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Posted
Just now, Chewbacca said:

Probably not, but we might?  Haven't decided on that yet.

given that you are a southwestern colorado people, are you going to back country camp type deal or staying in "hotels?"

Posted
Just now, sidis said:

given that you are a southwestern colorado people, are you going to back country camp type deal or staying in "hotels?"

Hotels for sure.  Although we will rent a 4WD vehicle so we can explore.

Posted
4 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Hotels for sure.  Although we will rent a 4WD vehicle so we can explore.

They are pretty picky about where you are allowed/not allowed to take the car.

Posted
7 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Hotels for sure.  Although we will rent a 4WD vehicle so we can explore.

just so you know, in may, there is still a decent part of the island that you might not be able to access by car. particularly taking into account that a lot of what i am listing below is in the highlands. that said...besides some of the more obvious things to see (skógafoss, gullfoss, blue lagoon), you might look into the following to see if they fit your family's jam:

hornstrandir nature preserve (by boat, not by hike)

the springs at hvammsvik

seljavallalaug pool

the kjolur road (if it accessible which is 50/50 in may)

the  hvalfjordur fjord (specifically for glymur waterfall

the village of siglufjordur

thakgil canyon, huldujökull glacier

gljufrabui waterfall and the eastern highlands waterfall circle

Krakatindur track drive

markarfljótsgljúfur Canyon

morsárfoss waterfall

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Posted

most consider the southern half of the loop more sightseeing dense, but really its all equally nice, and honestly if you miss 2 or 3 waterfalls or glaciers after seeing 2 or 3 other ones, it aint gonna kill ya.

i would say, if you do a google search for "filming location iceland", you could use that as a destination list, which will often repeat some really common sites appearing in anything from prometheus to batman begins to interstellar to game of thrones.

my personal favorite was taking a dip in the fissure of the continental crack. https://www.dive.is/diving-snorkeling-tours/snorkeling-day-tours/silfra-snorkeling-day-tour

 

btw the band Sigur Ros did a project where they play background music to hours of footage of simply circling the ring road. gives you a glimpse of what it looks like on the road.

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Posted

yeah, they were trying to check out ice caves, which is pretty stupid.  it's too early to walk through ice caves; that's something for later in the winter.  i guess the tour operator that put that together was kinda rogue, and a lot of locals were shocked that someone would take tourists to ice caves in august.  idk, but dumb and dangerous. 

we did a lava show in a town called vik.  (the lava show company built some kinda super furnace that heats up volcanic rocks to their melting point, creating lava; during the show, they release a stream of lava into a room for tourists).  

they also give an interesting presentation about volcanos.  apparently, there is a huge volcano topped by a glacier just up the road, and the town of vik sits in the valley below.  every time the volcano goes off, it melts the glacier and the area suffers biblical floods, which basically destroy the town.   

the volcano is 50 years overdue for an eruption.  Everyone who lives there has detailed evacuation plans for the next time the volcano erupts.  

I was like, damn, why do you guys live here? 

Icelandic ppl just built different, I guess. 

Posted
15 hours ago, alphahydro said:

Just got back from ~ a week in Iceland.   rented a car and drove to Hofn and back, stopping basically at whatever spots had high ratings on google maps.  

I didn't really have the highest expectations for Iceland--it was supposed to be a just-in-case-we-had-flight-issues buffer for a trip to Greenland.   but it was amazing.  Photos don't do any of the locations justice.  we went in late August, just rented a car and booked hotels and Airbnbs close to the main sights, so we could visit them before or after the tourbuses.  we had pretty much all the popular locations to ourselves.  HIGHLY recommend this approach.   recommend sky lagoon on the way in our out to relax before or after the flight.   also, if you are tempted to skip Gljufrabui or Kvernufoss, don't.   Food we tried was just OK along the southern coast of Iceland, but had a surprisingly nice dinner at fosshotel glacier lagoon.   If I had more time, I would have checked out the highlands and the NW. 

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Fucking sick photos here. Definitely need to make a trip to Iceland soon!

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Posted
22 hours ago, alphahydro said:

yeah, they were trying to check out ice caves, which is pretty stupid.  it's too early to walk through ice caves; that's something for later in the winter.  i guess the tour operator that put that together was kinda rogue, and a lot of locals were shocked that someone would take tourists to ice caves in august.  idk, but dumb and dangerous. 

we did a lava show in a town called vik.  (the lava show company built some kinda super furnace that heats up volcanic rocks to their melting point, creating lava; during the show, they release a stream of lava into a room for tourists).  

they also give an interesting presentation about volcanos.  apparently, there is a huge volcano topped by a glacier just up the road, and the town of vik sits in the valley below.  every time the volcano goes off, it melts the glacier and the area suffers biblical floods, which basically destroy the town.   

the volcano is 50 years overdue for an eruption.  Everyone who lives there has detailed evacuation plans for the next time the volcano erupts.  

I was like, damn, why do you guys live here? 

Icelandic ppl just built different, I guess. 

I like the huge volcano disclaimer they make you sign at the rental car place. 

Supposedly there's a hookup app where you can check beforehand to make sure you're not related lol.

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Posted
5 hours ago, 6th Street said:

I like the huge volcano disclaimer they make you sign at the rental car place. 

Supposedly there's a hookup app where you can check beforehand to make sure you're not related lol.

makes sense.  small island.  crazy tho.

Posted
56 minutes ago, Scary Stranger said:

Anyone ever done a ring road trip?  We're going to do it in 2 summers when my oldest son graduates HS.  Plenty of videos out there but want to bookmark this for later planning. 

I did the loop in spring season. Weather agreeable most of the time, though at a portion was driving through heavy snowstorm (that quickly passed). 

Planning is simple because most everything is just off the loop, or a tiny excursion from it. And then most of that is walk/hike-up natural attractions, with only few things requiring booking or guides. 

One idea for itinerary building is googling movies scenes shot in Iceland. Theres a few common locations like the Glacier Lagoon. Pretty cool to watch these same movies afterwards (or new ones) and recognize the places youve been. 

  • 8 months later...
Posted

I'm heading up to Iceland next week for 10 days to do a Ring Road trip. Aside from general sightseeing/lagoons, we've got a few excursions:

  • Snorkeling in Silfra between tectonic plates
  • Zodiac boat tour at Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon
  • Midnight whale watching in Husavik
  • Helicopter volcano tour

Has already been/going to be an expensive trip, but I'm pretty psyched!

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Posted
I'm heading up to Iceland next week for 10 days to do a Ring Road trip. Aside from general sightseeing/lagoons, we've got a few excursions:
  • Snorkeling in Silfra between tectonic plates
  • Zodiac boat tour at Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon
  • Midnight whale watching in Husavik
  • Helicopter volcano tour
Has already been/going to be an expensive trip, but I'm pretty psyched!
Iceland is hands down the most expensive place I've ever visited and it's not particularly close.
Posted

That's awesome. I did a three day layover when returning from Europe a few years back and loved it. Because of the short time I had I just did the Golden Circle drive which was gorgeous, then spent the rest of the time in Reykjavík and nearby.

It is expensive, but there are plenty of ways to eat reasonably. I stopped at Ikea for example and gassed up and ate at their cafe. Moderately priced ingredients and meals can be had at grocery stores as well. 

The roads are in really good condition and people are friendly drivers I found. The small population overall is very friendly and accustomed to tourists. I look forward to hearing about your more in depth visit of the country. 

Posted
4 hours ago, KingBobo81 said:

I'm heading up to Iceland next week for 10 days to do a Ring Road trip. Aside from general sightseeing/lagoons, we've got a few excursions:

  • Snorkeling in Silfra between tectonic plates
  • Zodiac boat tour at Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon
  • Midnight whale watching in Husavik
  • Helicopter volcano tour

Has already been/going to be an expensive trip, but I'm pretty psyched!

We're doing that next summer.  I'd be interested in your itinerary and any VRBOs that you use during the trip.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

The wife and I just finished our trip and are headed back tonight. I’ll post my itinerary, thoughts, and pics when I get back. The summary of the trip is BLOW ALL THE MONEY YOU HAVE IN ICELAND. This was the coolest trip I have ever done.

We were pretty fortunate and had perfect weather all 10 days we were here (in every part of the country) - the week before we got here, the weather was shit and the north was buried in snow.

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Posted (edited)
On 6/15/2025 at 8:19 PM, KingBobo81 said:

The wife and I just finished our trip and are headed back tonight. I’ll post my itinerary, thoughts, and pics when I get back. The summary of the trip is BLOW ALL THE MONEY YOU HAVE IN ICELAND. This was the coolest trip I have ever done.

We were pretty fortunate and had perfect weather all 10 days we were here (in every part of the country) - the week before we got here, the weather was shit and the north was buried in snow.

Pretty sure I know you IRL. You and I are both friends with JS? Worlds are colliding! 

Edited by HornPhD
Posted
1 hour ago, KingBobo81 said:


You betcha - hope you are having fun in Italy emoji1787.png

Wondering if I should scrub my post history 😂

Loved your Iceland pics. It’s at the top of my son’s list of places to visit. We’re hoping to be in TX for a game next season. 

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Posted (edited)

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So we spent 10 days here and saw a good chunk of the country, as you can see from the pins (I probably forgot a few places, but this generally does a good job covering what we saw/where we went - at least one of the pins (Husavik) is not in the correct place). I would have loved to have explored more (we didn't get to see/do highlands, Westfjords), but there is so much to see that you unfortunately have to pick and choose. We rented an SUV from Blue Car Rental - pickup/dropoff was extremely easy/quick. If there was ever a country to get every kind of car insurance offered, it is Iceland. Aside from crazy weather/wind you might encounter, and gravel roads (and F roads, if you are doing highlands), there are sheep EVERYWHERE once you get outside of the capital region. I didn't hit any of those, but a duck or some kind of other large bird had poor timing trying to fly across the road and nailed my front grill when I was driving 90 kph. Parking is almost all paid in Reykjavik (they have different zones with different hours) and for a lot of attractions - download the Parka and EasyPark apps to easily pay. As a side note, keep an eye on your gas level if doing a long journey- you will likely drive very long distances without seeing a gas station. I tried keeping our car above a half tank for the entire trip.

We started in Reykjavik and went counter-clockwise around the country. Here is our itinerary (no apologies for butchering any spelling). We had a pretty aggressive itinerary and didn't have much downtime (which I don't want during a vacation like this), so keep that in mind if you want to relax more.

 

Day 1 - Reykjavik

  • Arrive in Reykjavik at 9:20am (we flew out of Chicago at 10:15pm - the flight is approximately 6 hours. My wife and I managed to sleep pretty much the whole flight, so we didn't have any jet lag and were able to hit the ground running and enjoy the full day. The international airport in Keflavik is about a 45 minute drive to Reykjavik).
  • We stayed at the Reykjavik Residence Hotel. They have a number of buildings on the same street and are conveniently located to where the action is. They don't have parking, but it was easy enough to find paid street parking nearby.
  • Reykjavik is probably my favorite international city - despite it being small, the food scene is outstanding (great bakeries, a lot of tremendous traditional and non-traditional joints to choose from), it is extremely walkable, and there are a variety of things to do. That being said, you really don't need more than 2-3 days here.
  • We had dinner at a small restaurant called Krons that was one of our favorite meals here.

 

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Day 2 - Thingvellir National Park

  • There are some easy/quick hikes, and you can see a lot in 1-2 hours.
  • We booked well ahead for Silfra Fissure snorkeling with Arctic Adventures (roughly $150 per person) - you get to snorkel between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, which was super cool. IMO, this is a 10/10, must do experience (strong swimming experience isn't necessarily a requirement - you are in a buoyant dry suit that keeps you afloat and warm).
  • Afterward, we drove to the Haukadalura geothermal valley. This area was super touristy, but is worth going to (especially if you have never been to Yellowstone or somewhere similar). A lot of geysers, including a fairly large one that goes off every 6-10 minutes.
  • We then went to Gullfoss, a badass waterfall that I would call a must see.
  • We stayed at Buubble in Hrosshagi. This probably would have been cooler for a northern lights experience, but when it is light outside 23 hours a day...well make sure you bring a sleeping mask. My wife is absolutely not into camping, so this "glamping" experience was as close as I could get. There wasn't anything inherently wrong with this place, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. We did have a great dinner at a place nearby called Mika, which also had handmade chocolate.

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Day 3 - Waterfall Day

  • We started the day with checking out a small but cool waterfall called Faxafoss and then had an early reservation at Secret Lagoon, the oldest pool in Iceland. It wasn't our favorite water experience - I would say it is worth going to if you have time, but don't go out of your way if you aren't in the area.
  • We then drove to see four waterfalls (two locations that have two each within walking distance of both paid parking areas) - these are all must sees.
    • Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui
    • Skogafoss and Kvernufoss
  • We made it the Dyrholaey Peninsula with only about 30 minutes to spare (they closed the gates at a certain time) - you can supposedly see puffins here, but because we were up against the clock, we only got to get out of the car for a few minutes to get a quick view - didn't see any puffins.
  • We stayed at Black Beach Suites, which was a nice place to put our heads down for the night. It is near the town of Vik - we had dinner in Vik at Black Crust Pizzeria and made a quick trip to the nearby Yoda Cave, which Star Wars nerds will recognize from Rogue One.

 

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Day 4 - Glacier/icebergs and stuff

  • We drove to the Skafatafell nature reserve in Vatnajokull National Park. There are two fairly quick trails to do here, along with some longer hikes. 1) Svartifoss - another cool waterfall. There was a good amount of uphill hiking here. Probably an hour and a half roundtrip. 2) Once you get back to the information center/parking area, walk the opposite way and you can hike very close to the glacier. We spent most of our morning/early afternoon here (I think it took about two hours to drive here from our previous destination).
  • We then went to the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. First, we stopped at Diamond Beach. Unfortunately, we must have gotten there at high tide, because we only saw a few small pieces of iceberg - if you get there at a better time, you will likely see more. Second, we went to the lagoon. You can walk around here and see stuff, but you MUST do the zodiac boat lagoon tour (around $125 per person). For 75 minutes, you are speeding around the icebergs and get really close to the glacier itself - we saw seals on the icebergs, and my wife actually saw a small piece of the glacier break off. Really cool, 10/10 experience.
  • We had dinner in a town called Hofn, then drove about 25 minutes further to stay at Hrafnavellir Guest House. This was probably my favorite place to stay during the trip - you are really in the middle of nowhere, but with picturesque views. It is owner run/operated, and they had an awesome small breakfast buffet with some homemade items from the owners.

 

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Day 5 - A lot of driving/getting up to Northern Iceland.

  • This was our longest driving day (probably around 7 hours on the road). The drive itself was the most fun part, and while I wouldn't have changed anything for the purpose of our trip, this might be a day you consider veering off if you want to see more of the Eastfjords.
  • We stopped first at Faskasandur black sand beach, which has a ginormous rock on its shore and is worth stopping for.
  • On our way to the Lake Myvatn area, we took a detour (that added a couple hours to our drivetime) to an eastern town called Seydisfjordur to have lunch. This was honestly my favorite part of the day - on this drive, you literally experience winter/spring/summer conditions in the span of 30-60 minutes as you go up/down mountains and into valleys. We made a pit stop at a couple places at the top of the mountains and at a waterfall near the town.
  • We then drove to Dettifoss, a super powerful waterfall. I wasn't sure if we were going to make it here because days before we got there, a landslide destroyed one of the viewing decks. While the waterfall itself wasn't our favorite (maybe because of the views), it was a cool place to walk around lava fields.
  • After that, we drove around the Lake Myvatn area (there are a couple volcanic crater areas that are cool, but not what I would call mustdos) and went to the Myvatn Nature Baths, which was nice after a long day on the road.
  • We stayed at Hotel Godafoss, which is directly across the street from a cool waterfall of the same name. Cute little hotel, though the rooms/bathrooms were tiny. One of the ladies who runs the place is Mexican, and they serve fajitas, which was fun (don't get your hopes too high, though the margaritas were great). It was very cool going to see the waterfall around midnight, well after all the tourists were gone for the day.

 

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Day 6 - Northern Iceland

  • We got up and drove about 90 minutes to Akureyri, the largest city outside of the capital region. We explored the town, finally had an Icelandic hot dog (which are legendary), and dropped our stuff off at our location for the night, Hotel Akureyri, a somewhat posh hotel.
  • We then drove back the way we came from to go to Husavik (the map I have in here did not put Husavik in the right place for whatever reason), the whale watching capital of Iceland. We had dinner here (nothing to write home about - I would recommend eating in Akureyri instead), went to a whale museum, and then did a midnight whale watching tour (actually starts at 9:30pm) with Husavik Adventures (approximately $170 per person). I have never done whale watching before and didn't quite know what to expect, but this ended up being amazing. We saw a pod of several humpback whales feeding and were extremely close to them (without disrespecting the animals/disrupting their activities). This was an absolute 10/10, must do activity. We then drove back to Akureyri (about an hour; as a note, there is a toll road between these two towns - you pay online within 24 hours of going on it, or you can drive a little longer way around it to avoid it), arriving around 1:30am, and still mostly light outside.

 

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Day 7 - Vantsnes Peninsula area. This was another fun day for us, but one where you may choose to do something different (my wife reads a lot of fiction books that take place in Iceland and wanted to see some of the locales from them on this day).

  • We drove to Siglufjordur, the northernmost town in Iceland. Unless you want to see the herring museum or have a specific reason to go here, you can probably skip it, though the drive along the coast is awesome. I can't remember if it was the drive on the way here or on our way out, but you will encounter some one-way tunnels that were fun to learn the rules about the hard way).
  • After that, we went to Kalfshamarsvik, a cool lighthouse that was another part of the book stop.
  • We then made our way to the Vantnes Peninsula area, which is known for seals. We didn't see any, but we did stop at Hvitserkur, another super cool rock/water attraction.
  • We stayed at Hvammstangi Cottages, a fun little cabin in a small town. There is a decent restaurant in town on the water called Sjavarborg.

 

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Day 8 - Making our way back to Reykjavik

  • This was the only day where we didn't have much of a pre-planned itinerary for the morning as we made our way back the capital area. We ended up going to a spectacular waterfall area - Barnafoss and Hraunfossar (right by each other), and a volcanic crater area you can quickly hike up to the top of called Grabrokargigar.
  • We had a late afternoon reservation at Hvammsvik Hot Springs - ABSOLUTELY GO HERE. This was my favorite lagoon/thermal springs of the trip - unbeatable scenery, on the ocean (which you can go in), numerous pools of varying temperatures, and a swim-up bar. I believe they have accommodations if you want to stay here also. I think it was somewhere around $120 (for the hot springs, not the hotel) - an American resort would probably charge 4x for something comparable.
  • We got back to Reykjavik mid-evening and stayed at the same place we began the trip at. We didn't make reservations for dinner because we weren't sure when we were going to make it back into the city (use Dining Out Iceland for reservations), but we were staying across the street from a one-star Michelin joint called Oto, an Italian/Asian fusion joint. We walked in around 8:30-9ish and managed to get a table without a reservation after having a drink at the bar. The food here was excellent (though it is not unique - you could have a similar dining experience in any other Michelin city).
  • We strolled around the bar area and saw a great cover band at a bookstore/live music venue called Hus Mals og Menningar. They have "The Bookstore Band" play almost every night, which is a large collective of musicians in town. The lineup this night was particularly good - ending the night seeing them do a cover of Rage's "Killing in the Name" was badass. We went the following night also, which is when we learned it was a larger group of musicians/not the same lineup nightly - second night was not quite as fun/good as the first night when we organically discovered it.

 

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Day 9 - Volcano Day

  • We booked a helicopter trip well in advance (about $485 per person) for a short trip over the Reykjanes Peninsula, which is where all the recent volcanic activity has been. While expensive, holy shit was this the best thing we did on the trip. I don't know if this is something they normally do, but the trip ran about 2x as long as advertised because we LANDED on the site of one of the eruptions (2021 one) and got to walk around for about 20-30 min. It really felt like being on another planet (and it has been used as an otherworldly location for a number of films). Again, I don't know if landing is normal (we had perfect weather conditions, there weren't a lot of other helicopter tours from other companies at the same time, and we had one of the company owners on our flight). We booked through Viator - the company we flew with was Nordurflug - I am not sure if you can get a better deal directly to them or if they even offer the short trips directly - they also have a number of other trips you can do. This was a 10/10 experience and if it can be in your budget, absolutely do it.
  • Later that afternoon, we drove about 30 minutes outside of the city to the Raufarholshellir lava tunnel. This was a super cool thing to do and much cheaper (around $70) than the helicopter tour, though it did feel somewhat like a school field trip because of how many people were there/how many annoying families with poorly behaved kids were in our group.
  • We canceled our dinner reservation at a place called Reykjavik Kitchen after the helicopter company owner recommended an Italian spot just outside the city called Radagerdi. We got there around 9:45, right before the kitchen closed, and had to rush our food order. The food was very good, but the spot was recommended because it is on the coast/very close to a lighthouse that was a great place to walk around/catch the closest thing you can see to the sun setting in the summer.

 

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Day 10 - Sky Lagoon

  • We had an evening flight back so still had a full day to end the trip. After a nice breakfast at Sandholt Bakery (which you will wait in line for if eating in, we did to-go), we ended the trip by going to Sky Lagoon. We intentionally did not go to Blue Lagoon (though we did fly over it during our helicopter tour) - call me a snob, but I have an aversion to places with large groups of tourists/tour buses and didn't want that to be my last experience in the country. I can't directly compare the two, but Sky Lagoon (while still pretty touristy) was phenomenal - make sure you do the 7 Step Ritual!

 

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Edited by KingBobo81
  • Hook 'Em 4
Posted

Awesome trip! We did a lot of the same stuff when we visited in March. The snorkeling experience in the continental divide was definitely worth the money. We didn’t make it to Northern Iceland and looks like we missed out on a lot of cool stuff. Would love to make another trip back in the summer sometime.
 

The people there are extraordinarily nice. Eating out is a huge expense. $250-300 for a dinner for a family of 4 every night. 
 

Theres a fantastic burger place in Vik called Smiojan Brugghus that everyone should try. 
 

 

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