We booked this trip in July 2022 for departure in February 2023, so it was a fair distance in advance. This made the trip very reasonably priced compared to what it was in late 2022.
Day 1
Day 1 was also arrival day on our itinerary. We landed in Keflavik at 09:00, and got to Reykjavik for around 11:30 by the time we had transferred though. If you want more information on the transfer, have a look at our post on getting from KEF to Reykjavik.
Here are some tips for day 1:
1. FlyOver Iceland
First up, FlyOver Iceland! There are mixed reviews about this place online; but we thought we would give it a try while we were here. If you’ve ever been to Orlando, it’s very similar to ‘Soarin Around The World’ in Epcot. You go through various experience rooms describing the history of Iceland, and then you’re immersed in this experience in flying over Iceland. Our only grumble about this whole thing is the time you’re in there; from start to finish it was around 30 minutes.
2. Harpan Concert Hall
We then walked along the seafront, heading towards the Harpan Concert Hall, which is an amazing building to see inside and out. Sadly, we couldn’t get into the concert hall itself which would have been great to see, but we wondered around the few small outlets inside and up to the second floor to look at the views.
3. Sun Voyager
Continuing our journey along the seafront, we reached the Sun Voyager which is a steel sculpture to resemble a Viking ship. Although, according the locals it wasn’t meant to resemble this but a a tribute of sorts to the sun.
4. Northern Lights Tour
After a drink and some food, we headed for the boat! This was a 2-hour tour which took us out into the sea where it was dark. We purchased our tickets via TripAdvisor for this, and it seemed to be the only tour going out that night because of the bad (cloudy) weather. Sadly we didn’t see the Norther Lights this time, but was handy that the boat docked 10 minutes walk from the hotel.
Day 2
Time to venture out further into Reykjavik. We covered some ground on this day, but it also happened to very windy, so much that they had to close the airports. We didn’t get blown over though, so thats a bonus.
- Rainbow Street
Rainbow Street is, well, a road painted in the colours of the rainbow. It’s there to signify and show support for the LGBTQ communities. We thought it was brilliant, and only a short walk from the hotel.
2. Hallgrimskirkja
As you walk up Rainbow Street and onto Skólavörðustígur, you will end up at the amazing church/cathedral. This building is amazing, it’s very modern, and was completed in 1986. The inside is great to see (free at the time of writing) and it’s around £6 to get up to the 360 viewing platform. You’ll also be with the church bells!
3. Perlan
From the cathedral, we headed up to Perlan, which is much easier when it’s not so windy! This building contains a museum/exhibition, a 360 viewing platform, ice cream shop, coffee shop, and restaurant. As the weather was so bad during our visit, it was very busy and sadly the viewing platform was closed. However, it was great to see the exhibitions on the Northern Lights and the history of Iceland (including a real ice cave). Definitely stop by here if you’re visiting.
4. Skólavörðustígur
We mentioned this street a little earlier, from Perlan, we walked back to the cathedral and wondered down the street looking in all of the different shops. Most of them are selling souvenirs, but they’re interesting to look through along with some amazing art/photography shops.
After this, we spent a bit of time exploring the happy hours, and had some food. You can find more about this here in our post about food and rink
Day 3
The main feature of this day was the Sky Lagoon, we’ve written about this experience in a separate post which you can find here.
However, before we went to the Sky Lagoon, we found a cat cafe on the map which we decided to try. The cafe was towards Rainbow Street which was a short walk as mentioned in our day 2 itinerary.
If you’re a cat lover, we’d recommend this place. There’s no fee to get in, it’s just whatever you eat and drink. The cats are apparently available to adopt, and most of them were very friendly and wanted to say hello. Some just wanted to sleep though, understandably!
Day 4
Day four was also going home day, but we had a few more things we wanted to fit in before heading to the airport.
Most of the items on the list form part of our food and drink post, so we wont repeat it all again here. However, the highlights where:
- Hygge Coffee & Bakery
- Reykjavik Rost Coffee & Bar
- Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur (Hot Dog Stand)
At this point, it was time to get ourselves ready for our journey to the airport. You can read more about this here
