What you can do with three days in Reykjavik, Iceland
Iceland has been on my travel bucket list for years. And it just so happened to be one of my sons top places to visit. So, as a surprise, I bought him {and myself} flights and accommodation to spend three days in Reykjavik, Iceland. And spoiler alert? It did not disappoint. Surprisingly, flights were relatively cheap. Costing around £300 return, for two people to travel to Iceland in May. Now this may have been due to the Northern Lights season being over and the Midnight Sun season coming into play. And what I mean by that is, the sun never really sets during this time in Iceland and it was quite beautiful.
Planning our three days in Iceland
Planning our time in Reykjavik, Iceland was surprisingly easy. There is so much to see and do, it just comes down to what fits into your budget. I managed to book us in for two coach tours and a visit to the Blue Lagoon in Keflavik. I found all of the coach tour deals on the app, Get Your Guide. If you have never heard of it and travelling anywhere, sometime soon, you must check it out. It provides you with everything available to do in the Town or City that you’re visiting. I found it very useful when booking our Golden Circle and Southern Iceland coach tours with Bus Travels Iceland.
The Blue Lagoon
As soon as we landed, we hopped into an airport transfer {which cost around £60/10,048.74ISK} and made the short 20 minute drive to the Blue Lagoon. This was the only opportunity to be able to visit this infamous geothermal pool and we are not ones to miss out on such an opportunity. I have written a blog post about it, the link can be found above. But it is a must-see place, for sure!
Golden Circle Bus Tour – 8hrs
The Golden Circle bus tour was the first tour we had planned during our three day trip to Iceland. As mentioned previously in the post, this was found and paid for via the Get Your Guide app. The Golden Circle bus tour is a 8hr long excursion, giving you the chance to see some breath-taking scenery and true natural beauty or southwest Iceland. In this bus tour, you will see things such as a spectacular Geysir, the hot springs of Strokkur, an extinct volcanic crater, a cascading waterfall and also one of the most beautiful national parks I have ever seen. With a hidden bonus that I’ll leave for you to find out further down in this post.
Hveragerdi
This was our first stop of the golden circle bus stop and it’s a little town was some shops i.e. a pharmacy, supermarket, bakery etc. We just grabbed some snacks and some of the best pizza we have ever tasted! Who knew Iceland were pizza connoisseurs!! Stretched our legs before boarding the coach to head onto our next destination. Also, handy tip, my son can be struck with travel sickness at times and we could not buy travel sickness tablets when travelling through Dublin airport {weird, right?}. Anyway, I was able to pick up some from the pharmacy in Hveragerdi and also some gingernut biscuits from the supermarket.
Kerid Crater
The Kerid Crater is located in the Grímsnes area in south Iceland and it is a sight to behold. It is part of the Western Volcanic Zone of Iceland and is around 3000yrs old. The diameter of this caldera crater is not the only thing impressive about it, because it is an intense 55m deep which is around 180ft.
Kerid or Kerið, if you can envision it, used to be a cone shaped volcano. And basically why it’s a crater lake now, is because it’s magma chamber collapsed into itself around 3000yrs ago. For reasons completely unknown and according to geological findings, happened quite abruptly. It was centuries following the crater collapse for it to fill with water, which resulted in the formation of the lake.
You stop here for 20-30mins, which is long enough to walk up and around the surrounding ridge of Kerid crater. However, you can also walk around the length of the lake. However, we opted to walk around the top, for impressive photo purposes, obviously! It is truly breath-taking and it’s easy to see why Kerid Crater is one of the most visually stunning geological wonders in the country.
Gullfoss Waterfall
The impressive Gullfoss waterfall is located in the canyon of the Hvítá river in southwest Iceland. Gullfoss waterfall translates into “Golden falls” and is one of Iceland’s most iconic and beloved waterfalls.
According to findings online, during sunny days at Gullfoss, you could be treated to a thousand rainbows. Whereas during the colder months of the year, the falls are known to freeze over into undulating waves of glistening ice. We visited on a rainy afternoon in Iceland and the noise of these falls are nothing short of impressive. I have never witnessed a waterfall to huge, fierce and breath-taking all rolled into one. There is also a really lovely gift shop here, filled with Iceland wool, jumpers, keepsakes and more.
Geysir {Photo stop}
This is a firm favourite among all tourists on the Golden circle bus tour. This highly active Geysir and Hot Spring area with boiling mud pits, exploding geysers and steam layered fields. The star among them all is Strokkur geysir, which spouts boiling hot water up to 100ft high, every few minutes. When we visited, I estimated the gap between spouts to be anything between 5-10mins and if you are lucky? You’ll see two spouts, one after the other! Not bad for a Geysir that dates back to 1294!
This particular area became active more than a 1000yrs ago and consists of more than a dozen hot water blow holes. Which is why from my photos above, you can see so many areas steaming. You cannot walk on these for obvious reasons and seeing it in person is more amazing and also a little concerning.
Because you are literally walking just metres above bubbling springs on a very active geothermal area. The Geysir centre has a lovely coffee shop to relax for a while and also a really lovely gift shop to pick up some trinkets to remember you journey by.
Thingvellir National Park {Photo stop}
Thingvellir National Park is part of the Atlantic Ocean ridge that runs through Iceland. It is a stunning view to see with your own eyes because photos just do not do it justice. This is the only place in the world where you can stand between two tectonic plates.
So when you stand in Almannagjá, you are standing between two continents. And if I had of had the time? I would have taken the excursion to snorkel in Silfra, between the tectonic plates. What an experience that would be!
In the below image, you can see a clear split between the rocks to create this “fissure” that has separated the continental plates. And to be able to walk through a geological marvel, such as this was a real privilege.
Southern Iceland Bus Tour – 10hrs
The second bus tour we took would be a little longer than the Golden Circle tour. This one would take around 10hrs and would take us around the Southern parts of Iceland. Yesterday was all volcanic craters and geysirs. Whereas on this trip you’ll see glaciers, black sandy beaches and even have the chance to walk behind Seljalandfoss waterfall.
Hvolsvöllur & Skógafoss Waterfall {Photo stop}
I have never seen a waterfall so big before this type. Obviously on the Golden Circle tour we saw Gullfoss Waterfall, which is a different waterfall in my opinion, because it is so incredibly vast!
However, Skógafoss is a singular fall and was an honest to goodness, true marvel to see in person. The spray from her hits you from so far back, which just gives you an idea of how big and impressively fierce she is.
I actually wish you could hear the noise of these fall, because she was exquisite! In fact, I have a collection of stories highlighted on my Instagram, if you wish to have a nosy. Just click here to see Skogafoss via my Instagram stories.
Sólheimajökull
This was one of these most exciting parts of the Iceland bus tour for me. Visiting an actual glacier! Sólheimajökull is a glacier found in southern Iceland and can be found between the volcanoes Katla and Eyjafjallajökull.
This visually wonderous spectacle almost doesn’t seem real, which is why it was awesome to know that you can walk down to it and actually touch it for yourself. However, a rather sad fact that we learned during our visit, was that this glacier, just 25yrs ago, filled the entire valley.
Can you even imagine it filling this area? And this was only one part of the area this glacier once filled, again, just 25 short years ago.
It is also black in parts due to volcanic ash landing on it following eruptions in Iceland over the years.
Vik
Our next stop was the adorable little town of Vik. Disturbing based, not far from a currently active volcano. The same volcano that is known to erupt once every ten years and it was just a few months shy of being that time again.
So that was quite….unnerving, but also pretty cool. Not many people can say they stopped for lunch nearby to an active volcano! And to my amusement, the café was called The Lava Café!
Reynisfjara Beach
Reynisfjara, is a world famous black sand beach, found on the South Coast of Iceland and what a beauty she is! After leaving the town of Vik, when the clouds where just starting to part, to arrive here with the welcome of blue skies and the heat of the sun on our skin. It was beautiful.
With enormous basalt stacks and Atlantic waves washing up on the shore., it is easy to see why Reynisfjara was once voted one of the Top 10 non-tropical beaches to visit on the planet. With visible rocky sea stacks, known as Reynisdrangar sitting just off the shoreline, these are a huge hit with visitors to this black sandy beach.
According to local folklore, these large basalt columns were once trolls trying to pull ships from the ocean to shore. However, these trolls were dim and went out too late in the night; dawn broke on the horizon, turning the trolls into solid stone.
Another legend tells of a husband whose wife was kidnapped and killed by two trolls. The man followed the trolls down to Reynisfjara where he froze them, ensuring that they would never kill again.
Seljalandsfoss
As bus tours go, I think one the Southern Bus tour, they certainly saved the best until last. Because Seljalandsfoss was incredible to witness in person. About the same height as Skógafoss, with once difference. With a short walk along some particular rocky terrain, you can access the waterfall from behind and actually stand underneath her as she beats down water spray in front of you.
Walking behind this incredible waterfall is a must-do if you are able. Sadly if you are wheelchair bound or have any mobility issues, this is not possible for you I’m afraid. Because there are stairs wet from the waterfall spray was walk up as well as rocky walkways to battle with a rope to help with balance before making it behind the cascading beast of a waterfall.
There is a little shop that not only sells Icelandic trinkets and folklore of Icelandic trolls and more. But there is also a food and drink stall, and believe me when I tell you a hot chocolate is needed after battling the cold spray of Seljalandsfoss and hot chocolate never tasted so good or be more welcome onto cold, wet hands.
And thus ends our three days in Iceland! Some of the sights we had the joy of seeing where worth every single penny and more. We got to see so much of this beautiful country in such a short visit and we could not be more fulfilled {and exhausted} by that.
Of course before heading off at 4am the following morning as for some reason the only flights back to Dublin, ever, are at 7am from Keflavik airport. Or perhaps that is only during the Midnight Sun season, which is when we visited. Something to look into if you are considering your own Iceland adventure.
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