Long Weekend in Iceland

3 days self-drive idea including northern lights hunt, Blue Lagoon, glaciers, Jokulsarlon, Seljalandsfoss waterfall & Golden Circle

A long weekend in Iceland where you will rent a car from Thrifty, drive to the famous Geysir geothermal area and the Gullfoss waterfall, hunt for northern lights in the evening at Hotel Ranga, drive in day 2 all the way to Jokulsarlon, see some of the famous watfalls on the way back and in the last day stay in Reykjavik, and enjoy Blue Lagoon on your way back to the airport.
Iceland self drive tours

THE 3 DAYS ITINERARY

Day 1 – Arrival in Keflavik, Iceland

After arrival at Keflavik Airport, you can either pick up your rental car at the airport or simply take the Flybus to Reykvik for day one. This might save you one day of rental car charges, but it all depends on when you arrive if this is feasible or not. In Reykjavik we recommend Centrum Hotel for your first day. If you arrive early in the day just use the day to walk around downtown Reykjavik, check out some museums, go to the public swimming pools (that is were you find the locals soaking in hot tubs – often very lively discussions!!), have some hot dog at Bæjarins Bestu in downtown or simply go and shop from some of the local fashion stores e.g. Akmo at the end of Laugavegur. Check out e.g. this northern lights tour northern light tour with Arctic Adventure if you want to increase your chances to see the northern lights while you are visiting Iceland for only 3 days.

Day 2 – Golden Circle trip

Begin your day with picking up your car rental. You can do that at BSI. Today is a day for the Golden Circle tour. Visiting Thingvellir National Park and then head to Lyngdalsheidi on our way to Geyser hot spring area. See all the hot spring, photograph Strokkur and check out Fullsterkur – some interesting stones to lift close to Strokkur. Go to the Geysir shop and shop some Icelandic knit “lopapeysur”. Drive to Haukadalur – a small forrest close by and check out the small country style church. Great area. Drive to Gullfoss waterfall now. Get close to the waterfall and experience the spray from the waterfall in your face. Shoot some photographs and head up to the restaurant next the waterfall. The Icelandic meatsoup is the best choice on the menu. Head back to Reykjavik now – but stop at Kerið on our way home. Kerið is a dormant volcano close to Selfoss. Arrive in Reykjavik close to 19:00 should be possible. Go for some nice restaurant in the evening e.g. Sjavargrillid before driving out of Reykjavik around 9pm to hunt for the northern lights. It depends on weather condition where to head and best to ask the hotel personnel for direction.

Day 3 – Snæfellsjokull glacier and Hotel Budir

Driving to Snæfellsjokull today with some stop-over at Landsnamssetrið (The Settlement Centre). It is in the village of Borgarnes just one hour drive from Reykjavik on road no 1 towards the north (and Snæfellsnesjokull). In the centre we recommend The Egils Saga Exhibition. We head now towards Snæfellsjokull with some stop at Lysuholl swimmingpool. After hiking a bit around Snæfellsjokull glacier we head to Hotel Budir that is a nice country style hotel at Snæfellsnes. We stay here for one night. Great place for hiking and seeing the nature in Iceland. Especially hunting for the northern lights in the evening.

Day 4 – Departure day

Today is your departure day so just wake up, pack your things and drive to Keflavik airport. This is of course only possible if your flight leaves late in the day – and if time allows, go to the Blue Lagoon and relax before you fly back home.

Photo credit: Flickr – AlexKr, Arian Zwegers, Ophelia, Matito, Jeremy Vandel, Yellow book


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