You have to visit the land of ice and fire!

Did you know that Iceland Air offer a fantastic deal where you can organise a stop over in Iceland on your next trip?! They offer this at no additional cost and you can choose from a 1-7 night stopover.

This blog will tell you all the things we got up to in our three night stopover on our flight from Glasgow to Canada.

Why Did We Plan a Stopover in Iceland

Day 1: Reykjavik
Getting to Reykjavik From the Airport
Explore the City
Markets and Museums
Street Art
Visit Hallsgrímkirja Church
Go Out for Coffee
Go For a Drinks in Happy Hour
The Northern Lights

Day 2: Icelands Golden Circle
The Blue Lagoon
The Kerid Crater
Gullfoss Falls
Geysirs
Thingvellir National Park
Northern Lights Tour Take 2

Why Did We Plan a Stopover in Iceland?

Iceland has ALWAYS been on my bucket list and a place I have been eager to visit. When I saw that Iceland air offer stopovers at no extra cost it worked out perfectly on our way to Canada.

Not only has Iceland been a long term dream of mine to visit we also wanted another adventure before arriving in Canada. It might sound silly wanting another adventure before going to Canada however starting a working holiday visa is always stressful at the beginning. You are starting your life again somewhere new and because of this we wanted to relax and enjoy a new adventure for a few days.

The most popular way to organise the stop over is directly through Iceland Air, they give you the option to add the desired duration of the stop over on your journey. It is a fantastic and easy option for you to use. Especially if there are any changes to your flights or delays, it is all under the same booking.

Day 1: Reykjavik

Getting to Reykjavik From the Airport

Surprising to some of the holiday planners out there this is one aspect of many individuals holiday that is overlooked, unless you hire a car or you are like me and like to know exactly how to get everywhere! Many people will rely on taxi or bus services from the airport upon arrival. At so many different airports across the world this is usually fine, but I am sure you have heard the rumours… Iceland is expensive.

There is no Uber services in Iceland and a taxi from the airport to the city you will be looking between £100 – £130 for the journey. Trust me you don’t want to be surprised by this on the first day of your trip!

I recommend booking a bus transfer in advance with either airport direct or flybus this will cost you around £48 return. Of course if there is a bigger group of you the taxi may be the best option!

Explore the City

Reykjavik is the perfect sized city to explore, it is very easy to walk around and see all the sights.

We spent one day of our trip enjoying the sunshine, albeit still chilly, while taking in all the sights. Downtown Reykjavik is a small area of the capital which will take you around 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other.

We started our day by heading down to the water front to see the Sea Voyager. This is a beautiful metal sculpture overlooking the bay with Mount Esja showing off in the distance. The sculpture signifies an ode to the sun and faces north across the bay. It may seem to resemble a Viking Ship but it was originally designed based on “the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom”. It is a fantastic piece and worth a visit on your trip.

Markets and Museums

I didn’t believe it until I saw it for myself, they love museums in Reyjkavik! With around 60 spaces around the city dedicated to exhibitions, art galleries and museums there will be something for everyone to enjoy during your stay.

There are museums dedicated to Icelandic historic, the punk era, the beautiful whales that live within the surrounding oceans and yes you heard it right Iceland is home to the worlds only genuine penis museum.

Search For All the Street Art

As you wander through the beautiful streets of Reykjavik you will notice there is a thriving street art scene. As you turn round so many corners you will come across different tags and murals of different shapes and sizes!

These are only a few of my favourites that we came across. I won’t lie I don’t know a lot about street art, their history and the artists that have created them. That doesn’t stop me from truly admiring the creativity and love that has gone into these pieces.

Whether you are an art whizz or even an admirer, make sure you search for some during your visit. The beautiful, the colourful and wacky are out there.

Struggling for time? You can book on to a Street Art tour to ensure you make the most of the time you have in this beautiful city.

Visit Hallgrímskirkja Church

This outstanding landmark towers high over the city of Reykjavik, it is so tall you can see it from all corners of the city. It is actually the tallest church in all of Iceland.

The design was inspired by the natural elements of Iceland, especially the unique basalt columns that can be found around the country. Hallgrímskirkja was completed in 1986 but it wasn’t an easy ride, construction took over 40 years due to many unforeseen circumstances and substantial criticisms to the design. The wait was worth it as it is now one of the top visited locations for tourists in all of Iceland. It is free to visit the main interior of the church however if you want to climb the tower to the observation deck it is 1000kr per adult and 100kr for children aged 7-16.

During your visit be mindful that this is a place of sanctuary and an active church. Opening times are subject to change but can be found here.

Go out for Coffee

Ever since visiting Melbourne in Australia, known to be the coffee capital of the world, George has become a bit of a coffee snob. Sorry G it’s true!

We are now always on the hunt for a good coffee and of course Iceland didn’t disappoint. Our favourite spot we came across was Kaffibrennslan. Located right in the centre of downtown Reykjavik it is a prime place to stop for a brew or that much needed caffeine hit.

Visit One of the Many Happy Hours

This isn’t like a night out on the Toon and bar hopping down grey street, you definitely feel it in the wallet. If you fancy trying some of the local brews I highly recommend the app Appy hour, it details the happy hours of all the bars within the Reykjavik area, their prices and their times!

On average you should expect to spend around £8 – £9 (1200 kr – 1500 kr) for a beer or wine but during happy hour they can be half! Cheers to that.

Head Out on a Northern Lights Tour

The enchanting lights of the Aurora Borealis dancing across the night sky is one of the most saught after natural phenomenons that entice travellers across the globe. Iceland is known to be one of the best countries to visit to see this spectacle one.

To increase your chances while in Iceland it is best to visit between September and April, this is due to the nights being a lot longer! In the peak of winter some locations in Iceland will have around 19 hours of darkness, providing perfect conditions to spot the northern lights.

We booked a Northern Lights tour with Bus Travel Iceland, we met at the pickup location for 9pm ready to start the hunt for the lights. After reading a few reviews online we knew this part of the tour was going to be very hectic. A lot of tour companies all meet in the same location and there can be up to 10 busses looking to pickup all there guests, there was so many people! When they finally called our names and we found our seats on the bus we could then relax.

When you pay for a relatively cheap tour you have to expect something to not be great and for us it was the pick up logistics. The tour itself was great our tour guide was very knowledgable and you could tell she loved her job!

Unfortunately it was a very cloudy night and we didn’t get to see the northern lights on this occasion but the company provided a voucher to come on another tour within the next year if there was no sightings. It is definitely something to entice you back to Iceland!

Always book a tour for the start of your trip, this gives you the opportunity to go again if you weren’t lucky on the first try!

Day 2: Iceland’s Golden Circle

There is just so much of Iceland I wanted to see, but with only a 3 night stopover we had to plan carefully. We booked a Golden Circle trip with bus travel iceland to take care of all the logistics, an 11 hour tour that took us to the top destinations around the Golden Circle. I found that this option was a lot cheaper than hiring a car and exploring on our own. Of course this makes time in each location limited but it was just the right amount, I would highly recommend!

Blue Lagoon

The first stop of the day was the Blue Lagoon. Originally the trip was going to end here and I was definitely not prepared, I thought it would be a relaxing evening at the lagoon and then straight back to the hotel. Safe to say I wasn’t the only one that was shocked so be prepared!

They may change the order at last minute to avoid busy periods or to align with other tours they have running.

Even though I was surprised, I am so glad they changed the order. It was nice and quiet when we first arrived, there were very short queues to enter and plenty of space in the changing rooms.

The Blue Lagoon is one of the most popular Geothermal pools in Iceland. It is closest to the airport, so a lot of travellers may even make the trip to the lagoon during their layover between flights. It has a lagoon-side bar and other treatments you can purchase too. The amount of silica in its waters give it that gorgeous blue colour that people strive to see.

disclaimer: Avoid putting your hair in the water if you can, it is really bad for it!

The Kerið Crater

After our refreshing morning relaxing in the warm waters of the lagoon we set out for the golden circle. Our driver was amazing and really knowledgable about the area, sharing stories as we drove along through the snow.

This crater is one of Icelands many volcanic wonders to explore. Scientists believe that this crater in particular was created when a cone-shaped volcano collapsed in on itself when it depleted its magma stores.

Surrounded by snow and more flakes falling around us, it was magical and also eery. Icelands landscape feels like another planet. This is a really short loop walk which takes you around the crater itself, providing stunning landscapes and viewpoints of the surrounding area.

An easy 1.4km walk which takes around 25 minutes to complete.

Gullfoss Falls

Gullfoss Falls translates to Golden Falls, there are many theories as to why with one of them being the glorious golden reflection off the water when the evening sun hits. The winter doesn’t quite give the golden warmth feeling but it is absolutely magical.

The snow covered valley and the gushing water down the falls truly felt like a winter wonderland. I know I haven’t seen anything quite like it before.

It was an extremely popular area, but there are so many view points along the walk from the car park that I didn’t think it ruined the experience at all!

Geysir Geothermal Area and Strokkur Geyser

A must see spot along the golden circle is the Geothermal Area, home to the Strokkur Geyser. Strokkur is one of the active Geysers still in the area and a marvel to watch as it shoots water up into the sky leaving tremendous steam in its wake.

The paths are very accessible and easy to follow as they wind through the hot springs, creeks and geysers.

Thingvellir National Park

The last spot on our ur tour was the beautiful Thingvellir National Park. By this point we had been out for around 9 hours and the temperature was starting to drop, thank you past sarah for bringing the warm layers!

As our tour flipped the schedule around we were the only people there when we arrived, it was eery but also beautiful and quiet. I absolutely adore visiting national parks their beauty always astounds me, how can a landscape look so peaceful and inviting.

Thingvellir was Icelands first national park and covers an area of around 240km2, we definitely didn’t have enough time to explore the entire area. If money wasn’t an object I would have planned a trip to allow us to explore this park over several days!

Not only is this area full of geological wonders it is tied to a lot of icelandic history awarding it UNESCO world heritage status. One of three locations in Iceland!

It is within this area you can scuba dive between two tectonic plates, Silfra. It was something that we would have loved to do on our trip but with the water being a chilly 2-4 degrees all year round a drysuit is a must. We hadn’t completed our drysuit course yet meaning it would take up our entire trip to do the course and dive Silfra, we will return one day to do it though!

Northern Lights Tour

Since we didn’t see anything on our Northern Lights tour on the first night we received a voucher to use with them again which was valid for a year. We might only visit Iceland once so of course we went the next night and I am so glad we did, we saw the Northern Lights!

If you are lucky enough to experience the Aurora Borealis it is astounding beautiful. Watching the lights dance through the skies is truly out of the world. On their tours you feel like true northern light hunters!

Our tour was on a huge bus so the only roads we could explore were tarmac main roads. In the dark of night you don’t even realise where you are, your eyes are too fixed on the skies above. If you are looking for a more Icelandic northern lights encounter I recommend doing your own self drive tour of the island. Stay in small accommodations in rural locations with limited light pollution, this will significantly increase your chances of seeing the lights across a gorgeous landscape while standing in the snow.