Iceland reviews March 2026

I am following. If all goes well, I will be going to Reykjavik September 2027 to take a cruise.

You did get some great prices for air and hotel. Benefit of traveling out of season.

What was the weather like?

I might be needing to stick with street food and supermarket food. And I will not be taking a taxi from the airport.

mikliz, thanks! And I am so excited to be able to eat so much lamb when I'm there! I generally don't eat a lot of red meat, but I make an exception for lamb. I need to add these to Wanderlog!

bostonphil--The prices were significantly less than usual off season. I just happened to score on special deals. We have never paid so little for flights and hotel, and this was our 5th winter visit. If you watch the airfares like a hawk and sign up for the hotel emails, that is he best way to get the best deals. I did do a trip report, so read that to get all the details. Weather was not great all, but it did not stop us except for the one tour that was cancelled.

mardee--I am the same way. I never eat like that here at home, but in Iceland, it is lamb all the way for me!

Gullfoss Restaurant--Ever since our first trip back in 2015, my husband has loved the lamb soup at the Gullfoss cafe. This time, we both agreed that it has changed and is not as good. It isn't bad, but just not as good. We each had a bowl of the soup and it comes with a very hard roll, and then he had an N/A beer and we shared a skyr cake. The total bill was $64.

Gaeta--A gelato place right next door to our hotel. We went there a few evenings and each time we would get two small cups with just one scoop in each. The total bill was $14.

Valdis--An ice cream place that is just down one block from Braud (the original location). This place is much better that Gaeta, IMO. The employees obviously love their jobs and offer tastes if you are unsure. They have an outdoor seating area as well, and even though it was snowing, that did not stop anyone from sitting out there. We had two small cups yet again and the cost was $15.

Braud--They have several locations, their original one just down from Hallgrimskirkja, but also one along Laugarvegan. I much prefer the original location as I think they do a better job of cooking the cinnamon rolls there. We stopped at both locations again, and it was the same experience as last summer. Anyway, they have a handful of flavors including vanilla, pecan/maple (not very sweet like you would think), blueberry/licorice (they did not have this time though), and regular. We bought regular ones that we would share, and then before our flight out that morning, we bought 3 to take home. They travel ok, but you need to obviously try not to squish them, but they survive that a bit;) One cinnamon rolls plus a small cup of coffee was $11.

Hraunfossar restaurant--This is the little restaurant at the waterfalls of Hraunfossar/Barnafoss. They have a lunch special of soup and bread. We had two and the total bill was $40. Very expensive for the quality, but there is nothing else nearby. They do also have a small buffet, but I don't remember how much that was. I know when we looked we were glad we stuck with the soup. BTW, the toilets here are cash only. There is a small metal box on the building where the toilets are and they ask for 100KR or $1 US.

Hvammsvik Hot Springs Bistro--After our soak here, we shared a sandwich. The bistro area is small, but if it is a nice day you can sit outside as well. The sandwiches are open face and very good, and plenty to share. I had a lemonade to go with it can I can't remember what my husband had but the total bill was $40. The sandwich was $29 of that.

The hot dog stand inside KEF--This is just before Passport Control. There used to be one down in the D gates but that is gone, so if you want one, this is your last chance. We had two hot dogs, one soda and one bottle of water and the bill was $21.

Random things:

This time of year, the stores are gearing up for Easter which is a very big deal there. They have many different chocolate Easter eggs of varying flavors and sizes. They are often hollow and filled with other Icelandic candies; Bonus was chuck full of them. There are also Cadbury Mini Eggs, but note that they taste very different than what we get in the US.

Salts. I adore the Icelandic salts and always stock up on those. I use them for cooking almost daily. They have the plain, but also many different flavored ones. I actually do not prefer the Saltverk ones, but those are what you will find at Bonus. I like the ones in little jars or plastic sleeves. Then at home I put then into grinders and label them.

Wool items. The Handknitting Association Store just down the road from Hallgrimskirkja is very good! I bought our daughter a sweater as a thank you for watching our dogs. That was $438, so they have gone up in price. I also bought a wool blanket that I hd been wanting and am having a wool sort of vest made for me. Those two came to $573 which included shipping.

Harpa Gift Shop--This place is really nice and I always find a little something I need here. One of my favorite coffee mugs from a prior trip was from here. This time I was on the search for a new wool hat as the one I brought was too thin. I found a great one, priced at $103. I really wanted the matching sweater, but made myself leave:) The hat was ideal and blocked a lot of the wind we had.

Hvammsvik--We booked a day excursion through their website, which uses Reykjavik Excursions. This was on the windiest day when our snowmobiling tour was cancelled. When we booked it, I erred and did not book the water shoes and towel, so upon arrival we paid an extra $53 for two sets of those. The bus ticket and admission were $241.

Sky Lagoon-- Two of us with the regular changing room (not private) was $225. You can pay more and have private changing areas, but honestly nobody cares and nobody looks. The changing rooms are of course separated by mens/womens so are not coed.

This is all I can think of right now:)

Great info.!! Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

My sister picked up a bunch of the flavored salts. Spices from different countries is a great souvenir.