Westmann Islands - One day?

It will be a long day but doable. A few things though. If it coincides with the music festival at Westmann then no do not even think about it. There is a rib boat safari ride there that is a lot of fun! Puffins are generally seen early in the morning and later at night. So a day trip means you will just see them flying over the water fishing.

wow...didn't know about the music festival at all and it IS a conflict. thank you so much! I might be able to reconfigure and do the or 2 day before it starts, but I imagine people get out there early?? but that would be start in Reykjavik, end in Selfoss? Still doable if out early???

that said, back to square 1 on planning a day that starts in selfoss and ends in reykjavik.....we will likely have done the GC and the south coast pretty thoroughly by this point. open to ideas....

Rekjanes peninsula seems to be at the bottom of everyone's list?

Leave Selfoss
Morning hike in Reykjadalur (which I guess we can skip earlier in the week)
Lunch
Afternoon at Sky Lagoon (or maybe Hvammsik)
Sleep Reykjavik

Oh my gosh yes, change things around as that festival is crazy! It starts on Thursday, and we arrived the evening before. By the time we left on Saturday morning, the amount of people walking off that ferry seemed to never end.

If you go 2 days before the start, you will have a nice time and the crowds will not have arrived just yet. I would start in Selfoss and return to Reykjavik. The reason is that it would allow you to get on an earlier ferry with being closer to it, and that would give you a bit more time.

If you want a really cool dinner place for the way back, check out Ingolfsskali Viking Restuarant in Selfoss. So good!!! Or if you are cutting through the GC by chance, Mika is great. You need reservations at either one.

The Reykjanes Peninsula is nice, and we have wandered around on it on several trips, but it just doesn't have quite the punch that other areas have. It is good if you want a very low key slow paced day.

Between Sky and Hvammsvik, Hvammsvik hands down. It is our favorite commercial hot spring in all of our trips. I tried so hard to fit it in for our trip next month, and just couldn't, so we are headed to Sky. Sky is nice (been to both multiple times), but there is just something special about Hvammsvik.

I flipped it -- we are going Tuesday, but it will be reykjavik (actually kopavgur) drive in the morning, stay night in selfoss. can't be avoided as we land the day before and have made plans there already. I don't want to any drive longer than an hour -ish on day 1. we have a fairly quiet day so we can hopefully be up and out.

that said, if I can cancel selfoss that night I think there is availability on the island but I also have to change ferry too. spinning here a little but I'm going to explore this as an option. would work well maybe because our day 3 is the glacier close to the ferry.

lastly I really want to hvammsik more than sky, but we will be doing this the morning before our flight out and sky is more geographically desirable. that said, I just booked sky.

thanks so much for the restaurant recommendation. that's my next challenge.

oh...I did book car. mixed information about whether this is necessary. that said, might need since we "on the clock" a bit?

I was able to make reservation at viking is selfoss. menu might be too adventurous for two of my picky eaters and will likely change to something more boring. looks lovely though.

I am so glad to hear you say you want to keep the driving on arrival day to an hour or less. Thank you!!!!! Too many people think they are going to get off a red eye flight and drive several hours. That is a horrible idea and risks their lives as well as anyone else's that is on the road with them. So your comment was much appreciated!

If you can get a hotel on Heimaey and can change the ferry, you won't regret it. That will allow you to see the puffins:)

Sky is nice, and since you have not been to Hvammsvik to compare you won't be disappointed at all.

Do you mean you booked the ferry tickets for with your vehicle? If so, that was smart! If there is bad weather when the ferry is returning, they may need to change course and go into another port, which happens to be 3 hours away. You would be stuck if you didn't have your vehicle. Plus it is just nice to have for going to the south end of the island. You could walk, but there are no sidewalks and the road is narrow, etc.

Ingolfskkali was a hit with all of us when we took the adult kids. Our son's gf at the time (now fiancee yay!) is not adventuresome with food, and she loved it.

we do okay with jet lag, but I don't think it would be a quality day. so we land, hit blue lagoon and then hotel.

I was concerned about being redirected to other port -- so I paid for the car.

and that said, while I'd love to stay on the island (also cheaper!) I fear we could miss our glacier tour next day if there are any ferry delays. so we will be adding about 2 hours extra overall, but seems necessary.

any other selfoss dining recs welcome....

mcm--I am not picking on you specifically, but driving while drowsy after an overnight flight is just as dangerous as drunk driving. This is personal to me as my aunt did fall asleep at the wheel and became a paraplegic from that accident. She never thought it would happen to her, just like everyone else. She was lucky that she did not injure or kill anyone else. Also, on one of our trips we shared the driving and made many stops before we got just a tad past Borgarnes. I was on my phone telling my husband our plans for the next day when I passed out cold. Dropped the phone and I was out. I have absolutely no recollection of that and did not think I was tired. That scared the daylights out of me since we thought we were being responsible. We were very wrong. Thank goodness we were at our campground for the night when it happened. So I am not targeting you personally, just the overall idea of it.

I wasn't offended...no worries.

Thank you:)