I will be going to Iceland for about 3 days (late July).
I am thinking of having 1 relaxing day at the Blue Lagoon or other pool and walking around the capital.
Probably half day doing the Golden Circle Tour.
What do you suggest for the other day and 1/2?
I am in very good shape and I love history, hiking and sports if it helps. Would like to visit something that only Iceland can offer if possible.
Thank you!
I want to go to Iceland too, and when I do, this is what I have planned. Riding an Icelandic Horse, doing the Tolt. Can't think of anything that would be so unique and so much fun to do.
It does have that unique characteristic I am looking for. Cannot wait to go in July. Thank you, thank you!
I don’t think anyplace but Iceland offers you a chance to straddle the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. This site isn’t very far from Reykjavik…maybe 30-45 minutes (sorry, a local friend was driving, so I didn’t need to pay much attention). The scenery there is not unlike what you would expect our moon or Mars to look like. Pretty incredible (but so is all of Iceland). If you are a spa person, you’ll enjoy the Blue Lagoon. It’s expensive, though. When I was there, you could actually access the patio/walkway areas and hang out for a while for free…not sure if that’s still the case. FYI…it’s not a natural lagoon but the byproduct of a geothermal power plant. Totally safe, but it is man-made. You can do whale watching in lots of places, including Iceland, but what about puffin watching? You can’t do that everywhere, and the same tour companies offer whale and puffin tours. The puffin tour is on my list. Happy travels!
Visiting Skellig Michael, off the west coast of Ireland it was a virtual puffin-o-rama. In addition to gannets and puffins circling in the sky around both Skellig Islands, once we got off the boat and started hiking, there were puffins everywhere, waddling on the ground and ducking in and out of their nesting holes built into the slope, making a kind-of purring sound.
Ponies and puffins . . . has a nice ring to it.
I'm sure it was great, and puffins are neat, but Val is aking about Iceland, not Ireland! :)
The place where you can straddle two plates is Thingvallir, a stop on the Golden Circle tour you plan to take.
Another worthwhile place in Reykjavik is the National Museum, a little south of downtown and well worth a visit.
My puffin remarks were intended to be more about puffins than their location, but having not been to Iceland (going next April, though) I added the context of where I'd seen them. For what it's worth, 3 of the puffins in Ireland were actually from Iceland, and were visiting like me, so I felt it was pertinent :-)
Also, I'd heard of Icelandic "ponies" before, but further research indiacates that, although the animals are pony-sized, in Iceland they are referred to as horses.
Hope everyone's trip there is good.
You cracked me up Michael. It is only one letter different afterall, eh? :) Thanks Michael and Cyn!
Yes, puffins is a good idea! I have been whale watching before...but have not seen any puffins!
Dick, will keep this in mind...could be perfect in case of rain!
I have been researching all of your suggestions and will try to squeeze as much as possible (that is how I like it!).
Crossing fingers for good weather in July! Leaving the 21st. Will try to report on how it went!
In addition to what you have planned we spent a day visiting Snaefellsness National Park and driving around the peninsula stopping at various sights along the way. Our favorites were the walk along the sea cliffs from Hellnar to Arnastapi, the cove near Trollakirkja with the black lava pearl beach, Saxholl crater and Skardsvik white sand beach (reminded me of Hawaii until you step in the water). There wasn't much time for hiking since we wanted to see several sights. FYI - drive time to Hellnar was 2.5 hours from Reykjavik and total time for this trip was over 12 hours when taking Hwy 56 south from the north side of the peninsula.
Hi Val, my daughter and I just returned from a week in Iceland…I have a couple of suggestions for easy activities that you can book as a day trip from Reykjavik. We did the Inside the Volcano tour which was expensive but very cool! Hotel pickup is provided, it's about a 30-40 minute drive, then a 45-60 minute hike to base camp. From base camp, you are taken down into the magma chamber of a long dormant volcano - I believe it's the only hollow magma chamber in the world. They lower you down on a window washer's platform and you get to walk around inside for about 45 minutes. Very cool experience and the hike takes you over the fissure between the tectonic plates as well.
http://www.extremeiceland.is/en/activity-tours-iceland/caving-iceland/inside-the-volcano
Another idea would be to go hiking or snowmobiling on a glacier. This would be about a two hour drive from Reykjavik. We did it from the town of Vik, on the southern coast, but many of our group came on a minibus from the capital. The snowmobiling was one of my daughter's favorite activities. The hiking was also cool - I loved that the water from the melting glacier was s pure that we could fill our water bottle up from the stream on the glacier! http://www.extremeiceland.is/en/activity-tours-iceland/snowmobile-iceland/adventure-snowmobile
This trip includes the hiking plus a bit of sightseeing - Reynisfjara (the black sand beach and basalt columns) was one of my favorite places of the entire week! And the waterfalls along that stretch of the coast are beautiful. http://www.adventures.is/Iceland/GlacierHiking/GlacierTripsFromReykjavik/GlaciersVolcanoesWaterfallsGlacierTrip/
We also went horseback riding, but did this on our own on the Northern Coast, so can't talk about the tour aspect of it. We did thoroughly enjoy our ride, however!
There are so many wonderful choices - whichever you decide, you can't go wrong! Just one word of caution - even though it's July when you are going, definitely pack a thermal base layer, waterproof hiking boots, and waterproof rain gear (both pants and jacket). The hike to the volcano was cold and rainy - they told us it was a "drop zone" for moisture:) And of course, snowmobiling on the glacier is cold - they gave us insulated coveralls, but I was still cold even with those and my base layer and waterproof clothing! It rained every day that we were there - we went at the end of May, I hope you get better weather! Have a great trip!
For new films about Iceland horses and horse culture, see http://www.herdiniceland.com/ and http://hrosss.is/.
Thank you for those great links to the Icelandic horses. They are truly something special and I can't wait to go there and ride them. The fall round-up looks like fun too.
I am back from Iceland and it was all I hoped for and more.
I really hope to have the chance to go back and go around the whole country. Thanks again for all the advice!
Glad you had a good time, Val. Maybe you could tell us more about it in the "Trip Reports" section of this forum.
