Iceland
Our first trip to a European country. Iceland has been at the top of my bucket list for so long, people wondered, “Iceland, really? For your first trip?” Um, yeah! It’s gorgeous and has almost every landscape you can think of. Plus the northern lights. That’s what drew me here. I’ve always been so fascinated with the night sky.
Day 1: Settle in and Explore
We got to our hotel and checked into the Alexandrine Suite in Reykjavik. It was extremely spacious and royal like. We had our own kitchenette, small living room, big soaking bathtub, and I even had a vanity to get ready at. Every morning the hotel staff dropped off a breakfast basket that usually has some fruit, pastries, hard boiled eggs, and cheese. It was so strange because we would never hear them come in, and we were waking up at 6am sometimes and we still had our basket inside out private fridge. A bit strange but we loved it!
After we settled in we mainly just explored the town day one. Our first stop was a cafe that ended up being our go-to during this trip, called ‘Mokka’. Delicious food and coffee and we loved the vibe. There were people reading the newspaper, books, playing cards, and just enjoying themselves. I hardly ever see this in America so it was refreshing to experience! After Mokka, we stopped into art galleries, shops, and visited a beautiful church called ‘Hallgrímskirkja’. We then walked along the oceanfront in Reykjavik and took in the beautfiul mountain scenery. One thing I loved about Iceland was the mountains, they are everywhere!
To end the night we went to a Scandanavian restaurant called ‘Jómfrúin’, I recommend this place, it was good and had a nice atmosphere and our server was awesome.
Day 2: Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon
Today we did booked a full day group bus tour to the Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon. We started off with the North American and Eurasian Tectonic Plates, definitely a must see in Iceland and wish we had more time here to explore!
We then headed to the Gullfoss waterfall, Strokkur geyser, and Kerid crater. All of these sites were awesome. I’d never seen a geyser before so watching the geyser explode every 15 minutes or so was so cool! Kerid crater was beautiful, we walked around the entire crater and went down to the water. The golden circle is a must do in Iceland, you’re able to many iconic sceneries in one day, highly recommend!
The iconic blue lagoon.. This I was super excited for! Everyone has seen the iconic insta pics of the blue lagoon so it’s definitely a must do but honestly a lot of the other things during the trip were better. There’s just a lot of people but it’s still a really cool experience. We showered before going in and were given our own robes and slippers. Our tickets included a glass of champagne and 3 face masks. The water is an icy blue and very warm. We spent about 2 hours here which is plenty in my opinion. We really just enjoyed our drink, face masks swam around, and of course got some great photos. It is really relaxing if you find a spot away from people.
One mistake I made (which they did warn us about on the bus) was get my hair in the water. It took almost a week until my hair was smooth again. It just felt very hard no matter how many times I washed it. So ladies, don’t put your hair in the water! LOL.
Day 3: Hike a Volcano
We ended up missing our bus to go our volcano hike we booked (unfortunately we were told the wrong bus time). This was a huge bummer, but the Icelandic motto from locals was “lets talk about solutions, not problems”. Our solution was finding the Blue Car Rentals company, and rented a car last minute. We turned our problem into an unforgettable adventure.
Fagradalsfall
We drove about an hour to volcano Fagradalsfall. It took us a little over an hour to hike to the volcano, I am in pretty good shape and it wore me out! Bring lots of water and maybe a snack. It was kind of a hard hike but it’s worth it! Estimate about a half day for this. I would also suggest keeping an eye out on when the volcano erupts, we found out you can track it after we hiked it. It would have been very cool to see it erupt!
After the hike, we headed to a small town to grab lunch then headed to our hotel to relax. Then we went to try to see the northern lights! We got in our car once it got dark and drove probably 30 minutes or so outside of the city. It was extremely dark, hardly anything around, and just country roads. We pulled over, got out of our car and star gazed for about 2 hours. We didn’t see the northern lights but it was still magical. It’s surprisingly scary how dark nighttime can be in the middle of nowhere, we felt like we were in a scary movie.
Day 4: Snaefellsnes Peninsula Tour
This day was full of more mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and a black sand beach! It was another full day bus tour but one thing that made this tour really special was the home cooked meal we had on a local farm in the mountains. SUCH good food! It felt like life really slowed down. I remember Evan and I talking about how we could live here part time. The food was fresh, the air was crisp, the people are so nice, and life is just slower here.
We made a stop at the oldest wooden church in Iceland, Strandarkirkja, very picturesque. We went to the black sand beach, Djúpalónssandur and had great views of the glacier. Then we headed to the most photographed picture place in Iceland, Kirkjufell. Finally, we stopped at Helgafellssveit waterfall, breathtaking.
After this long day we had a typical Icelandic meal, hot dogs and viking beer! It was fantastic.
Day 5: Bubble Stay and Waterfalls
This day was the definition of chasing waterfalls. We had the tour with 2 other couple who were great and our guide drove us around to different waterfalls all day until it was time for our bubble stay.
We hiked to a waterfall that was more “off the beaten path”. It was slippery, we had to jump from rock to rock, and even hold onto a chain while climbing, but as usual, it was worth it. We found a tall and powerful waterfall squeezed in between the mountain, surrounded by beautiful green vegetation. And nobody was around!
When we were at one of the waterfalls, Evan found this piece of wood that looks exactly like Ohio! We are from Ohio so this was such a cool and unique find.
After a full day of chasing waterfalls, we ended up at our bubble stay. This was something I was really looking forward to! When we arrived we were able to shower and get ready for bed in a small area before entering the woods and heading to our bubble.
The bubble was literally just a bed and a stool and that was really it, so when we had to use the restroom, we had to walk down to the out-house bathroom. It’s really only something you need to do for one night for the experience so it’s not bad. The bubble and our bed was heated which was a plus. This was such a unique experience, it was peaceful and romantic. You can’t see any of the bubbles around you, just the woods. It felt scary but then I remembered there’s almost no predator animals in Iceland and the crime is practically 0%. We were betting on seeing the northern lights during this stay (which is kinda why you book this kind of a stay) but it was raining the whole night, we did not see the northern lights :(. It was still such a cool experience and the rain made it even more peaceful. I HIGHLY recommend doing this, it’s on the pricey side but it’s a once in a lifetime experience.
Day 6: Last Day
Did you know Iceland has a penis museum? Well now you do! After we got back to the hotel Evan relaxed and worked a bit and I headed to the penis museum by myself. Actually highly recommend going alone, very intriguing! Though I can only imagine how fun this would be going with the girls. There were over 60 animal penis parts in the museum. Definitely a fun and interesting to do in Iceland!
Evan and I then headed to Mokka to grab a bite to eat and coffee before going to Magic Ice, an ice bar because duh, it’s Iceland! LOL. They provided parkas and gloves so we weren’t freezing, we had drinks that were served with ice glasses, there were ice sculptures and ice seating. After about 30 minutes we got really cold, so something you can do with less than an hour!
To end the night (and our trip) we ended up back at the same place where we had the delicious Icelandic hotdogs, I wish I could remember the name!
Overall I loved Iceland. I loved how peaceful it is here, the people are so sweet, the air and food feels very clean, and I love the way life is slowed down here. My favorite part of the trip was seeing all the mountains and waterfalls everywhere, Iceland really has some of the most beautiful scenery. I also loved the bubble stay.
If I went back again I would prefer renting a car and exploring ourselves rather than doing bus tours. I felt comfortable doing bus tours since it was our first time out of the country (other than Mexico & Canada) because we were hitting everywhere we wanted plus bus tours make it easy. However, it would have been nice to spend however long we wanted at each attraction and not have to worry about big groups. I would also stay longer if I went back. We were there for a total of 6 full days. There’s so much more left to explore of Iceland! Definitely a must see country in my opinion.