My first picture was always going to be the blue lagoon.
Iceland. what an amazing place. I got so many questions on my trip I decided the best thing to do was do a full blog on it and hopefully answer everyones questions in this one piece.
We booked our trip ourselves online but there are deals with different travel agents pop up regularly on Facebook etc. If you are looking a hotel I reccommend centerhotel midgardur Reykjavik Iceland. It is very central, clean and extremely friendly, very helpful staff with tours leaving day & night from outside their front door.
Appartments I recommend are Northern comfort appartments Reykjavik. Again, central, clean, warm, helpful & everything you need with a supermarket close by also.
You don’t spend much time in your appartment /hotel so to be honest I would not spend a fortune on accommodation in Iceland, we literally just slept there.
The weather is very unpredictable in Iceland so as many of you will know a storm arrived as we got off our flight and we were lucky to get inside Unfortunately our luggage wasn’t as lucky and we didn’t get it to the next morning. We hired a car from Atak Car rental (online) which was a 5 minute walk from the airport or 2 minutes on the bus. We got the car and had to book into a hotel at the airport and collect our luggage the following morning. Not the best start to the trip but just be aware the weather is very changeable very quickly in Iceland so anything is possible. We didn’t let it ruin any part of our trip, we got the luggage first thing and headed to Reykjavi. We unpacked, got breakfast and wrapped up to go explore Reykjavík, we found our way about very quickly as we were staying so central. We went to some of the bars, had lunch and went down to the water to see some of the beautiful mountains covered in snow
The northern lights trip, would I do it again? No definitely not. The bus left the hotel at 8:30pm we arrived back at 2am exhausted and freezing. We saw a very faint light in the sky for approximately 3 minutes, it was that faint the camera wouldn’t pick the light up. The only people that got any kind of picture were the ones that downloaded the northern lights photo app to their phone.
I understand people have seen better and it’s very much weather dependant but in my opinion the lights wouldn’t ever look like they do in pictures and online advertising the trip. You could try find out were the tours are going to see the lights on the particular night and follow them in the car if you have hired one.
What to pack..
Thermals, thermals and more thermals. I got gloves, hats, hand Warmers, fleeces, ski socks etc! it’s a different level of cold, it’s Baltic. Trespass is the best place to get your thermals and pack like a ski holiday. I wore tights and over the knee socks under everything. My leather Freddie’s were perfect for night time going for food etc. Do not bring any kind of heels ladies. Flat boots (good grip) it was very icy to walk in places and you need to be comfortable.
Highlight of my trip?
The blue lagoon definitely, it was amazing! I would book and go at 9am you have the darkness (night time effect) then your there for the most amazing sunrise at 10:30am (winter months) we were there in January. We ate in the lava restaurant at 1pm and then went back into the blue lagoon for drinks & stayed to sunset.
The pictures don’t even do it justice it was so surreal. The lava restaurant was possibly the nicest place I’ve ever eat. I Highly recommend the beef.
The blue lagoon is around 38degrees in the water it is the most relaxing, comfortable and amazing place. There is a bar in the water to get drinks etc. You need swim wear for the blue lagoon. We went for the premium package so we got robes and slippers & 2 drinks included. It was a perfect package I don’t think you have to pay any of the other packages it is all you need and more. Buy a waterproof phone case for your phone before you go.
We used the Revolut card for our full trip it is amazing, you can transfer money from your bank straight to your card then change the currency to what ever country your visiting. You can also save using the card and you don’t even know. They gather all your loose change by rounding up your change to the nearest pound and placing it into savings on your card. It’s also so handy for travelling in groups splitting bills etc. You also get free atm withdrawals up to £150 to start (depends on the currency and location how much) You will not be disappointed by getting a revolut card even to travel north & south of Ireland.
Reykjavík is a beautiful place, nice to walk about day & night. We went to the ice bar (magic ice Reykjavík) it’s pretty cool for drinks.
We ate in a gorgeous restaurant at the very bottom of the Main Street called Fjallkonan it wasn’t cheap but worth every penny. Great food and cocktails.
Another good bar is Austur but Reykjavík is quiet at night to about 11pm so remember this when you wander around wondering why it’s quiet.
More food ideas
Snow mobiles were so much fun. They are expensive but we had the thoughts “we will probably only do this once” They take you away up the mountains and it is amazing. So so cold so wrap up like an onion- literally!
There is so much more to do, the golden circle, waterfalls, craters etc. Some more ideas for you all below.
Iceland is an amazing trip. I loved it. I do recommend it but be aware it is not a relaxing trip it’s go go go and it’s cold, cold, cold 🇮🇸❄️ Plenty of more highlights on my Instagram page.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
Love H💋llie xx
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