I would recommend that everyone travel to Iceland if they get the opportunity. This trip was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. In this blog post, I will cover the important tips that I learned from the 7-day trip I took to Iceland with my family. Because I rarely traveled with my parents as a kid, this particular vacation/adventure was special for me.  I am so grateful that I was able to spend this time with them. Although, I must admit 10 hours a day in a car with your parents has several moments of discomfort.

When I originally started planning this vacation one of my fears was 7 days would be too long in Iceland (with my parents) and that I was wasting days where I could potentially add one more country to my itinerary.  The second-largest fear we had was that it would be difficult to navigate the road through harsh weather conditions.  Both fears were proven to be useless after day 3 of traveling the island.

Weather

The weather was mild; there were a few days where it rained but overall the sky was clear and the (only) main ring road, that travels around the country in a circle, was easy to navigate.  The temperature was much cooler than it ever gets in sunny Los Angeles so I quickly regretted not packing a heavy overcoat.  I ended up borrowing one from my best friend since buying a decent one there would have run at least three hundred American dollars.  

Lodging and Transportation

We stayed at an Airbnb in Reykjavik and used that as our home base where we traveled back to each evening with our rental car.  If I could change something about this trip, I would have rented a camper van and camped along our path starting from Reykjavik moving counter-clockwise around the Island.  

I’ve read on several blogs that you don’t need to rent an SUV when traveling to Iceland, but after experiencing driving in the rain and attempting to drive past cars on the one-lane road I would suggest something in the middle size vehicle region with decent power.  It‘s not necessary to rent a 4 wheel drive but it helps if you’re planning on doing some heavy off-roading.  In the 7 days we were there, we explored mostly the southern and eastern regions of Iceland.  Next time I come back I will be spending more time in the Northern and Eastern regions.  Also, please note that we traveled to the southern region 3 times during our trip.  It would be very taxing and tiring if we were to have visited all the southern/southeastern sites in one day.  

Southern Region (Listed below From East to West) 

Seljalandsfoss – A relatively small waterfall compared to its neighbor (Skogafross) but worth pulling off the road to see.

Skogaforss – A beautiful waterfall that we were lucky enough to see a rainbow that day there.  You can hike to the top of the waterfall and look down. Dyrhólaey – 120-meter high peninsula where you have a view of the inland to the North and to the East you have a view of a black lava arch coming out of the ocean.

Reynisfjara beach – Another black sand beach near Vik where you can see Reynisdranger the large stacked basalt columns. 

Northern Lights – This is one of the most well-known tourist attractions for people who travel to Iceland. The later it gets into the winter season the stronger the Northern lights will appear. You can see the northern lights better anywhere away from the city where there isn’t too much light pollution.  The most prominent sighting was on our third night driving back from southeast Iceland.  I would not suggest hiring a tour group to take you out to the middle of nowhere because the total trip takes around 6 hours and chances are if you are there for an entire week you will catch it at some point when you are driving in the late evening.

Golden Circle

Thingvellir National Park – The location of the boundary of 2 tectonic plates. The landscape here is a beautiful mixture of water, land, and greenery but also a really busy tourist location. 

Geysir – The site of one active and one inactive geyser.  There’s a restaurant there that serves classic Iceland food.  We tried the lamb stew and the sample platter of meats. In my opinion, it’s pretty pricey and can be a tourist trap.

 Gullfoss –  The largest waterfall we visited.  Golfross means golden waterfall in Icelandic, it was given that name for the golden color of the waterfall on sunny days. Faxi Waterfall – Smaller bonus waterfall we visited with our tour group. Kerið Crater – Crater hole that has filled up with water to create a small lake.  The most noticeable thing for me was the color contrast between the turquoise water and the red earthy material at this site. 

Blue Lagoon – This is a definite must if you travel to Iceland. Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa that has natural silica salt in the water.  We didn’t get to spend that much time here since we traveled with a tour group for this site and it was the last stop for the day.  I would recommend taking a few hours on the way to the airport or after a long day traveling to visit this place.  Your admission ticket buys you a whole day here,  so allow plenty of time to pamper yourself by soaking in the water and using their complimentary silica face masks.

Western Region  

Brimketill Laval Rock Pool  (The Trolls’ Pool) – A pool shaped lava rock formation carved by the ocean waves that was said to be a giantess’ bathing pool.  Drive carefully,  there aren’t very many signs or cars in this area and the trail up to the parking area is a little rough.

Photo: Overlooking Brimketill 

Reykjanes Light House – A lighthouse by the ocean. Gunnuhver Geysir (nearby Reykjanes Light House) – We weren’t able to walk up to this particular geyser since we weren’t wearing the appropriate clothing.  If you want to get a better look at this geyser it is wise to wear waterproof/water resistant clothing with/or a poncho. 

The Perlan Observatory and Cafe –  Get a 360 Degree view of Reykjavik from the observatory deck and stop by to have a sip of coffee in their cafe.