows, sheep and horses. Even though the Icelandic people eat horse meat, they do highly revere horses, and the vast majority of the horses in the country are not bred to be butchered. Simon pulled into a parking lot at one of the farms that sold “horse candy” so we could feed the strong yet gentle creatures some treats. “What are they called?” Nina asked Simon about the local horses. “Steven,” he responded, not missing a beat. Nina gave him a puzzled stare. “No, like really!” she pushed him once she realized he was messing with her. “Um, Icelandic horses?” Simon told her, confused that she thought these horses had some kind of special name. Well, Steven ended up sticking for us. The rest of the trip, we were calling all the horses we saw “Steven.”
The second destination on the Golden Circle is the Gullfoss waterfall. I had seen the waterfall once before, in January, when it was even colder and windier. I was looking forward to seeing the dramatic falls (which are basically two waterfalls in one) in a different season. Simon parked at the upper parking lot so we could walk down to the main viewing area and then met us at the lower parking lot. One of the perks of having a tour guide!
While it wasn’t quite as frigid as it was in January, it was still chilly (the temperature was just above freezing), windy and wet (from both rain and waterfall mist). I braved the weather as long as I could to get some good photos and then ran to find Simon so I could warm up in the bus. The others in my crew were a lot heartier and managed to walk down the path to get as close to the waterfall as is permitted. Thankfully, we were all sharing pictures, so I was still able to get views of the falls from all possible angles.
The third and final sight on the Golden Circle is the Geysir hot spring area (technically, I think there are other stops on the Golden Circle, but three main ones). These are not hot springs to bathe in (way too hot), but the area does contain a couple geysers. The Geysir geyser has been mostly dormant in recent years, but the Strokkur geyser is very consistent, erupting every 5-10 minutes. It is also a wonderful spot if you enjoy the smell of sulfur. We walked around and watched Strokkur erupt a few times until it started raining pretty hard. Most of us ran back to the car, but Vicki was determined to get a shot of the erupting geyser. Fortunately, she was successful! She definitely won the prize for group photographer, although Jeremy was a close second. Back in the bus, Simon proceeded to blow our minds with slow motion videos of the geyser erupting. Worth a Google search.
While we had seen all the major sights on the Golden Circle, we still had a couple more stops on the food tour. Next up was the Fridheimar greenhouse where tomatoes were grown. Simon delighted us with news that the greenhouse also housed a bar. Perfect, a glass of red wine was calling my name. Upon arrival, we headed directly for the bar, then reconvened in the back, where we learned a little bit about the four types of tomatoes that they grow, the natural energy that they use and the female worker bees that they import from the Netherlands to pollinate the plants. Then we got to nibble on various crudite made from the tomatoes. Delicious! As we were wandering through the restaurant (the whole property has a very open layout), we saw people enjoying bowls of tomato soup. I still regret not getting some of the soup because it looked absolutely amazing.
Our final stop was to visit the Turf House Museum in Selfoss. I honestly had no idea what a turf house was before this trip. Since we were on a food tour, I was under the assumption that this was the turf in “surf and turf,” so we were essentially going to a meat house. As a vegetarian, not exactly top on my list of priorities. Fortunately, turf houses are in fact traditional Icelandic houses literally made of earth. Turf apparently provides better insulation than wood or stone, which was important in a harsh climate before the days of central heat.
Once we arrived, a sweet, older Icelandic man gave us a brief tour of the turf house and we learned that he had actually grown up living in these cramped quarters. He now lives in Reykjavik with his wife, but said he does sometimes still sleep in the turf house. The tour concluded with a feast of Icelandic treats and coffee.
While driving, Simon entertained us (and himself) by teaching us a few phrases in Icelandic. We struggled through “Það er rúsínan í pylsuendanum,” which literally translates to “That is the raisin at the end of the hot dog.” Okayyyy. Simon explained that the locals use this phrase in a similar context to “the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.” Our favorite phrase was “Áfram með smjörið,” which literally means “On with the butter” but is simply used to mean “Get on with it.” “On with the butter became our rallying cry for the rest of the trip.
Simon also played some music by Icelandic artists for us, ranging from Bjork, Sigur Ros and Of Monsters and Men to lesser known works of all genres. He delighted in introducing us to what he called “Viking Metal,” which sounded pretty much exactly as you’d imagine. We pulled into Reykjavik around 7pm and bid Simon a thankful farewell. He crushed our Northern Lights dreams for the evening when he told us that the tour company had informed him that tours that night were cancelled due to poor conditions (essentially, no chance of seeing the aurora).
We decided that we still had an appetite for dinner, so after freshening up at our AirBnB, we meandered down to Bryggjan Brugghús, a brewery in the old harbor area of the city, for a casual meal and some drinks. I opted for my second vegan burger of the trip and we ended our day, satiated and ready for a good night’s sleep.
Day Three: Southern Coast (More Waterfalls and a Black Sand Beach)
The following day, we decided to make use of our rental SUV and do a self-guided tour of the southern coast of Iceland. We had researched a few different destinations and gotten some tips from Simon, so we felt pretty good about having a rough agenda that was also flexible. First, we had to drive over a mountain and we found ourselves in the middle of a snowstorm. Never ones to miss a photo opportunity, we of course pulled over and jumped out of the car to get some quick shots.
Fortunately, the weather had cleared by the time we reached our first destination, the Seljalandsfoss waterfall. This spot is actually comprised of a few different waterfalls, one of which you can walk behind and one of which is hidden behind a narrow crevasse.
We decided to check out the “secret” waterfall first. Far to the left of the main falls, we found a small cluster of people waiting their turn to navigate into the waterfall. There is only one trepidatious path to get in and out that requires one to jump from rock to rock in the water, and the people exiting looked quite wet. We couldn’t really see what we were about to get ourselves into so Vicki asked one girl coming out what it was like. “It’s worth it,” she said. “It’s really cool.” Okay, good enough for us.
Our turn arrived and we carefully hopped from rock to rock, grasping the rocky walls for balance when possible. Once inside, we were sprayed from waterfall mist all over, but it was definitely a very cool sight. We climbed onto a big rock in front of the waterfall and did our best to get some shots in the wet and dark environment. I was exhilarated and relieved that I had made it through the precarious path without losing my balance and slipping into the cold water.
After a few minutes, we scrambled back to dry land to give other people their turn in the small canyon and made our way to the main waterfall. The rocky path around the back of the falls consisted a lot of steps and was wet and slippery. More adventurous maneuvering, yay!
It was challenging to get good shots when we were actually behind the waterfall given the lack of light and all the, well, water. We tried using the flash on our smartphone cameras and that helped a little bit.
On with the butter! After grabbing some coffee at the ingeniously placed stand by the parking lot, we were headed toward the black sand beaches. That’s not to say that there weren’t sights to see along the way. We pulled over to check out the Eyjafjallajökull glacier-volcano and found a nice person to take a group picture (Jeremy had actually brought a selfie stick but was still mastering the art). As we posed and smiled for the camera, hail started to pound our faces with stinging pellets. By this point, we were getting used to Iceland’s schizophrenic weather and had to just laugh at the fact that we were able to experience so many different kinds of weather phenomena in one day.
Next up, the Reynisfjara black sand beach. Vicki had found a lookout point at the Dyrhólaey cliffs in her research, so we headed there. Immediately upon getting out of the car, we were assailed by the wind. I have no idea how strong the winds really were, but I would not be surprised to learn that the gusts were approaching hurricane strength. However, the views were just incredible and unlike nothing I’d seen at a beach before.
Nina and Bill’s gloves were both still wet from from our waterfall adventures, so they got creative and crafted some “sock mittens” to keep their hands warm. Hey, one has to be resourceful when traveling.
We took in as many vantage points as possible before the elements got the best of us and we decided to move on.
After snow, rain, hail, wind, waterfall mist, and crashing waves, we were ready for a warm meal. We drove to the charming seaside village of Vik in search of some lunch.
As Vik has a population of just 300, we didn’t have a lot of choices. We decided to try Smiðjan Brugghús, another brewery. At this point, it was becoming mandatory for me to have a vegan burger once a day in Iceland, so I was delighted to see that they did have a vegan burger on the menu. And it came topped with an onion ring! I wasn’t about to complain.
The final stop we had planned before returning to Reykjavik was the Skógafoss waterfall. This large waterfall does offer a hike of many stairs, allowing visitors the opportunity to see views from the top, but we were cold and wet and the weather wasn’t on our side so we decided to stay at the base of the falls.
Vicki, Bill and Jeremy won the prize for most dedicated adventurers in our crew, as Nina and I opted to head back to the car when it started hailing on us again.
One last observation from our day: I became very interested in watching the many sheep that we passed on the side of the road. It turns out that they outnumber people by a ratio of more 2:1 in a country with a human population of just 350,000, so it made sense that they were seemingly everywhere. They also seemed to be eating grass all. day. long. Seriously, I rarely saw a sheep that didn’t have its head in the grass. They also were somehow able to get themselves up to very steep, very high ridges; maybe that’s where the best grass is? At one point, we did see a sheepdog herding some sheep down a hill and it was amazing to see how quickly the round animals could move.
The sheep also did not seem to be bothered by the cold or wind at all. I had invested in a thick pair of authentic Icelandic wool socks earlier in the day and my feet were still quite warm, so I was very appreciative of their thick wool coats myself. Sadly, sheep are mostly bred for meat in Iceland as lamb is one of the local gourmet delicacies.
It had been a long day. We had made a reservation for Party Bingo back in Reykjavik, but they weren’t being very flexible about timing, so we opted to chill at our AirBnB with our duty free bounty before heading to dinner at Sushi Social, recommended by Simon (and quite the tongue twister). After looking at the prices per roll, we decided to just go all out and order the six course omakase tasting menu. I will say that our experience was that while food prices in Iceland were expensive, the portions were huge. Each meal ended up costing us roughly what we would pay in New York (in some cases, less) and we got way more food.
The night wouldn’t be complete without an attempt to see the Northern Lights, so we drove out to our lookout spot once again and futilely scanned the sky for the aurora. Unfortunately, it just was not meant to be. Defeated once again, we headed back home to rest up for our last day in Iceland.
Day 4: Exploring Reykjavik and the Ion Adventure Hotel
Up to this point, we hadn’t spent any time in Reykjavik during the day, so we decided to spend a few hours wandering around the downtown streets before driving out to our accommodations for our final night.
First stop: caffeine fix at Reykjavik Roasters, then Hallgrimskirkja church, which at 244 feet is one of the tallest buildings in the country.
On my previous trip to Iceland, I had the chance to experience the fireworks show at Hallgrimskirkja on New Year’s Eve. While Iceland in December is very dark (just about four hours of sunlight during the day), it also means more time for fireworks. Fireworks are actually legal for a few days around New Year’s, which means that you essentially see and hear them going off constantly during this time period. In addition, the city is lit up with festive holiday decorations, which definitely helps to add some brightness and cheer.
From there, we explored a few shops and Vicki got a lot of pics of colorful buildings against the dull, gray sky. The carnivores in the group wanted to try the famous Icelandic hot dogs, so we found a stand (Baejarins Beztu Pylsur is particularly renowned but we weren’t picky) and ordered a couple for them to share. I’ll admit, I felt left out. If they only had a vegetarian dog! The toppings (ketchup, sweet mustard, raw onions, fried onions, and remolaði, a mayonnaise-based sauce with sweet relish) sounded incredible. Looking back, maybe I should have just ordered a bun with all the condiments.
We shopped some more and decided we were ready for a real lunch before we needed to leave. We found a cozy French bistro called Snaps and settled in. It may not have been the most authentic Icelandic meal, but the Caesar salad and French onion soup washed down with Burgundy were fantastic.
The final destination of our trip was a stay at the Ion Adventure Hotel. Part of the Design Hotels group, the hotel is located very close to the Thingvellir National Park and had come highly recommended to us from friends. It also appeared to offer some terrific Instagram-worthy photo opportunities with its stark, modern design set against a dramatic Iceland landscape.
We arrived around 4pm, checked into our rooms and headed straight for the aptly-named Northern Lights bar (well, would have been apt if we had actually seen the Northern Lights, not to spoil the story or anything).
I had to take a work call, so the others headed downstairs to frolic in the surrounding nature while I hung behind in the bar. I could see my friends posing for pictures and attempting selfies from up above, so it was almost like I was there with them. Almost.
We planned to end the evening with dinner at the Silfra restaurant onsite and a dip in the pool (hopefully against a Northern Lights backdrop). Dinner was decent, although probably one of the least memorable of the trip. That being said, I had also had enough of heavy, rich meals and just wanted something light and healthy at this point.
The geothermal pool at the Lava spa was outdoors, but of course quite warm. We donned our cozy robes and slippers and brought the rest of our duty free goods downstairs with us. The sky was finally pretty clear for our last night, but still no aurora to be seen. We did however have a magnificent view of the stars with such minimal light pollution in the area, so that was our consolation prize.
We needed to get up bright and early (well, still dark actually) to return our rental car and get to KEF airport, so we called it an early night and retired to our respective hotel rooms.
All in all, it was a great trip and I was glad to have made the return trip to Iceland to see more of the beautiful country. I would like to visit again and see the island in the summer next. While there is really zero chance of seeing the Northern Lights in the summer, having daylight for all but just a few hours a day would be a very unique experience and would also allow for maximum exploration time. I do not have plans to return to Iceland in the immediate future, but who knows what the upcoming months and years will bring?
