In February of 2019, I was able to take a 2-week trip to Iceland. It was phenomenal! I explored Iceland on my own for the first week, and then I joined up with a photography expedition (https://jansenphotoexpeditions.com/iceland-photography-workshop/) for the subsequent week.

Iceland has been a bucket list location for me for a long time. I was excited by the striking landscapes, the reputation for being one of the safest countries in the world and, most of all, the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights (spoiler alert: I saw them!!).

When I began my research, a lot of blogs recommended renting a car and driving around Iceland yourself. Iceland is only about the size of Kentucky so it is, theoretically, a very drivable country. However, I was going in the middle of winter, and I have only ever lived in Southern California, so I did not feel ready to drive in an Icelandic winter. I am so glad I made that decision! Winds can get up to 50-60mph and blizzards can come and go out of nowhere in Iceland. I saw more than one car stranded on the side of the road, and I was glad that wasn’t me.

There are currently no direct flights from LAX to Iceland (KEF), so I went through Seattle. I left LAX Saturday morning (around 9am) and arrived in Iceland around 7am on Sunday.

Because so many flights from the US arrive in Iceland really early in the morning, some people recommend booking a hotel for the night before you arrive, so you have a room ready for you when you arrive in Iceland. I decided to take a gamble and not book an extra night, and it paid off! After waiting for my checked luggage and taking the bus from the airport to my hotel, I ended up getting there around 8:30, and my room was ready! Per the recommendation of my hotel, I took the Flybus with Reykjavik Excursions to go from the airport to my hotel. There is a kiosk right inside the arrivals terminal in the airport where you can buy a ticket for the Flybus.

I decided the stay at the Hilton Reykjavik Noridca. It was a little less expensive than some other hotels because it’s about a 15 minute walk from the hotel to get to the center of Reykjavik. I also am a Hilton Honors member. Overall, it was a really nice hotel with friendly staff and a very nice restaurant, but I think I would’ve preferred to be closer to the center of town (and maybe stay somewhere with a kitchen).

Scroll all the way to the end for my Iceland Winter Packing List

DAY 1: Foodie Tour

I settled into my room, got the breakfast buffet at my hotel, and headed out into the city! On my first day in Reykjavik I signed up for a foodie tour! I did one in Vancouver that I really enjoyed, (https://www.lavitabloger.com/canada-banff-national-park-vancouver/ ) so I was excited to find one in Iceland! I left my hotel about an hour before my tour started so I could enjoy the shops around the main drag of Reykjavik. I went with the Wake Up Reykjavik Food Walk in the Afternoon (https://www.thereykjavikfoodwalk.com/#about-the-food-tour) because of their great reviews online and they did not disappoint! Our tour guide, Agnes, was personable and knowledgable and I had a great time sampling different Icelandic cuisine! I really liked trying one of the famous hot dogs from Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, but my favorite was the arctic char we got from Messin!

The food tour ended around 4pm and I was seriously crashing! I walked around downtown Reykjavik a little bit and then I had to go back to my hotel. I tried to stay awake, but I ended up going to sleep around 7pm.

DAY 2: Game of Thrones Tour

Today, I went on a Game of Thrones tour(https://grayline.is/tours/reykjavik/game-of-thrones-tour-8706_88/ )! A lot of the television show has been shot in Iceland, so I was excited to see some of the filming locations! However, I was a little disappointed with the tour overall. It was VERY cheesy, and most of filming happens in the summer, so the locations looked pretty different in the winter. One of the canyons we went to I couldn’t even see into because the wind and snow was blowing so hard! My favorite stop on the tour was the first stop where we got to meet some of the stars of the show, the Icelandic horses who were used in filming! They were so sweet and very fluffy!

If you’re a mega GOT fan and/or if it’s summer time this tour might be worth it for you, otherwise, I’d recommend skipping it and spending a day exploring Reykjavik. It did succeed in making me want to rewatch the series, though!

DAY 3: Reykjavik (City Tour & Horseback Riding Tour)

My first tour of the day was the free walking tour of Reykjavik (https://citywalk.is/tour/free-walking-tour-reykjavik/). It was very good! I liked my tour guide and he had a lot of interesting information about the history of Reykjavik. It’s not an entirely “free” tour, because you are asked to tip at the end as much as you think is appropriate. Our tour guide ended the tour by giving us a piece of black licorice candy! Black licorice is a very popular flavor in Iceland, a lot of their chocolate includes some sort of black licorice, and I even got served butter infused with black licorice once! The tour ended at Harpa Concert Hall. I wish I had been able to see a show at Harpa, it’s a beautiful space and it would’ve been fun to see something, but I wasn’t interested in anything that was playing while I was there.

I also did a horseback riding tour today! I went with Viking Horses (https://vikinghorses.is ) and did the Mjolnir Afternoon Tour. It was great! The horses were so friendly and easy to ride, even though I am definitely a beginner! Icelandic horses have a special gait in addition to the regular gait all horses have, and I got to try that out as well! We rode through beautiful scenery around the stables for a few hours. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures because you can’t bring a camera with you on the tour. At the end of the tour, they fed us some Icelandic snacks, which was really nice!

DAY 4: South Coast

Today was probably my favorite day while I was solo in Iceland. I went on the South Coast Tour with Your Day Tours (https://yourdaytours.is/tour/your-south-coast-of-iceland/) and it was so beautiful! It was also a lovely, sunny day, which helped add to my enjoyment. We started the day by making a quick stop at Eyjafjallajökull, which is the big volcano that erupted in 2010 and grounded all the planes flying over Europe! Our tour guide said that the Icelandic people had a good laugh at all the foreign reporters trying to pronounce the name of the volcano!

Then, we went to our first waterfall of the day, Skógafoss. It was so beautiful!! Because it was such a bright, sunny day there was a rainbow next to the waterfall, which just made it that much more magical! I also walked up to the lookout at the top of the waterfall. I never regret seeing something beautiful from a different angle, but if you’re short on time or energy, I would skip the climb up. I thought the waterfall was more impressive from below. If you’re there in winter, be careful about walking too close to the waterfall, because the ground gets really icy! I was slipping and sliding a little bit, but I wanted to get closer, so I opted for walking in the rocks by the river, which were wet, but not as slippery.

I would also recommend bringing ice grips with you if you go to Iceland in the winter. You can get pretty inexpensive ones off Amazon, and it makes it infinitely easier to walk around on the more icy landscapes (https://www.amazon.com/Stabilicers-Lite-Serious-Traction-Cleat/dp/B000GUCDDG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448383275&sr=8-1&keywords=stabilgear). I got mine in black so they were more low-profile in pictures, but I did loose them a couple of times and had to back track to find them. A colored pair would’ve made it easier to notice when they fell off. I included a packing list for Iceland in the winter at the end of this post.

After Skógafoss, we stopped at the Black Sand Beach in Vik. It is very different from the beaches I’m used to in Los Angeles! The waves are really strong and fast, so don’t get too close to the shoreline unless you want to get soaking wet (and possibly drown). It was pretty foggy when I was there, but still really fun to take in this unique landscape.

After the Black Sand Beach, we drove up a hill to an overlook to see the Reynisdrangar cliffs. It was gorgeous (and very icy!)

Our penultimate stop of the day was at Solheimajokull glacier! One of the things I really appreciated about Your Day Tours is that they gave us ice grips to use if we didn’t bring any with us. This was especially helpful walking the very icy path to get the base of the glacier. This was definitely my favorite stop of the day! Seeing the giant, blue glacier up close is such a surreal experience.

On the way back to Reykjavik, we made a quick stop at the waterfall Seljalandsfoss. When it’s warm out, you can walk behind the waterfall and appreciate the 8th wonder of the world, the backside of water! Unfortunately, the path is iced over in the winter, so we just enjoyed the waterfall from the front side. Your Day Tours always ends their tours by giving you a traditional Icelandic snack and beverage! All of the tour buses also have wifi on board, which is very convenient.

DAY 5: Golden Circle

Today, I went on the Golden Circle Tour with Your Day Tours (https://yourdaytours.is/tour/your-golden-circle). We started out the day at Gulfoss, a waterfall, which is very striking! The path was pretty icy to get down to the waterfall, so the ice grips really came in handy! After Gulfoss, we made a stop to pet some more Icelandic horses! They are so cute, but make sure not to call them ponies unless you want to offend the Icelandic people you are with.

Next, we stopped at Geysir. I wasn’t too impressed. It is a natural hot spring area with the oldest geyser. The area was cool, but I’ve been to Yellowstone, and the colors in Yellowstone are much more vibrant and Ol’ Faithful is much bigger. I’m still glad I got to see it for myself though, and it was interesting to see a geothermal area covered in snow!

Our last stop of the day was at Thingvellir National Park. I had already seen one part of it on the Game of Thrones Tour, but Your Day Tours took us to a different location. Thingvellir is significant because it is the spot where the Eurasian Tectonic Plate and the American Tectonic Plate are moving away from each other. You could look out into the valley and see the area where Iceland is getting bigger because of the plates separating! There is also an area where you can snorkel between the two tectonic plates (https://www.dive.is/diving-snorkeling-tours/snorkeling-day-tours/silfra-snorkeling-day-tour ). I decided against it because of the weather, but I definitely want to come back to Iceland one summer and do it then!

DAY 6

Today was my last day in Reykjavik before joining up with my photography tour group! I decided to spend it wandering around Reykjavik and souvenir shopping. I also tried a few more really good food places!

What I ate in Reykjavik:

• Glo: Healthy, vegan, quick service. An easy, yummy way to get some veggies into your diet
• Lemon: Smoothies, oatmeal, and pre-made sandwiches. The smoothies are made with skyr, Icelandic yogurt. I had the banana smoothie for breakfast a few times, really yummy!
• Te & Kaffi: Icelands version of Starbucks, but better coffee and pastries
• Reykjavik Roasters: a popular, hipster coffee shop. Really good cappuccino
• Messin: my favorite meal of the trip! Moderately expensive seafood restaurant, I loved the arctic char!
• Brauo & Co: bakery, best known for their cinnamon rolls. So good, so fresh, so hot!
• Baejarins Betzu Pylsur: the most famous hot dogs in the world! The dogs are made with mostly lamb meat and topped with raw onions, fried onions, ketchup, and a sweet mustard. The dogs were very good (although they didn’t have as much snap as I usually like) but I didn’t love the sweet mustard
• Islenski Barinn: Traditional, inexpensive Icelandic food with a cool, casual ambiance. I got the traditional Icelandic lamb stew (very good) and a white ale (also good).
• Vox: The restaurant in the lobby of my hotel. Upscale, highly awarded restaurant. Everything was absolutely delicious (including the bread and anise infused butter)
• Snaps Bistro: French cuisine with an Icelandic twist. Voted “Best Damn Restaurant in Iceland” twice. Very good food, friendly staff

In the evening, I made my way to the Viking Hotel, just outside of Reykjavik, to start my photography expedition!

DAY 15: BLUE LAGOON

Before I talk about the photography expedition, I’m going to talk about how I ended my trip to Iceland. The photography expedition ended back in Reykjavik on Saturday and I had booked my flight for Sunday evening. I decided to book my slot at the Blue Lagoon for 8am on Sunday and spend my last day in Iceland there. I didn’t love waking up to get to the Blue Lagoon so early, but I’m glad I did! The lagoon is always crowded, but it was so much less crowded and more peaceful the first few hours after I arrived. Around 10:30 it seemed like it was starting to fill up a lot!

I chose the most basic level (comfort level) and I’m really glad I did. It comes with a towel, a silica mud mask, and the first drink of your choice. You’ll be in the water pretty much the entire time, so you don’t need a robe, and it’s cheaper to just buy a second mask in the water if you want another one (which I did). I also bought an in water massage which I cannot recommend enough!

You should definitely book your visit to the Blue Lagoon either coming or going from the airport because the lagoon is between Reykjavik and the airport. I would recommend visiting the Blue Lagoon at the end of your trip. When you arrive in Iceland, you really want to stay awake to fight jetlag, and a trip to the Blue Lagoon will not help with that feat! It’s also a nice, relaxing way to end your trip to Iceland! The Blue Lagoon is definitely very touristy, and there are plenty of other lagoons that are less expensive and less crowded, but it really is beautiful location and I had a lovely time.

DAY 7-14: Photography Expedition

A big part of my trip to Iceland was with a photography expedition. I spent 8 days traveling around Iceland with Mark & Holly Jansen from Jansen Photo Exhibitions, 5 other participants, and Snorri, our Iceland guide. We drove up to the north of Iceland and saw areas that I never would’ve been able to see on my own. I also became a much better and more confident photographer because of the trip. If you’re interested in photograph, I would definitely recommend looking into taking a trip with them!

https://jansenphotoexpeditions.com/iceland-photography-workshop/

Here are some of my favorite photographs I took on the trip:

I saw and did so much in my two weeks in Iceland, but no matter how long you spend in a place, there is always more to see! I hope to someday visit Iceland again in the summer to see all the frozen landscapes green and covered in Puffins. Other things that are interesting to me, but I decided against doing on this trip because of time and weather are; a Zodiac Boat Tour of a glacier, visit the US Navy DC-3 plane wreckage, and to snorkel Silfra (between the two tectonic plates). All of this is to say, I’m already planning my next trip back to Iceland!

PACKING:

I am usually all about that carryon only life, but I decided to check a bag on this trip. I needed to bring all of my camera equipment and 2 weeks worth of big, bulky winter clothing, so it felt impossible to fit everything into a carryon. I brought my bright yellow, 26″ Calpak hardshell suitcase (which I absolutely adore) as my checked luggage, and my Patagonia 26L Refugio backpack as my carryon. In my backpack I put my camera equipment, electronics, travel documents, book, journal/pen, and snacks. I also carried all of my jackets with me on the plane. Everything else went into the checked luggage. Below is my packing list for the trip: