Day trips from Reykjavik or roadtrip?

Roadtripping will be much more satisfying and far cheaper than staying in Reykjavik and taking tours.

I would only spend one night in Reykjavik, especially since your last night will be there too. Be sure to get maximum coverage for your car, and rent from Blue or Lotus.

I just left Iceland and I agree that doing a road trip and staying in Vik for a couple of nights is the way to go. That’s what we did and it worked out perfectly.

I would also highly recommend the Zodiac Glacier Lagoon tour, which is done via a RIB boat. It was incredible. It’s about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Vic, but the scenery along the way is just breathtaking. You will see mountain after mountain with glacier capped peaks.

I’ll post more information when I get back to my hotel. I’m on a bus in Stockholm right now.

When in August? Do you know about the eclipse? If you already don't have lodging reservations, you might be out of luck.

Thank you for the advice. It seems there is a consensus for multiple stops. We will do 2 nights in each stop with a single night in Kef before leaving. We have secured reservations.

I am an over-thinker and big planner for vacations, but booked flights for this trip on a whim after seeing a good deal- only to learn that we are coming in on Commerce Day and leaving right before the eclipse. Lesson learned that research is good!

When you stay in Vik, definitely check out the sites along the way as there are some wonderful places to stop. We stopped at the SkogarMuseum, which was a very interesting open air museum, and also make a point of stopping at Mýrdalsjökull, a huge glacier that you can see from a viewpoint that is only a short distance from the main road.

There is also Skógafoss, a beautiful waterfall that you can see from the viewpoint at the bottom, or you can hike the top and walk across it.

And if you do decide to do the Zodiac glacier lagoon boat tour, there are number of places to see along the way. The tour company we used for the boat tour was Icelagoon at https://www.icelagoon.com. Just check any of the guidebook and you’ll find the other places to stop along Rt. 1.

If you’re leaving right before the eclipse, you shouldn’t get caught up into that too much or be affected by price increases.

And with regards to Commerce Day, you’ll find that many shops are open. I would just enjoy the day as much as possible and then things will go back to normal on that Tuesday.

The one thing I would highly recommend is to stay close in on the day of arrival. Do not try to drive to Vik, etc as that is just too far after the overnight flight. Staying in Reykjavik for arrival night is the wise choice. I am glad that you are not staying in Reykjavik the entire time as all the backtracking would eat up your time. You mention a morning flight, so I assume that is the 10:30 am or so flight? If so, you might want to stay closer to KEF than Reykjavik. We have been many times and you really do need a good 3 hours at KEF most of the time. Security has never been long for us, but passport control is where the line backs up like crazy. The issue is that the gates are not announced until 45 minutes before the flight, so everyone scrambles and it creates long lines at passport control. So instead, go directly to the D gates as all flights to the US go out of there. There are restaurant and duty free shops dow there, so you can kill the rest of your time there without just sitting. Also, if you are on Icelandair, use the app as the gate announcement always shows up on our app before they show it on the boards at KEF.

2 nights in Reykjavik at the beginning is really too many, especially if you have a 7 am arrival. That first day walking around will be enough unless you want to visit several obscure museums. There are car rental agencies downtown so can rent there and return at KEF.

I’m in the minority but I think the way car rental insurance is presented/partitioned is a scam. We only used free credit card insurance, purchased no additional coverage, no problems doing that.

A morning return flight means you are forgoing nonstops and connecting somewhere. I hope the savings are worth it.

toby--The one thing people need to really look at with the car insurance is how a claim is handled. Most, if not all of the time, you pay for any damage/loss upfront and then the credit card will reimburse you after the claim is settled. So as long as someone doesn't mind paying in full upfront, it may be worth it to them. I am risk averse, so we do not do that. BTW, there are direct, nonstop flight between KEF and the US in the mornings.

BTW, there are direct, nonstop flight between KEF and the US in the mornings.

Yes, Delta and others, but not to PDX. I think an early departure from KEF needs careful consideration, I’d try to avoid it by flying Icelandair, and if it’s a stopover stopping over in Iceland when returning from Europe and not outbound.

Toby--You didn't specify PDX is why I commented:) There are flights on Icelandair in the morning to Seattle though and that can be a good option for people in the Portland area. We used to do that when we lived down there.

mind paying in full upfront

Not sure the timing but maybe not, the cost on the statement may not post much before reimbursement so maybe nothing out of pocket.

You didn't specify PDX

OP is from Oregon so I made that leap.

That's why I said it may be.

Delta, Alaska and United fly to KEF overnight, arrive early AM then turn around and fly back. Wondering if any other North American cities get morning departures from KEF on Icelandair besides SEA?

Edit: Yes, Denver. Also, SEA gets 4 flights/day from KEF, more than any other N Amer city.

Thank you for the advice. I made note of the time needed to check-in and get through passport control which was a question. We are arriving later in the day and after a long travel day we would just like a day to get back on our feet which is why we are staying on Reykjavík for two nights- it give us one full day to explore.

As to the flights it was a choice and one I hope we don’t regret to leave in the morning. It is a much shorter day for us if we leave in the morning. I laughed at “choosing to forego nonstops”. I wish it was a choice! We have to fly to a small regional airport, so unless we are just going regionally there are no non-stop flights for us. We will fly to Seattle then home. It can make for a very long day.

We are arriving later in the day

Seattle is really a different kettle of fish than other North American cities when it comes to Iceland. No other city has a flight that arrives KEF in the afternoon.