Liss Travels: 5 Days in Iceland

Iceland Travel Diary

We took the 10pm flight from Minneapolis (which is direct!) It’s so random that you can fly direct to Iceland from Minneapolis, but so convenient! We left at 10pm and landed around 9am in Iceland (6 hour flight and 5 hour time difference). When you arrive in Iceland and clear customs, go straight to Duty Free to buy alcohol. The alcohol in Iceland is super expensive and Duty Free is a fraction of the price! 

Day 1: Blue Lagoon and Getting Settled

From the airport we went straight to the Blue Lagoon. For details on logistics, luggage, etc. I answered all Blue Lagoon specific questions here! At the Blue Lagoon we swam, sipped prosecco, did face masks, enjoyed the sauna and steam room, and just relaxed! It was a perfect way to celebrate our third wedding anniversary.From the Blue Lagoon, we took the bus transportation into Reykjavik. We stayed at this Airbnb, which was the absolute perfect location. It is very close to the Hallgrímskirkja church, so that was always a good landmark to tell bus drivers for where we needed to get off. From the Airbnb we could walk everywhere we needed to go in Reykjavik. It was a few blocks from Laugavegur street, which is the main restaurant and shopping street.

Once we checked in to our Airbnb, we went in search of snacks. We were very hungry at this point! Not too far from our Airbnb is Reykjavik Chips, so we stopped in there for an appetizer of sorts. Tony said these were the best fries he has EVER HAD. They were very delicious and they had about a dozen condiments you could choose from for dipping. We liked this place so much we actually went back a second time later in the trip. From Reykjavik Chips, we started walking down Laugavegur Street, which is sort of the main drag in Reykjavik. We started ‘pounding the pavement’ (we like to call it) and just checking out Reykjavik.

We walked toward the port area in search of Coocoo’s Nest for our anniversary dinner. I had read online that Coocoo’s Nest did pizzas on Wednesday nights, and because Tony loves pizza so much, I wanted to make sure we got that for our anniversary. This was definitely more of a local’s spot, and a good first meal in Reykjavik. We split a pizza and had a few drinks. Shortly after dinner, we stopped to get ice cream at Valdis, which is I guess the best ice cream in Reykjavik. 

After our dinner and treat, we walked around the port area learning all about the history of the fishing industry in Reykjavik. It was very fascinating ! We liked to look at all of the boats and the scenery. There was an area with thousands of rocks stacked (rock stacking proved to be a big theme in Iceland). We stacked three rocks there in honor of our third wedding anniversary.

Day 2: Walking Tour and Checking out Reykjavik

One of the coolest parts about Iceland (for me) was that they have 24 hours of daylight in June. The sun would set slightly but then just go right back up again! Although very cool, it was really difficult to sleep at night! We recommend bringing an eye mask. Delta gave us them on the flight so we kept them and used them the whole trip! Because getting to sleep was rough, it was even more difficult to get up for day 2!

On day 2, we had our first breakfast at Sandholt, which was right on Laugavegur. We had some delicious pastries and coffee (all of the coffee is really good here and I’m not quite sure why?) Sandholt ended up being our favorite breakfast of the whole trip and it was on the first day!

After breakfast we did a free walking tour that started at 10. I’ve done the CityWalk free walking tours in a bunch of cities in Europe and while researching found that Reykjavik had one. The tour was fantastic! Our tour guide Disa was extremely knowledgeable and told us so many interesting things about Iceland. Did you know that the British and the Americans both occupied Iceland during World War 2? Tony’s favorite part of the entire trip was this FREE walking tour! Who says that everything in Iceland is expensive?

We had the most delicious lunch at Icelandic Street Food. I found it on several sites while researching as a good “budget friendly” place to go. I say “budget friendly” because a meal is $20, which is cheap for Iceland, but definitely not a cheap lunch by most standards. They have both seafood stew and lamb stew and free refills! We opted for the lamb due to Tony’s seafood allergy and we got it in a bread bowl. So delicious! They also gave us free desserts and free waffles! The staff was super nice and the place was super cute. Can’t recommend this place enough.

After our tour and lunch, we went to the Hallgrímskirkja church to look around. The church is one of the most famous landmarks in Reykjavik. You can see it from pretty much everywhere. After that it was time to re-caffeinate. This time we opted for Reykjavik Roasters. They had several awards hanging on the walls, so they must be pretty good at this coffee brewing thing! Our friends Dan and Autumn happened to be in Iceland at the same as us so we invited them to stay in our Airbnb that night. So after our coffee, we met up with them and got them all settled in our Airbnb.

We walked around Reykjavik together and enjoyed hot dogs from Baejarin Bestu. Iceland is super famous for their hot dogs! They are lamb dogs topped with raw onions, fried onions, sweet brown mustard (called pylsusinnep) and remoulade, which is a sauce that has mayo, capers, mustard and herbs. Greatest hot dog of my life! There are several hot dog places in Reykjavik, but this one is the most famous because both Bill Clinton and Kim Kardashian have eaten here. Make sure you get a hot dog with everything while in Reykjavik!

Day 3: The Golden Circle

Our third day began at Braud and Co for coffee and pastries. This place was super close to our Airbnb and was the only coffee place that opened early. Icelanders must sleep late because there were hardly any places to get coffee at 8 am! We needed to fuel up early because we were headed on a tour to the Golden Circle.

We booked our Golden Circle tour through Your Day Tours. This tour company was good, but nothing to rave about (all of the tour companies seemed super similar). The mini bus fit 19 people which was a small group compared to the large coach buses we saw throughout the tour. If you want a more personal experience, I would book a private tour or rent a car.

The Golden Circle tour included stops at Faxi (waterfall), Gulfoss (waterfall), Geysir (hot spring), and Pingvellir (national park). This was our first real view of Iceland’s countryside and it is gorgeous! Iceland’s landscape was unlike anywhere I had ever seen. It is mostly black lava rock that covers Iceland (did you know there are 150 active volcanoes in Iceland?) You don’t see many trees, grass, plants, etc. it’s mostly lava, moss, and waterfalls!

My favorite site on this tour was the national park. They filmed a bunch of scenes from season 4 of Game of Thrones here and we were totally geeking out! This national park is where two tectonic plates meet and we got to walk along the giant crevasse and look down into it.

Back in Reykjavik that evening we had the best dinner of our trip. We went to Saegreifinn (Sea Baron in English) and it was fantastic. It was this small fish shack in the port area of Reykjavik. You picked whatever fish you wanted our of their case and they would cook it up for you on a skewer. We ordered both the cod and the halibut and both were excellent. I also tried the whale! It was like seared ahi tuna I would say? Kind of a mix between seared tuna and a steak? The lobster stew was excellent as well!

Day 4: World Cup

It was a happy coincidence that we were in Iceland while they were placing their first World Cup game. We actually had plans for the day but once we knew that we could party in Reykjavik during the game, we changed our minds and cancelled! We loaded my backpack up with beers and watched the game in one of the main squares in Reykjavik. The game ended in a tie but you would have thought that Iceland won in the entire World Cup. The city went wild! Popping champagne bottles and running in the street, it was crazy!

After the game we were starving and craving fish and chips. Iceland is very well known for their fish and chips (and all seafood) because fishing is such a huge industry. We thought it would be fun to do a ‘fish and chips challenge’ and get an order from two different famous fish and chips restaurants. We ordered first from Icelandic Fish and Chips and then from Reykjavik Fish.  The verdict? Reykjavik Fish for sure!

After resting up a bit, we ventured out for dinner (we are all about the food after all!) I really wanted to try a traditional Icelandic dish called Plokkfiskur, which is a  mashed fish with potatoes and cheese. I heard from a few locals to go to Café Loki, which was super traditional and had this dish. It was super good! If you want a super traditional meal, this is a good place to go and really close to Hallgrímskirkja church.

Day 5: South Iceland

Our final day in Iceland began at Braud and Co again (the only place that was open!) for coffee and pastries. The cinnamon rolls and croissants (and everything we tried) were so so good!

After Braud and Co, we were off on another tour, this one to South Iceland. The South Iceland tour was through Your Day Tours (same company as the Golden Circle) and was 10 hours. The tour stopped at you guessed it… a lot of waterfalls! The four stops included Seljalandsfoss (waterfall), Skogafoss (waterfall), Solheimajokull (glacier), and Reynisfjara (black sand beach).

The waterfalls were beautiful, but we loved the glacier! Game of Thrones filmed some scenes here on this glacier, and actually paid for the road to be built! It’s because of Game of Thrones that all of us tourists get to go and visit it! A lot of people were doing the glacier hike up on this glacier and it looked really cool. Tony was a little worried about the heights, so we did not do the glacier hike. Looked very cool though!

The black sand beach was also very beautiful! The black sand is from the lava rock and was just so different. There were all sorts of caves and rocks and just unlike anything we’d ever seen.

On our final night in Reykjavik, we decided to do a really nice dinner (we hadn’t splurged much at this point!) and decided on Ostabudin. I ordered the arctic char and it was phenomenal! I also ordered the whale again, it was so good I couldn’t pass up having it again. The restaurant was super cozy and had great service.

Food Recommendations

This is not everywhere we went in Iceland, but our favorites (in no particular order!) 

Coffee + Breakfast

1. Braud and Co
2. Sandholt
3. Reykjavik Roasters

Cheap(er) Eats – nothing in Iceland is cheap!

1. Reykjavik Fish (fish and chips)
2. Icelandic Street Food (lamb or seafood stew)
3. Baejarin Bestu (hot dogs)

Nicer Dinners

1. Café Loki (traditional Icelandic)
2. Ostabudin (nicer dinner)
3. Sea Baron (super fresh fish shack)

Other Tips

• Buy alcohol at Duty Free at the airport. It is a fraction of the price of what you will find in Reykjavik. The liquor stores are government run and outrageously expensive. The beer at the grocery stores is not “real beer,” I think it’s only 2%.  
• Bring an eye mask for sleeping if you are planning on going in the Summer. 24 hours of daylight is no joke! 
• We didn’t bring an Icelandic krona nor did we go to an ATM. Everywhere we went took credit card (even the hot dog stands!)
• Bring rain gear (maybe even waterproof pants!) It rains a lot, bring hiking boots, waterproof pants, and a waterproof jacket. Don’t both with an umbrella because it’s super windy.

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