A Bucket List Vacation: Iceland
At the end of my last empties post I teased an upcoming vacation, which has now come and gone. So I’m here to recap our amazing vacation in the incredible country of ICELAND! Iceland has been at the top of my “I want to go to there” list for years. And I finally got to go to there! I can’t wait to share all our trip details with you. My trip recap posts will all be quite long, so buckle up.
Day One
We took a red-eye flight out of Dulles late on a Wednesday night and arrived at Keflavik airport the next morning. The flight from Dulles to Keflavik is only about five hours—about the same amount of time it takes to fly to LA. Our red-eye was not full, and we had an empty seat in our row! That’s so rare these days.
Below is one of the first glimpses we had of Iceland from the plane as it was descending:
We exited the terminal through the gift shop. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. KEF is full of shops; there’s even a duty-free liquor store where you can stock up before leaving the airport. Apparently, airport alcohol prices are pretty low compared to everywhere else in Iceland.
We retrieved our bags and headed to get our rental car. Here we ran into some confusion. Some rental car offices are inside the airport, while others are located outside the main terminal. We rented from Alamo, which has an office in a building outside the terminal. A car rental shuttle bus runs every 20 minutes, so we went outside and waited in the cold and wind. Then we, along with many other travelers, packed ourselves onto a crowded shuttle. At least the ride was short.
On our return trip, we walked to the terminal from the rental car office, which only took about ten minutes. Even with all of our stuff! Basically, if the weather permits and you’re physically able to lug all of your stuff, screw the shuttle bus and walk.
Once we had our rental car and inspected it for damages* we hit the road toward Reykjavik, about a 45 minute drive from Keflavik. We marveled at the landscape along the way. It was a beautiful, sunny morning…we really lucked out with the weather throughout the majority of our trip.
We checked in at Sand Hotel, located on Laugavegur, the main tourist drag in Reykavik. It would be like staying in a hotel in Times Square, but MUCH more charming and way, WAY fewer people.
Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we found a soup spot called Svarta Kaffið right down the street. When we finished there, our room was ready so we headed on up. The room was small (that’s to be expected in a major city) but stylish:
We rested for a bit, but not for too long. We didn’t want to mess up our sleep schedule! John went out to explore while I unpacked and settled in. Then I went out to wander on my own. Reykjavik is just so charming! The city is very colorful and there are gift shops filled to the brim with all kinds of cute stuff. It was hard not to buy everything immediately, but I restrained myself.
For our first dinner in Reykjavik, we selected a food hall called Pósthús. The place has plenty of dining options, including vegetarian and vegan dishes, and there’s plentiful seating amongst the multiple rooms. I ordered a margherita pizza and a glass of orange wine from Pizza Popolare, and John got a vegetarian salad from Funky Bhangra. Both of our meals were really good! I had pizza a few times on our trip, and this one was by far the best.
A note on food and drink pricing: I always hear folks say how expensive food and drinks are in Iceland. The country imports most ingredients, so prices have to account for that. Therefore, dining out gives many visitors sticker shock. What does dampen the blow (for travelers from the US, at least) is that Iceland is a no-tipping country. So you are not expected to add a tip to your bill.
While we did spend a lot of money on food and drinks, the prices weren’t all that shocking for two people visiting from a very expensive city (with inflation on top of that). We found that food and drinks cost maybe a little more than comparable meals out in DC, but not by much. If you’re on a tight budget, you can save money on meals by buying sandwiches and snacks at grocery stores and gas stations. The Visiting Iceland subreddit recommends this all the time. And look for hotels that include breakfast.
Back to our trip! It was too early to go to bed right after dinner, so we found a cute wine bar on the main drag called Vínstúkan. It was in the basement of a building and seemed to be a popular after-work spot for locals. We got a couple glasses of wine there and ordered a snack: 18 month Tindur, a local cheese shaved very thinly and topped with hazelnuts and burnt butter. YUM YUM YUM.
We used the Timeshifter app to try to prevent jet lag, and we weren’t supposed to go to bed until around 10pm. But after a red-eye and only a bit of rest we were pretty beat, so we went to bed before 10pm. We had an early wakeup for our plans the next morning, so we wanted to try to get some decent sleep.
Day Two
We got up at 5:30am because we had a 7am reservation for the Blue Lagoon! We only booked two activities prior to leaving for our vacation, and this was one of them. Our early rise time meant that we had to skip the included breakfast at our hotel, but no big deal because we were excited see what all the Blue Lagoon fuss was about. Some people think it’s overrated but after our visit there, I have to disagree.
The Blue Lagoon is located southwest of Reykjavik, back toward Keflavik. The place is a popular first or last stop in Iceland for many travelers who soak in the lagoon right when they arrive or right before they leave. It’s only about a 20 minute drive from the airport, so I can see why.
Once you turn off the main Ring Road toward the Blue Lagoon, you drive through a landscape of volcanic rock that looks like a whole other planet:
The Blue Lagoon is not far from the volcano that has been erupting over the past few years. Every time it erupts, the BL has to evacuate and shut down temporarily. It just happened again this past April! Fortunately, that didn’t happen while we were in the area.
We arrived a few minutes before opening time and enjoyed the view from the parking area as we walked the path to the main entry.
There was already a line of people in the lobby waiting to check in at 7am. The check-in process went smoothly and we went off to our respective locker rooms to shower and change into our bathing suits. You’re required to shower naked before entering any thermal bath or hot springs in Iceland. The Blue Lagoon has private shower stalls because they understand that not everyone is comfortable taking it all off in front of strangers. There are also private changing rooms if you so desire.
Edited to add: upon arrival, visitors are advised to put conditioner in their hair and tie it up if it’s long. I had seen people talking about this on the Visiting Iceland subreddit—the thermal water is apparently harsh on hair. So I added conditioner while I was showering and tied my hair up with a clip that I had packed specifically for this purpose.
Once John and I met outside in the Blue Lagoon, it was glorious:
The geothermal water temperature is 100° F and it feels so incredible. Especially when it’s cold outside (the outside temp was probably no more than 40° F when we arrived)! We headed straight for the swim-up mask bar, because our basic ticket included one signature Blue Lagoon silica mud mask. Yes, they have their own skin care line and yes, I did buy products. I’ll cover my Iceland purchases in a separate post.
We each got a scoop of mask in our hands and slathered it on our faces. Beauty blogger fail: I didn’t take a mask photo because I hadn’t brought my phone out to the lagoon yet.
We left the mask on for ten minutes and rinsed it off under a cold running faucet near the mask bar. Then we headed across the lagoon to the swim-up bar because our tickets also included one beverage. Although it was only about 7:30am, I opted for a dry sparkling wine from Italy, because when else am I going to sip on an adult beverage in the Blue Lagoon? John got a veggie juice and we sat around chatting with a father and daughter from the US who were on a layover on their way to Greece.**
We soaked for about an hour before deciding it was time for breakfast. The Blue Lagoon has several restaurants, but we got pre-made grab-and-go food from the cafe by the lagoon entrance. I got an avocado and tomato toast, Sweet Chili Doritos (not pictured), and a double cappuccino. All of it totally hit the spot.
After breakfast we Returned to the Blue Lagoon (see what I did there?). I brought my phone out so I could snap photos before taking it back to my locker.
The place started to get a little busier after we soaked some more, so we went back to the locker rooms to shower and get ready to leave. Tour buses had begun dumping groups of people off. Not our vibe, hence our choice to go at opening time. Of course I stopped by the gift shop on the way out. 🙂
When we returned to the hotel it was time for a nap. Getting up early plus soaking in hot water on top of mild jet lag had us feeling pretty sleepy.
After resting, we explored Reykjavik some more. The city’s tallest church, Hallgrimskirkja, was a short walk from our hotel so we headed there first (with an espresso stop for me at Reykjavik Roasters along the way).
We bought tickets in the church gift shop to ride the elevator up to the tower. Thankfully there was no wait for the elevator. The tower offers spectacular 360° views of the colorful city of Reykjavik:
The church bells ring every fifteen minutes; we got to hear them ring up close and personal right in front of us while we were up in the tower.
After taking in the view, we headed back down and into the chapel, which contains Iceland’s largest organ:
After the church, we began walking down the street to do some shopping.
Of course I had to get a photo with this cat mural that we passed by:
Then we spotted a gift shop called The Cats of Reykjavik. Obviously we had to go inside, and met this cutie:
From there, we continued walking and hit Skólavörðustígur, the famous Rainbow Street.
We did some souvenir and gift shopping, then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We chose a place called Salka Valka for dinner because it had good options for both of us. I got a cheese pizza (duh), and John got a fish entree (I think it was cod? I don’t really know fish) that was probably one of his favorites of the trip.
After dinner, we strolled around some more. It’s hard to want to go to bed in Reykjavik because it stays light outside for so long at this time of year! This is the closest I got to a puffin the whole trip:
Again, it was too early to go to bed. So we went to Cernin Vinbar, a small, sleek wine bar across the street from our hotel, and had a couple glasses of wine there. From the server we learned that the wine bar only carries its own wine label, Maison Wessman, produced from French grapes. The wines we had were tasty, and we had a nice time chatting with our server. Finally, it was time for bed.
Day Three
Our final full day in Reykjavik! Boo. But we packed quite a bit into our last day in the city. After a yummy hotel breakfast, we headed out for some sightseeing. Our first intended destination was the Icelandic Punk Museum, located in a former public toilet. It allegedly opens at 10am on Sundays, and we got there right after 10am to find the gate still locked. How very punk. So we moved on to our next activity…
…the Icelandic Phallological Museum. Reykjavik is full of quirky things to do, and this is no exception. I mean…I wasn’t going to visit Reykjavik and NOT go to the Penis Museum.
The Penis Museum was bigger than I expected (that’s what she said). I won’t post more than the below photo, because I’m sure some people reading this don’t want to be bombarded with photos of preserved animal members and penis artwork. Suffice to say, the museum was a good time and I’d recommend it for those looking for an offbeat activity. And, this is the world’s only penis museum!
After the penis experience, we headed for the Reykjavík Art Museum Hafnarhús. But first, we stopped in at the Kolaportið Flea Market to check it out. The large space is chock filled with stuff and it was quite overwhelming, so we just did a lap around it and didn’t buy anything. But I could see it being really fun if you’re super into flea markets, tchotchkes, thrifting, etc. From there we walked around the corner to the art musem; John specifically wanted to see the Erró exhibit. Erró is an Icelandic artist whom we’d never heard of, but we loved the exhibit and his work. He has painted in a variety of styles and created some intricately detailed, large pieces.
This impressive six-panel comic book-inspired piece took up one entire wall:
After the art museum, we headed out for a stroll along the marina to see Þúfa, an art installation created in 2013 by Ólöf Norda. The small grassy mound has a spiral stone path that we walked up to the top of the piece, where a wooden structure holds dried fish. The views from the top are beautiful, and it was a gorgeous, sunny day in Reykjavik. We really got lucky with the weather during our time in the city!
On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped at Grandi Mathöll, a food hall with a variety of cuisines. John got fish tacos and I got a macchiato to keep me going (we did A LOT of walking that day!).
Once we returned to the hotel I was exhuasted, so I rested while John continued to explore. For dinner that night we went to a casual burger joint called Reykjavik Chips, where John got a burger and I got a vegan burger. Nothing too exciting. From there we went to check out Bónus, one of the Icelandic grocery store chains. People really love its pig logo, so they even sell store merch.
We always love checking out the chip selection in other countries; I was very tickled by this bag of “Cool American” (aka Cool Ranch) Doritos:
I kinda hit a fatigue wall while at the bustling Bónus. So I went back to the hotel to decompress while John went to check out Harpa Opera House. Because it was our final night in town I didn’t want to crash early, so I rallied and we went to Lebowski Bar for a drink:
They have something like 20 different White Russians. However, I’m not a fan of creamy cocktails (ew) so I ordered my go-to, an Old Fashioned. From there we decided to check out a wine bar called Port 9 that the Cervin Wine Bar bartender had recommended. It was really quiet, cute, and off the beaten path. We had a good time trying wines and chatting with the bartender. We learned that she can usually tell who the Americans are because we tend to come sit at the bar (guilty as charged) rather than at a table.
By the time we left, it was close enough to “sunset” that we decided to walk a couple blocks down to the waterfront to see the almost-midnight sun. The sunset colors bathed the city in rose gold and it was such a stunning sight to behold.
The sunset colors played nicely off of the Sun Voyager sculpture by the water:
The sun “set” at 11:46pm that night. I use quotation marks because, as I mentioned, the sun never fully sets in Iceland at this time of year. It’s such a unique experience for those of us who live in places that get dark every night year round. Blackout curtains and sleep masks are your friend in Iceland!
Day Four
We finished up our final morning with another good hotel breakfast. Then we completed our packing and started loading up our rental car. On the way to the car, we stopped at Brauð & Co to pick up pastries for the road. I got a cinnamon bun (I saw many recommendations for these!) and if I remember correctly, John got some kind of caramel bun. Both were so good, definitely worth a try if you visit.
We saw this determined little cutie on one of our trips to load up the car:
Here we are on Laugavegar with our pastries as we said goodbye *for now* to the wonderful city of Reykjavik:
We were sad to be leaving, but had a whole lot of adventure yet to come. While we were in Reykjavik we began talking about planning a return trip—that’s how much we loved it.
Stay tuned for more recap posts of the remainder of our Iceland vacation!!
*Inspecting rental cars for damage before you leave the rental office is important in Iceland. Rental car damage isn’t uncommon due to often-harsh elements (wind, sand storms, rocky roads, etc).
**Icelandair offers free stopovers in Iceland on some routes. So for example, if you’re flying from DC to Glasgow, you can add a stopover for up to seven nights in Iceland at no additional cost!
