We visited in the Spring of 2015, before Rick had come out with a guidebook on Iceland. Our package deal from Icelandair included a real bargain on the Icelandair Marina Hotel, and offered a soak-and-Northern-Lights experience. We were picked up in a Gray Line Bus, and our relatively small group was taken to the Fontana baths, not the Blue Lagoon. We were able to soak in pools with different levels of heat, and go into saunas heated geothermally, and for the experience you can even jump into the cold lake water, rinse off quickly using their outside shower, then pop back in to a hot pool - bracing and relaxing, without the industrial backdrop of the Blue Lagoon. Afterwards, everyone headed inside for a great buffet dinner. Unfortunately, the evening turned out to be totally overcast, with no possible clearing before midnight, so the planned Northern Lights part of the excursion was cancelled, and we all got back to Reykjavik early. The soak and dinner part, though, made for a really good and memorable time. We learned the next day that some visitors who went out on a Northern Lights boat saw some Lights that night, out at sea, but don’t know who they used.
We rented a car for a couple of days, exploring north of Reykjavik, and also driving our own Golden Circle. Unfortunately, after stopping to see the dormant Kerid crater and heading back to Reykjavik, a car approaching us in the distance hit a patch of black ice, went airborne, and a passenger was ejected. A bunch of us cars stopped, called 112 (Iceland's 911), and tried to render aid. He was evacuated by helicopter but later died. The roads are in good shape, but weather is fickle, and conditions can change in an instant, so be extra careful if you drive. We got back to our hotel after the restaurant had closed, so we missed dinner, but they assembled a meat and cheese plate so we could eat something.
One thing to add to your Iceland bucket list, if you’d have any interest, is a whale watching tour. We used Elding, and for someone who lives 1,200 miles from the nearest ocean, seeing even one whale was thrilling! The weather was wet, mostly pouring rain, and apparently the boat’s sonar detected a lot of whales in the vicinity, but they weren’t all surfacing.
