Travel

When in Iceland

By Nadia June 25, 2023

Just recently we had a trip to Iceland. That was a very magical experience; and for sure is one of the trips we will remember forever. Snow in June, nights that feel like a daylight, astonishing nature… Now I am happy to share some tips for those who plan their short trip!

Click here to skip the tips and see the photos.

What to do:

Our best recommendations for activities

Free walking tour, great introduction to Iceland and city of Reykjavik. We booked this one-> https://citywalk.is
Watch puffins and whales (we saw 4 (!) whales at the same time! so lucky!) We booked this one-> https://www.whalesafari.is
Golden circle tour: we booked one via GetYourGuide, link here
Travel through Iceland to the Langjökull glacier and visit to the ice cave. We booked one via GetYourGuide, link here
Visit Sky Lagoon thermal spa to relax (we did that on our last day)
Nature museum (Perlan) and see a guaranteed northern lights show

What to eat:

Iceland is for sure expensive…

Fermented Shark (we tried in Loki)
Dried fish (we tried in Loki)
Rye bread, and herring!
Muffin! They sell muffins everywhere starting from the airport ; and I especially liked the one with caramel 😀
Lamb Hot Dog (Pylsa/Pulsa), around 9 Euro for two! (cheapest food we found haha). Make sure to ask “with everything”, and not just with mustard (as famously Bill Clinton once did, and they now call a hot dog with mustard a “Clinton”)
Cafeteria Loki, even though located in a very tourist spot, has good food and is not overly pricey :). Great for Lunch, and for trying all famous food, such as fermented shark 😉
Seabaron: fantastic lunch place to try a famous lobster soup; whale, and other fresh fish! The vibe is very cozy! The tables are small, so it is not the best place for dinner, but awesome for lunch (before or after your puffin and whale watching 😉 place to die for, soup was amazing!
Have an early excursion out of town? This bun and coffee place opens at 6:30 AM! Brauð & Co Mostly a great place to buy some buns; coffee is just from the thermos. For coffee, better go for the Coffee Roasters across the road, if you can!
Coffee Roasters:Breakfast, buns, coffee!
The Laundromat Cafe, great lunch and breakfast option. They have super tasty coffee, buns, and the Muffin! 🙂
Coffee with the view in this coffee shop
Reykjavik Fish: simple place to try some fish and eat a dinner. Also a place to try famous “Plokkari” (which is basically fish and potatoes :D)
Íslenski barinn: Best dinner place we had! Also with the Lava beer!
Amazing bar for live music, books, and beer! Rúblan bókakaff. The live band was sooo good, they really gave us all a vibe!
amazing cocktails that we tried on the first day! Veður
Best tasting (and reasonably priced;) Kaldi Bar! Just ask for beer tasting, and a very nice barmen will make it for you 🙂

Random facts/Tips

We used Hopp electric scooter to reach Sky Lagoon. It cost around 7 EUR per person one way, and you need to travel around 6 km from the Reykjavik city center. You can also reach the nature museum (Perlan) and see a guaranteed northern lights show. Perlan is just outside the city, close to central bus station, so I would recommend using a scooter to save some walking time (and if you do not like dealing with buses, like us 😉

If you are like us, from The Netherlands, where we have an amazing saunas, Sky Lagoon may be not the most impressive/unique experience. In my opinion, Dutch saunas are crazy good 🙂 At the same time, Sky Lagoon is good for chilling for 2 hours, and it for sure has breathtaking views. At the same time, if you have to skip it for something else, I would be fine with it.
Local famous hotdog, Pulsa/Pylas, and even locals cannot agree how to write it correct, so the sign has two names on it 😀

Iceland had first female president in the world (Vigdís Finnbogadóttir – world’s first woman who was democratically elected as president)
You can drink water from tap; not hot one. Hot one goes directly from hot streams and smells a bit like rotten eggs
Icelanders pay almost nothing for heating: there is a lot of natural heating, from the underground hot streams!
Holtasóley, also known as the mountain avens, is the national flower of Iceland. It was voted the National Flower of Iceland back in 2004 by the public

Some Photos:

Deildartunguhver: hottest spring in Iceland, natural one. Pumps around 180 litres of water per second!

Lava waterfalls-> Hraunfossar

Langjökull – second largest ice cap in Iceland. See lines on the ice? That is same as “age rings” in the trees”. Black line is from the summer (there is more smoke and dirt).

1960 sign, that used to be a start of the Glacier. Sign is placed every 20 years, and the one placed in 2020 already is very far from the start of glacier 🙁 Make sure to visit a Glacier fast! Our grandchildren will for sure not see them anymore!!

We saw all these great creatures on our puffin and whale watching tour! at some point we saw 4 whales!! and birds… and dolphins… there were so many creatures… really amazing.

Kerið – Kerid crater, waterfall Gullfoss, and Geysir (my failed attempt to film and photo of someone else to show what I saw 😉

Place where USA and Eurasian plates meet: Þingvellir is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage site in South Iceland. That is one of two places in the world where you can see the movement of tectonic plates. The plates move every year for 7 millimetres, making Iceland a big bigger 🙂 Second active place like this is in Africa.

Rye bread and herring is amazing! Can’t tell same about famous fermented shark (which basically fermented in its own pee I guess?)…. Rye bread is so different from the dutch one, I loved it a ton!