Did you know, Icelandair has a really cool option where you can stopover for up to seven days for free? This unique feature allows you to have what is essentially an extended layover in Iceland at no additional cost.
So, you decide to take the leap and extend your vacation to include the free stopover option–this is great! But, you only have a quick weekend, or two nights, to explore this country as fast (or slow) as you want.
While there are so many combinations of itinerary options on how to spend 48 hours in Iceland, I wanted to share with you the itinerary my sister and I used in January 2019, when we took advantage of the Icelandair stopover option on our way back home to Minnesota, USA from Oslo, Norway.
ICELAND DAY 1: HOURS 1-11
This is more like a half a day, really. We arrived at Keflavík International Airport in the last third of the day, just after a late lunchtime. We reserved our spot on the Flybus a couple of weeks in advance. The Flybus staff were great to work with, and so helpful with any questions we had. The total time between when we got off our airplane to when we arrived at our hotel was around an hour and a half, give or take. We bussed as a large group of around 50 or so from Keflavík International Airport to the Flybus hub in Reykjavik. Given Reykjavik is 49 kilometers from Keflavík International Airport, the ride took around 45 minutes. Once we reached the Flybus hub, we divided into smaller groups of maybe up to 10, and were shuttled from the Flybus hub to our final destinations–hotels, hostels, etc. My sister and I shared the bus with approximately three other visitors, and were the last two people to be dropped off. Our second shuttle driver was so fun and helpful with directions and recommendations for our short stay. He even tried to teach us a few Icelandic words! Mostly, how to pronounce the street names. I need more practice.
Our hotel was situated on the harbor, tucked between the cityscape industrial look of apartments and restaurants and the beautiful sculpture walk that follows the Reykjavik shoreline. The view out of our hotel was stunning, including the most beautiful, rustic old ship being restored, dwarfed by views of mountains in the distance. An eco hotel, Icelandair Hotel Marina was modest and refined. Only blocks or a short shuttle ride from all of our “must see” locations, it was the perfect accommodation for our stay, and at a great price.
Once we were situated into our room, we opted for the in-hotel restaurant, Slippbarinn. We highly recommend the two dishes we shared: the sourdough bread with dip and chicken flatbread, which had a flavorful peanut butter hummus, pesto, roasted seeds, and my favorite—avocado. Yum.
Given we arrived at our hotel late afternoon and ate a late lunch/dinner, we opted to chill the rest of the night until our next outing by having some hot chocolate in our cozy room. Around 8:30pm, our Reykjavik Excursions bus rolled up (this company does it all). Seeming to be a theme, the two of us who were going on this excursion from this hotel were picked up by a smaller shuttle, then brought to a bus hub to meet with a larger group of about 50 folks who also purchased this adventure. After about an hour’s bus ride, we arrived at Thingvellir National Park. Beautiful park—I’m sure of it. This national park was the destination to see one of the most magical sights, the northern lights. Aurora borealis. Polar lights. Pure magic on a 20 degree (Fahrenheit) night.
The good news is that there was hot chocolate on the bus. The bad news is that it was extremely cold and windy. The great news is that the northern lights showed themselves, which is not necessarily a nightly occurrence, and we could see them with our eyes! Fascinatingly, you can’t see the northern lights with your eyes super well, though. In fact, they don’t look at all like what you see in the pictures! This is because of how your camera picks up and processes the lights when you take that photo. To your naked eye, they appear to be somewhat dim and milky in color—the same color your cereal bowl milk looks like when you finish your Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Unfortunately, my Nikon didn’t make it on this trip, and unfortunately again, iPhones aren’t great at capturing the northern lights due to their inability to shoot in manual mode. HOWEVER, fortunately, our guide allowed me to take a photo of his photo to share with you all (below). Also, in the one area where Android wins (hehe), Android phone users can shoot in manual mode and pick up the northern lights! Lucky ducks.
We stayed in Thingvellir National Park for around two hours, staring in awe at the sky. Not only were the northern lights dancing around, but the stars were so magnificent. You could gaze into the deep, dark sky for hours and get lost in its magic.
Our ride from the national park to the bus hub was so peaceful. If any discussions were happening, they were solely focused on the sky and what we had all experienced. I maybe fell asleep. Once we transferred from the large bus back into the smaller shuttle buses, things got interesting. It was around 1:00am, for whatever reason, our shuttle driver dropped us off about six blocks from our hotel. Why? Not totally sure, but it was weird. Luckily we had rented a pocket Wifi unit from Wifivox and were able to find our way back to the hotel. We learned that night that Iceland, or at least this part of Reykjavik, doesn’t shovel their pedestrian walkways.
DAY 2: HOURS 12-36
Our one and only full day in Iceland! We woke up around 5am, ready to take on the day and explore all of Iceland! Just kidding. We woke up at like 9am, missed breakfast, and were only barely awake due to not getting back to our hotel until close to 1:30am. BUT, we had some delicious pastries and coffee from nearby coffee shop, Reykjavík Röst. We had a full day planned, consisting of two places and two places only: Perlan – Wonders of Iceland and whale watching. Actually, we knew we for sure wanted to go to Perlan, but we stumbled upon a responsible whale watching tour group and couldn’t say no! We had originally planned to wander around the city, but I’ve heard that seeing a whale in its natural habitat is a once in a lifetime, magical experience, and, after seeing one in real life, we couldn’t agree more.
Perlan – Wonders of Iceland has a free shuttle from Harpa, making it so easy to get to from our hotel–just a quick ten minute walk and a 10 minute shuttle ride! We even had a few minutes to spend exploring the inside of Harpa and their gift shop before the shuttle arrived. Perlan was an awesome, interactive museum for those who would love to learn more about the geology and history of the country. We could have spent hours wandering around, reading, playing, and exploring. Perlan has a really cool (HA—get it?) ice cave exhibit as well, allowing you to wander through and learn about the natural ice, glaciers, and what the patterns mean. Here you can learn and feel the interactions with volcanoes, earthquakes, and tectonic plates. Built atop one of the tallest hills in Reykjavik, Perlan offers breathtaking views of the city and country. Binoculars were installed outside to capture a stunning glimpse of the mountains and water in the distance.
Mom kept suggesting that my sister and I should go on a whale watching tour on this trip also. Initially hesitant as we weren’t sure if this was the best idea, based off of the negative stigmas an activity like whale watching has, we decided to do some research. We were delighted to find that nearby Elding Whale Watching tours were ethical, responsible, and sustainability focused. According to their website, “Elding also is the first environmentally certified whale watching company in Iceland and is now the only Earth Check Gold Certified whale watching company in the world.” Wow. What an experience. Have you ever been whale watching? If not, add it to your bucket list. It’s definitely back on my bucket list–I could be out on that boat all day if it meant to just grab a quick glimpse of those magnificent creatures. Being it was winter (January after all) and cold, the tour company offers free use of their waterproof and extremely warm overalls. I would definitely recommend not skipping on that–even though everyone matched and looked like giant red Oompa Loompas, boy was that extra layer of clothing necessary when you’re out on the cold, windy body of water.
We departed on the 1:00pm tour with our guide, Otto. There were maybe 75ish other people on the tour with us; however, it never felt like there were that many due to the amount of space on the vessel. There were multiple decks to observe from, all with great sight lines to the water and land in the distance. My sister and I had just ordered our lunch from the canteen, when suddenly the guide exclaimed “Oh! We have a beautiful humpback whale!” The lady working the canteen said she would hold off on making our lunches so we could have this experience of a lifetime, and we ran outside. About two or three minutes later, we were able to see the whale! What a beauty. It was so exciting to learn about the sea life and whales and history of whale tours and Iceland coming from such an enthusiastic and energizing guide. I wish I could describe the rush we got by seeing this whale doing its whale thing, frolicking around the water, eating and just being amazing. It was so cool to see the birds swarming around the water, a sure sign the whale is going to breach the water to blow some air or show its tail. I wish I could explain how refreshing the fresh air, mixed with wind and excitement from the other passengers felt, and how great it was to step back inside to actually eat that lunch you ordered 45 minutes ago and think about what you just saw.
But I can’t.
There aren’t great words.
Just feelings.
We had dinner at RIO Reykjavik. It’s not that I didn’t like the place, but after seeing a whale, I just was thinking about that and not as much about how amazing the tacos were… so you’ll just have to grab a bite there yourself. Actually I had the chicken tacos (but they aren’t just regular chicken tacos like we have here in the United States), and it was the best darn chicken taco I’ve had in my life. It got to the table and I scarfed that thing down so fast I didn’t even get a picture of it! I’m sorry! But not sorry.
Day 3: Hours 37-48
Sigh. The last remaining hours of our time in Iceland. Literally we just spent the morning pulling ourselves together, grabbing a quick breakfast at Slippbarinn, and making the journey back to Keflavik to catch our flights back to Minnesota. The first Flybus shuttle picked us up around lunchtime, and we made the connecting bus back to Keflavik International Airport in time for our 3pm departure. We had a long evening ahead of us, as we then had a six hour flight to Boston, MA, followed by a two and a half hour flight from Boston, MA to Minneapolis, MN. Luckily this gave us enough time to sleep on the plane before jumping back into reality once we got home 🙂
Ahhh!! It looks stunning! Hoping to see this place asap! Whale watching is on my list. 🙂
Yesss whale watching was so magical! I hope you can get there soon!