6 Day Iceland Itinerary

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Jul 25

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Admittedly Iceland wasn’t even in my radar. Some friends had mentioned how magnificent the scenery was but the idea of going somewhere extremely cold wasn’t in my plans. One morning, as I was scrolling thru my facebook feed, as one does, I came across an ad, which said “Travel to Iceland with WOW AIR for $300 round trip.” If you know me I am ALWAYS on the look out for flight deals. So I thought why not check it out. Of course 2 minutes later I found myself typing in my credit card number, hitting the “purchase now” button and getting my confirmation number. I was going to Iceland! I was immediately hit with resbefer, thinking I had a new adventure on the horizon. Though I was extremely excited about my new adventure, panic started to settled in as I realized I had ZERO winter clothes and I had never really driven in the snow before.

Nonetheless my time in Iceland was AMAZING!

Here’s my 6 Day Itinerary I hope you will enjoy it too!

Day 1: Blue Lagoon & Downtown Reykjavik
Day 2: Golden Circle
Day 3: Vik & Glacier Lagoon
Day 4: Storm means Free Day
Day 5: Sólheimasandur Plane Crash
Day 6: Departure

Day 1: Blue Lagoon & Downtown Reykjavik

Getting our rental car was literally the first thing we did when we arrived to Iceland. Unless you want to spend massive amounts of money paying for private/group tours, renting a car in Iceland is a MUST. There’s no way to get around other than by a vehicle. Plus it’s freezing in the winter so I doubt you’ll want to be walking around for too long. As you are picking a date, keep in mind that the winters in Iceland are brutally cold, but the summer days are never ending, so it really depends what you are into. I wanted to see the Northern lights, which you can only see during the winter, so I chose to visit in March, towards the end of winter hoping it wouldn’t be as bad.

After picking up the car, we made our way to the Blue Lagoon, as it was on our way to Reykjavik. The Blue Lagoon is beautiful but if I am being honest, you could skip it and find a better hot spring. It is a bit over priced & crowded. Entrance tickets for the lagoon must be purchased in advanced and aside from the ticket price you have to pay for a towel rental fee. Before you can even go into the Lagoon you have to take a shower. They have communal showers, but since I am not comfortable showing my goods to the world, I opted to wait for the private showers.

Every post I had ever seen of the Blue Lagoon illustrated the ultimate spa experience, perfect teal thermal waters with and astonishing view of the Icelandic landscape. Unfortunately, this was not our experience, we got super unlucky with the weather. It was really foggy and you could barely see anything. On the bright side we did enjoy a nice face mask, and frankly hitting up the Lagoon after a long flight felt really refreshing.

Once we felt rested and reenergized we decided to move along and head to Reykjavik, where we stayed at the Reykjavik City Hostel. Hostels in Iceland are clean and modern, and not to mention cheap. It was $22 a night per person and our location was fairly close to downtown.

As we made our way to downtown, we tried to hit up a couple items on our list. Those included The Harpa Concert Hall, The Sun Voyager statue, the Hallgrímskirkja Church and of course food! Food in Iceland is super expensive. A meal can easily get up to $40 for a simple sandwich or salad and drink. Nonetheless the seafood is well worth the price.

First stop: Harpa Concert Hall.

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The Harpa is a Concert Hall, as long as you are not attending a show and solely admiring the architecture the entrance is free. But if you can, I’d encourage you to check out a show while you are out there.The architecture is truly mind blowing and the view from the Harpa is also astonishing.

Our next landmark in Reykjavik, was the Sun Voyager, a boat sculpture, described as a dreamboat.

The last item on our list, well at least for that day was the Hallgrímskirkja Church. Unfortunately the church and view tower were closed by the time we arrived. But we were able to come back a different day to check it out.

Day One Summary:

Reykjavik City Hostel: http://www.hostel.is/Hostels/Reykjavikcity/ $22/night
Places visited: Blue Lagoon, Harpa Concert Hall, The Sun Voyager statue, the and Hallgrímskirkja Church.
Blue Lagoon $47 entry fee + $6 towel rental http://www.bluelagoon.com/blue-lagoon-spa/prices-and-packages/
Gas at Iceland is about $7.50 per gallon

Day 2: Golden Circle

The Golden Circle is a 300 kilometer route, around the 3 most popular attractions in Iceland. The full route takes about 4 hours to complete, but it truly depends on how much time you want to spend at each location. The main 3 attractions are Thingvellir National Park, Gullfoss, and Strokkur Geyser. As an added bonus we decided to also stop and check out Kerið Crater Lake. Reminder! Don’t forget to stop and pet the horses during your time at the Golden Circle.

Thingvellir National Park

Strokkur Geyser

Gullfoss Waterfall

Kerið Crater Lake

Day Two Summary:

Hostel: Reykjavik City Hostel http://www.hostel.is/Hostels/Reykjavikcity/ $22/night
Places visited: Thingvellir National Park, Gullfoss, Strokkur Geyser and Kerið Crater Lake.
Gas at Iceland is about $7.50 per gallon

Day 3: Vik & Glacier Lagoon

The drive to Vik form Reykjavik is about 2 + hours straight. That said there are so many things to see on your way. The main ones being:

Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

Although our main plan was to arrive to Vik that night, we actually drove a little further to visit the Glacier Lagoon, which is 4 hours away from Reykjavik and 2 hours from Vik. Truly worth the drive, as you can see massive icebergs around the lagoon.

At our arrival back to Vik. We had spent a total of 6 hours driving and exploring Iceland. We had finished all of our snacks and had no food with us. As we checked into our hostel Vik Hostel, a guy who was also staying there came in saying the Northern Lights were out by the plane crash. So we got back in the car and drove about 30mins out to see the lights. By the time we arrived, the lights were already fading away. We had zero luck that night. When we headed back to Vik we decided to stop to get some food, well there was nothing! Everything in Vik closes relatively early, there was nothing we could do, other than go to bed and wait for things to open the next day. So make sure to carry snacks at all times.

Day Three Summary:

VIK Hostel http://www.hostel.is/hostels/Vik/ $20 per night + $7 towel rental fee
Places visited: Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach and Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon
Gas at Iceland is about $7.50 per gallon
Total travel time: 6hours

Day 4: Storm means Free Day

On day 4 we had plans to go and checkout the Glacier and do a Glacier walk but the weather was not on our side. The winds were so high, it was scary to drive. So we got some food and decided to just stay in the hostel. Plus our hostel was super cute, so I didn’t mind staying in a day.

Day Four Summary:

VIK Hostel http://www.hostel.is/hostels/Vik/ $20 per night + $7 towel rental fee

Day 5: Sólheimasandur Plane Crash

The weather was much better on this day, so we decided to head back to Reykjavik. On our way back we decided to check out the plane crash. Admittedly it was a bit difficult to find, as there are zero signs. The trek to the plane crash is about 1.5 hours each way. But I have to say it’s pretty cool. Of course even though it is extremely out of the way, there were crowds of people checking it out and trying to snap a good picture.

How to find the plane crash: https://expertvagabond.com/airplane-crash-wreckage-iceland/

Last day in Reykjavik and we had still not seen the northern lights. To be honest I had no idea it was going to be this difficult. At this point I had given up. We had gone out every night hoping to see the lights.

While we waited for the night to fall, we strolled around downtown and visited the tower at the Hallgrímskirkja Church. Entrance is about $8 and the view of Reykjavik is truly amazing.

As we headed back to our hostel in Reykjavik, Reykjavik Downtown Hostel, we were still hopeful we’d get lucky and see the lights. The lady at the front desk said people at the hostel were going out that night with a tour to check out the lights and advised us to go as well. So for one last time, we got in the car and drove out of the city, in hopes to see the lights. We waited and waited and waited. I think we were there for a total of 2-3 hours at least. It was freezing cold, but we also couldn’t leave the car running. And just when we were about to give up, the lights came out! It was beautiful. They were dancing lights, I had never seen anything like it. Of course I was completely prepared with my iPhone7 camera and was unable to capture a good image, but the experience alone I will never forget. After days chasing them, we had finally seen the lights. I was ready to go back home with all my list items checked.

Day Five Summary:

Reykjavik Downtown http://www.hostel.is/hostels/reykjavikdowntown $30 per night
Places visited: Sólheimasandur Plane Crash, Hallgrímskirkja Church $8 Tower Entry, Downton Reykjavik, Northern Lights
Gas at Iceland is about $7.50 per gallon
Total travel time: 2hours

Day 6: Departure

Well, it was time to go home. My time in Iceland was nothing far from amazing. If you were like me and didn’t even have Iceland in your radar I suggest you put this country on your list, as it is a must see.

OVERALL COSTS:

Flight Wow Air: $329

Hostels: $158 per person for 6 days. *Note bring your own towel. Some hostels will charge for towels. I had mine.

Car Rental fee: $360 for 6 days

Total Cost: $847 (food and activities not included)