Below is a lengthy account of the 4-day trip to Iceland, an incredible island nation situated directly on top of where two huge tectonic plates meet, creating countless unique nature phenomena. Lots of pictures are linked throughout, and for the easiest viewing, just "Ctrl + click" on the links to open them in a new tab. The videos are embedded (sorry for taking vertical videos!), so you can enjoy them right in the post!
Day 1:
Day 1:
The adventure started with a short drive to Raleigh and a flight to Boston. From Boston, we flew 5 hours into Iceland via Keflavík airport, landing sharply at 6AM local time and with 3-4 hours of sleep banked. But we had arrived, and out excitement gave us energy! In Keflavík, we passed through customs quickly (I got my first passport stamp!), then took some time to get organized in the airport before heading to an ATM to withdraw some local Icelandic kronar.
What was supposed to be an easy ATM visit turned into quite a debacle when I accidentally withdrew 20,000 Icelandic kronar (instead of 20 as I wanted to – I mixed up the period and the comma since Europeans swap them up). Then, of course, I somehow miscalculated the conversion rate of ISK to USD and believed I had accidentally withdrawn $2500 in Icelandic kronar. Mackenzie and I, with some help from my mom (at 3AM her time - thanks Mom!), decided to go ahead and grab our rental car and stop at the nearest bank in Reykjavík. An hour later we were at Landsbankinn, where we explained our dire situation. The attendant then informed us that 20,000 ISK was actually only worth $172, and my poor conversion had only cost us a lot of worry. I thanked her, and we left, embarrassed. We made a quick stop to the local grocery store for sandwich materials and started the real day off by heading into the Golden Circle, a 200 mile loop starting and ending in Reykjavík that creates the perfect day trip, filled with beautiful views of lakes, mountains, geysers, waterfalls, and animal life.
The Golden Circle was absolutely awe-inspiring from start to finish. There was recent snowfall in Iceland, so the ground was covered in white, and, paired with a grey sky, it created a massive gray-scale across the entire landscape. Additionally, with the difficult climate, trees don’t grow much in Iceland, leaving huge plains, only to be broken up by the (frequent) lakes and mountains. Our first destination was Þingvellir National Park (pronounced "Thingvellir"), a nature conservation riddled with fantastic mountains, the stunning Öxarárfoss, wild Icelandic horses (2, 3), and an incredible and unique tectonic plate boundary (2), all surrounding the huge Þingvallavatn Lake (where we saw the sun rise -- at 11AM!). The park was incredible, and made only better by the dense concentration of its beauty; even on the drives from stop to stop, the views of enormous mountains and other natural wonders were breathtaking. Even the road winding on and on through the vast snowy white expanse was gorgeous.
From Þingvellir we continued around the Golden Circle towards Geysir, making frequent stops to play with more Icelandic horses or take in a particularly magnificent view of the mountains or lake. Arriving at Geysir, a geothermal hotspot after which all geysers worldwide are named, we walked through the smoking holes in the ground and bubbling pits towards Strokkur, the largest and most popular of Iceland’s many geysers. Within moments of arriving, we noticed the water in the pool that Strokkur inhabited beginning to bubble and recede into a hole in the ground. Suddenly, the geyser erupted, spraying water vapor 20 meters into the sky. The best part about Strokkur was the frequency of the eruptions; during the 15 minutes we watched, we saw it erupt 4 times, all of which were at different heights and in uneven intervals. One of the eruptions was even a double eruption (2 smaller eruptions immediately back to back)! After reading more about the geyser, we learned this is incredibly rare.
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From Strokkur we drove another 10 minutes down the road to Gulfoss, the largest waterfall in Iceland. The waterfall blew both Mackenzie and I away by its magnificent size. Comprised of two massive tiers of waterfalls, the second of which falling into the abyss of an enormous gorge, Gulfoss was certainly the most breathtaking view of the first day.
From Gulfoss we ventured down the right-hand portion of the Golden Circle, making a short stop at Kerið, a volcanic crater lake. The water in the basin of the crater had mostly frozen over, and our late 4:45 arrival resulted in a dark visit. Nonetheless, it was still a beautiful site, and very fun to hike up the side of the crater and look down the steep edges that ran towards the basin.
We finished the Golden Circle by driving south towards Selfoss, then slightly west towards our home for the night: a quaint AirBnb in Hveragerði with host Gudrun. We dropped off our bags at the house, grabbed some quick Italian food for dinner (because Iceland doesn't have its own niche cuisine, food from other cultures is very popular), and settled back into the AirBnb.
Day 2:
The second day was waterfall themed, with the two of us taking pit stops at a couple of Iceland’s most famous falls. We woke up and were greeted with a nice Icelandic breakfast spread courtesy of Gudrun, featuring hard-boiled eggs, an assortment of Icelandic breads and jams, tomato slices, and skyr, a popular Icelandic yogurt (similar to Greek yogurt). After a quick chat, we were quickly out of Hveragerði and onto Route 1, the start of the famous "Ring Road" that circles around Iceland. Amazingly, the thick layer of snow from the prior day had completely vanished overnight, leaving a more rainy and overcast day ahead of us. Regardless, we were en route to our first destination: the majestic Seljalandsfoss. A thin waterfall, it was mirrored on all sides by smaller versions of itself, all crashing down from a plateau 200 feet above the ground. We were able to walk up and around the back of the waterfall, and managed to get completely drenched by the mist it created in doing so.
Moving onward past Seljalanadsfoss, a mere 20 minutes down the Ring Road was the second waterfall: Skógafoss. Despite the site being crowded with tourists, we still walked up to the waterfall, and even climbed the 527 stairs to get to the top of it, with a great view looking down the water as it crashed. Skógafoss was the same height as Seljalandsfoss, but significantly wider, giving it a much more commanding presence. The range of the water vapor it created was very far, and made it difficult to get close to the base. Regardless, we stayed atop the waterfall for a while, surveying not only the falls, but also the vast rolling countryside that led up to them.
With our two most popular spots of the day behind us, we continued eastward towards Vík, a tiny town that would mark the halfway point (in distance) of our journey down the Ring Road. Shortly before arrival at Vík, we took a detour down Route 218 during the foggiest part of our trip to view Dyrhólaey, a beautiful promontory and Iceland’s southernmost point. What we expected to be a short detour turned into a two-hour long expedition, including a steep climb in our car to the top of the promontory, a large and unexpected lighthouse, a beautiful overlook of jagged cliffs going down to black sand beaches, and a fantastic view of the monolithic arch-shaped rock formation below. Additionally, after driving back down from the promontory, we were greeted with easy access to our own private black sand beach, which was not only far less popular than the famous Vík black sand beaches, but also provided unique rock formations on the beach and beautiful sunset views of Reynisdrangar (2), the huge stacks of black basalt rocks situated on the beach.
Leaving Dyrhólaey, we drove the final stretch to Vík, where we did some shopping for a warmer jacket for Mackenzie, grabbed a quick dinner (I had traditional lamb soup), filled up on gas, and headed on towards Kalfafell, where our hotel* for the night was. We arrived late at the hotel, but were greeted by a friendly host and asked if we wanted to have our door knocked on if the Northern Lights were seen prior to midnight. Of course we said yes, and settled into our room. A few hours later, around 10:00, we heard the knocks on our door and rushed outside to view the lights. There was only a small amount of solar activity, and the sky was still a little cloudy from the rainy morning, but we still managed to see some dim lights over the mountains to the north. Regardless of their magnitude, seeing the lights was still a magical experience, and we’re lucky to have seen them at all during such a short visit.
*Random note, but the hotel boasted some interesting art decor. This painting, specifically, was in our hall four times (yes, four separate copies of the same painting). I believe it is Reagan and Gorbachev signing the Nuclear Arms Agreement. The red on Gorbachev's forehead makes it seem like it is some remnant of anti-USSR sentiment from decades ago. Regardless, it was interesting to see in the middle of nowhere in Iceland.
*Random note, but the hotel boasted some interesting art decor. This painting, specifically, was in our hall four times (yes, four separate copies of the same painting). I believe it is Reagan and Gorbachev signing the Nuclear Arms Agreement. The red on Gorbachev's forehead makes it seem like it is some remnant of anti-USSR sentiment from decades ago. Regardless, it was interesting to see in the middle of nowhere in Iceland.
Day 3
If our second day was waterfall-themed, then our third was surely glacier-themed. It started with an early wake-up and a drive through the dark towards Local Guide HQ, the hosts to our Ice Cave Tour. Once there, we departed with our guide and 7 other patrons towards Vatnajökull, Iceland's largest glacier. It was a 45 minute drive in a souped-up van, most of which was through very bumpy off-country roads towards the base of the glacier and the entrance to the cave. Arriving at the makeshift parking lot, we walked a short distance (including a walk through an ice arch) to the entrance of the cave. We then spent about an hour in and around the cave, surveying the majestic blue and clear ice around us and taking plenty of pictures (1). After the hour elapsed, we spent a little bit of time on top of the glacier, then walked back to the van (through gravel-covered mounds of glacial ice) and drove back to the HQ. On the way, our guide pointed out a backdoor entrance to a beautiful view of a nearby glacier lagoon. After returning to HQ, we quickly departed back towards our guide's tip.
A short 30 minutes later, we stood in front of the secret viewing spot of the glacier lagoon Fjallsárlón, offering potentially the best and certainly the most exclusive views of the entire trip. It was absolutely beautiful, and we stayed here for an hour, taking in the lagoon with the floating icebergs and the stunning backdrop of huge mountains (including Iceland’s highest) and glaciers behind (1, 2).
We left Fjallsárlón and drove a short distance down the Ring Road towards Jökulsárlón, the much larger and more popular glacier lagoon. Before viewing the lagoon, we parked directly across the road for a quick stop at another black sand beach, which was strewn with small icebergs along the water’s edge as far as you could see (1, 2). On the other side of the street, Jökulsárlón was amazing and filled with massive icebergs that had broken off from the distant Vatnajökull glacier (1).
After Jökulsárlón, we continued onward another hour towards Höfn (pronounced “Hub”), where we moved into our quiet AirBnb for the night and promptly went out to dinner at a local restaurant. I ordered my favorite meal of the trip: a delicious lobster pizza, which I devoured in minutes. We retired back to the AirBnb for the night, and prepared for the coming early morning and day of travel.
Day 4:
Our last day in Iceland started at 7:45, when we left Höfn back westward down the Ring Road to Reykjavík. Without stops, it’s about a 5.5 hour drive, but we intended to take short stops at different places along the way that we wanted to see more, or that we weren’t able to properly appreciate due to bad weather or darkness. The first hours of the trip were in the dark and therefore uneventful, but as the sun began to rise we started to capture amazing views of the mountains and glaciers to our right. All the glaciers were actually parts of Vatnajökull, but just peeking out at different spots throughout the mountains. It was great to drive through this part after the sun was up, as we had missed it on the way to Höfn.
Over the next couple hours of driving towards Vík, we saw beautiful waterfalls,both distant and roadside, unique moss-covered stone fields with a sunrise backdrop (1), and countless spectacular views of the towering mountains right next to us. Shortly after noon we arrived back at Vík for a pit stop. We decided to venture up to the top of the hill to view the local Church (which was identical to the dozen other churches we saw along our travels), which also provided us a beautiful view of the town below us, extending down to the beach and Dyrhólaey. Even though it was midday, the sun hung low in the sky and lit up the town and landscape below us, creating an incredibly picturesque scene.
We continued onward, never going without scenes of nearby mountains, not stopping until an hour outside of Reykyavík, when we got to Skógafoss. With blue skies above and the falls directly facing the sun, the waterfall was far more beautiful than when we first visited. The sunlight even created an amazing full rainbow (sometime making a full 360° circle when the light hit the mist right!). From Skógafoss, we drove another 20 minutes to Seljalandsfoss, which once again was beautiful but the sunlight didn’t have the same effect on it, as the falls faced away from the sun. From there, we drove through Selfoss, along the southern coastline, and finally over the mountains to get back to Reykjavík about an hour before sunset.
We parked in the center of downtown, and took some time to explore (1, 2). We were quickly surprised by the abundance of bird life and graffiti (both good and not-so-good). We had some quick and warm noodles for dinner at a place called Nudluskalin, and rushed out of Reykjavík for our 6:00 booking at the Blue Lagoon in Keflavík (45 minutes away).
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Blue Lagoon, we couldn’t bring the phones in to take any pictures, but I can assure you that it was very pretty and very relaxing. We changed into our bathing suits, and walked down and into the expansive geothermal spa. Taking our time, we explored the stretches of the lagoon, where the temperature ranged from 95-105° F, similar to the standard hot tub. In the dark, the blue of the water wasn’t too noticeable, but the lack of crowds made the time choice very much worth it. For the most tourist-dense place in Iceland, the Lagoon was very quiet when we were there. We relaxed and both put on some silica masks, and Mackenzie even got to try an algae mask. After 2.5 hours of lounging in the hot waters and recounting the highlights of the trip, we got out (with incredibly pruny fingers, I’ll add), dried off, and drove a short distance to our final AirBnb.
There, we were greeted by a friendly middle-aged couple and their daughter, who was a few years older than us and had gone to college in Florida. While we expected to go right to bed for our early flight in the morning, they invited us to stay downstairs and talk with them. They seemed like they’d be good company, and after many conversations, ranging from music, culture, our travels, and everything in between (most of which consisted of comparing the US to Iceland), we ended up getting to bed around 3:30AM!
Day 5
Day 5
After a quick 2-hour nap, we woke up, gathered our things, and drove to the airport, where we dropped off the rental car and hurried onto the plane for some more much needed sleep! Our fantastic trip was over.
Iceland was, without a doubt, the most beautiful country either of us have ever been to, with an abundance of not only fantastic scenery, but kind people. From the stunning landscapes to the cozy small towns, Iceland will forever stay with us, and I know for certain that we will come back in the future for a longer trip to continue and finish the Ring Road, and see all the hidden beauty Iceland holds. It was difficult to say goodbye to this wonderful and unique tiny country, but I am off to another adventure! I write this from my small room in Sweden, where I cannot wait to see what this country (and the rest of Europe) has in store for me!
