Cruising through the country by car and enjoying the special nature, which includes volcanoes, waterfalls, geysers and vast landscapes. That is a holiday to Iceland. We went to the ‘land of ice and fire’ for four days and that was a very special experience, which I would like to share with you.
Destination: Reykjavik and surroundings, Iceland
Travel period: October 31 to November 3
Travel companions: My husband
Transport: plane, Iceland Air, and a rental car on location
Hotel: Iceland Parliament Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton
An overview:
- My husband and I took a four-day trip to Iceland. We flew to Reykjavik with Iceland Air and stayed at the Iceland Parliament Hotel.
- During our trip, we explored Reykjavik, drove the Golden Circle and tried to see the Northern Lights.
- We also visited the Blue Lagoon, which was a unique experience. You swim in spring-heated water and are surrounded by lava fields.
- Iceland has a small population density and unique nature, which makes it a travel destination like I’ve never seen before.
It had been on my husband’s wish list for a while: a short holiday to Iceland to admire the special landscape, and particularly the Northern Lights. After months of waiting, the two of us left for the country in the north of Europe at the end of October.
Contents
Every year my husband and I take a short holiday without children, so that we can get closer to each other in peace. Such a trip never lasts long, on average three days, because we never want to be away from the children for too long. This time we chose a short holiday of 4 days because of the distance. In preparation I had bought a Lonely Planet, to discover what the highlights of Iceland are and how to fill a 4-day holiday as well as possible. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to go to the Blue Lagoon, because I had already heard a lot about it. I still had to figure out the rest.
The flight
We flew with Iceland Air from Amsterdam Schiphol to the Icelandic capital Reykjavik. Before booking, I compared this flight with that of KLM. They were very similar; they both flew to and from the same place at favourable times, only Iceland Air was cheaper and that is why I chose the airline from Iceland. After a 3.5-hour flight, we arrived at Keflavík International Airport.
The hotel
During our stay, we stayed at the Iceland Parliament Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton in Reykjavik. This 4-star hotel is in the city centre, surrounded by shops and restaurants. The hotel has a business-like modern interior, with a gym, restaurant, and wellness facilities on the lowest floor.
The breakfast was delicious and looked particularly good and the staff at the hotel was very helpful and friendly. For example, a receptionist helped us extensively when we wanted to see the Northern Lights.
Renting a car
We rented a car at Iceland Airport. This is something we arranged before the trip, so that we could explore the country independently. When you pick up your rental car from the rental company, they will ask you about your plans. Iceland has many roads that you can drive on with a normal car, just like at home.
There are also roads, in the more remote areas, that contain more gravel and sand. In addition, you have the unpredictable F-roads (Fjallvegur, also known as mountain roads), which are difficult to drive on with a normal car. For these types of roads, you need a 4×4 car model, which is a car with four-wheel drive that gives you more grip on unpaved roads or even wet surfaces.
The bottom line is that before you rent a car, you need to know exactly what you want to do in Iceland. Then you can safely travel with the right means of transport, without any calamities.
This is what you can do if you are in Iceland for four days
How do you fill in a 4-day Iceland? Based on my own experiences and the top 10 sights from various online and offline travel guides, I have listed the following activities for you if you are planning to book a short holiday in Iceland.
1. Experience Reykjavik
Spend a day in the capital of Iceland. Reykjavik is literally a colourful town with buildings in all kinds of colours. The first thing I noticed was that the city has many low-rise buildings for a capital city. That’s not so strange, considering that Iceland’s population growth is quite low. Nevertheless, it paints a different picture of a city than you might be used to.
The centre of Reykjavik is lively, with many restaurants, nightlife, and shops close to each other. It is modern, hip, and young and for all ages at the same time. It is not very big for a city, but that is what makes it cosy and pleasant in my opinion.
For a zen moment, visit the Tjörnin, which is a pond in the centre of the city, close to our hotel. What makes this pond so special in my opinion, are the various water birds that swim there, such as ducks, swans, geese and more.
Due to our day trips, we were only in Reykjavik in the evenings, and we mainly saw the city in the dark. Day or night, it is a lovely place to walk around for a few hours.
2. Drive the Golden Circle
A must do, especially if you have little time, is to drive the Golden Circle. It is a route of about 250 kilometres from the capital, and you drive past several beautiful and historical sights. You can drive this route in a normal car. We drove this route on our second day in Iceland and the temperature on this day was around freezing point.
Þingvellir
We started in Þingvellir, which you pronounce as Thingvellir. Þingvellir is a national park and a 40-kilometer large subsidence of the earth. What makes this place special is the history of the town. Here people met in the summer to arrange important matters. Until 1271, Þingvellir was the forerunner of the parliament of Iceland.
You can read more about the history and current function of Þingvellir on Wikipedia. What makes the place so beautiful is that it is deafeningly quiet. The sound you hear is from nature, think of flowing or falling water. You can walk a few kilometres through the subsidence area. Here and there you have to climb a bit, so you must be good on your feet. In colder periods it can also be quite slippery, I fell bad, make sure you wear good shoes.
Geysir
Then we drove to Geysir. Geysir means geyser and it is the name of a large geyser that is currently dormant. It’s stated on the sign. It comes down to the fact that the geyser is no longer active. A geyser that is active and is close to Geysir is Strokkur. This is a smaller geyser that erupts every few minutes. Additionally, bubbling water can be observed in certain streams, which are referred to as hot springs.
Gullfoss
After the geyser, we drove to Gullfoss, which is a few minutes’ drive from the geyser. Gullfoss is a beautiful waterfall built in steps. You can only look at the waterfall, but you can also take a walk and view the waterfall and river from different angles.
Kerið
When you drive back to Reykjavik via the southern route, you will pass Kerið, a crater. It can be described as a valley with water. What makes it special are the colours. The walls are red, and the water looks bright. You can walk around the crater, something we didn’t do, because it was getting dark.
Selfoss
You can also visit the town of Selfoss while driving the Golden Circle. With six thousand inhabitants, it is a lot smaller than the capital. We skipped it due to lack of time, but if you want to see something other than Reykjavik, it is worth a stop according to experts.
There are a few restaurants on the Golden Circle route, such as at Geysir and Gullfoss, so you can have a bite to eat and go to the toilet along the way.
A side note
Depending on your travel period, it can get dark very early in Iceland. This means you cannot see everything well, as you can in daylight.
You can choose to drive the route in one day, as we did. But if you want to walk and really take in nature, you can choose to stay overnight somewhere. Or travel to Iceland in the summer, because then the sun only sets for a very short time.
3. See the Northern Lights
The Northern Lights were an important reason for us to go to Iceland. Of course, they are also visible in other places, but we really wanted to see this special country. The Northern Lights are a tourist attraction, and every day people go out to see the aurora. Provided the weather is good. Because it turned out not to be that easy, because to see the Northern Lights well you need a high KP value.
A KP value measures the visibility of the Northern Lights. For this, the weather conditions must be optimal. This means that it should not be cloudy and cold. In Iceland, a value of 5 is already fantastic and the aurora is clearly visible. The KP value was highest on our first day in Iceland.
There are various tours to the Northern Lights. Some last three hours, others even five hours. On our first day, the tours were fully booked, and because of the time difference with the Netherlands and our journey, we weren’t up for a long tour. The receptionist at the hotel arranged for us to go out with a Northern Lights hunter. Just before midnight, we drove with her to various places in the southwest of the country where you could see the Northern Lights.
Despite it being the best night of the three nights, we were in Iceland, the weather conditions were not quite optimal. We saw something, but we missed the real ‘wow moment’. With a camera you could see it better, provided your settings are right.
Unfortunately, you can’t plan the weather. If you’re going to Iceland for the Northern Lights and you’re flexible with your time, it’s best to look up the KP values and book a last-minute flight to Reykjavik based on that. The best chances are in the colder months anyway, which is from October/November to February. In these months it’s dark for a long time, which is crucial for spotting the Northern Lights. The sky must be clear and keep in mind that it’s very cold, so bring warm clothes!
4. Visit the Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon is a kind of natural swimming pool in the southwest of Iceland, near the town of Grindavík. The water has a temperature of about 38 degrees and is kept warm by the springs in the area. There’s a kind of lava field around the pool, which you look at when you’re in the water. I thought that was very special.
You can visit the Blue Lagoon for the day and use the special swimming pool. But you can also go to The Retreat Spa, which is a bit more exclusive (and therefore a lot more relaxing) than the Blue Lagoon itself. In addition to swimming in the murky water itself, you can stay overnight, dine and use the wellness facilities. Make sure you book these before your visit, because spontaneous booking is almost impossible due to great interest.
For people who also enjoy a spa at home, a visit to The Retreat Spa is very worthwhile. But if you are traveling with someone who doesn’t care much about this, you can just go to the Blue Lagoon and skip the rest.
The tour we didn’t do
On the last day of our holiday in Iceland, we had booked a tour to watch whales from a boat. Such a boat departs from various ports in Iceland, including Reykjavik. However, the weather was bad, and our tour was cancelled, so unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. Instead, we went to the Iceland museum, where we learned about the history of Iceland. It is fun to go there if you like museums.
About Iceland
Iceland has a population of less than 400 thousand people, of which about a third live in the capital and the capital region has 250 thousand inhabitants. The rest live in the other places of Iceland and that makes those areas extremely sparsely populated.
On the road, you encounter much nature and many uninhabited areas. Now we were there in November, and that image may differ from that in the month of May. But the nature that we saw differs from the nature that we know here on the mainland of Europe with a lot of greenery. I hardly saw any trees, many mountains and the same brownish colour in the landscape. This sounds negative, but it is not meant that way. I found it especially special, because it is quite different from what you see in other European countries.
Nice to know about Iceland
During the trip, during which we spent a lot of time in the car, I immersed myself in the country. I learned that Iceland was the setting for world-famous films, such as the Bond film Die Another Day and Christopher Nolan’s Insterstellar.
What I enjoyed reading the most was about the origins of the capital. In short: it was a Norwegian who discovered Iceland hundreds of years ago. He travelled on his ship with his two slaves and when land was in sight, he threw two sacred wooden pillars overboard and where they washed ashore, he would build a city. The slaves searched for the pillars for three years and eventually found them in a bay known as Reykjavik, which literally means Smoke Bay (because of the hot springs).
My husband and I chuckled when we read this story. We think that after three years of suffering, the slaves dragged the pillars to the bay because they thought it would be a good place for a city, among all that ice.
Costs
Iceland is not a cheap destination. That is not so strange when you consider that this is an island with a small population and no neighbouring countries. Almost everything you consume must be imported and that comes with a price tag, which is included in the price of groceries, but also in the accommodation and activities.
Volcano
Since our visit there has been volcanic activity at the fishing village of Grindavík, which you will encounter on your trip to the Blue Lagoon. The videos I saw with this news item showed lava flows blocking the way to the Blue Lagoon. Although it is a special natural phenomenon, the results of which you can see at a later time. Of course, it can be annoying if you have to miss an experience like the Blue Lagoon because of it. But hey, it is nature and cannot be predicted months in advance.
Children
We made this trip without children, and I was very happy about that afterwards. Of course you can take your children everywhere, but my children would not have fun on this trip.
The Blue Lagoon doesn’t have a slide, and the Golden Circle consists of a day in the car and a lot of walking. In addition, Icelandic cuisine is different from many places. Of course, you can find pizza somewhere, but do you really want to sit in a Domino’s if you’re only in Iceland for four days?
Ultimately, it’s up to you what you do, but I would leave my children at home.
To conclude
The trip to Iceland was amazing, the nature is so incredibly special and different from what I’ve seen in Europe. You can plan every day completely differently, by hunting for the Northern Lights, driving the Golden Circle, visiting the Blue Lagoon, and watching whales on a boat, while dining in beautiful Reykjavik in the evening. I would definitely recommend Iceland as a holiday destination, and I don’t rule out that I will come back here again someday.
