The Itinerary for Next Time Around (or for you, this time around)
Really, when I go back to Iceland, I want to make it a multi-week trip, and see much more of the country, including the Westfjords and Akureyri. Maybe I’ll take the ferryboat from Denmark, and make a stop in the Faroe Islands. While that is still in dream planning mode, I would definitely take advantage of a cheap fare to go back again for several days, and would visit again many of the same sights -- they are just so breathtaking.
Flying from the West Coast is brutal -- leaving at 5pm Pacific time with a 7 hour flight and a 7 hour time difference is like the worst red eye ever. I couldn’t sleep on the flight on the way over, and it screwed up my sleeping for the whole trip. As a result, I’d make my first day this:
Before you head down to arrivals and pick up your luggage, be sure to visit the main food hall if you are really hungry -- there are almost no options after you clear customs. There is a Joe and the Juice both before and after, and I’d stop there to get a juice or smoothie as a pick me up.
After clearing customs, pick up a rental car (we had an excellent experience with Lagoon Car Rental). With three adults, it was cheaper to drive ourselves than to rely on the tour buses, which is otherwise how you are going to have to do everything in Iceland.
Head just down the road from Lagoon Car Rental to the charming little town of Reykjanesbær and go to Viking World. It’s a really cute little museum with a replica long ship and a cafe that serves surprisingly good food, and which is reasonably priced. I’d eat breakfast there and explore the museum a bit.
Near the museum is a Bonus supermarket -- I would stop and stock up on food.
Next, I would head to the Blue Lagoon in my rental car, having made sure to buy my ticket online ahead of time, as in before I left home -- pre-booking is required. I would get just the standard package and soak away that flight and relax and leave feeling refreshed. Eat lunch made up of items from your shopping trip at the Blue Lagoon, maybe supplementing with one of their admittedly delicious skyr drinks.
On my way into Reykjavik, stop to see the geothermal areas around Lake Kleifarvatn and in Krysuvik/Seltun.
Spend the night in Reykjavik, preferably downtown -- depending on what time I arrived, I could perhaps fit in a short nap before exploring some of Reykjavik; I’d eat dinner out in town at Icelandic Fish and Chips and run my hands through the ash and pumice samples from various volcanic eruptions at Volcano House, right next door.
Day Two: The Golden Circle! (directions)
soak at Laugarvatn Fontana; possibly packed lunch at the cafe
Geysir; there is a good cafeteria here, if you would rather eat prepared food/depending on the time
soak at the Secret Lagoon (possibly after the greenhouse, to avoid the tour buses that come between 3:30 and 5:30pm)
get to the Friðheimar greenhouse before 6pm for a delicious dinner of amazing tomato soup, homemade bread, and a Happy Mary (cafe open noon to 6pm)
Day Three: Southern Iceland (directions)
head from Fluðir to Hella
soak in the Hella public swimming pool (complete with slides!), stop at the supermarket if needed
drive to the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, and hike up and behind it
even though I don’t think it is worth going into the water -- it’s not warm enough -- the hike to the Seljavallalaug Geothermal Pool takes you into a valley and through an area changed significantly by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, and that’s pretty cool
drive to Skógar, and visit the Skogafoss waterfall and the Skógar Folk Museum; I would eat lunch at Local Fish and Chips, a food truck reported to have excellent fish and chips, but which I wouldn’t know because they were closed when I got there
after lunch and time in Skógar, I would drive to the Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach and Dyrholaey promontory. There are little cabins for rent at the black sand beach -- I would stay there, and spend the afternoon exploring the area, including the nearest town of any size, Vík.
This day might depend on the time of year I would be going; you could head out to Þórsmörk to go hiking, or farther out east to the Jökulsárlón glacial pool for a boat ride. Regardless, I would eat a packed lunch and then get to Hveragerði in time for dinner, in order to eat at the incomparable Restaurant Varma (I think it might be open until 10), and would spend the night in the village there.
Perhaps I would start the day by hiking to the hot spring river in Hveragerði; in any case, I would head back into Reykjavik and spend the day exploring the city. I would fit in a soak at one of the city’s public pools (see this article for options), and I would eat dinner at Matur og Drykkur. Then, I would drive back out to Reykjanesbær, return the car, and stay at Guesthouse 1x6 -- I think you could probably walk from the car rental place to the guesthouse!
Before flying out at 5pm, I would spend the day in charming Reykjanesbær. Soak in the guesthouse’s great hot pool in the backyard, visit Duushús and eat at the restaurant there, take a walk on the Gönguleiðir path along the coast (it starts right by Giganta’s House, behind Duushús), maybe visit the science center or the rock and roll museum. You can arrange with the guesthouse to bring you to the airport for your flight, where I would arrive at least three hours before your flight is due to leave in order to get through security, immigration, and, importantly, to leave time to shop. It has been my experience that much of what you find in the bigger tourist shops in town and in the gift shops at attractions is also available at the airport.
I just got back on Friday, and already I want to go again. Sigh.
