Reykjavík

Next we took a 45 minute drive to the capital city of Reykjavík. We checked in to our first Icelandair Hotel, Reykjavík Natura, and rested there before exploring the city. Our sightseeing began with Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland’s famous landmark Lutheran church and one of the tallest structures in the country. It’s a magnificent sight to behold inside and out. Similar to San Francisco but on a much smaller scale, the city is on a slant with streets of colorful buildings leading down to an ocean water edge. We walked around for hours, found the perfect souvenirs for family as well as more great coffee for us at Reykjavík Roasters. Surprisingly for dinner, we ate the best pizza we’ve ever had. Go figure. We slept very well that night, having not gone to bed at all the night before, but not before FaceTiming Penny and Willow, our beautiful girls.

Geysir

Next up was Iceland’s famous Geysir. Tiny streams of water hot enough to boil trickle down the slanted land leading up to two geysers, one small, dormant one appropriately named Litli Geysir (“Little Geysir”) and a larger one named Strokkur that erupts about every 10 minutes. We watched it several times morph from a brooding hot puddle of water to a magnificent erupting spring. Twice the shift of wind made the airborne geyser soak us with sulfur water, an unpleasant smell but most tolerable for yet another natural experience. 

Most of the time being just another tourist isn’t the best feeling. But being in good company at most every stop had its benefits, like convenient eateries, shops and “wash closets” (bathrooms). Geysir’s location had all of the above, plus a great cafe where we enjoyed cappuccinos and cake before moving on to the most grandiose view of the day.

Gullfoss Falls

We knew this waterfall would be bigger than the first, but nothing could prepare us for the sight of not just one, but two huge waterfalls layered one after the other. Rainbows at the bottom of each fall only added to the majestic view, which we were able to see from a high vantage point with snow-capped mountains just beyond.

For dinner we backtracked to a place we read about at the Geysir’s cafe. This cow and horse farm specialized in farm-to-table food, including ice cream. This is the type of place backtracking exists for, and we were so glad we did. We had burgers, fries and white chocolate ice cream, all delicious. We pulled over to take photos and video of some Icelandic horses for the girls on our way to the hotel.

Our second night was spent at Icelandair Hotel Fludir. Our room was nice and even nicer having an outside door leading straight to two jacuzzis. It was no Blue Lagoon, but relaxing nonetheless.

Skógafoss

Our second location was the widest, largest waterfall we’d seen yet, Skógafoss. High and wide and waterproof jacket-worthy, we got as close as we could get to take it in. The hillside to its right had an optional staircase leading to the top that we opted not to climb, satisfied with what we had seen from level ground.

Not going to lie, lunch afterwards wasn’t the best. In travel blogs we read that a common go-to meal while traveling in Iceland was a gas station hot dog. How can you go wrong with a hot dog, we thought. Well, the answer to that question is by dousing it with a strange sauce and covering it with onions, especially when you’re allergic to them. They kindly made me another one, plain, and kindly charged me for it. The plain one was better but likely, hopefully the last. 

Seljavallalaug Zwembad

Next in our plans was a unique manmade pool right smack-dab in the middle of nature. The pool is heated by sourced hot spring water, with an adjacent pool house built for sheer swimmer experience. Reviews from previous visitors had the general consensus that while the spot was a must-see, it wasn’t a must-swim, the murkiness of the lukewarm water being the biggest thumbs down. A 20 minute hike lined with tall rock structures and purple flower fields was a plus in seeing the pool, and Tyler was brave enough to go all in. Though he said it was slimy and surprisingly warm, I owned my short role of being sole photographer regret-free, glad to have seen but not felt this one.

Kvernufoss

We had seen several waterfalls by now and were already getting used to the site, though it isn’t any less beautiful seeing them so naturally and frequently. Our next stop can only be dubbed as the “smaller waterfall”, officially Kvernufoss. The sun was shining and the short hike was a nice change of pace from everything before. A green grass path and a small rock cliff led to a little glen with a waterfall that located anywhere else would take your breath away. Breath intact, we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Vík 

We were really looking forward to our lodging spot for this night. Vík is a small seaside town we had booked a stand-alone cabin to stay in. Tyler went to the nearby Icelandair Hotel for check in information and learned our cabin was actually being renovated and not ready for guests. When we learned that the hotel was apparently double the price and much nicer with free breakfast thrown in, it was hard to complain with staying there for no extra cost. Our ocean view room sealed the deal, a fortunate change of plans indeed. Before eating dinner at a recommended seaside restaurant, which was delicious, we drove up a steep hill to see the picturesque Reyniskyrka Church. Perched above the city overlooking the sea at just before sunset, it provided the perfect Vík view.

Solheimasandur Plane Wreck

It’s a good thing we had a great meal before our final stop of the day. Seeing the Solheimasandur Plane Wreck was nonnegotiable, before we knew there was any reason to negotiate. We didn’t realize it was an estimated hour-long walk down a seemingly endless gravel road to get to the beach with the crashed plane. As we walked, and walked, and walked, Tyler realized how badly he needed to pee. Forced to add to our climbing travel time, we veered a hard right from the sparsely people-clad path. We eventually made it to the plane crash, which will remain one of the most eery and unique beach scenes we’ll ever see. Photos were taken and what’s left of the wrecked plane was observed. The hour-long walk back was a power one. 

Reynisfjara

We were excited to see the black sand beach called Reynisfjara; we loved all the photos we’d seen of it before. Basalt column rocks, one of Iceland’s most captivating post-lava formations, make a giant cliff towering right on the beach. Multiple vertical rock steps of all sizes beg to be climbed and photographed. A basalt rock cave exists next to its kin cliff. Black and gray stones are scattered all along the coast and throughout the black sand. We took a handful home for a memento, including two heart-shaped stones for the girls. We saw the beach completely overcast until the sun appeared to make the dark coast sparkle. This will forever be one of our favorite scenes.

Eldhraun

The next stretch of driving was long and reminded us why Iceland feels like being on another planet. The terrain changed from grass to large clusters of moss-covered rocks. The weather changed from sunny to rainy and made for an eerie mood. We drove through a section with hundreds of man-made rock piles in tiny triangular towers spaced a foot apart, covering the land. Each side of the road was as like another planet as we imagine one to be for as far as we could see. Iceland is otherworldly.

Fjaðrárgljúfur

The rain continued lightly all the way to our next destination, Fjaðrárgljúfur. We were excited for this site, and not just because Justin Bieber’s music video for “I’ll Show You” put it on the popular map. The road leading to the canyon was questionable. Several cars had parked before it and seemed to be walking instead of driving to the site. Unsure, we asked a girl who had just come back from the canyon who said we should definitely walk, since the road was only recently opened. The walk to the canyon was longer than expected. As we went down the road it was clear our car could have easily made the drive. We also needed a “WC” (so Euro) by now, but the bathroom at the site was closed. It was overcast and misty. A stream at the bottom of the canyon before the hike up to see it all had a small bridge across for a lower level view. We hiked the marked trails in the light rain. Several moss-covered rock cliffs made thin, risky but oh so tempting walk-out paths jetting out to various parts of the canyon for an incredible, impossible view. Staying on the trails and safe lookouts were view enough for us. The highest view showed two waterfalls leading into a river winding peacefully through endless canyon layers. It’s no wonder Biebs couldn’t resist swimming in its waters and walking out onto the forbidden cliffs, showing it off to the world. Tourism is booming there, but we were happy to see it for ourselves with just a few other people, the long, rainy walk back and all.

Lunch was at a N1 gas station. We had cheeseburgers, fries and Pepsi, an Oreo chocolate bar, ice cream and coffee for the road. You can take an American out of America, but..

Svartifoss waterfall 

The sun returned for our next stop, a 20 minute hike through tree-marked trails to see Svartifoss, a basalt rock waterfall. The short and sweet hike led to two of Iceland’s iconic visions in one, the ever-interesting rock columns paired with the always majestic falls.

Jökulsárlón

Our coldest site yet, Jökulsárlón differed most from all we had seen before. Gorgeous icy light blue waters held various icebergs of every size. A sand mountain provided a better view of just how diverse Iceland is. We didn’t stay here long, because it was very cold.

Lilja Guesthouse

Our room for the night at Lilja Guesthouse had an incredible view, farmland with mountains and a glacier to the far left. Dinner at the hotel restaurant included overpriced chicken tikka masala and yet another cheeseburger, this time with sweet potato fries. Being surrounded by scenic farmland made the night. 

Stokksnes

By now we were used to Iceland’s never darkening nights. We decided to take the 30 minute drive to see Stokksnes, the dramatic mountain ranges hovering above and into a blue sea. We arrived after 10pm and went into a Viking shop to pay to enter the road leading to the sand mounds from which to see it all. It was extremely windy and cold, but the view was striking and unshared. Epic war scenes from Lord of the Rings could have happened on this daunting land. We’ve never seen anything like it, mountains so dark and so large right next to crashing waves.

Höfn

We decided to add some time to our road trip by driving out of our way and into Höfn. We had an amazing lunch by a lovely seaside area, the best chicken salad I’ve ever had and Tyler had pizza. We made a quick pit stop to N1 for coffee and chocolate before hitting the road. The drive was scenic per usual, vast ocean to the right, rugged mountains to the left. We spotted a lone wild reindeer who ran away from our photo attempt.

Nykurhylsfoss and Folaldafoss

We stopped twice to see two different waterfalls along the way. Nothing grandiose, but even the mild ones left us in awe.

Scary detour - the 95

Our first scare of the trip was an unplanned detour of a road called the 95. Our map diverted us off the 1 to make a hard left. The route was slightly shorter, and since it was our map’s clear suggestion, we took it without much hesitation. It started out okay but after a while gave cause for concern. It was going on for a long time, and the gravel road made for rough driving, something we were warned about from the car rental place, as we turned down their urging to purchase gravel insurance. We realized as we drove on that we were heading straight into a mountain. “Is there going to be a tunnel? Because there’s no way this car can drive over this mountain”, may have been my words verbatim. Sure enough there was a scarcely driven gravel road winding up the steep mountain, no tunnel in sight. Our little rental crept uphill, reminiscent of a much grander, much scarier drive up to Big Bear, CA. After making it up the hill, regretting not stopping to get a photo of what we left behind/survived below, we stopped at the top of the mountain before driving down the other side for a quick documentary photo. As if the experience couldn’t get more nerve-wracking, when Tyler was taking a photo at the mountains highest point, our car rolled forward a foot! I yelled “the car’s moving!” and grabbed the e-break as Tyler ran back to the car. Lessons were learned and thankfulness was had as we slowly, safely cruised downhill. Oh, I forgot to mention, we were almost out of gas.

Seydisfjordur

Our next vision was unlike anything we’d seen - a black paved road surrounded by snow. It was our coldest vantage yet. Snow and ice abounded as we entered our resting place for the night, the fjord town of Seydisfjordur. The winding road we took to get there was the same one from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty movie, where Ben Stiller epically skateboards down during his self-awakening Iceland adventure.

Seydisfjordur is a peaceful, picturesque town by the bay, surrounded by snow-capped mountains. It was snowy and cold. One claim to fame is its rainbow road that leads to a church. We had seen it before, thanks to Sigur Rós. There were small shops and eateries all around town. Our guest house, Hótel Aldan, was quaint with a slight view of the bay. We walked around a bit before checking in for the night and FaceTiming our beauties back home.

Dettifoss  

Our next stop proved to be a trying one. We pulled off the main road (the 1) per our map’s instructions and were met with a grave warning sign. The sign said that driving here could be hazardous and calling for emergency assistance was extremely costly. To see the largest waterfall in Europe, Dettifoss, this was our map’s only given option. We decided to go for it, thinking it couldn’t be worse than the insane gravel mountain road we survived the day before. It wasn’t worse, but it was nerve-wracking. To make matters worse, when we finally arrived at the falls, we looked across the canyon, the largest one in Iceland, and saw a better view filled with people. We soon learned that a fully paved road could have led us there, our map just didn’t show it. We enjoyed what we could see of the massive waterfall, though part of it was blocked from our lesser vantage point. The surrounding canyon, Jökulsárgljúfur, was a site to behold itself. That’s the advantage of a place like this; nothing visible can fully disappoint.

Our drive to our next destination had breathtaking ocean views, cliffs reminiscent of Ireland, bright green fields, purple flowers (lupines) on the side of the road underneath the vibrant northern coast.

Skógar Sunset Guest House 

Our hotel for the night, Skógar Sunset Guest House, was just past a charming fishing/seaport town. Set on a remote hillside with only a code to check in, we felt like the only people for miles. We unloaded the car, ate our leftover Subway sandwiches and back-tracked to the fishing town to visit a seaside pub. The cold and rainy weather was appropriate for all of the above.

Mývatn Nature Baths

Our second stop was our second hot spring experience, Mývatn Nature Baths. We were looking forward to this resort-like hot springs visit, having much enjoyed the Blue Lagoon on day one. Various natural and forbidden geothermal pools exist all around the country, so reserving our spots at the guest-friendly ones was a must. We knew the drill from the Blue Lagoon, only needing to bring our swimsuits for this highly relaxing stop. Though Mývatn wasn’t nearly as upscale as Blue Lagoon, the water was perfect and we’d certainly return.

Our hotel for the night, Icelandair Hotel Mývatn, was super modern and nice. We walked across the parking lot for dinner, fish and chips for me and an unexpected rib meal for Tyler. We got cappuccinos to go and went for an after dinner walk to a nearby cave, exploring what little there was to see, fascinating still. It was very cold and slightly rainy. We stopped at our hotel reception for information about running paths for the morning, then FaceTimed our girls who we missed so much.

Day 8: Tuesday, June 4

Our second run together was a cold and rainy one as we jogged quickly through thin, rocky, muddy jagged trails. Four miles felt good to start the day. For lunch and snacks, we found a local supermarket and bought bread, meat, cheese, condiments, Pringles, chocolate, waters and coffee. This was a wise move and a nice break from pricey restaurant food.

Stóragjá

Our first site to see was Stóragjá, a cave notably seen in Game of Thrones. Large rocks lined the opening of the dark cave, with more rocks used for steps to walk down and view the perfectly tempered pool of water. The cave wasn’t massive or small, and the water wasn’t suitable for entry due to risky containment. It’s wild to think of all who have used it for bathing or shelter before its purpose was wonderment alone.

Hverfjall

A test in endurance of chilling wind, rain and a steep hike, the giant crater called Hverfjall was our most otherworldly vision yet. We braved the climb up black, rocky sand that opened up to a massive hole in the earth, completely black, on a tall mountain top. It was eerie to see and wonder how it came to be. One can’t help but feel small standing among its dark, vast midst. The view from above was plentiful, a perk from such a hike. The walk down turned into a run, freezing wind hitting us square in the face. Like most treks, it was worth it to see another once in a lifetime view.

Dimmuborgir

Our next stop was an easier one, appreciated after the crater hike. At Dimmuborgir, interesting rock formations could be viewed from paved walking paths, with options to climb up some rock steps for a higher view. We took photographs of the most interesting rock formation, one with a cutout hole perfect for standing in and seeing what was below. A folklore tale that trolls live among the caves beneath the rocks was on display, claiming they hibernate in the summer and eagerly prepare for Christmas all other months. Be it ignorance or gullibility, for a hot second I thought it might be real.

Hofdi 

We bought coffees at the previous stop and drank them during our next one, Hofdi, which had similar rock formations but located in water. A tree-filled forest with marked dirt paths made for a pleasant walk as we viewed the water-based rock formations from specified lookouts. We climbed the highest one to see it turn into a large body of water, large rocks and green trees all around. We finished our coffees and our walk through the wooded trail at the same time.

Góðafoss

We were due for a good waterfall view, as we’d been breaking from this norm and broadening our vision of Iceland. Góðafoss, from what we could count, had five separate falls leading into one gorgeous light blue rapid river. Some basalt rock columns lined the riverbank walls. We were able to climb down a path of steps and walk through jagged rocks to get a close view from the bottom of the multiple falls, later sending video footage of this beautiful scene to the girls.

Next we drove through the longest tunnel we’ve ever been in to get to our lodging place for the night. The tunnel finally ended with an immediate view to the right of a large seaside city. Our hotel, Centrum Guesthouse, was right in the city, like flipping a switch from rural to urban. We walked to a pizzeria for dinner and later got coffee and a treat at a Barnes and Noble-type bookstore. We FaceTimed the girls in the hotel lobby before hanging out at a hostel bar for a bit.

Hvitserkur

An uncertain gravel road outlined by horses in a valley with a slate blue sea led us to our next site, an ocean-based rock formation called Hvitserkur. Super cold winds caused resistance to our trek down a steep seaside cliff. We were met with stronger winds from the black sand beach. The harsh winds made this a short stop, but as everything else, the discomfort was time well spent for yet another rare ocean view. The rhino-shaped rock formation stood alone in the sea, smaller than we imagined but an unusual, incredible site. I took a few white seashells from the black sand to hopefully bring home.

An under two hour drive brought us to Hotel Hamar, a nice Icelandair Hotel on a golf course with a beautiful view of mountains and sea. There was a jacuzzi right outside our room, a major perk. We drove five minutes into town to split a pizza for dinner.

Grundarfjörður and DÍS Cottages

Our next and final lodging place was in a small town by the sea called Grundarfjörður, nice like all the rest. ”The Santa Barbara of Iceland” is what my first impression said. Our guest house, DÍS Cottages, and many restaurants in town weren’t open until 5pm, so we stopped at a coffee shop/library for a while. Across the street was a grocery store we went to next. 

Staying at DÍS Cottages was saving the best for last, as hard as it is to even imply any of our lodgings were lacking. The stand-alone cottages looked smaller from the long oceanside street that led to them, but from inside our place, which was perfectly sized, the view was extraordinary. Mountain ranges, some snow-capped, sat beyond the vast blue sea. Our room had a porch outside where we sat to take it all in. The nonexistent shower drain bathroom flooding (an issue we found to be common) is almost not worth mentioning. We couldn’t have enjoyed this place more for our last Iceland night.

We only slightly hesitated splurging on a fancy dinner. The restaurant’s unparalleled location sold us, along with the melancholy feel of the final evening. Neither of us had yet experienced a true Icelandic meal, so we both ordered specials: Tyler’s was beef tender loin and mine was a lightly pan fried cod-like fish. The meals’ sides could never be duplicated, nor could the experience as a whole. It was worth every penny/krona for each bite and glimpse of mountain and sea from our exquisite window.

Kirkjufell

After dinner we went to our final planned site, a mountain called Kirkjufell. A pretty set of waterfalls sits next to and underneath one of Iceland’s most iconic mountains. The pre-sunset lighting was harsh, so Tyler returned after 10pm, as it never fully gets dark, for optimal photo light. It was another gorgeous scene we will never forget. 

We took a photo of each place we stayed, since we lodged somewhere new every night. 

The two images below are iPhone photos of us doing what we love while in Iceland.