Hiiiii friends! Back in October I went on an amazing trip to Iceland and I’ve finally had the opportunity to round up all the details on our journey. I will start by saying that Iceland is the most beautiful country I have seen and this was my favorite trip to date! This was a girls trip with my two stepdaughters (they’re 24 and 27), and one of my dearest friends. Traveling with the girls to such a beautiful place was an awesome experience and we made memories that will last a lifetime – that’s what travel is all about!

This trip was full of adventure…we were there for 5 days and we made the most of every minute! Not having traveled to Iceland before, we had no clue where to start with planning, but knew we wanted to see and cover as much ground as possible and we had limited time to waste with the trip being pretty short. We worked with Kyana Powers on Instagram to create a customized itinerary. She lives in Iceland and is a travel expert – she offers all sorts of helpful resources from interactive maps, to general itineraries, to personalized itineraries. Working with her was the best decision ever, as she took all of the stress from planning off our shoulders! Highly recommend her services, and she has lots of discount codes for various excursions to help you get a bit of savings.

Day 1:

We flew out of Raleigh-Durham which has a direct flight to Iceland and it’s only about 6 hours, so totally doable! It’s an overnight flight, so we landed at about 6:30am Iceland time (they’re 4 hours ahead from EST). We rented an SUV at the airport through Blue Car Rental, and we chose the WiFi hotspot add-on which was essential in allowing us to remain connected while on the road.

After leaving the airport, we headed straight to the Blue Lagoon. We booked our tickets a few weeks in advance and we had a 9am reservation which worked well because it got busier and busier throughout the morning. The Blue Lagoon has a really nice setup as far as their locker rooms and shower facilities. It was very clean and there was plenty of space to move around and get prepped to go into the lagoon. The package we booked included robes (a must have given how cold it is outside of the water!!), a drink at the lagoon bars, and three facial masks. The lagoon itself was a fun experience – the water is very warm, which was welcomed as it was super cold that morning! It is definitely touristy and a little crowded, but everyone should do the Blue Lagoon when in Iceland! I also heard great things about Sky Lagoon and would have loved to check it out, but we ran out of time.

After a few hours at the Blue Lagoon, we hit the road again and headed toward Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland and about a 45 minute drive from the lagoon. Immediately upon driving into the downtown area of Reykjavik, I was smitten!! The buildings there are so full of charm and character! We stayed at The Hotel Borg for our first night – it’s a pretty property in a historic building, although the rooms were nothing special. There are a lot of restaurants, bars, shops and yummy bakeries all in walking distance from the hotel. We really loved The Jungle Bar for cocktails, Deig Bakery for breakfast (they had amazing bagels and pastries), and Brauð & Co bakery for the best cinnamon rolls you’ve ever tasted!

On our first night in Reykjavik, we booked a tour to try to see the Northern Lights. We booked through Reykjavik Outventure. This company does a great job and they take their light hunting very seriously! It’s a smaller tour with a max of 20 people, and they provide yummy hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls which is a nice treat! We roamed all over the place hunting the lights, but sadly there was a lot of cloud cover so we only had a very, very faint sighting. What I did not realize is that the camera lens picks up the lights better than the naked eye, so we were still able to get a pretty cool photo with them.

Day 2

After spending the night in Reykjavik, we hit the road and headed east toward our next destination, which was the town of Vik. It’s about a 2.5 drive from Reykjavik and there are numerous sights to visit along the way.

Our first stop was the Seljalandfoss waterfall. This waterfall is gorgeous and you can actually walk behind it, which was really neat. You do get very wet though, so come prepared! We had grabbed ponchos at a gas station beforehand and we were very glad we did!

About a five minute walk away was the Gljúfrabúi waterfall, which was a waterfall inside a cave! We had to hike across a ravine and balance a few slippery rocks along the way, but it was worth it! And thank God for the ponchos!

Our next destination was the somewhat “secret” Nauthúsagil waterfall. This is a bit off the beaten path and a took a while to find. It was pretty, but very remote. I feel like we wasted a good bit of time trying to get to it, so I would probably suggest skipping this one so you can have more time to spend at the other spots!

Our entire road trip was spent on Highway 1, also known as the Ring Road. It was a very easy road/route to navigate and the scenery of rural and remote Iceland was so beautiful. Here’s a pic of the countryside – there were acres upon acres of farmland and adorable herds of sheep!

Our next stop was Dyrhólaey, which is a cliff that juts out over the ocean. We arrived right at sunset which wasn’t planned but we couldn’t have timed it any better. It was absolutely breathtaking in person!

After Dyrhólaey, we quickly drove to Reynisfjara Beach and made it right before dark, so we were able to step foot on the infamous black sand beach and see the really cool rock “columns” formed in the side of the mountain.

After leaving the beach, we headed into Vik for the night which was only about a 15 minute drive at that point. We stayed at Hotel Kria, which I loved and was my favorite of the three hotels in which we stayed. They had a very talented mixologist at the hotel bar and her drinks, pictured below, were a work of art! The town of Vik is small but there are a handful of small restaurants, shops, and gas stations.

Day 3

We started out our third day with a fun excursion to the Katla Ice Cave, which we booked through Katla Track (you can also see more on their instagram page here). The tour leaves out of Vik and you take a “super jeep” because there’s a lot of off-road driving to get to the glacier. To get to the cave, you have to hike up a glacier which I did not realize ahead of time, and I panicked a bit to be honest, but pushed through and it was 100% worth it! They do provide you with crampons that attach to your boots and allow you to walk through the ice more safely along with hard hats and flashlights. This was one of my favorite activities that we did and I highly recommend it!

After the ice cave tour, we grabbed lunch at Black Crust Pizzeria before leaving Vik. It was SO good!!

Hjörleifshöfði hellir – also called the famous Yoda Cave (do you see it!?). This was a very quick stop – just grabbed the photo and got back on the road!

From Vik, we continued our journey through the southeast, which becomes even more remote the further you travel. Our next stop was Fjaðrágljúfur Canyon and holy moly, what a beautiful spot! This was a serious uphill climb to get to, but the views made it worthwhile. Justin Bieber even shot a music video here!

Next stop was Svínafellsjökull – considered a “secret” glacier. We had a bit of a struggle finding it, even with our GPS, but we didn’t give up and eventually found it! There were a few other people there, but it wasn’t crowded at all. One thing I loved about our trip and our itinerary was that we saw so many sites that were all so different!

From Svínafellsjökull, we headed to our next hotel in the Glacier Lagoon region, Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon. This was a very remote area of the country and this hotel was basically the one and only hotel in the area (at least that we could see). It was a very nice and modern hotel, and I have no complaints about the accommodations!

Day 4

On day 4, we headed farther east to our next stop, Diamond Beach and the Glacier Lagoon. Again, as if the country could not get more beautiful, these spots were just jaw dropping. I had a lot of “pinch me” moments! The first few pics below were taken at Diamond Beach. We got there around 8-8:30am and were able to get some really awesome photos!

Right across the road from Diamond Beach was Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. It was just stunning – words can’t describe it and the pictures don’t do it justice!!

The Glacier Lagoon is also the meet up spot for all of the excursions in the area, so next we set off on another ice cave tour via Arctic Adventures. This was called the Crystal Ice Cave tour, which is in Vatnajokull, Europe’s largest glacier! This was another off-road experience, and then about a one mile hike on foot over rocky terrain, to get to the actual cave. This ice cave was smaller than the Katla Ice Cave, but still very cool!

After our adventures in the Glacier Lagoon region, we began the long journey back to Reykjavik. It was about a five hour drive, but we had a car full of junk food, good music, and good company to make the drive a lot more enjoyable. We spent our last night back at The Hotel Borg in Reykjavik (the same place we stayed our first night), and then spent our final morning (Day 5) roaming around the local shops to purchase souvenirs and gifts to take home before heading back to the airport for our afternoon flight back to the states!

What I Packed/Wore

Lastly, I did want to share some details about what I packed/wore, because that was a bit stressful for me to plan for! All I can say is layers, layers, layers!! I did a lot of research ahead of time, looking for advice on what to wear while there, and the feedback I saw the most was the importance of layers, and they are correct! I invested in quality merino wool base layers, then I did a pullover and fleece lined pants or rain pants. Pretty much everything I packed and wore is linked here, but I have listed out a few must-haves below.

• These hiking boots were 10/10! My friend had purchased the same ones and we both said the whole trip how impressed we were with them. The girls had these which were an Amazon purchase, and we were very impressed with how well they held up considering the lower price point. There’s lots of cute and fashionable snow boots, but honestly, don’t waste your money. They will get dirty, wet, and most importantly, they won’t be practical when it comes to hiking, especially on glaciers. I’d say pack a good pair of hiking boots, and then a pair to wear around town, out to dinner, etc, and you’ll be all set!
• I took two coats, both of which were wind and water resistant, which is super important in Iceland. I wore this one the most, but also really liked the length of this one, so you can’t go wrong with either.
• I got this merino wool baser layer top and matching leggings from Amazon and was very happy with them. The price point was a lot better than some of the more well known brands and I think these worked just as well.
• I would also recommend a pair of rain pants, particularly for days you plan to visit waterfalls. These are the ones I purchased and I wore them over my base layer.
• These fleece lined pants are a bit of an investment but they are my favorite! I got the girls a pair for the trip and they loved them too. They’re so warm and fit so well. I also did not pack a single pair of jeans – you won’t need them!
• These gloves were the best purchase! I took two pairs of gloves with me and they both got soaked, so I bought these while there and they were totally worth the price!

I truly can’t recommend Iceland enough! We felt it was easy to navigate on our own, and we never felt unsafe at all. It is definitely more of an adventure trip than a vacation, so be prepared for lots of hiking and being on the go non-stop, but it’s totally worth it and the experiences will last a lifetime.

PS – I have an Iceland highlight saved to my Instagram profile which is linked here – you can see several more videos and photos there.

Thanks for reading!