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Dinner reservations in late June

Posted by (New England) on

Hello! We have an 8-day self-drive vacation planned at the end of June for 4 adults, and I'm curious if/when i should book dinner reservations. I'm at the point in my planning that I have booked all the hotels, all the major tours we want, figured out the timing constraints (with a whole lot of buffer time!), and know (in a general sense) where we'll be for meals. Breakfasts are either included in our accommodation or we'll use our grocery stash. Lunches, we'll aim for cafes or gas stations, or use our grocery stash. I have 3 dinners planned at this point, and 2 nights we'll have the option to cook our own meal (if we want), but of course then we would also have to budget in some extra time for grocery shopping for dinner foods AND that would need to be done before stores are closed for the day.

That leaves 5 dinners open. I am a bit burnt out by trying to time absolutely every aspect of these days. It's almost as bad as juggling a Disney vacation. What I would LOVE is to NOT BOOK any further meals, show up when we're hungry, and hope to be seated within 30 minutes. But absolutely everything I see online indicates you have to book so many things in advance. What I haven't seen is any discussion of booking dinner reservations in advance. Are dinner reservations needed in any areas outside of Reykjavik (south and west coasts) at the end of June?

Itinerary (boldface are the 5 days I don't have a specific dinner plan):

  1. Reykjavik touring, dinner is the Food Walk, sleep in Hvalfjordur* (north of city 1 hour)
  2. Snaefellsness peninsula, planning to drive counter-clockwise, expect a super long day, sleep in Hvalfjordur again
  3. Golden Circle, dinner @ Lauaras Lagoon, sleep in Hella
  4. Landmannalaugar 8-hour tour, could opt to cook at our Air B&B, sleep in Hella again
  5. Westman Islands, dinner could be in Vik, sleep in Hrifunes (east of Vik)
  6. Skaftafell Glacier hike & general hiking, dinner @ hotel, sleep in Jokulsarlon
  7. Jokulsarlon zodiak tour, general hiking, dinner in Vik or cook at our apartment, sleep in Vik
  8. Southern waterfalls & Hellisheidi geothermal plant, sleep in Hveragerði

*Note that 2 of our group are arriving the day before from the UK. They will not be jet-lagged, and one of them will do the driving up to Hvalfjordur. Safety first!

Posted by
3862 posts

Yes, you absolutely want dinner reservations everywhere, especially outside of Reykjavik where your options are much more limited.

The food tour in Reykjavik will be more than enough to cover you for both lunch and dinner, so you will not need anything that night.

On Sanefellsness, Narfeyrarstofa is excellent!!! It is in Stykkisholmur. They do require a credit card to guarantee it, but it is so worth it! That is one of my top 3 restaurants in the entire country, and it is not crazy expensive.

We did not eat at Laugaras, but the lagoon is heavenly! If you need another option, look at Restaurant Mika. We have been a few times and really enjoy it.

You are smart to cook on the Landmannalaugar tour day. Bonus has pre marinaded lamb that is really good, so you don't need any other spices etc. You can also get arctic char or cod there. We have done all 3 of these for dinners on our trips.

For Westmann, our favorite place there just recently closed, but a close second there is Gott. If you decide on eating in Vik, then the Black Crust Pizza is a must. It definitely lives up to the hype. You can call it in ahead of time and pick it up to go. The line gets very long, so I would do that.

Cooking for days 6 ad 7 makes sense.

For your last night, absolutely go to Ingolfssakli Viking Restaurant! The food is excellent and the atmosphere is just as good! You can do axe throwing as well:)

Posted by
34 posts

mikliz97, you're such a wealth of information! Thank you for being so direct.

For Snaefellsness, then, would you recommend we drive clockwise and start the day with Ytri Tunga? This would put Stykkisholmur at the tail end of the day. Honestly, we hadn't planned to take this offshoot from Route 54, but I also recently saw a glowing review of some other stops on this peninsula. And "top 3 restaurants in the entire country" does sound like a must-do!

I have noted all your recommendations and plotted them on our map. I'll be sure to make some reservations!

Posted by
3862 posts

Celtia--Definitely veer off of 54. For whatever reason, we have always gone clockwise on Snaefellsness. Take 54 to 574 and loop around until it meets back up with 54 and continue going east. Go to Srykkisholmur, and do not miss Helgafell on the way there or back. Then to get back down, head back west on 54 and take 56 south to catch back up with 54. Honestly, I would plan to stay the night in Stykkisholmur or Borgarnes and then the next day head south. The drive from Stykkisholmur to Hella is about 4-4.5 hours drive time, but you would be stopping and doing things so it would be broken up and not be a bad drive. If you stay in Borgarnes, that makes the drive shorter , but still easily doable after a nice dinner in Stykkisholmur. As you have already noticed, the very hard thing about Iceland is there is just so much to see and never enough time. Even as many times as we have been to Snaefellsness, we still have not seen everything. As for the restaurant there, I am not a foodie by any means, but this restaurant was recommended by people I trusted and after we went, then I saw just how highly regarded it was. My friend and I shared a salad (it could easily be an entree it was so big), thad the bread and butter, hen had their specialty of cod with potatoes, and we each had an N/A drink. Our bill was $132. If you decide to stay in Stykkisholmur, the Hotel Egilsen is right across the street from the restaurant and we had a great stay there. Just next door to that is Akkeri Guesthouse which we have also stayed at and really liked. The town is very compact so you can park at your lodging and walk, very short distances.

Posted by
355 posts

East of Vik, we ate lunch at a delightful restaurant over looking a waterfall. Kjarr restaurant. Pub, museum and restaurant all in one site, just a bit up a slight hill overlooking a waterfall. Plenty of parking, but we were charging our car and choose to walk.
They also serve dinner.

Posted by
94 posts

Our favorite restaurant on Snaefellsness, and maybe in the whole country was Matarlist in Ólafsvík. Best fish we’ve ever eaten. Maybe a lunch stop if you go counter clockwise. We also loved Gott, excellent food in trendy casual environment. We also did an all day tour in Landmannalaugar and picked up dinner items at the grocery store. So nice just to relax after at our Airbnb as well. Have fun!!

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