So you want to go Iceland? We all do, it’s such a hot spot destination these days, and for good reason. With beautiful landscapes, the endless opportunity for adventure around every waterfall, and a population of people full of whimsy and charm, the allure of this country is not easily overlooked.
About 3 years ago, Matt and I were completely unaware of its popularity. We had just recently started dating and true to our nature, decided to spontaneously plan a trip abroad. We had no idea where we wanted to go, just that we wanted to hop on a plane and explore a new place together. On one end of the phone I pulled up a map of the world and started naming off random destinations. On the other end, Matt was typing my picks into an airline’s website to see how much the flights would cost. When we finally got to Reykjavik, we were both pleasantly surprised by how affordable it seemed to be. Since then, with the addition of budget airliner WOW it’s only gotten more budget friendly. A few days later we booked the flights and made our trip official. Just a few weeks into dating and an international trip was booked for 8 months later. A bold move indeed, but we figured if things didn’t work out we have the type of personalities that would allow us to travel as friends regardless.
Eight months later we found ourselves holding hands, navigating our way through the impossibly difficult to read street signs of Reykjavik. Don’t cheap out people – splurge for the GPS in your rental! Neither of us is particularly adept at learning foreign languages, but even if you are, Icelandic is tough! With the aid of a map we picked up at a nearby gas station and the kindness of strangers, we made our way to our first stop where we rented our camping gear and a GPS to help us with the rest of our journey.
Many visitors to Iceland choose to stop at the Blue Lagoon to soak in the geothermal pool upon first arriving to the country. Due to its popularity it’s a good idea to book your visit in advance. Matt and I tried to take an unplanned soak and were denied access because they were at full capacity. Learn from our mistakes and secure your spot! Instead, we took the opportunity to go in search of a natural hot spring. One of the locals pointed us in the right direction, letting us know we should follow the river for about 30 minutes. The further we walked, the warmer the water would become. When we dipped our hand into a spot that felt comfortable, we could hop in and soak. Sounded easy enough! When we got to the site where we would begin to follow the river, we quickly realized the walk was up a mountain the entire way. What classified as a quick, easy walk to a local was an uphill battle for us. This is just a testament to the grit of the Icelandic people. We were happy that we had gone off the beaten track to find this natural pool. While the Blue Lagoon is an epic spot and it is easy to see why it is one of the most visited spots in the country, the more natural location was a treat in its own right. It was devoid of any crowds and much less manicured. The only “amenity” was a little wooden stall you could use to change into your bathing suit if you wished. Do yourself a favor and take the time to enjoy both experiences.
When Matt and I chose our destination based on the affordable airfare, we failed to consider the price of actually staying in the country. Hotels can be pricey and food/alcohol in particular can be very expensive. To mitigate some of these costs, a popular option at least in the warmer months is to camp. There are plenty of campsites around the country that charge just a nominal amount to stay for the evening. In addition to the cheap lodging, many of these sites are equipped with a communal kitchen so you can also save money by preparing your own meals. We did not want to utilize this option for our full two weeks but thought we would stretch our dollar and camp for a few days in the middle of our stay. So on day one, sans GPS, we made our way to that rental place where we picked up our tent.
Two nights later, in the middle of one of the biggest rain/wind storms Iceland had seen in months, we struggled to pitch our tent. The ground was so cold and hard that we were barely able to get the poles (pegs? rods? clearly we don’t camp much) securely in place. Some time went by and a very frustrated Matt, tired of battling the canvas flapping in the strong winds, threw the towel in on a proper set-up. He guided me to hold certain areas in place while he quickly wrapped some rope around our home for the night. It wasn’t pretty, but it would do. Soaking wet and starved, we set off to find some dinner. We were on the eastern side of the country which was pretty rural so our choice of restaurants was non-existent, at least to our knowledge. We opted to pick up a few packs of ramen noodles at the local convenient store that we would prepare back at the campsite. We read so many blogs ahead of time that led us to believe the kitchens would be equipped for a simple meal preparation like this. To our disappointment, we returned to the camp to realize this was not the case.
We sat in our car and Matt tore into his package of ramen, biting into his raw noodles as I stared at him in disbelief.
I guess when you’re HANGRY, you do what you got to do! Our shoddy tent-pitching job came back to bite us in the butts. The rain never did let up and we had a very sleepless night. Hour by hour, the tent lowered closer to our heads as it became saturated with water. At the first sign of daylight, Matt ordered us up, it was time to move on. We later discovered a campsite in the city center of Reykjavik, one of the campsites that were frequently referenced in our trip planning. The kind with the big communal kitchens. Our take away for you here is to make sure you do your research on the place you plan on staying the night to make sure it meets your needs. Not all campsites are created equal. This picture below – well I made Matt pull over on the side of the road to quickly set the tent up. See I had visions of our rustic-looking camping photos so I couldn’t leave Iceland without it.
We spent much of the next day in the car on our way to Akureyri in the north. We were so tired from our sleepless night that we pulled over at least twice to doze off for a little bit. In some parts of the world I would be hesitant to do such a thing, but in Iceland we never felt anything but safe. These naps went a long way towards helping us to power through the rest of our day. We were able to take a detour off the main road to check out Dettifoss – the most powerful waterfall in all of Europe.
This was worth the trip! The road to Dettifoss was mostly not paved and our car rumbled the entire way there. But look at this monster! By this point of our journey we had driven past so many waterfalls that they barely caught our eye anymore. This one, she rolled like thunder and we stared for a good while before heading back to the car. If you look on the right side of the falls in this photo above, you can see a few onlookers to give you a scale of size. Our next stop was a treat for the eyes but not for the nose. Don’t let the smell of rotten eggs deter you from visiting Lake Myvatn! This geothermal area in the north reminded me of walking on a different planet. Surrounded by mud pools and steam vents, I couldn’t refrain from snapping too many photos. The smell of the sulfur was eventually washed from my skin and clothes, but the memories can’t be erased (cheese alert!)
After our previous night(mare) in the tent, we agreed it would be best to book a last minute hotel room once we arrived in Akureyri and leave the tent in its final resting place – the trunk. This proved to be a wise decision as we ended up in a cute little bed and breakfast with an easy walking distance to the heart of the city. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice evening, starting with a cocktail at a local restaurant, Strikid, with a rooftop bar and wonderful view of the city. The drinks were a bit pricey from what I recall but that is the case with most alcohol in Iceland. After toasting to our day of exploration and soaking in the views of Akureyri, we made our way to another nearby restaurant boasting an impressive tasting menu. We must have been feeling pretty good from our first round of drinks because we decided to splurge on the largest plate option and even got the wine pairing. Being right there on the water, it is no surprise our meal was comprised of some of the freshest fish we’ve tasted. Pro tip : make sure you stock up in the duty-free store before leaving the airport. You’ll save SO much money this way. We bought a bottle of local treasure, Brennivin, also known as “Black Death” before we left the airport but next time we will make more practical choices for ourselves.
Fun fact: In Iceland, the beer is priced based on alcohol content. The lower the content, the cheaper the beer. Icelanders sure do know how to party and they do it all night long on Friday and Saturdays, so many of them drink very low alcohol content beer so they can extend their partying. Do as the locals do! Taking the party culture into consideration, when planning our trip around the Ring Road (the highway that circles the country) we made certain we would be back into Reykjavik for the weekend. What we didn’t plan for was our aforementioned tenting troubles. That situation pushed our itinerary forward by a day, so we didn’t have accommodation planned for the first night we arrived into the city. After our good fortune with our B&B in Akureyri we figured it would be just as easy in Reykjavik. Unfortunately, that was not our experience – but I will say we love to tell this story.
Over a piece of pizza we quickly jumped onto our phones and found a guesthouse that was available that evening. It was listed as an instant booking and it fell into our price range. Perfect! We finished up our dinner and plugged the address into our GPS. Upon arrival we knocked on the door and there was no answer. We stood there knocking for a few minutes and finally someone upstairs opened the window to let us know the homeowner was not home. He came down to the front door and we explained we had just booked the stay. The guest let us in the house saying the owner had “gone out to the bar for the evening”. We sat awkwardly on the couch and tried to call this homeowner using the number the other guests provided.
Ring. Ring. Ring…. “HELLO” said a loud voice, clearly competing with loud music in the background. We explained the situation and the homeowner replied, “well I’m not home, here’s the number for the housekeeper. Maybe she can help you.” Alright – so next we tried the housekeeper but to no avail. Back to the homeowner who must have been enjoying his night out as the voice on the other end was becoming more slurred as time went by (I told you Iceland knows how to party). To make a long story short, nobody was ever able to help us, so we ended up spending the night in our car. We layered on a lot of our clothing, turned the heat on full blast for a few minutes to fall asleep, then turned off the engine until the car became too cold and we woke up shivering. We repeated this process many times throughout the night. We both agreed it was better than another night in that tent!
When the sun came up we returned our camping gear then headed to our hotel to check in. The receptionist was so lovely and she offered to book us a spot on a deep sea fishing excursion later that evening. We hurried up to our room to relish in a hot shower. It had been awhile since we felt that pure enjoyment and relaxation that only a hot shower with good water pressure can bring. It felt amazing to finally remove the past day’s dirt from our tired bodies. After showering we headed downstairs and set off to the harbor. Along the way we stumbled across a soccer bar that seemed to be very popular among the locals. A WHOLE PITCHER of CARLSBURG for a mere 2000 ISK – yes, please!
Find this place and you’ll be happy.
After we finished up we headed down to the pier, got checked into our tour and boarded our boat. It was no more than 30 minutes before we reached the place we would be fishing from. Wow, just wow. The fishing here was ahhhmazing! Everyone in the group was reeling in fish after fish and tossing them into our bucket which filled up very quickly. It felt like we couldn’t keep our lines in the water for more than a few seconds before our next catch was on the line. The company provided everything we needed in terms of equipment and bait, so being prepared just meant having a warm coat and a happy demeanor. My experience in fishing is limited but the staff was fantastic with helping to get me set up. Matt had the biggest catch of the trip so he was all smiles. My fish? Well, my fish was probably slated to be the dinner of his fish. Instead WE ate them both. After our buckets were filled up we pulled in our lines and retreated into the cabin for dinner. The staff had been preparing dinner and grilling up our catches for us to eat on our way back to port. Doesn’t get much fresher than that. Highly recommend! This is not something we planned ahead of time so if you have an afternoon with nothing planned, take the walk down to the harbor and book yourself a spot.
The next day we woke up and got ready for our planned trip to the only volcano in the world you can actually enter. It is a dormant volcano so no risk of an eruption. The tour with Inside The Volcano is a bit on the pricey side, but it is totally worth it. They will arrange for your transportation from your hotel to the volcano, provide all of your safety gear, and fill your belly with some Icelandic meat soup to warm you up after you survive exploring the chamber.
But first, make sure you bring your walking shoes because you will have to hike for a good 30+ minutes across the lava field. I enjoyed the photo op and being surrounded by moss for days.
When you finally make it the base of the volcano there is a little building to warm up in, get into your safety gear, and have a coffee while you wait your turn. I really liked how they broke our larger group into smaller groups to enter the volcano so that it did not feel overcrowded down there. When it was time for Matt and I to enter, we walked one-by-one across a small bridge onto an open elevator shaft that slowly lowered us into the chamber. The colors were absolutely incredible! Our guide explained which type of mineral each color represented. The darkest colors where where the lava shot out of the volcano 4,500 years ago! Pretty damn cool! The picture of us below – nothing like balancing your expensive camera on a piece of lava and hoping for the best. I became pretty resourceful in setting up selfie shots for us on this trip!
On our walk back across the lava field we took a slight detour where we had athe opportunity to explore the inside of a lava tube, a cavity in the ground created by the lava that once flowed through it many years ago.
The next day was one that we had both been looking forward to for quite some time. With a bit of luck, I had stumbled across a blog where a visitor to Iceland had written about her experience with a local chef. He gave them a tour of a few foodie shops around the city that you’d likely only know about if you were a local and then ended the day by inviting them into his home and cooking them dinner. Given Matt’s background as a chef and love for all things food I thought this would be the perfect birthday present for him. I contacted the chef, Tyffi, and as luck would have it, we were able to book a time with him. If there is one recommendation from this post you take from me, let it be this one! Only if you have an open mind when it comes to food of course. We sampled a lot of food that might be considered “different” ranging from pickled herring to whale sashimi. One of the most enjoyable moments to me was tasting the appetizers Chef Tyffi had prepared for us while we watched him cook our next courses. He was such a warm, welcoming person and we enjoyed our time with him immensely. If this sounds like something you would enjoy, you can check out the Food and Saga tour with Seasons Tours here.
That was a lengthy post but there’s just too much goodness in Iceland to not share it all. It’s still one of my favorite countries I have visited to date and am looking forward to returning in the near future. If you have the opportunity to get there this is a place not to be missed. Your eyes and your heart will thank you forever!
If you have been here, what was your favorite place or activity? Let us know in the comments! Travel on amigos!
Cheers,
Megan and Matt
Comments
Great blog, thanks for sharing, I will follow you around the world.