Magical, beautiful, with views that are other worldly. Iceland is worth a few trips in your lifetime for sure, so don’t feel bad that you won’t see everything and give yourself an excuse to come back a few times. We visited in January 2018, it was alarmingly mild considering what the climate should be. We layered up with cheap clothes from Decathlon, total spend £100 and we were fine.
To summarise my tips: take the time to prepare; routes, weather warnings, back-up dry clothes, packed lunch—they all come in handy to keeping you happy and safe.
We mostly eat at veggie friendly or exclusively vegetarian restaurants so can’t speak for carnivore options. If you’re reading this, you probably already know that there is a booming tourist industry, so you’ll find way more reviews, in depth blogs and tips than what we covered in a few days. For now, here are a few tips, things to do, eat and see.
Essential Tips
- Hire a car a few up from basic, heavier cars are better because the weather is biblical, go full insurance
- Book your car at the correct airport, double check your ticket and bookings.
- Drive carefully – read the local guides on driving rules, risks and etiquette. There are loads of mega scenic moments you’ll want to slow down and photograph. Get your co-pilot to pin them on their phone and safely stop when there is a place to or turn around etc.
- Always carry your wet weather gear in a bag, it turns in minutes
- Always have spare dry essentials clothes stashed in the car incase
- Check the weather all the time using local apps and websites, avoid driving into storms or risking warnings, we took a bet on a storm and it was the worst driving of my life
- Tourists cafes and restaurants on the golden circle are £20+ per head for soup and a roll, so pack your own lunch when travelling if you want to save
- Stock up at big super market outside of city with porridge, lunch fillers, pasta etc – veg and meat is ££££, think basic for a few days
- Book a glacier walk or similar with a tour group, they are fun and quite easy for most, you get some beautiful views
- Booze shops are government run and regulated, local brewed spirits are cheapest and best – REYKA, KATLA vodka is great, or just stay sober
- Most clothes shops we found sell very expensive warm and dry gear. There isn’t really a market for cheap occasional clothes, to save money buy from Decathlon before you go
- There are a lot of Airbnb or serviced cabins dotted around, they are small and have basic set-ups. Take books, a travel speaker and playing cards for the evening vibes. I remember the internet was slow and the TV terrible.
- We lived in our cheap snow boots, I would take a pair of solid all weather fashionable boots next time for local evenings out, coffee shop runs, driving etc – we didn’t see locals wearing snow boots in the city, they were dressed way cooler than us
- Book the Blue Lagoon ahead of time if you want to go, we missed out trying to get in on the way to the airport home with no booking
Reykjavik Places to go
Living Art Museum is a not-for-profit, artist-run museum and exhibition platform for innovative and experimental contemporary art. We didn’t visit the restaurant here but it looked tidy.
Harpa is a concert hall in Reykjavik, really beautiful architecture outside and in
Hallgrimskirkja amazing church inspired by Icelandic traditions, this modern cathedral, consecrated in 1986, has a 73m-high tower
Epal retailer that sells local ceramics, pictures and gifts
Árbær Open Air Museum relocated old houses, a farm & other displays tracing the history, culture & folklore of Reykjavik. Go if you like history stuff, not for everyone.
Reykjavik Food & Drink
The Coocoo’s Nest solid cafe food at a good price. This retail area/street has more of the same value/quality place to try.
Flatey is next door to Coocoo, good pizza, lots of locals in the evening.
Apotek we booked to have some cocktails one night to treat ourselves. Food looked good too
Brauð & Co amazing bakery, stock up with locals. This part of town has more of the locals places
Golden Circle Nature
Reynisdrangar are basalt sea stacks situated under the mountain Reynisfjall near the village Vík í Mýrdal, southern Iceland which is framed by a black sand beach that was ranked in 1991 as one of the ten most beautiful non-tropical beaches in the world:
Haukadalur is a geo thermal valley with a popular “great geysir” it can be slippery on foot, you don’t need spikes though
Gullfoss Falls are a popular waterfall with amazing views. Semi decent shop and cafe, expensive AF.
Kerid Crater it’s a big crater. Pretty cool.
Skógafoss Waterfall massive waterfall, worth the climb to the top
Glacier Lagoon, Diamond Beach, Breiðamerkursandur all located at the same site, watch bright blue blocks of ice (diamonds) wonder out to sea, keep your eyes peeled for sea lions.
Bonus List
My mate Thomas works for 66°NORTH and I asked him for recommendations as he’s there on business occasionally. He suggested; Yuzu Burger, Sandholt and had some nice drinks at Port 9.