Birthday in Iceland!
Well…I’ve reached the third and final recap of our Iceland vacation. (See parts one and two.) I’ve been dragging my feet on this one because it’s just been so fun to immerse myself in Iceland memories. At least I’ll have the memories, my photos, and these blog posts to carry with me. What a magical place:
Day Seven, Continued
Previously on Our Iceland Vacation: John was driving toward the Golden Circle (a popular area for tourism) and we had just visited intensely windy black sand beaches near Vik. We would be staying in the Golden Circle for the remainder of our trip.
On our drive northwest, we stopped for a snack at a restaurant called Midgard in Hvolsvöllur; I also needed to change into dry clothes. My apparel was not water resistant enough for the wet beach conditions that morning! Midgard was so cute and felt like a mini REI. They are also a tour operator as well as a base camp with lodging.
Once we were dry and fueled, we got back on the road and headed to our next destination: Hrunalaug Hot Spring. This small hot spring is located near the village of Flúðir in the greater Golden Circle area. It’s a couple of pools plopped in the hills, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Hrunalaug is quite rustic compared to the Blue Lagoon, with small pools and sparse facilities. But it’s worth stopping by for a dip. We were so excited to soak in the warm water after our cold, windy morning at the black sand beaches!
The water felt amazing, and we spent about an hour at the hot spring before it was time to get going. We were on a slight time crunch because we had a 6:00pm dinner reservation at our next hotel.
From the hot spring we had close to a 30 minute drive to our next spot, Hotel Geysir. This hotel, founded in 2019, is directly across from the Geysir geothermal area and next door to the Geysir Visitor Center. Our hotel had total Black Mirror vibes, both inside and out:
To treat ourselves after our previous adventures, we splurged on a junior suite at this hotel. Situated at the end of a hallway, our corner suite was so beautiful and peaceful:
The suite included our only bathtub of the whole trip…and I did use it, of course!
The hotel hallways had motion-sensor lights, which gave me Shining vibes literally every time we walked to our room at the end of the hall:
Every corner of Hotel Geysir is meticulously decorated. This is one of the lounge areas just off the main lobby:
After settling in, we got ready for dinner at Geysir Restaurant. The huge restaurant is located on the bottom floor and is, of course, very stylish. I ordered the vegan burger, which seemed more like a Morningstar chicken patty than a vegan burger. A little odd, but I liked the BBQ sauce on it and the overall flavor. The sweet potato fries were good, too.
We had another skyr panna cotta for dessert…so good!
After dinner we sat in the lounge with a glass of wine and our Rick Steves Iceland book to plan our agenda for the next day. Then, it was bedtime after another long day.
Day Eight
Hotel breakfast time! Hotel Geysir had quite the breakfast spread. This was our first Icelandic hotel breakfast that offered mimosas (which we did not partake in). After eating, we drove about twelve minutes to the Brúará Trailhead for a hike to Brúarfoss. The hike to Brúarfoss from the parking lot was close to two miles, with two additional fosses along the way.
This hike started off flat but soon we hit muddy, rocky areas. Bringing my hiking poles was the correct move.
The first foss we encountered was Hlauptungufoss, a very rocky, very rapid waterfall:
The second waterfall we passed along the trail was Miðfoss:
(We wore sunglasses on an overcast morning because we had begun our Timeshifter plan for returning home.)
We finally reached Brúarfoss, seen in the first photo of this post. Again, well worth the effort of getting there! That said, this was not a difficult hike…for me, it was on the easy side of moderate. There is a parking lot close to Brúarfoss so you can skip the longer hike if you aren’t able or don’t have the time. Also note that these three waterfalls can be fatal if you fall in, so you must watch your step and stay on the trails.
Here I am on a tiny cliff just south of Brúarfoss…staying on the path, away from the immediate edge.
The return hike to our car was lovely, and I noticed this tiny black sand beach with tiny islands. It looked like a beach fit for fairies:
After our hike, we got a little down time in our hotel room before the next item on our agenda. Which was….Friðheimar, the famous tomato greenhouse restaurant! Aside from Blue Lagoon, this was the only activity that we booked in advance of our trip. I had heard that this place gets busy, so I made a lunch reservation a month or so prior. I was glad I did, because there were some folks waiting for a table while we dined.
This place is SO cute. It’s a restaurant inside a tomato greenhouse with a menu that includes a variety of tomato-focused dishes. The most popular menu item is the all-you-can-eat tomato soup and bread. We chose this option and served ourselves at one of these stations:
The soup and bread were so delicious! Each table is set with butter, sour cream, and cucumber salad to accompany the soup and bread. Plus, every table has a pot of basil with a pair of scissors so you can snip some off and add it to your soup. The place offers tomato-based cocktails and mocktails as well (John got a tomato mocktail).
For dessert, we got tomato ice cream topped with two sweet tomato-based sauces. It came served in this little clay pot…so cute, and so tasty!
Before leaving, we bought some of the house brand tomato salt from the gift shop.
That afternoon, we spent time resting in the luxurious suite. I had brought bath salts from home, so I enjoyed a lovely lavender salt bath in our large soaking tub. After an activity-heavy trip, we deserved some down time.
We weren’t super hungry for dinner, but wanted to check a couple places out. First, we stopped at Efstidalur II farm because John wanted to try their homemade ice cream. So he got an ice cream cone and we sat in the ice cream shop and watched cows munch on straw in the room next door.
Then we went back to Friðheimar to try their wine bar, Vínstofa Friðheima. The place is adorable:
John got a smoked trout toast, and we shared an Icelandic cheese plate. All of the cheeses were so, so good! I think my favorite was the one on the bottom right corner, which was sprinkled with finely ground coffee:
We returned to our hotel for a glass of wine in the lounge while we planned our schedule for the next day, which happened to be…
Day Nine
…my 47th birthday AND Friday the 13th! Yes, I packed a t-shirt for the occasion:
Of course I woke up in the middle of the night again and peeked outside to see the light:
We kicked off my birthday with another yummy hotel breakfast. Then John drove us about 35 minutes southwest to Kerið Crater. How often do you get to visit a volcanic crater on your birthday?!
The crater walls contain red volcanic rock that’s uncommon in Iceland. So it’s quite a unique geological wonder.
A trail circles the top edge of the crater, and you can also walk down to the lake, which is fed by underground water sources rather than rainwater:
From the crater, we drove about 30 minutes to the Secret Lagoon (not at all secret) in Flúðir. A couple days prior, I had decided that I wanted to hit up another geothermal pool on my birthday. After checking out some options near Geysir, I settled on 10:00am Secret Lagoon tickets (we would have picked an earlier time but they don’t open until then).
We arrived a couple minutes before opening time and lined up with some other early birds. We checked in, watched an orientation and safety video in the lobby, got the towels that we rented, changed and showered in the locker rooms, then met outside.
Side note: the Secret Lagoon locker rooms do not have private shower stalls like the Blue Lagoon. Each shower head is separated from the others with a small barrier, but the general showering area is communal. So if you want to enter the Secret Lagoon, you need to be okay with getting naked in front of strangers. Doing so is part of Icelandic bathing culture.
Let’s go outside…just look at this place! What a birthday treat!
The Secret Lagoon claims to be the oldest pool in Iceland. The pool water is fed by natural hot springs; you can see the steam coming out of the ground in the background:
The water was warm; it felt so incredible and relaxing.
We were fortunate to have truly amazing weather on my birthday. That day probably had the nicest weather of our entire trip! It was sunny and the outside temperature was 58°F, so it actually felt really good to walk around the pool grounds in a wet bathing suit after exiting the warm pool. At the two other thermal pools we had visited, the air temperature was quite a bit colder…which made getting out feel shockingly chilly.
We stayed at the Secret Lagoon for an hour or so, soaking in the warm water and trying out the smaller hot tub-style pool off to the side. They also have a cold plunge that John partook in. I dipped a toe in…and dipped out immediately.
After the pool, it was time to rest in the hotel. John then went out for a run, and I headed across the street from our hotel to hike the Geysir trail. The Geysir area is an extremely popular tourist stop in the Golden Circle, and there was a constant flow of visitors in the area throughout the daytime. Especially on my birthday, since the weather was so fantastic!
I headed up the short trail to a lookout platform with a panoramic view of the valley and geysirs. You can see our hotel off to the right (the dark building), and the Geysir Visitor Center to the right of that (the red roof).
The hillside on the geysir trail was absolutely covered in that gorgeous, fragrant Alaskan Lupine:
John met up with me at the base of the trail when he finished his run, and we waited for a couple minutes for the Strokkur Geysir to erupt (it erupts about every five to ten minutes). We just missed it as we started walking away, but planned to come back later to check it out again.
I rested in the room some more, then got ready for my birthday evening adventures. First, we drove ten minutes east to Gullfoss, the waterfall for which the Golden Circle is named (“gullfoss” means golden falls in Icelandic). Gullfoss is another very popular tourist attraction that boasts multiple parking lots as well as a large visitor center with a cafe and extensive gift shop.
You can see why this is a hopping destination:
You can follow the trail down stairs to get up close and personal with the waterfall. But if you do so, expect to get wet. Because this was our pre-dinner activity and I didn’t want to go to my birthday dinner soaking wet, we didn’t venture too close.
Gullfoss waters flow down through a canyon, offering a dramatic view:
Though it was sunny and warm out, it was quite windy near the falls so we didn’t stay super long. Plus, we were hungry! So we headed a short drive back in the direction of our hotel to Skjól Bistro, which I had chosen because they have pizza. And I wanted pizza for my birthday dinner!
Forget fancy multi-course tasting meals…that’s not my thing at all. I’m much more of a casual dining fan. So this prosecco and pizza totally hit the spot; I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday dinner. And our server complimented my Friday the 13th shirt. 🙂
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and walked across the street to stake out Strokkur Geysir again. People encircle the geysir with their phones out at all hours of the day to watch for eruptions. Apparently it’s really cool to see the geysir erupt in the dark, but this isn’t the right time of year for that since Iceland doesn’t get dark in the summer. I imagine overnight in the winter would be a unique experience, especially if you’re lucky enough to also catch the Northern Lights.
We did get to see the Geysir erupt and I have a video of it on my phone. It’s not really a big, exciting enough of an eruption to share here. There was one dumbass guy who stepped over the rope barrier and got up close to the geysir to film the eruption. People were yelling at him not to do so, but the moron did it anyway. When it erupted he probably got hit with a couple splashes. The geysir water can be around 175° to 212°F, so you really want to keep a safe distance. Unlike that risk-taking idiot.
Here’s a smaller geothermal spot that was bubbling when we walked by:
The Geysir area had quieted down a lot by the time we went after dinner. Most of the tourists were probably off eating dinner at that time. It was so nice to visit during a more peaceful time of day.
This is one of my favorite shots…the aliens are coming!!
We headed for the hotel bar and ordered Old Fashioneds, which we brought upstairs to the brighter lounge area. Timeshifter had told us to get plenty of light in the evening prior to our trip home. So we enjoyed birthday drinks in the lounge:
Finally, it was time to go to bed. I feel so fortunate to have been able to celebrate my birthday in Iceland, a country I’d been wanting to visit for so many years! What a special birthday for me.
As with the last few nights, I woke up in the middle of the night and peeked outside. I took this photo at 1:31am, a time firmly wedged between sunset and sunrise.
Day Ten (Return Home)
Sadly, we had reached the final day of our trip. Prior to my birthday dinner, we packed as much as possible so we wouldn’t have to rush on our final morning. We got up and enjoyed our last hotel breakfast of the trip, then packed up the car, said goodbye to our beautiful suite, and checked out of Hotel Geysir.
Our flight was around 4pm so we had plenty of time before we needed to arrive at Keflavik airport. But we did want to leave enough time to get gas and return our rental car.
Rather than pack in a bunch of activities, we chose one: Þingvellir National Park. The park is an important historic spot in Iceland where the country convened its first general assembly. In 2004, UNESCO designated the park as a World Heritage Site. Also? Þingvellir is the site of a boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Park visitors can walk between these tectonic plates. Cool, right?
A perfect day for a walk in the park:
Here we are walking the trail between tectonic plates:
Game of Thrones actually filmed in Þingvellir! We didn’t even realize that until after we had left. GoT filmed in many locations around Iceland, including Dyrhólaey from my second recap.
We walked along the trail to Öxarárfoss, which would end up being the final foss of our vacation.
We took our last Iceland selfie while in Þingvellir:
Þingvellir is vast and there’s a whole lot to explore. But I was starting to feel worn out; plus, the park was pretty busy and I was reaching my limit of being around people. So we only spent about an hour at Þingvellir. We’ll have to save more exploration for a future trip!
Once we left Þingvellir, we had about an hour and fifteen minute drive back to Keflavik airport. It was nice to drive through Reykjavik on the way back and say goodbye to that wonderful city, even if just in passing.
We took Rick Steves’ advice on where to gas up our rental car before returning it to the airport. His book suggested the ÓB gas station just outside the airport entrance, at the corner of Aðalgötu and highway 41 (it’s right by a Courtyard Marriott and a pharmacy). We found the gas station without any trouble and filled our tank.
Returning the rental car to Alamo didn’t take long. Rather than waiting for the rental car shuttle bus to take us to the terminal, we walked with our luggage from the rental car building.
Icelandair’s US-bound boarding system at KEF was unusual and did not run the same way as the airline’s boarding system at Dulles. KEF has a nice, spacious upstairs terminal with good food options and a ton of shops. Your flight isn’t assigned a gate until about an hour before departure. Once you have a gate number, you need to go through customs and head downstairs, where the actual gates are located.
Upstairs at KEF is great, but downstairs is chaotic and gates don’t have enough seats. The line for the one (why?!) ladies’ room was very long because for some reason, at least half of the many toilet stalls inside the restroom were roped off.
Once boarding began, we were ushered into a small holding area where airline staff checked our passports. Then we proceeded to stand around waiting for fifteen minutes or so before boarding a bus that drove us to our plane on the tarmac. Definitely make sure you use the restroom before getting in the boarding line because once you’re in the bus waiting room, you’re trapped. I share this experience in case you happen to be flying Icelandair to the US out of KEF soon. That way you can have some idea of what to expect!
Our return flight home went smoothly and only had a short delay due to thunderstorms in the DC area. Though our vacation was SO fantastic and we were sad to have to leave Iceland, we were also really happy to come home to our cats. 🙂
Final Thoughts
Overall, our Iceland vacation was a very different type of trip for us, with more moving around than I’m accustomed to. Many Iceland tourists don’t stay in one location for more than a night at a time so they can make a full Ring Road circuit in ten to fourteen days. I see overly ambitious Ring Road itineraries on Reddit all the time, with every second of every day planned out. That’s not my style at all; way too much time in transit for my energy level. Ultimately, we were very satisfied with how we chose to vacation in Iceland.
In terms of planning, I’ve mentioned that the Rick Steves Iceland guide was incredibly helpful. We used the book a lot once we were actually in Iceland and could make more sense of the advice in situ. The Visiting Iceland subreddit also has a ton of practical info (for example, that’s where I learned about the parking and weather apps).
John and I both want to go back to Iceland so badly. We felt really comfortable there! I think that’s partly due to the fact that just about everyone there speaks English. We didn’t need to know a word of Icelandic, though locals probably appreciate it when tourists make some effort with the language. The country is also easy for us East Coasters to get to; the flight to Keflavik takes about the same amount of time as it takes us to fly to LA.
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you’ve enjoyed living vicariously through our Iceland vacation photos. If you’ve been thinking about traveling to Iceland, I cannot recommend it enough!
