Icetinerary: An Unforgettable 7-Day Iceland Adventure

If you are anything like me, you want to make the most of every second you are on vacation and see and experience all you can while you visit your destination. When I go somewhere new, I go there under the assumption I will never be able to go back, so I do a ton of research and create my ideal itinerary! Iceland was no exception.

At the time I was going to go on this trip, my friend Katie and I were dirt poor but we wanted to ball on a budget and impulse bought late winter tickets for the end of February. Once those were secured, I went hard looking up all the natural wonders the island is packed with. It was hard to narrow it down, seeing as we only had a week to circumvent the entire country, but we settled on the following list.

I will outline our daily itinerary, our activities, and all the wild twists and turns we planned (and most could not have planned) for in this long, epic, and full of surprises post.

DAY 1:

Our enchantment with the island of Iceland started before we even hit the ground, and if you are anything like me you would have been freaking out and ignoring the sugar daddy attempting to buy you drinks and make plans to meet up with you after landing to stare out the window because WE FLEW THROUGH THE FREAKING NORTHERN LIGHTS!!! One of the main reasons we wanted to go on this trip was because we wanted to experience this creepy and amazing phenomenon (I am talking about the lights, not the sugar daddy). I have heard them called “dancing lights” which I felt was the closest thing to accurate. I really don’t think there is any way to describe them, you really just have to see them.

So we land, have way too difficult a time retrieving our rental car, and end up heading in to Reykavik on a bus because we had to wait until later to pick up our car in a different location. This was the first of many diversions from our itinerary. So we checked out our hostel to see if the internet was a liar or if it was really as incredible as it looked online. You guys, I cannot say enough good things about the Oddsson and it was even better than advertised. As I said before, we were really poor when we planned this trip and so since my friend had stayed in a hostel on other trips, we decided to try it after finding this one.

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The rooms were super cheap and had a range of setups, but still to this day I have never stayed somewhere with as comfortable a bed and bedding as this place. The aesthetics were on point, it was an eclectic mix of modern minimalism, mid century kitsch, and classy textured surfaces juxtaposed by graf art. The common areas had a kitchen, lounges, bars, live music, and even a yoga room which we took full advantage of. The customer service was incredible as well. I would highly recommend this place.

We literally dove right in to our adventures in this snowy paradise by booking a snorkeling excursion with DIVE.IS to be able to be on two continents at once, as the area you swim in is in the continental divide. Fun fact about me: I am not a swimmer. So I was thankful they put us in a buoyant suit. The incredibly clean and cold glacier fed water filters through the volcanic rock and creates a currant that carries you along for the ride, so really all you need to do is stay still and float on. From above, the view is pretty, but does not do what you see beneath the surface justice. Submerging yourself in a new face-numbing experience can really change your perspective, or at the very least give you and your friends something (your face in one of those masks) to laugh at!

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When we were planning, each of us chose one paid activity that we wanted to do while we were there, and this was Katie’s choice. I was skeptical at first, but we both still hold it to be one of the coolest experiences of our lives. Our guide was hilarious and super knowledgeable as well, the day tour was worth every penny.

DAY 2:

Explore Reykjavik a little they said, it will be fun they said. They were right! There is tons of graffiti in the city, which I am a big fan of. These were some pretty breathtaking ones.

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We went to Harpa Concert Hall as our first stop, and don’t let the reflecting pool filled with litter outside deter you, this was one of the most beautiful pieces of modern architecture I have set foot inside. If you are an architecture lover like me, you don’t want to miss this beauty.

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Next we wandered in the direction of the great Hallgrimskirkja and caught sat in one of the rows to rest a bit before we headed out of town. I found some money in a church pew too so that was an added bonus! You can go up to the top and look out over the town. The weather was not great so we opted not to due to the poor views, then when the weather was better and we came back it was closed, but I would definitely have done it otherwise.

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We packed up and headed out of the city to see Strokkur, the famous geyser. Honestly if this was out of our way I would have been annoyed at how lackluster it was. Unless you’re nearby, I would opt to see a waterfall over this. Which is what we did next! The incredible Gullfoss was our next stop before heading straight to Hella.

This waterfall was insanely huge and powerful. The sound generated by the water crashing over it had me shook. Once we marveled at it and almost fell down a flight of icy stairs, we decided to journey toward camp in Hella.

We found a hostel here that was around $10 USD but it was only $5 USD use the shower. Yeah remember when I said we were poor when we took this trip? Katie opted to save the $5 and we drove to a small town named Vik to camp with wet hair. Maybe not our best idea of all time, but a funny story nonetheless.

DAY 3:

We woke up after camping in the car…

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Needless to say, we needed hella coffee after that. So we headed out for another day of adventure along the outer ring of the island, this time toward some viewpoints along the southern coast. Due to heavy snow we had to cut the first half of our itinerary as it was all up in the mountains.

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So we started out in Vik and drove up to the horrifyingly steep Dyrholaey cliff top lighthouse views out over the black sand beaches. It was breathtakingly gorgeous and also breathtakingly windy. Like so windy we almost got blown off a cliff and became those tourists that died doing it for the gram. Spoiler alert, I obviously lived to write this. Once we caught our breath, we drove just down the road a few miles we visited the looming basalt cliffs of Reynisfjara which was packed with tourists.

Once we had enough of the families trying to climb up cliffs and get pictures, we moved on to see the epic-looking plane crash remains at Solheimasandur. Remember when I said it was windy earlier? Yeah, still windy. But this time it was an hour walk headfirst in to the wind. We did not know that it was that far of a walk when we started out or we may have declined the attraction. I would say this is a fair weather activity because the black sand being blown in our faces felt like it was shards of glass. To this day I am not sure why we didn’t turn back, but we persevered and made it all the way there! I was very grateful for the wind at our tails on the walk back to the car.

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We ended the night by driving our hangry asses to visit Skogafoss and eating at the restaurant there before our second night of car camping! I was grateful for the cold weather gear we brought with us which I will outline in another post.

DAY 4:

As soon as we woke up we knew something crazy was happening because of the high winds. Like shaking our SUV high winds. Both of us grew up in areas where we had heavy snowfalls but this was definitely brewing disaster. Anyhow we ignored all the warning signs, including Katie literally almost getting swept out to sea in our first pant wetting experience (you can watch the aftermath shame video on my Iceland Instagram highlight) and pressed on.

We set out toward Jokulsarlon, and on the way there were literally trapped at a roundabout with nothing but a gas station. I guess in Iceland it is people’s job to respond when there is a huge storm and block off all exits of roundabouts. So there we were!

Being the extrovert I am, I went in to the gas station to see what the other 10 or so people who had gotten trapped there were going to do since they were not opening the roads until the following day. Thankfully I talked to this super amazing girl who was staying at a hotel a few blocks away and offered us a place to stay that evening. So it was us, her, and some random older German guy in a tiny hotel room with a raging storm outside… definitely not the start to a horror film.

Needless to say, we did not make it to the lagoon, so we did what any reasonable people would do and got drunk at the hotel bar, complete with taxidermy foxes. The landscape went from a light dusting of snow to this overnight.

DAY 5:

After looking up the news, the entire east side of the island was closed off to vehicles past the glacier lagoon. So, since we had come this far and we could still make it, we pressed on. We made it to the lagoon right when the sun decided to grace us with its presence and again the natural beauty was out of this world.

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Due to the time it took us to make it to the lagoon, the fact that the rest of our trip east was impossible due to weather, we readjusted our course and headed back the opposite way to Reykjavik. Remember the amazing girl we met at the roundabout? Remember how we didn’t die? We met her back in Reykjavik and stayed with her there again! In another storm! The snow went from about two inches to this overnight. I guess it was the biggest storm they had since the 1940s, so that is wild!

DAY 6:

It was so fun, and we got in some shopping the next morning before Natalia had to catch her flight back to the states and we headed toward the west side of the island to kind of do our itinerary in reverse. Luckily we had an extra day that we had planned on relaxing in Reykjavik before we left the island, as we were an entire day behind schedule due to the weather.

So we went fording and fjording! The west side of Iceland is truly gorgeous, and I would definitely recommend exploring the fjords if you are an experienced driver, as it is fairly remote in many areas. Like I said before, the ridiculously enormous dump of snow made it an expert level driver situation, but the remote location was perfect for viewing the northern lights.

Our destination for the day was Arnarstapi, but it almost became my final destination…

Look at that beautiful and epic coastline land bridge. That’s Katie out there on it. Picturesque; the perfect spot for an epic Iceland photoshoot. So we both go around the punchbowl churning below to cross the bridge from opposite sides and take some sweet high-five pics or whatever. And I’m stepping and stepping and STILL STEPPING and before I knew it was falling in to the churning oceanic water beating against the cliffs below. I can hear Katie scream, time slowed down, and I grabbed at a rock. Thankfully it was solid and I pulled myself back up because even if I were a swimmer, I would not have survived the fall.

Cue the second pant-wetting. Plot twist though, it wasn’t me that peed my pants, it was again Katie whose drawers were dampened. This sweet gem of a friend was so scared that I was going to die, that she peed her pants. And if that isn’t the kind of friendship you can offer me, I don’t want it!

So I gathered myself and took my footstep path back to where the camera was set up. Katie was a good sport and stayed out there with her peed pants and we got the shot! On the way back to the car she had the nerve to tell me she was only scared because I had the car keys, and for a split second I thought about locking her ass out, pee and all.

So since we had all that adrenaline, we went on in to the night.

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Those were a few of the highlights of our night time adventure: the only house we saw the rest of the night (unless you count the black House of God in the center) and the biggest highlight: the northern lights!

DAY 7:

Flawless! We woke up at Kirkjufell after another night of car camping and decided to visit Hvitserkur then find a hot spring to go to since we didn’t make it to the Blue Lagoon this trip. Like I said, we both chose one paid activity and that one was our third choice. I think if we had the chance to do it all again, I would definitely figure out how to budget for it just to experience it, but both of us like to relax in solitude at hot springs so we set our sights on Grettislaug, since it was in the area of Hvitserkur.

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And the aforementioned hot springs, which had two pools, one on each side of the rock wall. Im not gonna snitch and say the couple on the other side of the rock wall was having sexual relations, but they were definitely having sexual relations. The stormy ocean drowned most of it out, and we were able to enjoy the warm, still water in our pool, but I get it. Just look at that view!

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We took in the views for as long as we could before driving back to Reykjavik and staying again at Oddsson!

DAY 8:

We took the time to walk around Reykjavik a little more today, and got some real coffee (probably the only good cup we had the entire trip) to hunt for an Icelandic sweater for Katie. We went to multiple shops and a flea market, but none were in our basically non-existent budget. We kept seeing all these kids dressed up and coming in to shops to get candy, so we tried getting candy too and after being told no and to grow up we were taught about Oskudagur. Basically it is on the first day of lent, and kids have to sing songs to shop owners to get candy, so after singing “My Neck, My Back” by Khia, I walked away with my sweet treat. Just kidding, we were asked to leave.

But this was the day we were going to do my paid activity, which was riding the tiny Icelandic horses that we had been seeing all over the island during our trip! We went with a company called Islenski Hesturinn which was incredible. They came and picked us up and took us back to our hostel too!

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Icelandic horses have 5 different gaits as compared to the 3 gaits that other horses have, so they feel like you’re gliding along. The tour was rather long and included information about a volcanic area we were in! It was pretty fun! I got a horse shoe as a souvenir to bring us good luck on our next trip!

Once we returned to the hostel it really hit both of us that our trip was coming to a close! It was a wild adventure full of twists and turns and laughs and cries and even though we didn’t make it to the Blue Lagoon, I would not have changed anything for the world.

For more ridiculous updates on this and other travels, follow me on Instagram and leave a comment below and let me know what your favorite adventure (planned or unplanned) has been!