Hi guys! I just recently returned from an incredible week in Iceland with my mom and wanted to tell you all about it. We saw and did so much in that short amount of time, and STILL feel like we barely saw the island! Iceland was the most unique place I’ve ever been, with the most beautiful, dramatic landscapes, wonderful food, amazing culture and the nicest people.

Flight/Accommodations:

We took nonstop RT Icelandair flights from Denver and had a great experience overall! We did read some reviews that worried us initially but after flying Icelandair both ways, I would recommend it.
We stayed at the Reykjavik Residence Hotel, and absolutely loved it. We paid a bit extra each night for the included breakfast and I’m so glad that we did. Each day, a breakfast basket and a freshly baked loaf of bread is delivered to your room. The contents of the basket changed each day, but generally always included items like hard boiled eggs, various cheeses, meats, fruits and vegetables, yogurts, butter, jam, Nutella and chocolates! Beyond that, the rooms were cute and cozy, and the staff was lovely and made us feel so welcomed during our entire stay.

Things to see/do:

We did two amazing all day tours of the Golden Circle/Blue Lagoon and the South Coast of Iceland through Reykjavik Excursions. We had wonderful guides both times, saw so many beautiful sites and learned so much along the way. For our South Coast tour, we visited Skógafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Vik, Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach and the Sólheimajökull Glacier. My favorite place by far was Reynisfjara Beach, which interestingly enough, is the most dangerous beach in all of Iceland. You may recognize it from Game of Thrones, with its tall basalt columns jutting out of the dark black sand. Everyone must exercise extreme caution when visiting this beach, as its “sneaker waves” come in forcefully and without notice and have washed many people out to sea. The other stops were wonderful as well - we saw beautiful rainbows at the mighty Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls, enjoyed hiking up to the Sólheimajökull Glacier, and ate a quick lunch in the tiny seaside village of Vik. I would HIGHLY recommend this day tour if you are visiting Iceland. It was the best part of the trip in my opinion!
For our Golden Circle tour, we visited Gullfoss, Geysir and Thingvellir National Park. The weather unfortunately wasn’t great that day, but we still enjoyed each stop. Thingvellir was beautiful, with dramatic rocky scenery, lakes, rivers, and a path leading to a flag which marks the spot where Iceland’s parliament was founded in 930. (You can also recognize spots where Game of Thrones was filmed here as well!) The Geysir Hot Spring area was a perfect mid day stop, where you can see the Strokkur geyser erupt every few minutes, view the bubbling geothermal pools and see hot steam pouring out of the ground everywhere around you. There is also a nice visitor center across the street where you can grab a bite to eat, use the facilities and look around in the gift shop. The last stop of the day was Gullfoss Falls, which was absolutely breathtaking. This massive two-tiered waterfall converges in the canyon of the Hvítá river and is one of the most spectacular sites that we saw during our trip. I would highly recommend doing a day tour of the Golden Circle!
Whale Watching tour: We used Elding for both our whale watching and northern lights tours, and they were fantastic. They have a large boat with plenty of seating indoors and outdoors, to give you the best view. They also have plenty of restrooms and a snack bar onboard where you can purchase light refreshments. We went for about 2/3 of our tour without seeing anything, and then right at the end, we stumbled across two humpback whales spouting and diving back down several times. We also saw a fin slap and their tales a few times as well. Overall, we thought it was a fun experience and worth the money!
Northern Lights tour: We had originally booked our northern lights ground tour with Reykjavik Excursions, but it was unfortunately cancelled the first night, so we rebooked it for the Thursday we there. That Thursday was beautiful, sunny and clear so we figured it would be the perfect night for a tour. But to our dismay, it got cancelled again! Since we were running out of time, we decided to book the tour instead with Elding, which sails out into Faxaflói Bay to search for the Northern Lights. It was more expensive, and there would be no guarantee we would see them, but we were hopeful. After about 1.5 hours on the boat, we finally saw the lights! They were quite faint, and they briefly danced for a few minutes, but we will forever be grateful that we decided to take the tour that night!
Blue Lagoon: This was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. We did a combo tour where we took the Golden Circle tour in the morning and then went to the Blue Lagoon in the afternoon. It was nice because it included transportation on the tour bus to and from our hotel, however the only thing I regret is not having quite enough time at the Blue Lagoon. If I went back to Iceland, I would go to the Blue Lagoon separately, so that I could spend at least half a day there.
Settlement Exhibition: This museum was a great rainy day activity while in Reykjavik! The entire museum is built around ancient ruins from the Viking Settlement, and it explains in great detail what you are looking at, who lived there, how it was discovered, etc. It was well done, with tons of historical artifacts and interesting history about Iceland and the city of Reykjavik!
Reykjavik: The capital city of Reykjavik has so much to see and do - you can easily spend a few days just exploring! I won’t go into TOO much detail, but the top sites I would recommend checking out are the Old Harbour, Rainbow street, Hallgrímskirkja church, Laugavegur street, and the Sun Voyager sculpture.

Food/Drink:

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur: This is a must do when in Reykjavik! Iceland is known for it’s hot dogs, which are made from a mix of lamb, pork and beef. The famous hot dogs at this stand are topped with ketchup, honey mustard, remoulade and both raw and fried onions. It was a delicious, cheap snack that was absolutely worth trying!
Seabaron: We’d heard that Seabaron had the best lobster soup, so we gave it a try and weren’t disappointed! It was a red broth lobster soup with peppers and other veggies, and came with yummy bread and butter.
Gaia Reykjavík: I got one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had at Gaia. We went there for drinks and appetizers and everything was delicious. I would highly recommend their tiger shrimp tempura and salmon nigiri!
Reykjavik Fish: Fish and chips is a must when visiting Iceland! The coastal waters of Iceland are filled with cod, so it’s always extremely fresh. Reykjavik Fish is one of the top spots in the city for fish and chips.
Valdís: All dairy is sourced in Iceland, so any dairy products that you try, ice cream included, will be very good. My mom tried the white chocolate ice cream and I tried the fresh kiwi sorbet - both were amazing!
Svarta Kaffið: This no frills soup restaurant is the perfect, cozy spot to get a bread bowl on a cold, rainy day. They offered two choices - meat soup and mushroom soup. We each got the mushroom soup and a glass of wine and it was a great way to stay warm while people watching through the windows that look onto Laugavegur Street below.
Grazie Trattoria: We came here for our last meal of the trip and had a delicious Italian feast of wine, bread, lasagna and seafood spaghetti. If you are craving Italian food, this is a great spot for it!

Tips:

Elding does what’s called a “Diary” each day for their tours. We checked it the days that we went on the whale watching and northern lights tours and it gave us some information about the sea and weather conditions, as well as the predicted aurora activity and most importantly, if the tours will be going forward that day! Here’s an example!
Iceland primarily uses debit cards with pins in all stores, restaurants, etc. Cash is hardly ever used, and if you want to use a credit card, make sure that it has a pin, or you may potentially run into some issues.
Dress for the weather! Being from Colorado, I was thankfully prepared with some warm clothes already, but, I still had to purchase quite a few things prior to the trip. The weather is extremely unpredictable and can go from rainy to sunny to windy within a span of minutes. No matter what time of year you visit, it’s smart to bring layers. Check out my packing list with links below!

What I packed: