Iceland - Summer 2021
In July 2021, I traveled to Iceland for 10 days with my family. I was blown away by the beauty of this country, and I’m (finally!) able to sit down and write about the details of my trip!
This journal post has a day-by-day itinerary breakdown of the trip, compilation of my thoughts on the places I saw, and some tips on how to make the most out of your visit. If you would like a simple bulleted version of my itinerary, you can visit this journal post.
Covid-19 made this trip a bit unconventional.
I wanted to preface this post by saying that this trip was during the Covid-19 pandemic and my family and I were vaccinated before the start of this trip. There were certain restrictions/requirements in order to enter Iceland, as well as re-entering the US, and they may be different by the time you read this post. For current requirements for Iceland, please visit: https://visit.covid.is/
I had to fill out a pre-registration form within 72 hours of my arrival in Iceland. I also had to make sure that the second dose of my vaccine was more than 2 weeks before my arrival. And of course, I had to bring my vaccination card with me on my trip.
Food
Is expensive here…like really expensive. A small carton of blueberries from a grocery store was $10 USD. To cut down on spending, we barely ate out at restaurants and made most of our meals from items we would buy at grocery stores. Breakfast usually was eggs and Icelandic yogurt (Skyr is a very popular brand), lunch was sandwiches we made or food from gas stations (gas station food was actually pretty good and were like a mini supermarket and food hall together, offering traditional Icelandic meat soup, hot dogs, and more), and dinners were whatever we could whip up from ingredients found from the grocery store. My parents had also brought a ton of instant noodles in their suitcase that we incorporated into meals. Be warned that grocery stores close very early in Iceland compare to those in the US, as in before 6pm, sometimes even before 4pm, and open late, like after 9 or 10 am.
Gas Stations
Gas is also really expensive. There are several gas station companies (N1 and Orkan were the most common ones that I saw), and the thing with gas stations in Iceland is you’ll need to buy one of their cards to pump gas if you arrive after hours, after the main building closes and there are no workers to pump your gas for you. Each company has its own cards with preset amounts that you can’t use at other companies’ pumps. You also can’t refill the cards, so once you finish using one, you’ll have to buy another. For each day, you will see how much we drove below, but we BLEW through gas so quickly. There can sometimes be large distances between gas stations so I definitely recommend refueling frequently (we usually refilled once we reached half a tank). Most gas stations we encountered had free self-service car washes, which came in handy and were basically just pressurized hoses for you to wash off any mud or dirt.
Itinerary:
Day 0 - Seattle, WA to Iceland
I flew on a direct flight with Icelandair from Sea-Tac (SEA) in Seattle, WA to Keflavik Airport (KEF) in Iceland. The total flight time was about 7 hrs and 50 mins, and I left Seattle in mid-afternoon and arrived in Iceland in the early morning. The flight was booked in March, so 4 months prior to the trip.
Icelandair is known to be very strict on their baggage size for carry-ons. I had my rolling suitcase that I use normally as a carry on and a backpack (my personal item). The ticket I had did not include a free checked bag, and when I checked in at the airport I was definitely expecting to forced to check-in and pay for my rolling suitcase since my personal item was on the large side. They did ask me to check-in the suitcase, but they did it for free! :) The rest of my family flew from New York (JFK) to KEF with Delta, and they seemed to have an overall better in-flight experience.
Day 1 - Keflavík to Reykjavík
Total Drive Time: ~1 hour
When you first arrive at KEF and go to the luggage carousels, you have the option to also visit their duty-free store. I picked up some Icelandic beer and chocolates as well as a SIM card for my phone while I waited for the rest of my family to arrive. There are a couple networks you can purchase a SIM card from, but the two that I heard most about prior to the trip were Simmin and Nova. You can buy them based off of GB of data (ex. 1 GB, 10 GB) or by length of time (ex. 2 weeks, 30 days). To leave the airport, we only needed to present our vaccination cards.
We rented a car so we could drive around the country. The car was a Hyundai Tucson, AWD and it took diesel gasoline (diesel is cheaper than regular gas in Iceland). I believe almost all the rental cars you’ll encounter have AWD, unless you rent a camper van.
Our first stop was Blue Lagoon Iceland, a geothermal spa that is conveniently only 20 minutes away from the airport. There are two packages you can choose from, and we chose the Comfort package (cheaper one), which included entrance, a free silica mud mask, and a free drink of your choice. There are large locker rooms with showers (shampoo, conditioner, body wash provided) and changing areas and you are given a key on a bracelet that will open/close the lockers. They also provide you with towels, but flip flops are not provided with the Comfort package (you could walk around barefoot). It is recommended to cover your hair in conditioner and tie up your hair if it’s long prior to entering the water, as it can be very drying.
There are a number of geothermal spas around Iceland, and Blue Lagoon is known to be the largest but also most touristy. However, it wasn’t crowded at all when we were there, and at times we had large portions of the spa to ourselves. Disclaimer: This is most likely because of the lack of tourism due to Covid. The beautiful pale blue color is from the high silica content in the water, and the temperatures are a really comfortable 37C-39C (99F-102F). We enjoyed the different pool areas, as well as the steam room and sauna, and stayed at the spa for about 3-4 hours.
We then headed to Reykjavik, the capitol of Iceland, where our Airbnb was. Upon arrival, we ended up taking a long nap since half of us (me included) didn’t sleep at all on our flights so at that point we had been awake for more than 24 hours. After picking up some groceries and making dinner, we strolled around the city. Along the waterfront we saw the Sun Voyager sculpture and Harpa Concert Hall, then made our way inland towards Hallgrimskirkja, a striking modern cathedral.
Day 2 - The Golden Circle
Total Drive Time: 3 hr 40 min
After picking up breakfast from Braud & Co. we headed out on our journey to the Golden Circle, which is a route that passes through some of Iceland’s most popular tourist locations.
Stop 1 was Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park, a historically rich location known to be the birthplace of Iceland’s parliament (Þingvellir translates to “the fields of parliament”). It’s also the location where you can see both the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. As soon as you walk through the park, you’ll see steep cliffs, which are essentially the edge of North America.
The national park also has waterfalls, hiking paths, and you can even go snorkeling and diving in a ravine that is filled with crystal clear water from a glacier.
We then headed to Geysir, a hot spring geothermal area. The largest geyser there is the Strokkur Geyser, which goes off every 4-10 minutes. The area really reminded me of smaller Yellowstone National Park, as there were also bubbling pits and sulphuric rock beds. You can take a short hike up a hill to a viewpoint that overlooks the entire hot springs. Lupines were in full bloom along the hillside.
A short, 10 minute, drive later, we arrived at our first large waterfall of the trip, Gullfoss (translates to '“Golden Falls”). This was the most crowded spot we had been to so far, but people were still fairly spread out. There are a couple viewpoints you can walk to for different angles of the falls, but please respect the marked paths and any roped off areas. We got lucky with some sunny weather and were able to see a rainbow in the mist coming off the falls.
We then made our way back to Highway 1, stopping by Faxi waterfall and Kerið (Kerid) Crater. I wasn’t really expecting much from these two places, but I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful they were. Faxi is a waterfall you can probably skip if you’re on a time crunch (trust me, you’ll see PLENTY of waterfalls in Iceland). If you’ve got some time, though, go and enjoy this much less crowded waterfall along the Golden Circle. Kerid Crater has a beautiful blue lake surrounded by red volcanic rock. The crater is about 3000 years old, which is around half the age of most volcanic craters in Iceland. This is why the slopes are red, instead of volcanic black. You can take a walk around the top rim of the crater as well as descend into it and walk along the lake.
This concluded our tour of the major sites in the Golden Circle. We continued onwards on Highway 1 until the town of Hvolsvöllur, which was the location of our Airbnb for the night. Most people will stay in Selfoss, which is still considered to be within the Golden Circle, but accommodations tend to be more expensive there. We stayed in a farmhouse, and the hosts had acres of green fields with a bunch of livestock, horses, and the cutest farm dog.
Now for perhaps my favorite part of the entire trip. I convinced my family to go to Seljalandsfoss to watch the sunset at midnight at the waterfall, and I’m 100% sure they were glad they listened to me. Since Iceland is so far north, during summertime in the northern hemisphere, there is close to 24 hours of sunlight (and yes, that means in winter there’s almost 24 hours of darkness). While we were there, the sun was above the horizon for 21 hours of the day (sunset was right around midnight and sunrise was at 3am) and it barely got dark.
You can walk behind the waterfall too, but be prepared with a rain jacket/rain pants because you will get soaked, especially if there is wind that day. There’s nothing like getting sprayed with ice cold water from a 200 ft (60 m) waterfall, though! There’s another viewpoint that we missed that’s on the lefthand side of the falls (if you’re looking at it head-on). We watched the sun dip below the horizon and the sky explode with sunset colors. This was definitely one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed. On our drive back to our Airbnb, we passed by never-ending fields of lupine, and I hopped out of the car to snap some photos of them with the sunset.
If you’re here during the summer, I highly recommend going here in the late evening. Seljalandsfoss is one of the most popular waterfalls in Iceland and is very crowded during the day (mostly from tour groups), so you’ll also avoid crowds if you come at night time. We were one of maybe 5 groups there (total ~15 people), and most other people were photographers.
Photo taken around midnight
Day 3 - Ring Road: Southern Region
Total Drive Time: 2 hrs 19 mins
Gljúfrabúi
We continued our journey counterclockwise on Highway 1, also known as “The Ring Road,” and actually went back to where we were the previous night. There is another waterfall right next to Seljalandsfoss called Gljúfrabúi, aka “Canyon Dweller.” It’s quite literally a waterfall hidden inside of a canyon. Most people have to wade through water in order to walk into the canyon. We were lucky, and since there wasn’t much recent rainfall, the water flowing out of the canyon was pretty shallow. This is another one where you’re going to need a rain jacket and waterproof clothing, or at least a change of clothing for afterwards. Inside the canyon, you will see the waterfall and an opening to the sky with birds flying overhead.
Remember how I mentioned that Seljalandsfoss is super crowded during the day? On our way out of the area (around 9-10am) we passed by its parking lot and it was PACKED with tour buses and cars.
About a half hour away is one of the biggest and most well known waterfalls in Iceland, Skógafoss. You really feel the power of this waterfall when standing in front of it, and the mist and birds flying around it add to the whole experience. When we arrived, the sky was overcast, but on a sunny day, you can also be blessed with a giant rainbow (or possibly a double rainbow!) right in front of the falls. There are also set of stairs (it’s a bit of a workout) that you can walk up to take in the view from the top of the waterfall. If you continue along that path at the top, it leads you to another waterfall upstream. I had also seen a large patch of lupine downstream and knew I had to get a photo of the waterfall nestled in the purple flowers.
The weather wasn’t really in our favor as we reached our next locations. On a clear day, at Dyrhólaey, you can see a massive rock archway and the coastline of a gorgeous black sand beach. As we were driving up a rocky, slightly steep, road to the viewpoint (AWD definitely recommended here), we were greeted by thick fog at higher elevation, and nothing was visible. Unfortunately no photos were taken here, but hey, you can’t win them all!
We then made our way to nearby Reynisfjara Beach, famous for its columnar basalt formations right on a black sand beach. Get a photo posing on the rock and you’ll look like you belong in Game of Thrones. The columns serve as a temporary home for many migrating seabirds that are flying over Iceland from mainland Europe to North America. There are signs at the entrance warning visitors that the beach is known to have dangerous waves that can appear when least expected, even on still days. So be careful not to turn you back on the water!
One of the towns I wish we spent more time in was Vík. There is a really charming red and white church there that’s surrounded by lupine. This is a popular town to stay in, but is also on the pricier side. We could see the heavy fog over the cliffs and seaside area that we had just come from, and some of the locals had told us that it was unusual for this time of year.
Our Airbnb for the evening was a remote cottage (“remote” because it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere…we drove for 30-40 minutes down a gravel road into the countryside) in Kirkjubæjarklaustur. But it was relatively close to Fjaðrárgljúfur (Fjadrargljufur), a canyon in the area that ended up being one of my favorite spots of the trip. The bedrock in the canyon is about two million years old, and the canyon itself is said to have formed during the end of the last Ice Age around 9000 years ago. You can go on a light hike along the edge of the canyon and reach a waterfall. Once again, if you visit, please respect the marked paths and no trespassing signs. A lot of the area is under restoration after people have trampled over the delicate vegetation (if you want to see an example of what not to do, see Justin Bieber’s music video for his song “I’ll Show You”, which was filmed here and at other notable spots around Iceland).
Day 4 - Ring Road: Southeast Region
Total Drive Time: 5 hrs 24 mins (2 hrs 22 mins without Heiðarvegur - see below)
View of Vatnajokull Glacier from the road
Day 4 was our most driving-heavy day and happened to be the day with some of the worst weather. But that didn’t stop us from enjoying all the places we visited. :) We spent the majority of the morning at Vatnajökull National Park (used the Skaftafell entrance). The national park is centered around the Vatnajokull Glacier, which happens to be the second largest glacier in Europe. Every now and then, we caught glimpses of the bottom of the glacier through the clouds. There are also options to do glacier walk tours.
From the Skaftafell entrance, we took a short 2.3 mile, 500 ft elevation gain hike to see Svartifoss. It’s not a particularly tall or powerful waterfall, but it’s really beautiful as it is framed by columnar basalt walls. There’s options to take a longer hike throughout the park, but we opted not to since we were on a time crunch.
The rain and cold wind came in as we arrived at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. This was probably the coldest weather I experienced on the trip too-I had to wear all my layers here. The water color was gorgeous, and there were icebergs scattered throughout the lagoon. One of the coolest moments (that I was unfortunately too slow to capture) was when one moving iceberg crashed into a stationary one and caused it to break and be swept away by the current.
The lagoon empties downstream into the ocean, and that’s where you will find Diamond Beach. It is known for its blocks of clear ice that have broken off from the icebergs, or "diamonds", that are scattered along the shore. I loved how pretty they looked against the black sand and blue water.
We made a brief stop in the town of Höfn, a quaint fishing town that’s also known for its lobster. We tried some lobster pizza that was recommended, but to be honest, it was just ok. Nearby is the Stokksnes peninsula, known for its grand view of Vestrahorn Mountain. This was one of the top places on my list to see in Iceland, but unfortunately, because of the weather, the tops of the mountain were covered in clouds.
I would’ve ideally liked to stay longer to see if we could get lucky with the clouds passing, but we were under a time crunch. In the total drive time under the Day 4 map, you can see we ended up having to drive much further to a town called Heiðarvegur (Heidarvegur). There weren’t many places to stay at in the stretch between Höfn and Heiðarvegur that weren’t super expensive, so we ended up taking an extra 3 hour drive.
We drove through some pretty rough conditions, strong winds and pouring rain that was coming down sideways. This section of the Ring Road traces the coastline of Iceland, and in a lot of cases, there weren’t guardrails lining the highway that was directly adjacent to the water. This was also probably one of the most undeveloped regions we drove through. There were very few towns and it was mostly farmland and a lot of sheep and horses.
Day 5 - Ring Road: Northeast Region and Diamond Circle Pt 1
Total Drive Time: 4 hours
We started the day by continuing north on Highway 1, then heading out east towards the water to Seyðisfjörður (Seydisfjordur), a little coastal town situated in a valley. On the way there we stopped at Gufufoss and at some pullouts to see alpine lakes surrounded by snowy mountains. The town was super cute and had this rainbow pavement leading up to a light blue church. From the town, you could see a multiple waterfalls on the mountains emptying into the harbor. During this day, we passed probably hundreds of waterfalls of all different sizes.
We then left highway 1 to go north towards the coastline. This begins the part of Iceland known as the Diamond Circle. Our first stop was Dettifoss, an extremely powerful waterfall, that you’ll find after traveling for a bit down a rocky, unpaved road. On average, 23,000 tons of water gets dumped by this waterfall each day. There's two sides of the waterfall to park on, which require you starting from two different roads. I definitely recommend the East side, as you can see the entirety of the falls, and the view from the West side appeared to be shrouded by the mist coming off the waterfall. You also have the option to hike downstream to Selfoss.
We then made a quick stop at Asbyrgi, a horseshoe-shaped canyon that was said to be formed as the result of a catastrophic flood from the nearby Jokulsa glacial river. Legends say that it was formed by Odin's horse, Sleipnir, when one of its feet touched the ground. There was a super peaceful pond area with emerald green water where the only thing you could hear were the birds singing.
Our last stop for the day and where we ended up staying the night was Húsavík, a coastal town with a snowy mountain backdrop. On the way to town, we passed by hills covered in lupine that rolled down to the ocean. The clouds were sitting really low that evening, and it looked like the mountains were floating.
Asbyrgi
Day 6 - Ring Road: Northern Region and Diamond Circle Pt 2
Total Drive Time: 3 hrs 7 mins
We started the day by heading back down south to Highway 1 and to Goðafoss (Godafoss), which translates to “the waterfall of the gods.” There is also an east and west side parking lot like Dettifoss (mentioned in the previous day), but you can easily go between each side here. Although this waterfall isn’t especially tall, it’s pretty incredible how wide it is.
We spent most of the day in the Lake Mývatn area. The lake itself is situated in an area of active volcanism and was created by an eruption about 2300 years ago. The number of different terrain and sightseeing spots here was impressive. Among the most notable were Námaskarð (Namaskard), a geothermal area and the Viti Crater in Krafla Volcano, a volcanic crater lake. As soon as I got out of the car at Namaskard, I was hit with a strong stench of rotten eggs, a result of the sulfur throughout the area. The whole site is other-worldly, with colorful streaks of red and orange around the springs.
The azure color of the lake in Viti Crater really took my breath away, I could probably stare at it all day long. The lake was formed after a massive eruption in the Krafla volcanic region in 1724 and lasted for around 5 years. The area is still considered active, as there have been at least 20 other eruptions since settlement. The last one ended in 1984, after lasting 9 years.
Viti Crater
We then visited Lake Mývatn Nature Baths, a naturally heated geothermal lagoon. It’s smaller than the more popular Blue Lagoon, but the water felt just as nice. I noticed more locals at this lagoon, so it’s definitely less touristy. During normal times, the nature baths are also less crowded than the Blue Lagoon, but since Iceland wasn’t getting its normal summer traffic, I didn’t really notice the difference in crowds.
Our final stop for the day was the town of Akureyri, nicknamed the “capital of northern Iceland”, and we stayed just outside the city center. The whole town is easily walkable, as most are in Iceland. This concludes the last stop in the Diamond Circle route.
Day 7 - Coastal Highways/Northern Region Pt 2
Total Drive Time: 5 hrs 6 mins
Most of this day was devoted to driving. Instead of heading back onto Highway 1, we decided to stick to the coastal roads (route 82 and 76). I highly recommend doing this if you have the time, as the views were stunning, but you can also just continue on Highway 1 if you’re pressed for time. We stopped every so often at a pull out to take photos. Snowy mountains were in the backdrop of every view along this route, and there were wildflowers growing along the mountainsides.
One of the towns we stopped at, Siglufjörður, had the best fish and chips I've had on this trip (probably the best I've ever had, period). No pics/videos were taken because we devoured them too quickly. If you end up in the area, head to Fiskbúð Fjallabyggðar for some quality fish.
Heading back onto Highway 1, we made a quick stop at Kolugljúfur Canyon. It features a waterfall (Kolufossar) with super blue waters that you can hike around. We also saw a couple brave souls down in the canyon wading in one of the pools off to the side of river.
We ended our day by trying our luck at some seal watching at Illugastadir. While walking through the trails to the beaches, we ended up almost getting attacked by some seabirds. Turns out, there were some baby birds in the grass near where we were walking, and their mothers were being very protective (there were no signs of warnings that there were birds in the grass, we didn't realize we were in their territory since it was a paved trail open for use). Eventually, we did spot around 10-15 seals sun bathing on some rocks, although it was a little difficult to see with the naked eye. The best time to see seals around the Illugastadir area is within two hours before and two hours after low tide. Check online for tide times so you have a better chance at seeing them, and seeing them closer up!
We stayed in nearby Hvammstangi, and this was one of the only nights we ate at a restaurant for dinner. If it’s within your budget check out Sjávarborg Restaurant, which is right next to the water and offers some beautiful views.
Day 8 - Ring Road: Snæfellsnes Peninsula
Total Drive Time: 5 hours
At this point of the trip, we were all pretty exhausted from the early morning wakeup calls and miles of driving. The last few days of our trip were definitely less packed than the first half of the trip. The weather forecast for the morning of day 8 showed thunderstorms and cloudy skies, which were very un-welcomed as we were visiting the most iconic sites in Iceland, Kirkjufell. It also happened to be one of the places I was most excited to photograph prior to coming to Iceland, so I was crossing all my fingers and toes that we’d be able to see the famous pointed mountain.
I guess all that worked, since we were given a short window of time where the rain died down and the skies were clear enough to see the mountain entirely. I quickly got to work, setting up my tripod and facing the strong winds that were almost blowing me away.
As we headed into the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, the rain started to come down and didn’t stop for the rest of the day. This also resulted in me not taking out my camera, and I shot minimal photos and videos my phone. On a clear day, you can see the Snæfellsjökull glacier in the distance. The peninsula is known to be like a “mini Iceland”, having everything you can see elsewhere on the island (glaciers, black sand beaches, etc.). There are a bunch of attractions to stop at on the peninsula and near the village of Arnarstapi:
Skarðsvík Beach: A golden sandy beach with turquoise waters (be cautious of the strong waves here)
Djupalonssandur: A black sand beach with remains from a shipwreck of a British trawler, The Epine GY7
Bárður Snæfellsás: A statue of the mythical protector of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula
Gatklettur: A rock arch that resembles two birds kissing
Gatklettur
Basalt cliffs near Arnarstapi
Bárður Snæfellsás
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, but this was mainly influenced by the bad weather. I can imagine how beautiful the area must be on a clear day, but it just didn’t compare to the other places we had already been to. We drove on to the town of Borgarnes, which placed us in a good position for the early drive to Reykjavik the next morning to take our Covid tests (details in the next day).
Day 9 - Completion of the Ring Road
Total Drive Time: 4 hours
In order to be able to re-enter the US, we had to take PCR Covid tests within 72 hours of departure from Iceland (for current requirements, and to register for tests, please visit https://visit.covid.is/). There are only two testing sites in the whole country, one in Reykjavik and the other in Akureyri, so the last few days were of this trip were planned around needing to be in the Reykjavik area for this test. We had pre-registered and paid for our tests online a few days prior, and scheduled it for as early as possible so we’d have the rest of the day to backtrack back up north and continue exploring.
Barnafossar
After taking our Covid tests, we drove back up north towards Barnafossar, meaning “Children’s Falls.” The name came from a tragic folk tale, where two children had fallen in and drowned after trying crossing the falls via a natural stone bridge. Their mother cursed the bridge, which caused it to collapse during an earthquake.
We had plans to visit Krauma Thermal Baths, but decided against it since it was pretty pricey and the baths didn’t seem like they offered much. Staldrið Food Truck is right next to the baths, which had some really great tomato soup and hot dogs. The owners grow products in a lovely greenhouse right next to the food truck, which had tables that we sat and ate at.
Before heading to the town of Akranes, we stopped at Akrafjall to do some hiking. There is a route that can take you to the top of the mountain, but it seemed like it was for more experienced hikers. The beginning section of our hike was relatively steep, and we also faced some very strong winds. Even though we didn’t reach the peak, we could still see sweeping views of Akranes and Reykjavik in the distance.
View of Akranes in the distance
Mt. Akrafjall
Akranes is a small port town with two lighthouses, one named the Old Akranes Lighthouse and the other named Akranesviti (the new one). Akranesviti is said to have attracted musicians because of its interesting acoustics (it was closed when we were there, so we couldn’t go in and test it out). We stayed at a really lovely farm house for the night, just outside of the town. The host had a dozen or so horses and a farm dog that we saw herding the horses.
Day 10 - Final Day
Total Drive Time: 1 hr 45 mins
Day 10 was our last full day in Iceland. By this point, we had completed pretty much the entirety of the Ring Road, seen more waterfalls that we could count, and had way too many bowls of Icelandic meat soup from the gas stations.
On our way back to Reykjavik, we stopped at this hiking center called Esjurætur. It seemed like a place that only locals knew about, which made it even more inviting. The area had multiple hiking trails at varying lengths, and we chose a shorter one that took us about and hour and a half to complete since we were on a tight schedule. All different kinds of wildflowers covered the rolling green hills, and it looked like some of the longer trails took you up to higher viewpoints and waterfalls.
The main goal for the day was to see the erupting volcano, Fagradasfjall, which first became active on March 19, 2021. We had heard that the volcano had been silent for the last couple days after erupting for weeks straight and were expected to be disappointed in the lack of activity. Turns out, the volcano had just started becoming active again the morning of the day we went! Not as dramatic as previous weeks, but I was still psyched to see my first active volcano.
At the time we went, there were two different routes to see the volcano at different angles (open routes depended on recent lava flow). We ended up taking a route (<1 hr one way) that took us to see the backside of the crater. We weren’t able to see any lava flow from here, but we were pretty close to the eruption and could see lava spewing out of the crater. There were a number of private helicopter tours that landed much closer to the eruption than we were.
Previous lava flow
If we had more time, I would’ve also wanted to see the volcano from the other path that supposedly took 2+ hours one way. Although you are viewing it from further away, it seemed that you would get a better view into the crater from the other path.
As of the time of this post (November 2021), it seems that it has been at least a month since the last lava flow was detected and the volcano is once again inactive. The general rule is that a volcanic eruption will be declared over when it has been inactive for at least 3 months.
Closing Comments
Iceland exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect to experience a country with such beautiful and diverse terrain. There were so many moments where I couldn’t believe what was in front of my eyes. I knew of certain spots that I had to visit, but there were also so many that I didn’t expect to become my favorites. Poor weather definitely made an impact on how I perceived certain sites, but unpredictable weather is just a reality of traveling.
10 days straight of travel was pretty exhausting. We knew we wanted to see as much as possible, but this also limited how long we could stay at certain sites, and it sometimes felt like we were in a rush. In my opinion, a decent amount of the country can be covered in 7 days, and you could leave out the northeast and eastern regions of the country.
I’d love to return to Iceland, for both winter, to see the northern lights and the country covered in snow, and summer again. I definitely want to try out traveling around in a camper van, which would be cheaper than staying in Airbnbs, and traveling on a reverse schedule during summer. This means I would be active and traveling around during “night” and sleep during the day, in order to take advantage of the long daylight hours and extended periods of golden hour during sunset and sunrise.
I’m hoping this journal entry encourages you to visit this amazing country and helps you plan out your own itinerary. Iceland is definitely one of my favorite countries I’ve been to, and I’m incredibly thankful to have experienced it with my family.
