Iceland Trip Report- July 2024

Outside to the clearly marked FlyBus, which I had pre-booked, and we were on our way to downtown. It is a 45-50 minute trip, but I tried not to sleep because I was afraid that would make it worse! Once at the bus terminal, I had to buy another ticket to the hotel stop. I thought I had included it in the round trip booking I made, but I guess not. Something to keep in mind if you pre-book (it was an additional $15 or something for both of us, so not extreme).

We were able to quickly board the smaller bus to the city center and within about 15 minutes we were at our hotel, Center Hotel Laugavegur. Well, kind of. The bus dropped us off right by the hotel - practically on top of it. And yet we walked about 2 blocks before I realized it had to be closer than that. With jet lag and not fully understanding, we had walked right by it! Oh well, the walk in the fresh cold air woke us up a bit.

We checked in and of course our room wasn’t ready at 9 AM, so we left our bags and went to a bakery for breakfast. The hotel staff recommended Sandholt bakery and that’s where we went. I had a delicious salmon bagel and G got waffles. With coffee, this really helped to revitalize us!

Today was gray and chilly, but not actively raining. We walked to the church and admired the architecture and the Leif Eiriksson in front. No reason to head up the tower today as with the weather we wouldn’t see much. Next we walked to the National Museum. A bit of a walk, but again it’s always good to stay active on your first day. It was an expensive museum, but full of the story of how Iceland began and became a republic, with some nice exhibits on vikings and independence.

We sat in the cafe for a coffee, and by now G was fading fast. We made it back to the hotel around 1 PM and our room was ready. Our room was on the third floor with a nice balcony overlooking the main street. Perfectly fine, a little small like all downtown hotels are, but good water pressure, comfortable beds, and some english-language tv.

After a nap G headed to do a crossfit drop-in. I walked down the street to Bonus, the grocery store, to pick up some snacks and sandwiches for our day trip on Thursday. I also organized clothes for the next couple of days and watched an episode of NCIS (ubiquitous everywhere in the world, I guess).

G has done crossfit drop-ins all over, and he said that while the class was good and the instructor was fine he was there, it was probably the least welcoming class he’d been to. So something to consider. He was going to do a second drop-in later in the week but decided against it. We had dinner at the Hlemmur food hall right by the hotel. We both had pizza, mine with cheese, potato, and mushroom and it was fantastic. Note that you can get Iceland tap water carafes here for free to enjoy with your meal. And yes, Icelandic food is as expensive as everyone says.

After dinner we took showers and watched Top Gun Maverick before getting a good night’s sleep. There was some hallway noise tonight, the only night this happened, and some street noise woke us up but that’s because we had the windows open.

Overall:

Plane landing to our hotel was just under 3 hours. YMMV depending on how passport control goes. Things don’t open early in Reykjavik so we were in no rush this morning. Overall, we saw pretty much what I was hoping to on this day and got our bearings for the next few days. Temperature-wise we were fine with our clothing choices. I had on a tech t-shirt, jacket, and rain jacket with hiking pants. G had a t-shirt and jacket with jeans. Hotel is in a great spot and comfortable, and there are several Center hotels to choose from in the area.

Looking forward to reading more:) We have stayed at that same hotel a couple of times and will again on another trip next month. The food hall that you went to is a favorite of ours. I'm sorry you had issues with the lines. We have never encountered that, so it isn't the norm at least but still not fun when you are stuck in it.

I am looking forward to more of your trip report.

You might be surprised to know that many of us on this site take cruises and love cruises so if you ever decide to write about your cruise, I and others would probably love to read it. I always sail Norwegian so would love to Hear about what it was like on ThenViking Mars.

Travel teaches us patience.

I have to laugh because I get to the airport the night before I fly and sleep sitting in the chairs. I am very worried about missing my flight. I do sleep on the plane..

I think that I missed something I never noticed the part about whether on not Icelandair will let you leave again is another story that was supposed to be at the end of the report.

Looking forward to more.

Great report! Please include information about the cruise. We enjoy cruising and independently - and going out on our own when on cruises. I find any travel information helpful since I learn about different options and new places. Thank you.

Yes, I'd be interested in learning more about the cruise. It's true that cruising isn't a focus of this forum, but some of us enjoy it as well as other kinds of travel. Your post prompted me to check NCL's website and discover that they have a few cruises that start and end in Iceland, with some Greenland stops. That's very appealing to us, so thanks for the tipoff!

It's too bad your land experience with Icelandair wasn't better. We've had only good experiences with them, including twice when they got us alternative return trips due to volcanic eruptions in Iceland. They don't feed you in economy, but it's easy enough to bring along a sandwich.

Day 2: South Coast tour with Nice Tours

Day 2 Actual:

Up early for our tour and we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant area. Breakfast was included in our stay. A decent selection, with hot items like scrambled eggs, sausage, and oatmeal and cold items like cheese, fruit, mini pastries, and boiled eggs. Coffee, tea, juice, and water were also available. It was never too crowded and staff were quick to clean up tables.

I decided on Nice travel after reading good online reviews. But I had also heard that all buses could be early, so I held us to the 8:30-9AM pickup time on my receipt. Luckily, the waiting area was right outside the restaurant and there was always a large group of folks waiting on the various tours leaving from Bus Stop 9.

Our van arrived at 8:50, so right in the window. Guides always had a list of names, so don’t worry about missing your ride or asking if it is the right one. ‘Bear’ was our guide for the day for our 16 passenger sprinter van tour of the South Coast.

We had a 2 hour trip to the South Coast, but did have a comfort stop about an hour in. Everyone in our van was very respectful of time, so a good start. Bear switched up our stops a bit to capitalize on the weather. It was gray but not actively raining, although it did rain on and off throughout the day.

Eventually we made it to our first waterfall, Skogafoss. We walked the 485 steps up to the viewpoint, then down to the base of the waterfall for more pictures. Perfect amount of time here to enjoy everything but not sit around waiting.

Our next stop was Solheimajokull, the glacier. We walked the 10 minute path from the parking area to the overlook where Bear gave us some background on the life of the glacier. And then, since the weather was holding out, we all walked past the lookout and down across the black (sand? Volcanic ash?) to the very base of the glacier. It was amazing, and such a fun extra treat to get to do. Note there are bathrooms in the parking lot if you need them.

Our next stop was Vikk and the lunch stop. We stopped at a truck-stop like area that had a grocery store, some restaurants, and an IceWear store. We ate our sandwiches I had packed standing up in the hallway - there were some areas to eat outside but it was cold and beginning to rain. After our lunch, we checked out the store and then across the parking lot to a beautiful and almost deserted black sand beach. We took some great pictures, including a favorite of the church on the hill. Back to the bus and we went up to the church to get pictures looking down on the town.

Next was a stop at the ‘famous’ Reynisfjara beach. I enjoyed the basalt steps like the Giant’s Causeway we saw last year, but after a few photos and seeing some puffins, I wasn’t that intrigued. I think our time on the deserted black sand beach had spoiled me, and this one felt overcrowded and touristy. We did have a bathroom spot here and then back to the van.

Next was the official puffin beach, and it was great to get some good photos of the puffins and just some fantastic views of the wild sea. The lowering clouds and wind just made it more atmospheric and perfect. A great time here - note this is also where you can find the ‘bathrooms with a view’ if you are interested in that!

Finally, we circled back around to Seljalandsfoss. Our guide encouraged us to fully immerse ourselves in this experience, it was the end of the day and so who cared if we were wet! I love this advice. We were actually let off at Gljufurarfoss, the waterfall you sort of ‘walk into’ in the rock. Then we walked over to Seljalandsfoss and walked up and behind it, down to the water, and back up. A wonderful experience, and honestly we got less wet than I thought we would. It was also raining by now, but again who cares? We were already wet. This was so much fun and a really great ending to a terrific day.

A long, soggy ride home and I think we both might have taken a quick nap. We were back at Bus Stop 9 by 8:30 PM - not that you can tell with the midnight sun. It was the same light level it had been all day. G was starving so we quickly changed and headed to Reykjavik Kitchen for dinner on the advice of the hotel staff. This was delicious, but quite expensive. Also even on a random Thursday they were only letting in those with reservations, we got a table because it was just the two of us. G had a lamb dinner and I had cod with squid ink pasta. Everything was wonderful. And I suppose, why eat at home all year if not to occasionally splash out on vacation.

Back to the room for weird UK-Dateline, some sink washing, and boxed wine with some M&Ms (in case you were worried we’d suddenly become fancy-pants). Tomorrow is a Golden Circle tour.

Overview: Driving in Iceland seems very straightforward, so I can see why so many do these trips themselves, but I really enjoyed letting someone else do the driving and parking and hearing some of the stories and background from our guide, who was also a trained geologist. Having a hotel in town allowed us to get home late and still be having dinner within 20 minutes, which was definitely needed.

Thank you all for your kind words! I will definitely add some information about our cruise experience. And I had zero problems with Icelandair service and, as you can see, I have no problem bringing along a sandwich! I think my issues were more with the airport itself - stay tuned!

I've been to Iceland twice and would love to go back. On my first trip (2019) I saw all the things you described on your tour. That brought back memories! We drove ourselves - I had my then 21 year old son along and he was happy to do the driving while I enjoyed the scenery.

I too would love to hear about the cruise part of your trip. I'm getting ready to do my first cruise on Viking in a month. Unless you hated your cruise, then I'll probably skip that part ;-). I'm actively avoiding all the Viking haters, so I don't go into this cruise (my first cruise ever) that I've been looking forward to for the past year, worrying about all the other things that people hated.

Kayla - let me assure you we were far from hating it! Absolutely one of our best cruise experiences.

I’m enjoying your trip report so far! Thanks for sharing your experiences…Iceland is on our list. Did you find many places to be crowded in July?

Looking forward to hearing more about your land experiences and the cruise part!

Thanks,
Laurie

Grayline from the airport takes you to one of the ‘official bus stops’. We stay near the church which has one of the bus stops and then walked a couple of blocks to the apartment. These bus stops are also used as tour pick up points

Day 3: Golden Circle Tour with Blue Lagoon

Day 3 Actual:

We had to be up even earlier today for our tour. Luckily, we both had a good night’s sleep with no hallway noise and were able to fuel up with food and coffee at the hotel breakfast.

We were outside for our tour on time. Now this tour I had bought on the Troll website and I thought it was a Troll tour, but it was not. It was with Iceland Bus Tours. We were picked up in a 40 passenger bus, but that just took us to a truck stop where the other buses and vans were meeting. Here, we sat for about 10 minutes before transferring to a smaller van and met our guide, Joseph. Then we sat for another 20 minutes waiting for cruise ship passengers, as the ship had been late docking.

Eventually we were off, and Joseph let us know the delay would not impact our touring time, which was nice. Like our guide the day before, he decided to switch up the order of our day. We would be starting with the Blue Lagoon instead of ending there.

Now, a few cool things. One, on the drive there he explained about the recent volcanic activity and the road to the lagoon runs parallel to the former road, now covered in lava. So you are mere feet from a very new lava field, and the road even has signs telling you not to stop because the road surface can still be hot. We were also informed of the procedures to follow in case of an evacuation due to another eruption.

Then we were taken into the building by our guide who gave us our wristbands, which included a drink and mask, and let loose for 2 hours. I read a lot about the procedures, but in the end it was very simple. You leave your shoes in the shoe area at the front of the lockers and use your wristband to open and lock your locker. Yes, you have to shower without swimwear prior to going into the lagoon. There are private shower rooms if you prefer. I put the conditioner in my hair and left it before going in, as recommended. Then you put on swimwear and head to the lagoon. Easy peasy.

I had no trouble finding G immediately and we took some photos before he put his phone back in the locker. Then we walked around exploring, got our drink, and hung out with some other folks from our tour. I was worried about timing, but there is a clock that is easily visible so you don’t lose track of time. Between changing both times, we spent about an hour and 20 minutes in the pool and that was plenty for us. Enough to explore and enjoy, not too much to get bored.

Remember how I put the conditioner in as recommended? G, who has long hair, did not. However, both of us had the softest hair ever after our experience, so go figure. Anyway, you get a towel as you exit the pool and then you can shower, rinse out the conditioner, and change. It’s all very simple and straightforward, with signs in English or pictures. They do have some hair dryers and plastic bags for your swimwear!

The only negative to doing Blue Lagoon first was that I was expecting it last - which meant I was now without a comb, sunscreen (not that I needed it today), deodorant, or other essentials. Alas, it is what it is. And this was a super fun way to start out our day.

Back to the van where everyone was on time and away we went. We headed over a mountain range in the pouring rain and did a comfort stop for bathrooms and grabbed a coke. We also had Pringles from Bonus and trail mix from home.

We stopped first at Kerid, the crater lake. It had stopped raining and it was a stunning sight. There was plenty of time to either walk around the top or go to the bottom. We got photos at the top and then walked down to the bottom.

Back on the van and on to Geysir for our lunch stop. This was a bit anticlimactic if you’ve been to Yellowstone, which we have. G was more interested in the lamb stew at the cafeteria (I had a protein bar I brought). The restaurant was also weirdly themed to Icelandic wrestling. I’m sure there is a good reason for that.

After lunch we went to Gullfoss, and amazing waterfall which includes a nice path to get close to the falls from above and made for great pictures. The sun was trying to peak out a bit between the clouds, so we never got fully rained on. Grabbing pictures here was very nice and we enjoyed this stop.

And finally Thingvellir which was a spot I was very much looking forward to but was actually kind of a let down. First, we only had 45 minutes here. So while we went to the lookout point for some pictures and walked down the path, we knew we didn’t have much time to see anything. And also, the signs were not very clear to us (English only) speakers. So even if we were seeing something amazing, it was not easy to tell. We tried to do the drowning pool but I don’t think we found it, and then we walked to the flag pole for some remains of structures used for the parliaments. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we went. It was just less interesting than I thought it would be.

We shut that place down, it was after 6 by the time of ‘all aboard’ for our van. And we had some new folks. An older couple trying to make their cruise ship had been left by a bus, or perhaps missed it? It was unclear, but our driver kindly offered to take them to the cruise ship dock in Reykjavik while another Bus Tours Iceland driver kept trying to call their bus and/or the ship. In the end the bus returned and picked them up, and we ended up following that bus all the way back to the port, where we were also dropping off passengers. I really hope they made it! At least this gave us a preview of the port experience.

Back again around 8 PM. We went to Hlemmur food hall again for dinner, this time pork tacos for G and a vegetarian bao bun for me. A lighter dinner for sure as we wanted to get an early night. Then back to the hotel for our welcome drink (or I guess farewell drink, in this case). The bartender was funny and appeared to be involved in some kind of friendly feud with the waiter. The evening ended with some sink laundry (shoutout to the heated towel rack making all of this possible), a glass of boxed wine, and some weird British game show.

Overview: Bus Travel Iceland was fine, although I did think their vans were older and more dilapidated/stuffy than what we had with Nice Travel. I know there is a debate of Golden Circle versus South Coast if you only have time for one. We are both firmly in the South Coast camp, as we found that day much more fun - IF you do the Blue Lagoon as well!

I too much prefer the south coast to the Golden Circle;) Yes, on Troll's website there are their own tours, but also their partner tours. We have only even taken Troll's own tours, and the buses were quite nice, FWIW. At the BL, I always slather my hair in the conditioner, and one time I managed so slip as I was going in and went completely under water. My hair was just fine later, and it is color treated. I was a tad worried at the time, but figured I had already slipped, so it just didn't matter and I couldn't worry about it;) I have really enjoyed reading your report. I love seeing my favorite place through other people's eyes, and I always learn something!

mdtraveler, hope you'll be able to come back and finish your trip report. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of it!

Day 4: Puffin Tour/Cross-fit Drop In/Embarkation
Day 4 Actual: Pastries/Church Tower/Embarkation

We finally woke up to sunny skies! After three rather dull, gray days it was sunny and glorious today in Reykjavik. Our mood was also improved by getting a chance to sleep in a bit since we didn’t have a tour to catch.

This was probably our least fresh breakfast, possibly due to getting there after 8 AM. I still had some boiled eggs and cheese, but the pastries today were pretty stale. But no matter, because I had a plan. We finished getting ready and left our bags with the hotel. Important note, there was an official group from Viking at our hotel, and all of their bags were in the lobby waiting for transport. Since we also had Viking tags on our bags, the staff very kindly placed ours in the office so that they didn’t get transferred with the group’s.

Given G’s less than great experience at the cross-fit drop in earlier in the week and the fact that we had already seen puffins, we decided to switch up today a bit. Since it was beautiful out, we walked over to Braud & Co and shared an absolutely delicious pain au chocolat. That important item off our list, we walked in the direction of the church. Of course, we had to stop and take pictures of some of the wonderful cats that were out lounging in the sun on this lovely day.

We went back to the church and this time went up to the tower.There was a modest fee, but even though it was a busy Saturday we only waited for one elevator before it was our turn.

This was worth the cost, the views from the tower were wonderful and really let us see the whole town. Including our cruise ship. And as much as we’d both enjoyed our experience in Reykjavik, we were ready for the next part of our adventure.

We walked back to our hotel along the main shopping street and popped into a few shops and I picked up a few postcards and gifts. Then we retrieved our bags from the hotel and the staff called us a cab. Remember I said this was an official hotel for the Viking pre-excursion? This came in handy as the representative in the lobby could tell us exactly what berth the ship was in.

The cab was expensive, around $25 to go about 3 ½ miles, but I knew it would be. We were dropped off right in front of the tent for passengers and barely had time to get out of the car before we were being welcomed and our bags were being whisked away.

There was no line at check in, and I had forgotten that I had printed out the QR code from Viking, but it didn’t matter. In no time we had completed the check in process, had our picture taken, and received our key cards. From there we went down a little tunnel walkway where we were offered water or coffee and onto the ship, where immediately we were given a hot towel, prosecco, and invited to wait in the lounge next to the restaurant for our safety briefing. Once there were about 8 of us we were taken for our 5 minute safety briefing and released to explore the ship.

From drop off to completion of this briefing was less than 20 minutes. We began to explore the ship. We entered on Deck 2, and Deck 1 - 2 house The Restaurant, Manfredi's, Chef’s Table, Guest Service, and the main atrium and spa/health center. Deck 7 is the pool deck, pool bar and grill, World Cafe, Wintergarden, and Explorer’s Lounge. We explored the bookshelves in the Explorer’s lounge and enjoyed a prosecco in the Living Room Bar before heading to lunch in the World Cafe. The vegetarian/pescetarian options were limited, but I never starved. The salads were very good, and possibly for the first time on a cruise I felt like the desserts not only looked good but also tasted good.

Cabins were announced as open as we ate lunch, at about 1 PM. We were in the lowest cabin level, and were not guaranteed anything until 3PM, so this was a nice surprise. We were in cabin 3074 on deck 3 and looked after by the excellent and professional Jover and Ken.

When we arrived none of our luggage had yet been delivered, but it appeared in pieces over the next hour. I left G to nap and set out for more exploring, including a tour of the health center (the only time I visited!) and the spa. The spa was wonderful, with robes, slippers, and towels provided and a dry sauna and plunge pool in the locker room as well as a shower, WC, waiting area/relaxation area, and water station with swimsuit dryer. Very nice. The actual spa included an LED shower area, cold room, steam sauna, cold bucket shower, heated loungers, regular loungers, and a large thalassotherapy pool and hot tub. We spent a lot of time here over the week.

I eventually returned to the room and our luggage was there (but no G, I guess he got the explorer’s bug too) so I unpacked us and set us up for the week. The room was spacious and had plenty of drawer and closet space for a week (more than that would be pushing it). The bathroom was wonderful, very spacious with heated floors and a nice roomy shower.

Eventually G returned and we both went to the spa to enjoy the amenities, and for quite a while we were the only people there. In fact, this was the week of the air traffic meltdown, so we saw many people sleeping around the ship in quiet nooks and crannies, no doubt those who had planned on arriving a day or two early and had their plans disrupted. There were also passengers who didn’t arrive until the next day. Luckily, the Mars was docked in Reykjavik for Saturday night and didn’t depart until Sunday.

After our relaxing spa experience, we had showers and then head to The Restaurant for dinner. Everything we had was good, especially the salads and dessert. We were on the drinks package so had a slightly better selection of wines for dinner. I enjoyed choosing something fun and chatting with the wine stewards.

It was a busy day, and we were happy to be settled for the week. After dinner we took some more time to explore the ship and played some video sudoku on Deck 2 and chatted with some other cruisers before watching a bit of Speed before bed.

Day 5: Arbaer Open Air Museum
Day 5 Actual: Arbaer Open Air Museum

One of the things I had on my Reykjavik wish-list was the Arbaer Open Air Museum. However, getting to it seemed to be a hassle using public transport, and I couldn’t figure out which day to make it happen. So imagine my delight when it was the included excursion for this port. For those unaware, Viking includes an excursion at each port. For this cruise, we chose a combination of included tours and paid ones.

Our tour was in the morning, so we started our day at the World Cafe for breakfast. The options are plentiful, and staff come around with juice, water, and coffee or tea while you serve yourself at the buffet. There’s certainly plenty of choice and the food all seemed fresh and hot.

After fueling ourselves for the day, we met our tour bus on land. We had our excursion tickets waiting on us in the room, and simply handed the cards to a Viking representative who told us which bus to board. Our 40 person bus was about ⅔ full when we left. We had a minimal driving tour of the town, which we had already seen, before reaching the open air museum.

Here, we met our guide, whose name I unfortunately did not capture. He was wonderful, though, telling many stories about the buildings and people of Reykjavik and beyond. It’s striking what a relatively young independent country Iceland really is, and it was moving to hear stories about how the guide’s parents, grandparents, and those like them had helped to build the country. We spent the most time at the larger of the turf houses and in the lovely church. Then we were free for just a few minutes to explore the ‘town square’ area of the museum.

G and I both wanted more time here. The guide was wonderful, and I think if we came alone without a guide we would have missed much of the history and storytelling. But we were constrained on time. One of the buildings in the square had an exhibit on Consumption and I was very sad that I didn’t have time to see the whole thing, but then I realized they meant consumer consumption, not the disease, and so I was less disappointed. In my defense, the guide had mentioned that one of the buildings was a hospital so my mistake was natural.

Back on the bus and we had a rather bland tour of the some of the city before a stop at the Pufa art piece for views of the harbor. Then back on board. Again, greeted with hot towels and sent off with water bottles and umbrellas if necessary.

We had time to grab lunch, note that the World Cafe closes for lunch at 2 and there really isn’t anywhere to grab a full meal before dinner after that time, unless you get room service. I generally found the lunch offerings less than inspired, although I never starved. The salads were always good.

G went for a workout, while I went to the spa to enjoy the amenities. Eventually he joined me and we both tried the cold water bucket! That will definitely wake you up!

After cleaning up, G took a nap and I ended up in the Wintergarden for tea. I do mean ‘ended up’, I was reading my book and not paying attention to the time at all when someone came over and asked if I would be joining them for tea. Don’t mind if I do! Now, this was lovely. It’s not a fancy tea service at all, but there it is in a lovely setting with live music, lovely views, and some nice treats. The raisin scones were a bit dry, but the plain ones were good. At some point during tea we set sail.

I spent some time post-tea reading in the Living Room and eventually enjoying a pre-dinner drink before heading to the cabin to get ready for dinner. There is a dress code in The Restaurant on Viking, and I simply had 2 black dresses that I switched between and sometimes had a scarf or different earrings on. Nothing major, and no one was terribly dressed up.

Dinner was good, although we enjoyed the night before more. I had the chairman’s boiled salmon and G had a steak. Dessert was very good. Tonight we tried the show in the Star Theater, a broadway review. The singers were very good and the show enjoyable, but it's not like a huge production show on NCL or Disney. Not that it is what you are there for! But it's very much a low-key show. A post-dinner drink in the Living Room before another restful night’s sleep!

Overview:
Viking is getting high marks for the quiet, civilized nature of the cruise. From books available in many rooms to live music, the staff is friendly but unobtrusive and the environment perfect for conversation, reading, and games. If you get a chance, do go to the open air museum and see if you can take a guided tour. I do wish we'd had more time, and possibly just scrapped the rest of the tour for time there. But what we saw we really enjoyed.

Thank you for this interesting report.

I wish that i could sail Viking but for one person, me, it is not in my budget. I sail Norwegian which is known for the studio cabins.

Hope to get to Iceland one of these days.

Thanks for your report. We have our first Viking cruise paid for next year. Can’t wait!

Day 6: Isafjordur Independent Tour
Day 6 Actual:

Given the price of the Viking tours, we decided to book independently on Saga tours for the day. I had several email interactions with the team prior to the excursion and they had a good cancellation policy if the ship was not able to make port. Luckily, we were. Unluckily, it was a tender port when it was originally a docking one.

They announced this about the same time we were getting up, and the announcement said to go down to guest services to put your name in for a tender if you were an independent traveler. I did this immediately, and they said tenders would start in about 30 minutes so we had enough time to head up to the World Cafe to have a rather rushed breakfast. When we got back to guest services, it was to find massive lines. Luckily, I asked and an officer explained the lines were for people who had their excursions canceled. It looked like virtually everyone with a water excursion had been canceled due to high winds and seas.

I waited in the Living Room area while G disappeared, and of course right afterwards they called for our tender. Or rather, they called several independent parties that I knew had put their names in after I had, so I asked and the Viking rep was like ‘sure, you can come too.’ So the lesson here is always speak up. But G was still missing. I tried texting and calling on What’s App, and finally made a loop around the deck and found him waiting at the bar for a cappuccino, completely oblivious. This man just likes to skate on thin ice. Husband collected, we made it down to the tender deck and got aboard.

The tender docked right by the buses, and we easily found our Bus Tours Iceland (hmm, them again) tour with Tom. Again, this one was ‘sold thru’. Incidentally, there are bathrooms at the dock if you need them. Anyway, this was a 40-ish person large bus but it was not full. The Queen Anne, I believe, was in port with us this day and so we were a mixed group.

Off to a farm for some happy marriage cake and to visit with a friendly farm dog, a 4-horned goat, and some Icelandic horses, including a foal. It was raining and dreary, and this was obviously a spot used to disperse crowds, but it was still fun.

Then another short drive and to the Dynjandi waterfall, which took us through the famous one-way tunnel. Our tour guide was informative and funny, and he really made the trip special. This waterfall had several lookout points. I made it about ⅔ of the way up, while G went the whole way. I didn’t love those steps in the side of the hill with no railing. Still, we both got great views and felt like we had plenty of time here.

Back to the port. You could have walked into town here, but it was raining so we just grabbed the tender back to the ship and had just enough time to drop our things before grabbing lunch in the World Cafe. Again, nothing special but nothing bad.

Afterwards, we both spent time in the spa. I can’t overstate how much I enjoyed this on the Mars. It was rarely crowded, and even when it felt crowded I never had trouble finding a lounger. Dinner was in The Restaurant and was very good, tonight I had 2 starters which were both fantastic (pear salad and asparagus salad), a main of tomato risotto which was just okay, and a nice dessert. After dinner we went to theExplorer’s Lounge for an after-dinner drink and just chatting with some fellow guests. Then some more bad 90s action movies before bed!

Day 7: Akureyri Saga Tour
Actual:

Today we were up early for our Saga tour I booked separately. This included Godafoss waterfall, Forest Lagoon, and a turf house museum. An early breakfast in the World Cafe and then we walked off the ship to find our tour guide. For the previous tour, I’d received an email from Iceland Bus Tours about where to meet. For this one, they had information on the website but it had 2 possible meeting locations. Luckily, the cruise port area is not exactly huge.

We walked in the direction of the Queen Anne where it appeared most of the buses and vans were and found our tour guide, Alessandro. All of the folks at the port were incredibly helpful. We were on a small van tour with only one other couple, so it felt very much like a private tour.

Our first stop, after some lovely scenery and chats with our guide, was the turf house museum. I’ve seen several of these on other vlogs or reports, and they seem pretty much the same, down to the shop with local crafts and tea. The guide there, who shared a first name with me, gave us the rundown on the house and who had lived there. She told the story of the traveling mailman being visited in his room at night by a ‘bad woman’ and perhaps it was the language barrier, but until the end of the story I thought she was talking about a s@x worker and not a ghost.

Anyway, very cool house and I can’t imagine living somewhere that cold and dark for so much of the year. Then we explored the church and the graveyard. Eventually we were on our way. The couple with us seemed to have a flexible relationship with time.

Next was the Godafoss waterfall and it was a treat. Our guide took awesome pictures of us, we had time for the upper viewpoint and the lower one and I even got a postcard and Christmas ornament in the shop. And then we had to wait for the other couple again…..

Finally, we made it to the Forest Lagoon and this was lovely. A much more sedate experience from the Blue Lagoon, but I loved the low-key vibes and felt like an old hand now that this was my second lagoon. We did the cold plunge circuit a lot - we love a cold plunge. They also have water to drink from a fountain in the pool. It was the perfect day for this, not too sunny or cloudy with great views. We would definitely come back here.

For once our travel partners were on time, and we headed back to town. Alessandro dropped us at the church in Akureyri so we could explore, but not before giving us a great recommendation for an Icelandic hot dog stand that also had vegan dogs. Count me in! This was a fun stop and the food was pretty good. It’s a cute little downtown area, so we poked around for a bit before slowly walking back to the ship.

Since we’d already done a spa I didn’t feel the need to hit ours up again. Instead, G spent some time relaxing and I ended up having tea again and watching sail away from a lovely seat right outside the Wintergarden.

We had some pre-dinner drinks in the Living Room and then dinner at The Restaurant. Lovely as always. Afterwards, we headed upstairs to the Explorer’s Lounge before calling it a night.

Overview: I highly recommend Saga Travel, they did a great job and were conscientious about getting us back to the ship on time. Viking Mars continues to be a calm way of seeing wonderful ports.

I too would have assumed a sex worker, lol!

I love that, "a flexible relationship with time", lol. We had a mom/daughter do that on our first trip to Iceland in 2015. I thought our guide was going to lose it, and everyone else was beyond irritated. I can still picture the duo;)

Any lagoon is more serene than BL, IME. Glad you got to experience a different one;)

Day 8: Seydisfjordur
Day 8 Actual:

For this day we simply had the Viking included excursion, Seydisfjordur on foot and viking festival. Since we had a later start for our excursion, we tried a room service continental breakfast of fruit, pastries, and coffee which we enjoyed while taking pictures of the fjord and then a sit-down breakfast in The Restaurant.

Mostly The Restaurant had the same selections as the World Cafe for breakfast, but obviously in a more serene environment and a little bit larger portions. I enjoyed a salmon benedict with sauce on the side and G had waffles.

That completed, we met our guide on land for our walking tour. The walking groups were relatively small, probably about 20 people and our guide gave us a wonderful overview of the town, including the houses made from kits (much like our Sears houses) and stories of the ducks in the lagoon. We made our way all around the small town, including up the rainbow street and to the small grocery store where you can also buy stamps if necessary and finally to the community hall where they were hosting the ‘viking festival.’

Now, I had no idea what to expect out of this, but I was pleasantly surprised. We were greeted with a selection of beverages from prosecco with a local fruit juice to Applesin or water. After that there was a small selection of local cuisine bites, including cheeses, meats, and salmon. We were given a short introductory speech from the very personable mayor and then had a musical performance from some local musicians who were both very good and quite funny.

Overall, it was much more than we expected. There was a small local art gallery in the hall as well. Note that there are only a few bathroom stalls, so if you need the facilities be one of the first out of the hall at the end!

We walked down the rainbow street again and into the church to see the architecture, then across the lagoon to investigate what looked like an art gallery or restaurant but turned out to be a private home!

Back on board we, you guessed it, enjoyed some spa time and then a later lunch. Tonight there was a barbecue on the pool deck, and we were enjoying a beverage by the pool when the waiter came over and said it was about to open and to jump in line if we were interested. There wasn’t much I could enjoy, but G really liked the choices and was glad we made that dinner. Afterward, I ducked into the World Cafe to enjoy some sushi and some salad for dinner.

Then, we played some games in the lounge - we always bring some card games - and eventually ended up in the Explorer’s Lounge catching up with some couples we had met on board and enjoying the evening. I had intended to check out the deck party the band was hosting on the pool deck, but Mike was making great cocktails and we were busy telling stories and having a good time, so we missed it.

Another lovely day onboard and a more relaxed touring day after a couple of long day tours. Tomorrow we are in Djupivogur.

Day 9: Djupivogur
Day 9 Actual:

What to say about Djupivogur? We had a late-morning excursion so had breakfast in the World Cafe and then spent some time reading and hanging out until it was time to leave. This was a tender port, so we made our way down to the tender deck and over to the small port area. It was raining, not enough to warrant an umbrella, in my opinion, but enough to keep our raincoat hoods up.

Since tendering had been so quick G and I split up, me to explore some of the shops and areas around the small area, him to find a spot in the pub that was right by the tenders. It was nearly empty when we first arrived but got busier as folks came in to wait for their tours out of the rain. The port area consists of a pub/brewery, a restaurant and free museum, and a small gift shop. WCs are up the hill and on the right, about 2 minutes from where you will arrive.

Once it was time for our tour, we just did the included one, we went through the now-familiar pattern of showing our excursion cards and being told which group to join. All of them were the same, just with different local guides.

Our guide was lovely and charming and told very nice stories about the town. He was the constable last year, and indicated that everyone sort of took turns. Mostly he said he did the paperwork for ID cards and drivers’ licenses.

Our first stop was the local gem museum/shop. Which I’m sure is fascinating if you are into gems and rocks, but I’m not. Then we started walking towards the Eggs of Merry Bay, which was the only thing I really wanted to see. But first a detour to The Tanks and, honestly, as nice as our guide was, we just didn’t have it in us to marvel at a silo with good acoustics. So we headed to the Eggs ourselves, took some photos and saw the National Geographic ship that was in port, and then headed back. We hopped on the next tender and were back on board fairly quickly.

Nothing against the folks of Djupivogur, but there isn’t a lot to see in town unless you take one of the excursions out of town. By now, we had seen various hot springs/lagoons, turf houses, and waterfalls. We had considered skipping this port entirely and that would not have been a loss to us.

Back on board, we put on dry clothes and had some lunch. I’m not sure what G was up to, but I headed to the spa for a relaxing few hours and then changed for dinner and enjoyed some time in the Explorer’s Lounge.

Dinner was in Manfredi’s tonight. I was able to make reservations our first day on board. It was an elevated experience, although we both had enjoyed our dinners in The Restaurant as well. I had semi-wanted to see the farewell reception in the theater, but dinner was a relaxed affair and went into that. I wasn’t particularly interested in the country music show that followed, so no sense going up to the theater after dinner.

I did take some time to look around the shops and eventually bought some prints. Then we met up with the other younger couples in the Explorer’s Lounge and even dipped into Torshavn for a moment. I really thought I’d spend more time there, but this ended up being our only trip. It seemed fun, although small and very loud with the band.

Tomorrow, Heimaey and our last day!

Day 10: Heimaey
Day 10 Actual

For the first time since we left Reykjavik the day was fully sunny! We enjoyed breakfast in the World Cafe and had plenty of time before our late morning tour of the port. Note this was a tender port, but it was a fast and easy ride. Again, we chose the included tour that was a bus tour around the island before leaving us at the Eldheimer museum.

On the bus tour we had an engaging guide who told stories of the puffins and pufflings - the first puffling of the season makes the local paper - and really made this small island community come to life.

Once at the museum we grabbed our included audio tour and had an enjoyable hour or so walking around and learning about the volcanic eruption of 1973.

It was a gorgeous day, so after the on-your-own tour we went outside to meet the cat that lives on the deck (unbothered by crowds) and see some ruins before taking the walking path back towards town. This is incredibly fun, and we made a possible wrong turn and ended up passing a group from the National Geographic ship and finding the remains of the ‘fort’ and a stave church, which just happened to be opened up by the vicar setting up for a baptism! So we got to go inside and enjoy it.

This might have been our best cruise day, honestly. The weather, the combination of museums/learning and natural beauty. Back in town I deposited G at the brewery and went on a hunt for final souvenirs, grabbing a few things at the ubiquitous Ice Wear and then Bonus. I caught back up to G where he was enjoying a beer flight with some of our friends from the cruise. They had done a 4X4 tour they also raved about.

We made our way back to the port and took a tender back to the ship. Once on board I grabbed some snacks at the Living Room along with a drink and we read for a while there. Eventually we pulled ourselves together to start packing. Bags needed to be out by 10, so I knew we’d come back after dinner but I wanted to get a start on things.

Once organized, we headed to The Restaurant for our final meal. It was fine? Honestly this was probably my least favorite meal of those we had on board. We headed back down to finish packing and change and decided to end our cruise in the Explorer’s Lounge. If we had thought that the last night of cruising would be a rager, we were sorely mistaken. It was just us, an acoustic guitar player, and the two other younger couples on board in the lounge. We had some beverages created by the fantastic Mike and shut the place down, staying until after 11 PM.

Overview: Heimaey ended up being my favorite port, given the beautiful weather and combination of museums and outdoor touring, along with a little bit of serendipity. A wonderful ending to our cruise adventure.

Day 11: Disembarkation, Reykjavik, Airport
Day 11 Actual:

We were up relatively early. I believe we had to disembark by 9AM. Up to the World Cafe with just our backpacks and we had our regular breakfast and no real rush. I had tentative plans, and eventually G realized I wasn’t going to relax until we were on our way.

Disembarking was as easy as everything else, we simply walked off and went to the white tent to find our bags. Once retrieved, we had a dedicated shuttle bus to take us to the concert hall in town. It was dreary and raining, what we had come to expect in Iceland.

The bus ride was simple and once off we had a choice of taxi or walking to the bus depot. For reasons passing understanding, we chose walking. It actually wasn’t terrible and the quiet streets made navigating with our bags easier. We arrived and had to check in and pay on the app for the baggage storage. Note that they cannot let you pay at the desk, so you might as well prepay if you are needing this service. Luckily it was simple to do and we were squared away in about 15 minutes.

We walked back into town with a very scenic walk to the Settlement Museum. G had wished for more vikings (something I wish he had shared before I made all of our plans, but there you are) so this seemed like a good idea. It was an expensive museum, but honestly much more extensive than a first glance would suggest. Not only did they have the excavations of a settlement, they also had a fairly extensive storyline of the settlement of Reykj and some fun rooms depicting the town through the decades. Not a bad use of 90 minutes.

We walked toward the center of town and had a coffee break at a coffee shop and then went into the Posthus Food Hall for G to have a snack. Once all of that was done, we had to walk back to the bus station for our 1 PM bus to the airport.

Now, we had a 5 PM flight so the 1 PM bus may have sounded like overkill. I cannot describe to you how much it was not. First of all, it was a scrum once the buses were announced. We left 30 minutes for our 20 minute walk and after retrieving our luggage sat down for about 3 minutes before the bus was called. A mad rush commenced, but somehow they managed to get everyone and their luggage on 2 buses.

Then a 50 minute trip to the airport. Then into the terminal and to the automated machines for your baggage tags. Tags acquired, you went through a line to drop your bags using an automated system. I was fine but G had some trouble, and there were plenty of very helpful Iceland Air representatives there to help. So far so good, no trouble.

Then a bathroom break, in an airport terminal that inexplicably has 3 bathroom stalls for women. How? Why?

Then to a line for security, that was so long it was at the bottom of the staircase. We finally made it through. Grab a ziploc bag. They are not kidding. They want all liquids in that bag. That took about 45 minutes, and that’s with all lines open. The security reps seemed at the end of their patience with travelers.

Finally through, we quickly bypassed Duty Free. I refilled my water bottle, G got a hot dog at the stand in the terminal, where you no joke had to show your boarding pass to be served. We had a few minutes to sit, as the gate wouldn’t be called until an hour ahead of time. Then when it was called, we had to go through the passport control. This also took 45 minutes, so suddenly our 3 hours ahead of time and we were stressed out to get through to our gate.

But good news/bad news, our gate was also backed up. Because we had to go through yet another passport check and then scanners to get into the jetway that would eventually get us onto the plane.

All this to say, I planned for 3 hours in Keflavik airport and needed every minute of it. Don't skimp on time here. Eventually we were seated in aisle seats across from each other. My ear bud port didn’t work, so I was stuck watching a few movies on closed captioning while trying to grab a nap.

Although cramped and with limited service (you get free water/sodas/coffee), the flight was no better or worse than the one over.

Landing at BWI we made it back through border control fairly quickly and then had the usual long wait for our baggage. BWI is the worst for this. We were graciously picked up by G’s family and taken to a delicious dinner we were honestly too exhausted to properly enjoy. Once dropped off at our Aloft hotel we checked in and basically fell immediately into bed with a 4 AM wake up call.

After too little sleep, we caught the shuttle (awesome driver, chatty and friendly and a delight at 4:30 AM) to the airport and actually had a very easy check-in with Delta. Security was a breeze and we were at our gate in plenty of time. Exit row seats, plenty of leg room, and working ear buds and we were back in SLC in about 5 hours.

SLC is nothing if not efficient, so by the time we made it to baggage claim and grabbed a bathroom break our luggage was there. We returned to long-term parking to pick up the car, used our QR code on our pre-paid parking to exit, and enjoyed the low stress of Sunday ‘traffic’ back home. Where our three cats made their displeasure known by snuggling with us but facing away from us.

My saint of a mother cat sat for us and left us a veggie lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and lemon cake. Before allowing myself to eat or sit down, I threw in our dirty laundry and plugged in and charged all of the electronics. Now all that is left is our reflection on our trip!

Iceland: Would we return? Honestly probably not. I feel like we saw everything we wanted to on this trip, and while I wouldn’t be opposed to a 1-2 day stop over on the way to somewhere else, it’s not a place I would unequivocally return to (like, for instance, England). I wouldn’t mind another day for Perlan and the Saga Museum, or a whale-watching tour. But overall, I think we did the country justice.

I know some folks want to return again and again, and more power to them! I love that we all have different preferences in travel! For us, this felt like a one-and-done.

Viking Cruises: Would we do another Viking cruise? I think yes, if the itinerary worked for us. In our case, this felt like a great way to see Iceland. Viking provided the food, hotel, and entertainment while allowing us to see different parts of the country. Overall, I loved the all-inclusive nature but I wasn’t more blown away by the food than I have been with other cruises, and the entertainment was certainly lacking. I loved the spa and tea, the lack of children, and the personalized service. So for the right itinerary, we would be back.

As always, my heartfelt appreciation for anyone who stuck with this drawn-out review, who provided counsel and ideas on other threads, and who share their love of travel with all of us.

Until next time, keep on…well, you know.

I greatly enjoyed your review. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing your trip and all your observations!