Three Days in,
Reykjavik.
Reykjavik, Iceland
waterfalls, geysers, midnight sun, hot springs
Itinerary
3 chaptersReykjavik on foot, from Laugavegur to the harbor
Reykjavik, Iceland
How the day runs
Reykjavik is a small capital, and this is a walking day with one uphill block in it. Breakfast at Sandholt on Laugavegur, up Skolavordustigur to Hallgrimskirkja, then the elevator to the tower for roofs, harbor, and Mount Esja across the bay. After that it is downhill to the water for the Sun Voyager, Harpa, and the old harbor where the whale boats tie up. Soup for lunch, then a deliberately empty afternoon before dinner. Tomorrow's driving is long, so the rest is part of the plan.
Before you head out
Layers plus a windproof shell, whatever the forecast says. August in Reykjavik sits around 55 degrees and the wind off the bay takes a few degrees off that. Cards work everywhere, including buses and pay restrooms, so you can skip the ATM. Tap water is glacial and free, and bottled water here is a tourist tax. Book Grillmarkadurinn a few days ahead in August. Tower tickets are sold at the desk inside the church, and the line is shortest before 10am.
Walking it
Everything today sits inside about a mile. Sandholt to Hallgrimskirkja is ten minutes uphill on Skolavordustigur, the street with the rainbow painted down it. Church to the Sun Voyager is fifteen minutes downhill on Frakkastigur, then ten minutes west along the waterfront to Harpa and ten more to the old harbor. Lunch is five minutes inland on Laekjargata. If your legs quit, the yellow Straeto buses take cards and the Klappid app, though you will barely need them.
Reykjavik habits
Icelanders go by a first name and a patronymic rather than a family name, so the phone book is alphabetized by first name and so is everyone's contact list. Nobody tips, and adding it reads as a misunderstanding rather than a kindness. Shoes come off inside homes, and at any pool or lagoon you shower without a swimsuit before getting in, which is not negotiable and not personal. Nights out start late, closer to midnight than to ten.
- 0108:30 · 45m
Sandholt Bakery
It opens early, which is the point on a day that starts at 8:30. Order at the counter and take a table upstairs. The croissants and the sourdough go first; the rye bread plate with butter and cheese holds you longer than a pastry will. Cards work everywhere in Iceland, so no krona in hand needed. Forty minutes is plenty.About this place↗ Open in MapsA family bakery and cafe on Laugavegur, Reykjavik's main shopping street, doing sourdough, pastries, and full breakfasts from early morning.
HistoryThe Sandholt family has baked in Reykjavik since 1920, and the business has passed down through four generations, with the current bakers trained in classic French pastry technique.Why it's famousIt is the bakery locals name first, as much for being one of the few places downtown serving a real breakfast before the day starts as for the pastry itself.Did you knowLaugavegur means the wash road. It was the track women followed out to the hot springs in Laugardalur to do laundry, centuries before it became a shopping street. - 0209:45 · 60m
Hallgrimskirkja
Buy the tower ticket at the desk inside, then take the elevator; the last stretch is a short flight of stairs. Before 10am you skip both the tour groups and the wait. The viewing level is open to the wind on four sides, so hold onto your hat. The nave downstairs is plain and quiet, and the Klais organ is worth five minutes on its own.About this place↗ Open in MapsIceland's largest church, a concrete Lutheran landmark on the hill above downtown, with a tower open to visitors.
HistoryState architect Gudjon Samuelsson drew the design in the late 1930s, taking the stepped flanks from the basalt columns that form when Icelandic lava cools slowly. Building ran from 1945 into the 1980s, so it took roughly four decades to finish.Why it's famousAt about 245 feet it is the tallest church in the country and the shape everyone pictures when they picture Reykjavik, visible from most of the city and from the bay.Did you knowThe statue of Leif Erikson out front is older than the church behind it. The United States gave it to Iceland in 1930 for the thousandth anniversary of the Althing, years before the first stone of the church went down. - 0311:15 · 30m
Sun Voyager
It sits right on the Saebraut waterfront path, with no gate and no ticket. Twenty minutes covers it. Shoot from the north side so Mount Esja sits behind the steel across the water. In August the good light runs late into the evening, so if the middle of the day comes out flat, walk back after dinner.About this place↗ Open in MapsA polished steel sculpture on Reykjavik's seafront path, shaped like the ribs of a boat pointed out toward the bay.
HistoryJon Gunnar Arnason made the design for a 1986 competition marking Reykjavik's 200th anniversary, and the finished work was installed on the shoreline in 1990, shortly after his death.Why it's famousIt is the most photographed object in the city, helped by the straight view across Faxafloi bay to Mount Esja.Did you knowIt is not a Viking ship, whatever you hear from a passing tour. Arnason called it a dream boat and an ode to the sun, not a historical replica. - 0412:00 · 75m
Harpa and the Old Harbour
Walk into Harpa's lobby without a ticket and take the stairs up a few levels, since the glass reads better from inside with sun on it. Then it is ten minutes west along the water to the old harbor, where the whale and puffin boats tie up. If you want a whale trip on another day, the huts on the pier are where you book it.About this place↗ Open in MapsReykjavik's concert hall and conference center on the harbor front, wrapped in a shell of geometric glass cells, next to the working piers the whale watching boats run from.
HistoryThe hall was half built when Iceland's banks collapsed in 2008 and the private developer went under. The state and the city took the project over rather than leave a concrete shell on the waterfront, and it opened in 2011.Why it's famousThe facade, developed with the artist Olafur Eliasson, is built from stacked glass modules that catch and split the light, and the building won the European Union's Mies van der Rohe prize for architecture in 2013.Did you knowThose glass cells are a three-dimensional take on basalt columns, the same rock formation behind Hallgrimskirkja's stepped flanks and the cliffs at Reynisfjara. Two very different buildings, one geology. - 0513:45 · 60m
Icelandic Street Food
Order the lamb soup or the fish stew, and take it in the bread bowl if you are hungry. Refills are free and the staff will offer, so do not order two. It is counter service and it gets tight around 1pm, though the turnover is fast. In a city where lunch runs expensive, this is the cheapest hot meal downtown.About this place↗ Open in MapsA small family-run counter in central Reykjavik serving Icelandic lamb soup and creamy fish stew, with free refills and bread.
HistoryIt is a family business built on home-style Icelandic recipes, the kind of soup that was everyday food in Icelandic kitchens long before it appeared on any menu downtown.Why it's famousThe free refills and the bread bowls made it the default cheap lunch in one of Europe's most expensive capitals.Did you knowKjotsupa, the lamb soup, is a one-pot dish of lamb on the bone with root vegetables and herbs. Icelandic sheep roam loose in the highlands all summer, which is a large part of why the meat tastes the way it does. - 0619:00 · 120m
Grillmarkadurinn
Reserve ahead, especially in August, since the dining room fills every night. Ask for a table on the main floor if you want to watch the grill work. The tasting menu is the easy call, though ordering lamb or the catch of the day off the menu costs less. Dinner runs close to two hours, so do not plan anything after it.About this place↗ Open in MapsA downtown grill restaurant near Laekjartorg, cooking Icelandic lamb, beef, and fish over open flame in a room of stone, wood, and glass.
HistoryIt opened in 2011, part of the wave of ambitious restaurants that followed the financial crash, when a weak krona and a surge in visitors made Reykjavik dining worth taking seriously.Why it's famousIt is where Reykjavik sends visitors for a proper Icelandic dinner, and it names the farms and boats its meat and fish come from.Did you knowIcelandic sheep are a breed kept almost entirely isolated since the settlement era, which is why the lamb here does not taste like lamb anywhere else.
The Golden Circle, plus ice cream and tomatoes
Golden Circle, Iceland
What the loop looks like
The Golden Circle is less a marked route than a habit, three big sights on roads that link up without backtracking. Thingvellir first, while the morning is still quiet, then east to Geysir and Gullfoss. The two food stops are not filler. Efstidalur is a working dairy farm with an ice cream bar in the barn, and Fridheimar serves lunch inside a tomato greenhouse. Kerid on the way home is forty minutes well spent. Reckon on about 150 miles of driving across the day.
Sort these before you drive
Fill the tank in Reykjavik. Stations out here are unattended pumps that want a card with a PIN, so know yours. Thingvellir parking is paid online against your plate and the cameras do check, while Kerid takes a small fee at the gate. Fridheimar needs a reservation and often sells out a week ahead in August. Bring a waterproof shell and a hat you can hold onto, since the spray at Gullfoss arrives sideways.
Driving it
Route 36 out of town reaches Thingvellir in about 45 minutes. From there Route 365 crosses to Laugarvatn and Efstidalur, Route 37 runs on to Geysir, and Gullfoss is six miles further along Route 35. Coming back, 35 takes you south through Reykholt for Fridheimar, past Kerid, and down to Route 1 at Selfoss for the last hour home. Everything is paved and a small car is fine in August. Gravel F roads are not covered by most rental insurance, so stay off them.
Some context for the stops
The Althing that met at Thingvellir from around the year 930 was an open-air assembly of chieftains, and the man who recited the law aloud from memory at the Law Rock was the closest thing the country had to a head of state. The word geyser is Icelandic, from geysa, to gush, and every geyser on earth is named after the one spring in Haukadalur. Tomatoes grow at Fridheimar because heat and electricity here come out of the ground cheaply, which is the same reason every small town has a heated outdoor pool.
- 0109:00 · 90m
Thingvellir National Park
Park at P1 above the visitor center and pay online the same day, since cameras read the plates. The path drops through the Almannagja gorge with the rift wall on your right, and Oxararfoss is a short detour up the valley. Ninety minutes covers the gorge, the falls, and the little church at the bottom. Restrooms cost a small fee.About this place↗ Open in MapsA rift valley and national park an hour east of Reykjavik, where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart and Iceland's parliament met in the open air for centuries.
HistoryChieftains established the Althing here around the year 930, and it met on this plain every summer until 1798, with laws recited aloud from the Logberg, the Law Rock. Iceland declared itself a republic on the same ground in 1944.Why it's famousIt is both the birthplace of Icelandic law and one of the few places on land where you can walk down into the gap between two continental plates. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 2004.Did you knowThe Silfra fissure here is filled with meltwater that has spent decades filtering through porous lava, and divers regularly report visibility of more than 300 feet. - 0211:00 · 40m
Efstidalur II farm
The ice cream bar is in the old barn on the ground floor, with a window that looks straight into the cowshed, and the restaurant is upstairs. Skip a full lunch here, since Fridheimar is only a few hours off, and get a scoop and a coffee instead. There are calves near the entrance, so expect to stall if you have kids along.About this place↗ Open in MapsA working dairy and beef farm on Route 37 near Laugarvatn, with an ice cream bar in the barn and a restaurant upstairs serving what the farm produces.
HistoryThe same family has farmed this land for generations. They opened the barn to visitors as a way to sell milk and meat directly instead of only through wholesalers.Why it's famousThe ice cream is made a few steps from the cows that gave the milk, and the window into the cowshed makes that literal rather than a claim on a label.Did you knowIcelandic cattle are their own breed, brought by Norse settlers and kept separate ever since. They are smaller and far more varied in color than the Holsteins that dominate dairy farming elsewhere. - 0311:55 · 60m
Geysir geothermal field
Entry is free and the loop takes under an hour. Strokkur is the one that performs, roughly every five to ten minutes, so pick a spot upwind and watch for the water to dome up blue just before it goes. Stay on the boardwalks, because the crust off them is thin and the water underneath is near boiling. Restrooms are at the cafe across the road.About this place↗ Open in MapsA geothermal field in the Haukadalur valley of steaming vents, hot pools, and the geyser Strokkur, which erupts every few minutes.
HistoryEruptions here have been recorded since the 1200s, when earthquakes in the area appear to have opened the vents. The Great Geysir has cycled between quiet and active ever since, often woken by earthquakes and, for a stretch of the twentieth century, by soap poured into the vent to force a show.Why it's famousThe English word geyser comes from this one spring. Geysir takes its name from the Icelandic verb geysa, to gush, and every geyser in the world is named after it.Did you knowThe Great Geysir mostly sleeps now. The reliable performer is its neighbor Strokkur, which had been blocked for decades until locals cleared its channel in the 1960s. - 0413:10 · 45m
Gullfoss
Take the upper platform from the parking lot first for the whole two-tier drop, then the stairs down to the lower path that runs out along the lip. Spray reaches you there, so a hood beats an umbrella in this wind. The lower path closes when it ices over. Forty-five minutes, plus a stop in the cafe if the wind has won.About this place↗ Open in MapsA two-stage waterfall on the Hvita river that drops into a canyon so narrow the river looks like it is vanishing into the ground as you walk up.
HistoryIn the early twentieth century investors wanted to dam the river for hydroelectric power. Sigridur Tomasdottir, whose family farmed the land, fought the plans for years and walked to Reykjavik to argue against them. The scheme died, and the falls have been under state protection since 1979.Why it's famousIt is the biggest name on the Golden Circle, and the story of the woman who saved it is taught in Icelandic schools. A stone relief of her face stands beside the upper path.Did you knowThe lawyer who argued Sigridur's case, Sveinn Bjornsson, went on to become Iceland's first president. - 0514:15 · 75m
Fridheimar tomato farm
Reserve, and do it well ahead in summer, because walk-ins are rarely seated. You eat at tables set among the vines with the grow lights on overhead. Tomato soup with fresh bread is the meal and both come with refills. The Bloody Mary uses the same tomatoes. There is a horse show on the property if you have time for it.About this place↗ Open in MapsA greenhouse farm in Reykholt growing tomatoes year round under glass, with a restaurant set among the growing vines.
HistoryThe family behind it built the operation on Iceland's two cheap resources, geothermal heat and electricity, which together make a summer crop possible through a subarctic winter. They put the restaurant inside the greenhouse rather than build a separate one.Why it's famousEating tomato soup inside a working greenhouse at 64 degrees north is the kind of thing people plan a day around, and it is now one of the most booked stops on the Golden Circle.Did you knowPollination is done by bumblebees kept in hives inside the greenhouse, brought in from the Netherlands and replaced through the growing season. - 0616:10 · 40m
Kerid crater
Small entrance fee at the gate, card accepted. The rim loop takes about twenty minutes on gravel with no railing, and a stepped path drops to the water on the far side. Do the descent first if the wind is strong, then walk the rim. Low light is best, when the red walls actually read red rather than brown.About this place↗ Open in MapsA volcanic crater in the Grimsnes area holding a lake of opaque blue-green water, ringed by steep red and black walls.
HistoryIt formed roughly 3,000 years ago. Rather than blowing apart, the cone seems to have emptied its magma chamber and collapsed into the space it left behind, which is why the walls are intact and the bowl is so even.Why it's famousThe color is the draw, red slag walls against water that reads aquamarine on a bright day. It sits on private land, and the owners charge a small fee that maintains the paths.Did you knowThe bowl works as a natural amphitheater, and concerts have been staged here, including Bjork singing from a raft floating on the lake.
Waterfalls, black sand, and a soak at the end
South Coast, Iceland
What today asks of you
Route 1 east, two waterfalls, a headland, a black beach, then the same road back. This is the longest driving day of the three, roughly 240 miles round trip, though the stops sit close together once you are out there. Lunch is in Vik, the turnaround point. The reward comes at the end rather than the middle, a geothermal lagoon ten minutes from downtown, booked for the evening.
Pack for water
You get wet twice on purpose today, behind Seljalandsfoss and in the spray at Skogafoss, so waterproof pants and shoes with grip earn their place. Parking is paid at Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, and Reynisfjara, each at its own machine or app. Book the Sky Lagoon slot before you leave. Check road.is and vedur.is over breakfast, because wind closes things on this coast more often than rain does. Fill up in Vik before the drive back.
Driving it
Seljalandsfoss is about two hours from Reykjavik on Route 1, with the ice caps on your left most of the way. From there it is twenty minutes to Skogafoss, another twenty to the Dyrholaey turnoff, and fifteen more to Reynisfjara, with Vik just past it. The run from Vik back to Sky Lagoon in Kopavogur takes about two and a half hours without stops. August light holds well past 9pm, so arriving late at the lagoon does not mean arriving in the dark.
What you are driving through
The farms under Eyjafjallajokull were buried in ash in 2010, when the eruption there shut down air traffic across Europe. The bigger local worry is Katla, under the ice cap behind Vik, which has a long eruption history and a well-drilled evacuation plan to match. The trolls in the Reynisdrangar story are not decoration either. Icelandic folklore treats certain rocks as occupied, and that belief still redirects the occasional road or building project.
- 0109:30 · 45m
Seljalandsfoss
Pay at the parking machine, then take the path behind the falls. You will get soaked, so waterproof pants and real shoes matter more here than the jacket does. Afterward walk five minutes north to Gljufrabui, which hides inside a slot canyon and asks you to wade a shallow stream to see it. Both together, about 45 minutes.About this place↗ Open in MapsA narrow waterfall dropping about 200 feet from an old sea cliff, with a footpath that runs all the way behind the curtain of water.
HistoryThe cliff it falls from was the coastline during the last ice age, before the land rebounded and the sea pulled back several miles. The river above, the Seljalandsa, drains meltwater off the Eyjafjallajokull ice cap.Why it's famousWalking behind a waterfall is rare, and this is the easy version of it, a few minutes off Route 1.Did you knowGljufrabui, the second waterfall a short walk north, falls inside a cleft in the same cliff, so most people driving past never learn it is there. - 0210:45 · 45m
Skogafoss
Stand at the base first for the scale, and expect spray on the lens within seconds. The staircase on the right climbs to a platform at the top, several hundred steps and about fifteen minutes. Morning sun puts a rainbow in the mist, sometimes two. The trail keeps going toward Fimmvorduhals if you want ten more minutes of view.About this place↗ Open in MapsA single 200-foot curtain of water on the Skoga river, wide and loud, set back from Route 1 at the foot of the old coastal cliffs.
HistoryLike Seljalandsfoss, it drops over what used to be the shoreline. The river above runs off the Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull ice caps and holds a long string of smaller waterfalls upstream.Why it's famousThe fall is straight and the approach is flat, so you can walk right up to the base, and the mist throws rainbows on any sunny morning.Did you knowLocal legend says the settler Thrasi Thorolfsson hid a chest of gold in the cave behind the falls, and that the ring from the chest ended up on a church door in Skogar. - 0312:00 · 45m
Dyrholaey
There are two levels. The lower lot gives you the arch and the beach view, the upper road gives you the lighthouse and the long look east over Reynisfjara. The upper road is steep and closes during nesting, roughly May into late June. Puffins hang around into August but leave early some years. Windproof layers, this headland catches everything.About this place↗ Open in MapsA headland on Iceland's south coast with a sea arch big enough to sail a boat through, a lighthouse on top, and black beaches on either side.
HistoryThe promontory is what is left of a submarine eruption, and it was an island until sand built up and joined it to the mainland. The lighthouse on the crown dates from 1927.Why it's famousThe arch is the signature, and the height hands you the coastline in both directions, sea stacks at Reynisfjara included.Did you knowIt is the southernmost point of mainland Iceland. South of here there is nothing but the Vestmannaeyjar islands and open ocean. - 0413:00 · 60m
Reynisfjara black sand beach
Read the warning light at the entrance before you walk down, and take it seriously. Stay high on the sand, well back from the wet line, and never turn your back on the water. The basalt columns at the west end are the photo, and the cave beside them is fine, but the waves here have killed visitors. An hour, watching the sea the whole time.About this place↗ Open in MapsA black sand beach west of Vik backed by a wall of hexagonal basalt columns, with the Reynisdrangar sea stacks standing offshore.
HistoryThe sand is ground-down basalt, delivered by glacial rivers and eruptions and worked over by the surf. The columns formed as a lava flow cooled slowly and cracked into hexagons.Why it's famousIt is the most recognizable stretch of coast in Iceland and a regular stand-in for other worlds on screen, and the sneaker waves that break here are why the beach also turns up in safety campaigns.Did you knowIcelandic folklore says the Reynisdrangar stacks are two trolls caught dragging a ship to shore when the sun came up and turned them to stone. - 0514:15 · 75m
Halldorskaffi
It sits in Brydebud, one of the oldest buildings in Vik, so the room is small and it fills the moment a bus pulls in. The lamb and the fish soup are the reasons to be here, though pizza is what most tables order. Eat before you drive, since the road back to Reykjavik runs about two and a half hours with nothing better along it.About this place↗ Open in MapsA small restaurant in the village of Vik i Myrdal, inside a historic timber building, serving lamb, fish soup, pizza, and burgers.
HistoryBrydebud, the building, was put up in the Westman Islands in the 1830s and moved across to Vik at the end of the 1800s when the trading post here needed a store. It has since housed a shop, a museum, and the cafe.Why it's famousIn a village this size it is the dependable sit-down meal, and it is the last real stop before the long drive west.Did you knowVik sits directly below the Myrdalsjokull ice cap, and under that ice is Katla, one of Iceland's most active volcanoes. The church on the hill above the village is the designated gathering point if an eruption sends meltwater down the valley. - 0618:00 · 120m
Sky Lagoon
Book a time slot before you leave Vik. Showering without a swimsuit before you get in is the rule and nobody makes exceptions. The seven-step Ritual takes about an hour at your own pace. Aim for the infinity edge in the last hour of light. A towel comes with every package, so all you really carry in is a swimsuit.About this place↗ Open in MapsA geothermal lagoon at the water's edge in Kopavogur, just south of Reykjavik, with an infinity edge facing the North Atlantic and a turf-walled bathhouse.
HistoryIt opened in 2021, the newest of Iceland's large bathing complexes, and was designed to look like it grew out of the shoreline, with turf-clad walls copied from traditional Icelandic turf houses.Why it's famousThe infinity edge over open ocean is the draw, along with the seven-step Skjol Ritual that moves you from the warm lagoon to a cold plunge, a sauna with a window on the sea, a salt scrub, and a steam room.Did you knowBathing here is a daily habit rather than a treat. Nearly every town in Iceland has its own geothermal pool, and the pre-swim shower rules are enforced by an attendant in all of them.
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