Iceland excursions

[jelly79]

Apologies I posted about this a while ago and can't find the thread!

I have now booked 4 nights in Iceland for my Boyfriends 40th mid jan!

I am for trip recommendations!

I will book the NLs for the first night so we have the option of moving if we need to. I've seen this by yacht - is this a good idea?

And then I'd like to have a full day planned on his actually birthday! Can we do the golden circle and spas in one? Which spa?

Any advise / bars / restaurants would be great x

We went in February this year.

Do the Blue Lagoon on the way from or to the airport.

Reykjavik is great, good for food and bars, but that’s it in terms of the sights.

We spent a few days at a hotel called Hotel Ranga and I’d strongly recommend - it’s a great place for northern lights, lovely food, hot tubs in the ice and an astronomical Center.

It is also close to Gulfoss.

I would drive personally, the airport is so far away from everything else so it’s more cost effective. It can be rough on the roads but there aren’t lots of cars, just get a good jeep style car and be confident in driving the roads. We did the tours ourselves by car except for the Snowmobile on Glacier which I’d recommend - we just used Viator.

Just got back from Iceland! Sky lagoon is great, as is the Blue Lagoon, you absolutely must pre book the Blue Lagoon. Sky lagoon is beautiful at sunset and could be a nice bookend after a day doing the Golden Circle if you are staying in Reykjavik (Blue Lagoon is close to the airport so a good thing to do just before going back).

For places to eat in Rvk recommend Sandholt, Rok, Grillmarkadurinn, Reykjavik Roasters, Braud & Co, Skal, Krost (in fact any of the places in the various food halls) and Emilie and the Cool Kids.

Oh and in terms of things you can easily access from Reykjavik - try the Seltun geothermal area, green lake, Eldborg short hike if you want some nice views from an old volcanic crater. The road to drive to these is also impressive. I would definitely recommend a 4x4 in January, most will also have studded tyres.

You really need to be a confident driver in January. We drove ourselves in September last year and had some very high winds and snow. 4x4 is ideal. We had abysmal weather at Vik!

Reykjavik has a modern cathedral and a beautiful opera house. There are some interesting museums. We also stayed at the Hotel Ranga in Hella which we thought was dated. The Hotel Husafell (at Husafell) was much better. Middle of nowhere for northern lights too and much better food.

The locals strongly advise that you don't self-drive in winter as it's far too dangerous then. Lots of road closures due to bad weather conditions, lots of black ice, very high winds etc. So definitely don't get a hire car in Jan. Book day trips and/or private tours instead.

We were there earlier this month. I recommend a private tour with Arctic Mike for a day to the South Coast (or he also does Golden Circle including stop at Secret Lagoon). He's amazing! He was recommended by a friend who went with him earlier this year and wow, just wow! Super cool guy, thinks of everything and more. Everyone needs an Arctic Mike in their life.

I much prefer the Blue Lagoon to the Secret Lagoon. I found the Secret Lagoon a bit meh, and also small and not actually much to do. Whereas the Blue Lagoon was actually really good - I didn't want to go but was actually very pleasantly surprised. We went straight from the airport after we landed and it was very easy.

We had an amazing dinner at Apothek (a recommendation from Arctic Mike). We live in London so are spoiled for good fun but we were still very impressed. But you definitely need to book!

Sandholt bakery is wonderful. Such good food there. We stayed in the hotel they also own next door (Sand Hotel) so enjoyed their breakfast every day. We are now addicted to their rye bread. It's basically the bread equivalent of crack.

Take lots of warm clothes, including thermals. We thought we wouldn't need thermals in early Nov but we were wrong!! Glad we'd taken them. I took some electric handwarmers and they were a lifesaver when we were out looking at the Northern Lights. Make sure you have waterproof boots (don't take Uggs, they're totally unsuitable) and a warm hat. There's great hat/scarf shop called MJUK which sells the warmest hats!! (and the staff are lovely).

I wouldn't say that it is 'dangerous' to drive in January. I'm a very average driver and I drive a few times a week throughout the year in a crappy Honda Civic with all-year tyres. Including over Hellisheiði, the mountain pass that takes you to Selfoss, pretty frequently. I wouldn't drive out of the city if there was a weather warning but absent that it's not really such a big deal. I drive slower if it's snowy or icy, which is common sense.

I wouldn't advise against it if that's what you want to do and you are capable of taking it slow and steady, but if the idea of it stresses you out then of course organised tours will take that issue out of the equation. It doesn't seem that you are planning to hire a car from what you say anyway!

I also cycle year round and snow cycling requires a lot more finesse than snow driving, imo.

These replies are really AMAZING!

I really don't fancy driving so happy to do organised tours where we can!

Why do people do the BL on route from the airport? That seems like a faff, is it that far to get to?

I will look at all these places to eat thank you x

Our flight times may not allow a BL trip on the airport transfer so thinking I may do it as part of a day trip

If I book sky lagoon in the hope to see NLs is it worth booking a separate NL trip too?

I would also recommend Secret Lagoon. It is 'on' the Golden Circle route and is quite different to the Blue Lagoon. It's more like being in nature - a very hot lake in a National Park!

We did a Glacier hike which was really special, so I'd recommend that. DC snorkelled between the continents in Silfra but it might be too cold for that!!

We used Troll Expeditions and they were excellent. For some reason they were a bit cheaper than Arctic Adventures and others too.

Blue lagoon is nearer to the airport so you’d be wasting one of your main days by travelling to it and back to your hotel. We had a late flight home so we were able to arrange transfer from the hotel in the morning to the blue lagoon where we spent a few hours and the transport kept our luggage and then picked us up and took us to the airport.

Sky Lagoon is in Kópavogur, which is a suburb of Reykjavík. Meaning that even if the northern lights are active, the light pollution will mean that you don't get the best display. It is common to see the northern lights in town when they are strong, but you will never get a show as good as you can get away from built up areas. Also how late is it open? The northern lights tend to be most active between 10 pm and the small hours. You don't often see them in the early evening.

I would probably book a separate tour to see the northern lights rather than just hoping to see them from town, if you want to maximise your chances!

We stayed here which was amazing! www.buubble.com

They do tours as well. We self drove in Feb and it was very very snowy, a little dicey at times but alright. We should have got a bigger 4x4 with higher ground clearance though.

Blue Lagoon is just outside Grindavík, about 40 minutes drive from Reykjavík but much closer to Keflavík. People combine it with their journey to/from the airport because they are going to/from the airport anyway and they are close together.

You could also combine it with a day trip round Reykjanes, where there is quite a lot to see. Google Krýsuvík and Kleifarvatn. If you like hiking and you have quality outdoor gear, you can also visit the eruption site of 2021/2022 which is amazing to see and pretty close to the Blue Lagoon. If you do that in January though you must be well equipped and well prepared.

We went in February. We did the golden circle tour one day, it was full on but we booked to go to blue lagoon in the evening which was lovely! This was all postponed for a day due to a storm.

We did an afternoon/evening trip to a Glacier, that was good but it was a loooong drive and very late back.

We tried to do NLs but was either too poor conditions, or bus broke down 😂 but we did see them from our hotel.

We spent an afternoon wandering Reykjavik but it was absolutely terrible weather so we spent most of that sheltering in bars 👌🏻

We absolutely loved Iceland but you just have to be chilled out and take each day as it comes because the weather is so unpredictable. It's also dark until 11am and gets dark again at 4pm. I recommend keeping one day plan free in case you need to reschedule.

A NL tour well be dead time if it’s cloudy. I’m not sure it’s worth it. Depends how much it means to you. I would keep 1 day for Reykjavik. I assume you are staying there. Blue Lagoon combines with airport but if you don’t have your own transport, that’s more difficult to organise. I think you have limited daylight hours so do the Golden Ring and one other trip. For me it would be super jeep. But you know what suits you but you have a lot of darkness!

Also if it’s for your boyfriend, doesn’t superjeep make sense? It’s warm and great fun!

We went on the Reykjavik food walk tour which involves joining a small group of people and popping in various cafes, food stalls and restaurants and have a small portion of local dish in each, it was very enjoyable.

I am thinking this: (very open to opinions)

M - arrive at 7:30pm so do NLs at 9:30 (gives us more chance if it reschedules)

T - 4 hour snowmobile tour glaciers and a free evening

W - free day for RVK - sky lagoon in the evening

Th - golden circle / kerid / blue lagoon

F - early flight home

Where are staying the first night, and how are you getting there? As 2 hours from landing to a NL tour (I assume that's what you are meaning) via your accommodation to drop off luggage might be very tight.

Yes I think you are right it does seem right! We are a 45 minute drive from the airport! The hotel has a spa so may just do drinks and chill that night and move the NLs to the next night

Problem is we have no room to reschedule if it cancels

I mean you are right it does seem tight :)

How important are seeing the NLs to you? I admit we were lucky and saw them 2 nights (the first and last) out of 4 from the hot tub at our airbnb with no effort. I know others who had proper tours planned from Reykavik for 3 nights of their trip and failed to see them. Hence if you really want to see them you need to be prepared to go out as many nights as possible.

We did an in and on the glacier tour / expensive but worth it.
That was a summer tour to the man made cave but in winter I think you can also go inside the natural glacier caves.

I was there this time last year. We weren't planning to go to the Blue Lagoon as we thought it was tacky and too touristy, but did, and actually really liked it! Yes it is touristy but still.

I was there for a week, so did go further afield than you have time for, but one thing we did near Reykjavik which we liked was the volcano at Fagradalsfjall - I think it's recently erupted again and it was incredible to see the lava.

we hiked on a glacier which was good.

Also we did self drive - it was fine and gave us a lot more flexibility.

Oh and didn't get to see the NL despite trying!