In case you missed it – check out my previous post for Iceland travel essentials and helpful tips for your trip!
Why Iceland?
If you’ve begun your Iceland research, you’ve already learned that Iceland has so many things to do and so many unique landscapes to see. It can be extremely overwhelming to plan a trip like this on a tight schedule (thanks to our PTO limit). I still struggle to find the right balance of activities and relaxation. Looking back at our Iceland trip, I think we honestly accomplished that balance. There was time to relax and watch the northern lights, hang out in the local cafe, drink Baldi (our favorite beer), eat endless amounts of homemade desserts, and enjoy scenic drives around the coast. We also had time for whale watching, more scenic drives and sightseeing, endless hiking, horseback riding and time to spend a day in the capital city, Reykjavik (drinking more beer).
Getting Around Iceland
If you read my first post, you already know we rented a car at the Keflavik airport from Blue Car Rental and started our long but beautiful journey to our Airbnb in Northern Iceland. (If this is too much travel all at once for you, pick up your car and spend the day in Reykjavik walking around and getting adjusted to the time zone instead)! Around every corner of this drive was a new scene. Rocks, lava, ocean, green pastures, mountains, underground tunnels. It was truly unbelievable. Pulling up to our Airbnb was a scene from a movie.
Where to stay in Iceland
Our Airbnb (pictured above) was such a steal. Located in the Tröllaskagi peninsula-one of the prettiest in all of Iceland-we were surrounded by mountains, glaciers, sheep, waterfalls, and the greenest grass I’ve ever seen. We were also only a five minute drive away from the town of Dalvik. Our host, Gudrun, answered all my questions about the area and really helped to make it a memorable house. Another thing I always look for in an Airbnb is a washer and dryer! So far, I have yet to need a checked bag on any of our week-long trips because of this.
Day 2 - Hiking, Goðafoss Waterfall, Aykureyri
Day two and we needed to hike! There is a free hiking app that worked in Iceland -Wapp. From our Airbnb, I saw there was a hike nearby called Grenevik. This started close to town, so we first stopped at our favorite Cafe in Dalvik, Gisli Eirikur Helgi Kaffihûs. I actually think this is the only cafe in town.. but it still would’ve been our favorite even if there were others! It’s so unique and eclectic and exactly what I pictured for a small fishing village cafe. The owners are extremely welcoming, offering their homemade desserts, sandwiches, and the best fish soup. The hike after wasn’t very long but the views were incredible. Views of the ocean, town and mountains. It was like a little Christmas postcard, without the snow.
Our next stop that day was the Gooafoss waterfall. One of the things Iceland is known for is the number of waterfalls (10,000!), so you’re bound to see one wherever you end up. After that, we ventured into the biggest town in the north, Akureyri, for dinner. Everything is so clean in Iceland! No trash on the side of the roads and there are no billboards! Akureyri is definitely worth the visit, I don’t think you need more than a half day here. The most notable thing here was the food we all had. It sounds crazy…but I still think about THE LETTUCE. You don’t think lettuce can taste good, right? Well, maybe you haven’t been to Iceland. The chicken was so fresh, I had a hard time eating chicken after coming home.
Day 3 - Horseback Riding, Lunch, Backyard Hike
Third day in Iceland we decided on the spur of the moment that we wanted to go horseback riding. We had noticed Tvistur Horse Rental close to the Airbnb, so we called and booked! I could not recommend this place more. Our guide was almost straight out of a fairy tale book, we felt like Vikings and we were the only ones there! It was a true authentic horse-riding experience. Icelandic horses are smaller so in my opinion, they were easier to ride. I would honestly love to do this same horseback tour again and have nothing but great memories of this experience.
After that, can you guess where we ended up? The Cafe of course! As I’m writing this, I’m happy but I’m also sad because I’m remembering the tour guide and the owner of the cafe. They were genuinely such nice people who made you feel so welcomed and hard to leave. After probably eating more fish soup, bread, apple pie and cheesecake, we did another hike! I’m not entirely sure if we were supposed to do this but we hiked right up the mountain in our backyard. The best thing about hiking in Iceland was the lack of poisonous things or dangerous animals!! It was stress free and made for a much more enjoyable hike.
Day 4 - Road trip to Ketubjörg Cliffs, & Northern Lights
Day four, we knew we wanted to see the Ketubjorg Cliffs (around two and a half hours from our Airbnb).
*Make sure to learn the road signs if you end up doing this drive because I remember approaching a one way tunnel and we quickly learned that the sign was telling you which side of the road had the right of way while in the tunnel. Whoever doesn’t have the right of way has to pull over to the side and let the other car pass. It’s not wide enough for two cars.*
Once we were near cliffs, I would’ve guessed we were in Ireland. There are steep, bright green cliffs that dropped off into the ocean – and we were the only ones there. It was magical. The best word I can use to describe our entire Iceland trip is: magical.
As if the day couldn’t get any dreamier, once we were back and relaxing in the Airbnb, we had a feeling to step outside. Northern lights were dancing everywhere. If you’ve never had a chance to see the northern lights but you hear someone describe them, you’ve probably heard them say “they dance”. There’s no better way to describe this phenomenon. It was early September, which is not an ideal time at all to see the northern lights in Iceland – we were extremely lucky. There is an app you can download to track the activity and probability that you might see them: Aurora.
Day 5 - Nykurtjorn 10-mile hike, Dinner in Dalvik
This day was exciting and unexpected. I had another hike saved in my Wapp app that was close to the Airbnb! The hike is called “Nykurtjorn”. The description says it’s about a 5-mile hike. I honestly do not know what happened, but we ended up hiking 10 miles and according to the app, we were on the trail the whole time. So, if anyone has done this hike or plans to do it after this, please let me know what we did wrong, and I will laugh at myself. Looking back, it was better with the miscalculation, because it ended up being the most memorable hike we’ve had. We were delirious because I hardly packed any food or water..I packed a peanut butter sandwich and an orange… for us to split. If you learn anything from this blog, it’s: always overpack on your hikes :).
Anyways, the hike was also another scene from a movie. We saw horses, goats, waterfalls – it was magical. In the end, we ended up at the cafe in Dalvik again where we came back to life with a lot of beer and fish soup. Sounds gross, I know – but you just have to experience their fish soup to understand (pictured above).
Day 6- Whale Watching in Husavik, Lunch at Gamli Baukur, Hverir Geothermal area, Krafla Crater
We saw whales! I would highly recommend you take a day trip to Husavik to embark on an extremely old (but safe) sail boat with North Sailing! We had such an amazing trip out into the bay on the Schooner Opal Boat. The crew fed us hot chocolate and snacks while onboard while trying to spot some whales and we did see whales!
After that, we went to what is called Hverir – a geothermal ring road attraction not far from Lake Myvatn in northeast Iceland. I would highly recommend checking this out because it’s such a unique landscape of Iceland. This area is really hard to describe, it’s unlike any landscape I’ve ever seen before. It feels like you’ve left Earth and landed on Mars. The first thing that you will notice is the smell. This area contains sulphur mud springs and steam vents that spray into the air, causing an obvious overpowering sulphuric smell. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty hard to breathe while you’re here because the smell is SO strong. I am not trying to discourage you from visiting this site because I truly think it’s worth it. We lasted probably twenty minutes here before heading over to the Krafla crater (pictured below).
Last day - Road trip to Reykjavik
After saying goodbye to our new friends at the Dalvik cafe, we started our journey back to the airport. We knew we couldn’t come all the way to Iceland and skip the main city! Thankfully, we were able to spend an evening in Reykjavik, walking on the rainbow road, drinking one last Baldi beer at the Kaldi Bar downtown. The city itself is beautiful and wasn’t too busy at all! There were a lot of things we didn’t do in the city – like eating a Reykjavik hot dog – that I hope we get to experience one day when we return! We spent the night here since our flight left early in the morning.
Overall Experience
I’m actually writing this a year and a half after our visit. I didn’t plan to start a blog, so I definitely didn’t plan to write and remember all of this. Iceland was so memorable that all of this came rushing back to me. I can honestly say that I miss Iceland every day and I cannot wait to go back. It’s hard to rank trips because they are all so different; however, I think this had to be our favorite trip of all time (so far) 🙂 If you get a chance to visit Iceland, travel off the ring road and visit some of these sites! It’s truly a magical experience.
I love this website! It is so detailed and informative and makes me want to visit Iceland! I can’t wait to read more and plan to follow your website! Thank you for creating such an awesome space!
Thank you so much!!!!
I enjoyed reading about the trip- feels like I experienced a bit of Iceland.
Thank you so much for reading and the comment!!
Looking forward to more of your experiences and insights!
I appreciate it so much!!
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