Iceland: Reykjavik Area

Reykjavik

Images of massive glaciers and volcano’s erupting ran through my mind. Would it be safe to go to such a crazy place? We had been keeping an eye on the Bardarbunga volcano that has been erupting for the last two months. We settled on going after doing a lot of research and concluding that it was indeed safe to travel there.

On our ascent into Iceland, the pilot of the plane informed us that you could faintly see the Northern Lights in the distance. This was one of the reasons that we wanted to come to Iceland as well (besides exploring the amazing nature that this place contains). We peered out the window but couldn’t really see much – we hoped that we would see them much more vibrantly in the days to come. After arriving in Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, we checked into our Airbnb.

Walking around Reykjavik on the first day made us feel like we were in the great north. It was very cold and extremely windy (which would be a trend for our entire stay in Iceland). We explored around the town on the first day and were greeted by colorful buildings and trendy shops. Reykjavik is the largest town (by far) in Iceland with almost 200,000 people in the greater area (this is out of a total population of 320,000 in the entire country) yet feels more like a village than a city. The town sits on a beautiful harbor that is dominated by imposing mountains to the north. It is the northern most capital city in the world. It is a beautiful city and unlike any place that we had ever been.

Our first task on Day 1 was to buy a few groceries for our 3 nights in the capital city. We knew from all of our research that it was expensive to go to restaurants in Iceland so we wanted to cook most of our meals. One look around the grocery store and we realized that this was probably the most expensive country that we had EVER been to. Iceland is an island, has harsh climate and imports the majority of their food.   That was apparent by the sticker shock that we had. Over the last few years, we lived within 10 mins of New York City, lived in the San Francisco Bay area and just been to Scotland – Iceland was more expensive than any of those places by far.   For an example, simple vegetables like a zucchini or onion were over $4 US and didn’t look that appealing.   Nonetheless cooking was still more cost effective than eating out. We managed to find some pre-made dinners that you could pop into an oven for a little over $10 US so we ate those most of our stay the first few days. We ended up cooking all of our own food while we were staying in Reykjavik.

After our first day exploring around town, we decided that we would rent a vehicle. This would give us the flexibility to explore ourselves for the trip. Due to our backpacker budget, I had reserved a ‘mini’ car since it was the cheapest option by far. When we woke up in the morning, we peered outside and saw that it had SNOWED a decent amount. We knew it would be cold when we were in Iceland but didn’t think that we would encounter snow yet – after all it was still October.

I let Marissa continue to get ready as I walked to pick up the rental car. It turned out to be much harder than I imagined. I had reserved it from the local airport in town (which is different than the international terminal we flew into 45 mins from town) and googled how to get there. I set out by foot (with my tennis shoes on) toward the airport, assuming it would be a short walk. One problem though- the snow was higher than I expected and the sidewalks were not clear.   I hiked about 25 mins through the arctic temps and fresh powder and still couldn’t find the airport entrance. I saw the runways but couldn’t find how to get into the actual airport. I saw a hotel so I asked at the front desk and discovered that Google directions tricked me… I was on the completely wrong side of the airport! I was not a happy camper. I ended up jogging around the entire airport (another 20 mins) to finally find the ‘main’ airport. I arrived sweaty in my UnderArmour, red faced and out of breathe. To my dismay, I discovered that the rental car company we reserved from was not actually at the airport! I found out their office was in the downtown area much closer to where we were actually staying. I couldn’t believe it! I had walked, jogged, ran around in snow and freezing cold temperatures for an hour and the rental office wasn’t even at the airport even though that’s what it said on my reservation!

Once I called the rental car company, they picked me up and convinced me that there was no way that I should rent a ‘mini’ car in Iceland. The lady at the desk basically told me that everyone who rents them gets stuck at some point in their trip- especially with snow. I bartered with her until I got an SUV for a reasonable price. To her credit, it ended up being one of the best decisions on the trip. Many of the roads in Iceland are extremely crazy and a little baby car wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Once we had our SUV, we hit the road. We had mapped out a route that took us by a geothermal area on the way to the famous Blue Lagoon. We first stopped at the Perlan, which is a building on the outskirts of town that has an outdoor deck that overlooks the surrounding area. The views were spectacular – aided by the fresh snow covering as far as the eye could see.

Seltun Geothermal Area

Once outside the capital, we found the ‘highway’ that we had previously planned to take and discovered that it was snow covered and there was no way that a car could have made it. Thank gosh we had an SUV! I really enjoyed driving on the road. It felt like we were by completely ourselves in Iceland. Our first stop along the road was the Seltun geothermal area. The smell of sulpher was strong and the steam could be seen from miles away. The Seltun area contains many mud pools and boiling pots. Very interesting – they reminded us of things that we had seen in Yellowstone National Park in the US.

Blue Lagoon

Continuing down the road, we arrived at our main destination for the day, Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is the most popular attraction in Iceland and for good reason! The spa is located in the middle of a lava field on the Reykjanes Peninsula and is approx. 40 mins from Reykjavik. The complex contains warm waters ranging from 98-102 degrees F. The man made lagoon is fed from water by a nearby geothermal power plant. The lagoon looks like something out of a movie because the water is electric blue. The minerals in the water are the primary reason why the water is such a vibrant milky blue shape. We really enjoyed swimming around the massive outdoor swimming pool. The toughest part was getting into the water or getting out of the water since temperatures were hovering around freezing outside.  The swim felt refreshing and was really worth the price of admission!

Golden Circle

The next day we decided to check out some of the surrounding sites. We settled on doing our own version of the famous Golden Circle day trip from Reykjavik. The Golden Circle is comprised of – Thingvellir National Park, the Geysir hot springs area, and the Gullfoss waterfall.   This is a very popular day tour that many people take but is very easy to do yourself if you have a car (and much cheaper). We really enjoyed being able to do this on our own and not be at the mercy of a tour group.

We first stopped at Thingvellir National Park. Thingvellir is a famous historical, cultural and geological area.   It marks the site of the first Icelandic Parliament – from the time it was first established in 930 until 1798. In addition to housing the first meetings of Parliament, the park sits on the middle of the North American and European tectonic plates, which are continually moving apart from each other. Thingvellir was the first National Park in Iceland in 1930.   To this day, it is still considered to be very important place for the Icelandic people. We really enjoyed the Park, but it was so cold and rainy outside we were only able to do a few short walks around the key areas.

After our stop at Thingvellir, we continued up the road to the famous Gullfoss waterfall.   It was interesting because from the road and the parking lot you cannot see anything. As you descend approx. 300 stairs you see the massive waterfall. What makes it most impressive is that as you approach the waterfall, it appears to disappear into a massive crevice, obscured from view. It makes it seem that the massive river just vanishes into the earth. One of the coolest waterfalls I’ve ever seen. What made it even more unique was the weather- while raining and cold, the ice started freezing parts of the waterfall, making tons of tiny icicles along the river. We nearly slipped several times (almost spilling our $6 coffee) as we made it to the main viewpoint, but it was worth it.

After Gullfoss we continued to the last stop on the Golden Circle – the Geysir geothermal area. This area is famous for it’s spouting hot spring, known as ‘Geysir’.   Actually this one is much taller than Old Faithful – the famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park, however, Geysir doesn’t blow regularly anymore.   At one point, Geysir would blow into the air over 200 feet high. Despite the fact that Geysir no longer blows; there are other geysers’ in the area that blow every few mins and are fun to watch. The area is spectacular and very interesting.

 

Overall our days nearby Reykjavik provided a nice intro to Iceland. The town was fun, but we didn’t spend much time in the city because there’s so much incredible nature to explore. We managed to see a lot of amazing sites just in the first couple of days of the trip, and couldn’t wait to head out to the rest of the country and explore!