Travel: 4 Days in Iceland

Hey Loves! You thought that said Island and not Iceland huh? Well, technically it’s both! If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know that every year Tony and I take a trip to somewhere new and this year we took our talents to Iceland! Read more about our experience and get the chance to check out our vlog we made!

When we mentioned to our friends we were going there, many of their questions were “Why? What’s there?” but by the time we got back, many of them wanted to head there themselves!

Iceland is a country (duh) with about 330,000 people (Chicago has 2.7 Million for comparison) with their largest city being Reykjavik which holds 122,000. There are a few other smaller cities across the island, but since Reykjavik is the largest, that’s where we decided to stay during our 4-Day visit.

Enough chit chatting already! Let’s get to the details and watch our vlog for some live action!

Day One

8:00 AM – Landed at 8AM in Keflavik, where the airport is, post our red-eye flight from O’Hare with a small layover at Newark. Make it through customs in a breeze and begin the search for some tea and coffee at the 4 Joe and the Juice’s we pass on our way out. Don’t find any and instead get a jump start on the car rental Tony says we need to head to the car rental so we leave and head outside. PAUSE it’s cold. Forgot where I was briefly and bundle myself up in my scarf. It’s a cool 45 degrees, but it’s pleasant like the crisp morning air you get in the Fall.

9:00 AM – Get the car rental, hook up our mobile wi-fi (at $5 a day I HIGHLY recommend adding that on), toss our bags in the car and hit the road. First stop is the infamous Blue Lagoon.

9:30 AM – I lied, the first stop is a little bakery in Keflavik because we’re starving. A small town about 10 minutes away from the airport. We grab some cappuccinos a croissant, and a sandwich and dig in.

11:00 AM – Arrive at Blue Lagoon! Our appointment isn’t until 1 PM so we’re two hours early and they won’t let us in until 12:30 decide to walk around the property. Our first REAL view of Iceland makes us feel like we’re on another planet. The lava rocks and icy blue waters are nothing but surreal and unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

After walking for a bit, and we still have time to kill so we head to the car and I take a nap #napqueen.

12:30 PM – Finally enter into Blue Lagoon, shower and suit up and take our first dip into the geothermal spa! We walk around, get our face masks, and our drink to start off. We’re. In. Heaven.

*Tip: Someone suggested going to Blue Lagoon first because it’s about 20 minutes from the airport. I’m piggybacking this comment as it’s the perfect way to start your trip, calm and collected, after being on an airplane for 6 hours. 

4:00 PM – Everyone’s getting hungry so we figure we pack up and head to Reykjavik where our Airbnb is located.

5:00 PM – Arrive at the Airbnb in a cute town across the street from the park. Neighbors are friendly and the child in the apartment above hears a car and thinks we’re his Dad. We are not. But, his Dad pulls up shortly after while we’re unloading our luggage.

8:00 PM – Dinner reservations at Perlan so we take the 10-minute drive including a bit of a winding road and arrive at the Observatory for dinner. Lamb. Cod. Cheesecake. Yum! The glass dome gives 360 views of Reykjavik and at 9 PM the floor rotates gently while you’re eating. I attempted to surprise Tony, but it’s broken tonight so we just walk to the other sides and take pictures. We chat up our waitress and she suggests activities for us to do specifically a dinner restaurant which we end up checking out.

10:30 PM – After dinner’s done, we hop in the car, head back to the Airbnb and immediately fall asleep to rest for whatever tomorrow brings.

Day Two

10:00 AM – Long story short, we’re jet-lagged. We don’t move a muscle until 9 and finally make it out the house and head to Reykjavik to explore. The day is grey and windy but we both have weather appropriate clothes. After we get ready and make sure we have everything, we head out to Laugavegur (the main street, 10-minute walk) and search for some food.

10:30 AM – After browsing around for a bit, we land on Kaffibrenslan. Not surprisingly, I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures of my food because I was hungry every single time and devoured it. We both got bacon and egg salad sandwiches, chips, and something to keep up warm like tea and coffee. The server surprises me with tea that’s bright pink like the sweater I’m wearing and it’s delicious.

11:30 AM – We walk around the city for a few hours and stop in multiple shops ranging from music to fashion. It’s a very expensive town so we don’t purchase anything we don’t need.

2:00 PM – We visit the Hallgrimskirkja and pay the fee to head to the top. We take in some lovely views and then head back down. There were quite a bit of tourist but nothing unmanageable. The line moved quickly so at the most we spent 40 minutes at the location.

2:45 PM – We leave the church and take a picture of a restaurant called Cafe Loki. A must since it’s named after one of my cats.

3:00 PM – We walk all the way to the sea and visit the Harpa Music Hall. It’s beginning to become a very cold and windy day so we spend some time inside to warm up and explore the building and when we’re able to catch a break, we head to the other side of town to pick up some groceries. 

4:30 PM – The rain only breaks for a second and now it’s a combination of both wind and rain while we head to the local grocery store. We grab some pasta, sauce, and sandwich materials for our lunches tomorrow while we’re traveling.

* Tip: I highly suggest doing the same as the lunches can get very pricey while you’re on the road. Most of the options were sandwiches and drinks so we bought bread, sandwich meat (I think it was ham), cheese, and mustard plus some apples and bottled water to snack on. We also decided to make breakfast at home and grabbed eggs and bacon. Total cost was around $40 USD

6:00 PM – After getting back to the Airbnb. We have an early dinner around 7PM and watch a movie on Netflix. We head to bed around 9 to rest for our early morning as we hit the road.

Day Three

8:00 AM – I’m the first one up and make us some tea and coffee followed by breakfast. We get dressed, layer up, and pack our food for our day of traveling ahead. We leave the house around 9:30 AM.

10:00 AM – We make it to the beginnings of the Thingvellir National Park. Our first stop is Oxarafoss Trail also known as The Bloody Gate from Game of Thrones. As watchers of the show, it as fun to see it in person. We also stumble upon a small waterfall about 15 minutes in. We hope back in the car and drive around to other locations within the park and pull over on the designated areas to take pictures. Throughout the rest of the day, we see Geysir, hike a smaller mountain, and Gullfoss waterfall. In between stops, we eat lunch and rest for a bit before finishing up the day.

3:00 PM – We end the day by heading to the Secret Lagoon as we head back to Reykjavik. It’s the perfect way to unwind and rest after a long day of sightseeing.

5:00 PM – We pull an audible and make our final stop the Kerid crater. It takes us about 30 minutes to walk all the way around and down to the crater so it was a quick stop for us and totally worth it. The colors on that thing were amazing.

7:00 PM – Back at the AirBnb, we change and get dressed for dinner at Rox, a tapas style restaurant. It’s a beautiful evening and our dinner is delicious as we have Mushroom Risotto, Arctic Char, Duck, and of course wine.

9:30 PM – The city is safe at night so we take the 15-minute walk back to the AirBnb and call it a night.

Day Four

8:00 AM – It’s our last full day and we go back and forth about whether we head North or South for our final day. I write the two places on pieces of paper and we pull the winner out of a mug. We go south to Vik.

9:00 AM – We’re a bit behind so we have our coffee, tea, and breakfast and hit the road. It’s about a 80-minute drive down to Vik so we put on our playlist and head on down.

11:00 AM – We finally arrive at Vik and our first stop is Seljalandfoss. We have the option of going inside one of the waterfalls there but you get soaked and I wasn’t in the mood. We contemplate it but decide on looking in from afar. We do, however, go behind Seljalandfoss and get a bit damp but dry off fairly quickly. Off to the next location.

1:00 PM – We make our way to Skogofoss which was my personal favorite. There’s a rainbow extremely visible and it’s just a fun location to visit. Tony convinces me to climb to the top along a staircase, which we do. And while it was brutal and we made stops along the way, when we get to the top, it’s incredible. We actually end up walking a bit further once we get to the top.

2:30 PM – After our hike, we decide to eat lunch in the car because we’re exhausted and starving after our exercise. It’s well deserved and while eating, we sit and chat about our favorite parts of the day. Tony reminds me the trip isn’t over yet and we head over the Reynisfjara, aka Black Sand Beach, to see the basalt rocks.

3:30 PM – It’s extremely windy but we get the chance to see the beach and take a few pictures on the rocks as well. The Basalt Rocks are cooled lava from volcanoes years ago. After battling the wind, we make our way back to the car but stop for a quick pick me up for our 2-hour drive back.

5:30 PM – Back at the Airbnb, we relax and start to pack up our things as our trip is over already and we’re back at the airport for 10:30 AM.

7:00 PM – We figure we should spend one night out so after a delicious dinner at Matwerk, we head over to the Lewbowski bar for drinks afterward. In all honesty, we’re exhausted so we make it home around 10 and hit the bed. While we have a great trip, we just aren’t quite ready to leave!

All in all, I would totally visit Iceland again. The food was surprisingly delicious and getting around was a breeze. Next time around, I think it would be fun to travel the entire island and move from city to city as we sightsee the entire island. I also think it would be incredible to see a glacier up close and personal and of course the Aurora Lights. Until then though!

Would you like to visit Iceland? Or better yet, have you been? Share your comments below!