I can’t believe it’s been over six months since we went to Iceland. I’ve been editing photos since we’ve been back, though I love all photos I captured, the photos don’t do Iceland justice. You MUST include Iceland on your list to visit now, immediately. Iceland is everything you read about, and more. It’s a truly magical island filled with countless sceneries – your mind will explode. You’ll want need to stop at every few steps to take photographs, and spend couple hours at each destinations. We could’ve easily spent couple months exploring Iceland, but unfortunately we did not. We spent close to two weeks inside a tiny camper-van, camping and driving along the beautiful Ring Road thanks to our friends at Kuku Campers.
Here’s a day-to-day destinations from the trip. Go ahead, try to pronounce the names. I know I’ll never be able to pronounce the names, but the photos will help you identify names to the places soon enough. Here is a post on everything you need to know before you go!
DAY 01 Arrival / Blue Lagoon
DAY 02 Golden Circle – Þingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfos/ Selfoss
DAY 03 Seljalandsfoss / Skogafoss / Seljavallalung
DAY 04 Vik / Sólheimasandur / Dyrholaey / Reynisfjara
DAY 05 Vatnajökull / Svartifoss / Svínafellsjökull / Jökulsárlón
DAY 06 Hofn / Egilsstaðir / Detifoss
DAY 07 Krafla / Hverir / Myvatn / Grjotagja / Godafoss
DAY 08 Akureyri / Hofsos
DAY 09 Hvammstangi / Gerduberg / Snæfellsjökull Peninsula
DAY 10 Stykkisholmur / Borganes
DAY 11 Reykjavik
DAY 12 Reykjavik / Departure
I had a really hard time deciding how to break down the post or if it would be best to have one giant long post but I decided to break it down. I’ll include a quick guide + need to knows in one post at the end as well! Leave any questions you have in the comment section.
DAY 01 //After reading several guides – it seemed to make the most sense to plan the Blue Lagoon at the beginning or towards the end of the trip because the location is close to Keflavik International Airport. We decided to kick off the trip with the Blue Lagoon so we reserved our camper and Blue Lagoon tickets at home, so upon arrival we were set to take it easy the first day.
Blue Lagoon is stunning – the lagoon is filled with milky bright blue geothermal seawater. The spa is powered by a geothermal plant, which makes the pool temperature average around 100 degrees (39c). The seawater is full of silica minerals and sulfur which makes the area smell a bit but nothing to complain about. You can also walk around the lagoon and find tiny nooks to sit and relax. They also have a bar if you need to replenish.
Blue Lagoon is one of the bigger tourist attractions and high cost item in Iceland, and many locals that we’ve met told us they have not been to the pool. That being said we’re glad to have experienced it, though we much preferred the Myvatn pool in the north.
Some tips before you go…
- Shower sans bathing suit before entering any pool
- Bring your own towel and leave it inside the locker room, yes you’ll be a little cold but you can’t take the towel inside the pool with you and if you leave it out to hang it ends up getting wet or lost in a sea of other towels
- Arrive early – this place gets crowded!
- Skip the packages – if you’re interested in trying the mud mask, they have areas in the pool you could scoop facial mud for the face and body.
- Whatever you do – resist dipping your hair in the water like I did. If you do, plan on bringing or purchasing the most potent conditioner to lather on when you shower afterwards. (Even if you condition your hair before you go in – your hair will still get really icky!)
After Blue Lagoon, we went to the grocery market and stocked up on camping food, and headed towards the Golden Circle for the first night. One of the best things about Iceland is that you could camp your van almost ANYWHERE (restrictions apply of course – check the website here ). It’s the law of the land, and we took advantage. It was fun finding different locations each night to camp.
We choose to go the campervan route because it was the best and most cost effective way for us to get around the country. I’d definitely do it again, but next time I’ll add a night or two at a hotel. Check out the helpful video tour of the Kuku camper – we rented the same model but had a scary/insane rabbit on the outside, though they do have some cute ones!
