Day 1, MON: WELCOME TO ICELAND (50 km/31 mls)
The Flybus shuttle brings travelers from Keflavík International airport to Reykjavík where you spend the first night in Iceland. We provide you with ideas how to explore Iceland's capital on your own.
Day 2, TUE: NATIONAL PARK & GLACIER TRUCK EXCURSION (180 km/112 mls)
We start our journey with Þingvellir National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, an area of exceptional geological and historical interest. We continue over the highland track Kaldidalur, meaning cold valley, to the woodlands of Húsafell and up to the desert highlands by Langjökull glacier. At the foot of the glacier we board the Ice Explorer 8x8 truck which takes us up to Europe‘s second largest glacier Langjökull. We get to spend two and a half to three hours exploring the glacier. We learn about its movements and see how the melting water forms rivers and lagoons. The Ice Explorer 8x8 takes us from an altitude of 500 meters to the top of the glacier, about 1.400 meters above sea level. In clear weather the view over the glacier and the interior highlands is breathtaking. We are able to walk on the glacier and spy into the crevasses.
Nearby we visit Hraunfossar, a series of waterfalls pouring from beneath a long row of lava fields into the Hvítá River. Barnafoss, “the Children’s falls”, is nearby with it‘s own tragic tale. Learn about Icelandic history at the cultural site of Reykholt. Then you get warmed at Deildartunguhver, the Europe's most powerful hot spring, which produces 180 liters per second of water which at 97°Celsius (206 F) is nearly boiling. Overnight in Borgarnes, West Iceland.
Day 3, WED: LAND OF VIKINGS, MOUNTAINS AND VOLCANOES (230 km/143 mls)
This morning we are introduced to the Icelandic sagas in the settlement center in Borgarnes and climb a volcano crater within an old lava field in West Iceland. The Snæfellsnes Peninsula “the peninsula of the snowy mountain“, juts out from Iceland’s west coast. A rugged mountain chain runs its length, capped by the 1,446 meter Snæfellsjökull, a mystical cone-shaped strato volcano that Jules Verne’s pictured as the entrance to the centre of the earth. We travel around the Snæfellsnes Peninsula through lava fields and along the ocean with many classic Icelandic photo opportunities. We visit the most popular sites at the national park where volcanic craters, lava flows, an ice cap, glaciated peaks, fjords, sandy beaches, and high cliffs shape its landscapes. The south side of the peninsula is a farming country but also has extensive marshlands which are an important habitat for birds during the summer season. Fringed by golden sand beaches, the wild and windswept coast is pounded by surf as it faces the full onslaught of an unforgiving Atlantic. The north side of Snæfellsnes is more sheltered and has fjords, which make a good anchorage for fishing vessels.
Overnight in Hellnar, one of Iceland's most scenic hotel locations.
Day 4, THU: FISHING VILLAGES & BIRD WATCHING FJORD CRUISE (230 km/143 mls)
We travel to the charming fishing town of Stykkishólmur for a bird watching tour in the Breiðafjörður fjord where we cruise between uncountable islands. Afterwards we get to stroll around the sheltered harbor which provides a good place for fishing vessels to anchor, and to explore this charming town with its many old wooden houses. A uniquely Icelandic “treat" awaits us at Bjarnarhöfn where they make fermented shark. In the late afternoon we travel along the north coast of Snæfellsnes to reach the remote Vogur Country Lodge in West Iceland where we stay for the next 2 nights. This is a truly peaceful and beautiful place close to Breiðafjörður Bay which gives you the feeling of being all alone in Iceland.
Day 5, FRI: SAGA LAND (190 km/118 mls)
Only a few parts of Iceland are as rich in history as Dalir where records go virtually unbroken back to the settlement of the 9th and 10th century. Here we find beautiful nature, rounded mountains, lush valleys, lakes and rivers along with great hiking and bird watching. Close by is the Breiðafjörður Bay with spectacular sea shores and an amazing view over the mountain panorama of Snæfellsnes Peninsula.
Today we travel mostly off-the-beaten path, experience some short walks here and there with stops to photograph farms, beautiful little country churches and of course the Icelandic horse. At Haukadalur, there's a rather authentic replica of the homestead of Eirik the Red, the famous explorer, who founded the Icelandic colony in Greenland. Now the excavated and reconstructed farm in Haukadalur is a living Viking museum which is a fun, informative and rather photogenic place. The landscape is dominated by mountains, valleys, the sea and wide open spaces.
A light lunch is included today.
In the afternoon there's a visit to the village of Laugar in Sælingsdalur. The geothermal area at Laugar is the source for the naturally-heated swimming pool built in 1932 and which also provides the buildings with heating. Just outside Laugar you may find the rocky hill which is known to be the home of elves. Nearby is Guðrún's pool, a reconstructed geothermal pool in Sælingsdalur. According to the Icelandic saga Laxdaela, Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir, one of the greatest women in the Sagas, used to dwell by a geothermal pool at Laugar in Sælingsdalur. The original pool was destroyed in a landslide 140 years ago but was rebuilt in 2009 along with a "house of modesty" – dressing rooms.
Day 6, SAT: THE PENINSULA OF THE SEALS (315 km/195 mls)
We head to the north and go on a seal-watching cruise with the opportunity to see seals in their natural environment. We visit the local seal museum. We travel off-the-beaten path and explore the Vatnsnes Peninsula, a nature reserve and visit a monster-like sea-stack called Hvitserkur. The turf church of Víðimýri has been extensively restored to its original form and is widely considered one of the purest and most beautiful examples of traditional architecture. The timbers of the church were selected from the driftwood coming ashore along the Skagafjörður Peninsula. The churchyard gate with its bells is situated exactly where it was originally built – which is said to have been since Christianity was adopted in Iceland, around the year 1000.
We visit the folk museum and turf farm at Glaumbær. The buildings of the farm date from slightly different periods in the 18th- & 19th-centuries. This style of the turf construction was universal in rural areas of Iceland until about 1900, when it was gradually replaced mainly by reinforced concrete, which is typical in most contemporary Icelandic construction today.
Overnight at Hotel Mikligardur in Sauðárkrókur for the next 3 nights. Our group stays at the top floor rooms guaranteeing a superb view either over the fjord or the surrounding mountains. This hotel location offers one of the best midnight sun shows if weather conditions are right.
Day 7, SUN: ICELAND'S NORTHERNMOST TOWN (240 km/149 mls)
Today we explore Tröllaskagi Peninsula named after the giant trolls who according to the Icelandic folktales each spring ran into the peninsula's towering glaciers, deep valleys and alpine mountains to hide from the ever present arctic sun. These spectacular fjord landscapes take you past several small and friendly fishing villages. Along the way, we stop at a deserted fjord valley which even most of the Icelanders have not seen yet. Our goal for today is Siglufjörður, Iceland’s northernmost town, known as the herring capital of the North Atlantic. In Siglufjörður we visit the herring museum that is the largest seafaring and industrial museum in the country. We also visit the small village of Hofsós that is with its natural harbour one of the oldest trading ports in Iceland, while nearby Hólar was an early episcopal seat, boasting the oldest stone church in Iceland.
Day 8, MON: ICELANDIC DESIGN & SKAGI PENINSULA (150 km/93 mls)
After breakfast you experience leather and tanning in Sauðárkrókur, in the only tannery in Europe which makes fish leather. Enjoy a guided tour of the actual tannery where fish-skin is expertly processed to make high-quality leather and where the tannery’s products by outstanding designers and craftspeople are offered for sale. Fish leather from Atlantic Leather has caught the imagination of internationally-known fashion houses and brands such as Prada, Dior and Nike.
Later on we travel to the small settlement of Skagaströnd which in the time of the trading monopoly was one of Iceland's main trading centers but today only about 530 people live there. "Spákonufell" - the Prophetess Mountain is one of the most impressive and peculiar mountains in this area and is 646 meter high. The name of the mountain derives from Þórdís the prophetess who lived on a farm of the same name as the mountain, situated by its roots in the 10th century. She was the first person to settle in Skagaströnd. She crops up throughout the Icelandic sagas and her reputation was ambivalent as she was skilled in witchcraft. The sagas tell that Þórdís walked up to Spákonufell every day and combed her hair with a golden comb. It is said that she had hidden her gold in the mountain and put a spell on it so that no one could use it except women who were not baptized and who hadn't learnt any of Gods words.
Skagi is a part of the country which is not frequently travelled. We visit a little inlet in the north of Skagi, where there is a lighthouse and alongside the peninsula are sea cliffs of beautiful formations of basalt columns formed about two million years ago. We continue along the coastline and see a glittering waterfall tumbling down the cliff-face into the sea. We pass many deserted farms before reaching the sweeping bay which offers some truly magnificent ocean vistas. We walk along the shores that are covered with driftwood and beautiful rocks and we might spot some seals and for sure also plenty of birds. We continue past the remote farm of Hraun, at Hraunsvík on the northeastern extremity of the peninsula. The road finally veers south following the coastline of Skagafjörður fjord for the rugged sheer sea cliff and the remains of an old extinct volcano. We find there a rock pillar "Kerling" just off the shore to the northeast. There is a rich bird life in the cliffs. Tales tell of trolls who lived in the cliffs and because of them the road to the cliffs was sometimes impassable.
Day 9, TUE: FROM NORTH TO SOUTH THROUGH THE INTERIOR HIGHLANDS (305 km/189 miles)
Today we travel south across the highland desert on the Kjölur trail. There are wonderful views of the distant ice-caps and we stop at the hot springs of Hveravellir. We end the day with a visit at Gullfoss, a double waterfall that tumbles 34 meters into the Hvítá river. You see steam from the Geysir geothermal fields as you arrive. Here are a variety of hot springs and bubbling pools. The original geyser, is now dormant but has been replaced by Strokkur "the Churn", erupting in 5-10 minutes intervals.
Overnight at Hotel Örk in Hveragerði, South Iceland.
Day 10, WED: HORSES, REYKJANES PENINSULA, BLUE LAGOON AND REYKJAVÍK (180 km/112 mls)
In the morning learn about the Icelandic horse and its history and special qualities during a horse show. Then we take a less travelled route around Reykjanes Peninsula. Diverse geological features, the hot springs of Krýsuvík, mountains, lava fields, amazing bird cliffs, moon landscapes and fishing villages are on today’s itinerary. We visit the famous Blue Lagoon where we’re soaking in the geothermal water. Iceland's West Side Story ends after a Reykjavík city tour.
Overnight in the capital.
Day 11, THU: DEPARTURE HOME (50 km/31 mls)
The Flybus airport shuttle picks you up at your hotel and takes you to Keflavik airport.
Note:
- This tour has an average of 1-2 hours of walking each day, meaning several short walks of 10-30 minutes to see and explore the different nature and history sites. It is an easy tour for nearly everyone to participate in. This is not a walking/hiking tour.
- Total mileage in 9 days is about 2.020 km (1.254 miles) which is an average of 225 km (140 miles) per day, about 3 hours per day will be spent on the bus. On some days the driving might be longer than on some other days.
- Most hotels and guesthouses used on this tour are simple but clean, and have room with private facilities. Most hotels offer a unique and beautiful location in the Icelandic nature or are situated in coastal villages.