Reykjavik city trip
By Jaimy de Vries
In December 2021 I went to Reykjavik with my mum for a couple of days. A nice way to have some mother-daughter time. Reykjavik is a bit different than a city trip in Paris or Barcelona. It was a bit colder, but we got to see, not only Reykjavik, but also Iceland’s golden circle and an old lava stream. Quite unique right!?
Arrival
On a Monday afternoon we flew to Reykjavik. We had a good flight. We thought we were arriving at the airport in Reykjavik itself. But we were surprised, we landed on Keflavik Airport, a 45 minute drive from Reykjavik. We thought we would land on the airport in Reykjavik itself, so we prepared ourselves for that. When we arrived it was evening and dark. ‘So how do we get to our hotel?‘ We were asking ourselves. Luckily we live in a digital century. In this day and age it’s very easy to find the right public transport and your way to your hotel, with two of my lovely friends: Google and Maps. If you live in Europe and travel within Europe you don’t have to pay extra for data costs. This makes traveling within Europe very easy. So we did
manage to find our hotel! The next morning we slept a little bit longer and had a nice continental breakfast at our hotel. It was strange that it stayed dark for so long. Around 11 a.m. it started to get light. We went to Iceland a week before the shortest day in Iceland that’s on the 20th of December. There is only 5 hours of daylight around this time between 11 A.M. and 4 P.M.
Later on, on our trip we had a funny guide that asked us: “What’s that yellow round thing in the sky? I haven’t seen that thing in months” .
Golden circle tour
On our first day we took a tour to the golden circle of Iceland. We got picked up by a bus. At that time there was finally some daylight. The ride on the Golden circle was already beautiful. It was quite peculiar to see how the landscape changes throughout our bus ride. First we had the city with lots of buildings and houses, then we drove along the countryside where you could see the Icelandic horses playing outside, then we saw lots of tundra and then bigger mountains appeared with snow on the top. After an hour we were driving between white snow landscapes. We went from an inhabited to an uninhabited area. On our tour we drove to Pingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss waterfall. These are all great stops that amazed me. Want to read more? Click on the link below.
Funny facts about Iceland
When we were driving in the bus on the golden circle route, the guide told us a lot about Iceland and its history. I heard some fun facts that I wrote down to share with you.
- #1 - The first inhabitant came from Norway, Ingólfur Arnarsson, he accidentally discovered Iceland on his way to the Faroe islands and decided to settle here with his wife. Then several Norwegians followed, and they brought (mostly female) Irish people taken as slaves to Iceland. After that the Icelandic population consisted of 50% Norwegians (mainly men) and 50% Irish (mainly women).
- #2 - 2/3 of the inhabitants live in the Reykjavik area. Everyone knows someone who knows someone they know. So blind dating doesn’t work. And because there are just 360.000 people living in Iceland, there’s a bigger chance of incest. So the Icelanders built an app, called decode, that uses DNA testing so you don't accidentally date relatives.
- #3 - Before humans settled Iceland in the 9th century, it had but one land mammal, the Arctic fox. The rest of the animals were either birds or marine animals. However, a millennium later, a wealth of life has adapted to the harsh climate. The vast majority of animals in Iceland that you’ll see are domestic. For example the Icelandic horse and sheep.
- #4 - There are approximately 800,000 sheep in Iceland, more than double the number of people.
- #5 - Skyr was a national product, just as the Icelandic sheep for its wool and meat, to keep the people warm and alive in the cold winters. Skyr is a thick and sour Yoghurt. Now you can buy it all over the world.
- #6 - An average Icelandic surname is the fathers first name. More people now use their mothers name. The surname depends on the gender of the child. The ending -son is for boys and -dóttir for girls. For example: A man Egill Jónsson gets a son, his name is Gunnar, then his full name will be: Gunnar Egilsson. If Egill gets a girl, her name is Helga, then her full name will be: Helga Egilsdóttir.
- #7 - Iceland, just like other Nordic countries, is known for its strong folk belief. There are many sagas and tales which describe huldufólk (= elves or 'hidden people' from Icelandic language). These mysterious creatures are thought to be hardly visible for humans; hidden in rocks, hills and lava fields. There is an elf school In Reykjavik that you can attend to as tourist.
- #8 - One of my favorites movies, Eurovison songcontest, has a lot of inside jokes about Iceland. Check it out!
Volcano tour
No country does volcanoes like Iceland, there’s a reason why it’s called the land of ice and fire. Obviously we couldn’t leave Iceland without a volcano tour. So we did! On our second day we got picked up early and arrived at the volcano area just before daylight started. We went close by to the Fagradalsfjall volcano that erupted in March 2021. When a volcano erupts, sometimes the magma can flow for months after that (depending on type of volcano). We hoped to see magma flowing, but it stopped flowing 3 months ago. This one sadly just stopped before we arrived. On the tour we walked over an old magma flow, where there is still warm magma slowly flowing underneath (you see steam coming out of the old magma). On the tour we heard there are three volcano’s in Iceland
that are overdue and expected to erupt soon. These are: Hekla, Katla, and Grímsvötn. How awesome would it be to witness a volcano erupting!? – from a safe distance of course. This is definitely a bucket list item for me. Fun fact: there is a Netflix serie called Katla that takes place in Vík and covers the events one year after a violent eruption of Katla.
In Reykjavik we went to visit the Perla museum, a natural history museum about Iceland. We got to learn a lot about volcano’s. For example: we learned that there are different types of volcano’s. Depending on the type there is a difference how big or dangerous the volcano eruptions are and what the expected duration of the magma flow will be.
Blue lagoon
On our third day we went to the blue lagoon after our lave tour. Sadly we got limited time of 2 hours (part of the tour). The blue lagoon is a world-famous spa. Many people think it’s a natural spa, but that’s not true. The Blue Lagoon is handmade and was formed in 1976. ‘Is the water really that blue in the blue lagoon?’ many people asked. ‘YES, it is!’ That’s because it’s warm seawater rich of minerals (such as silica). With a big benefit: it does wonders for your skin! Many people with skin problems, like psoriasis, come to the lagoon for treatment. Also many Icelanders themselves come to this spa. Swimming is a national sport and going to a spa is a common thing to do in Iceland. It’s their way of socializing. A spa in Iceland is kind of like a pub, a much healthier pub. Icelanders can quite drink you know….
Northern lights?
If you visit Iceland you can see the Northern lights between September and April. It’s a spectacular thing to see. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Northern lights. We booked our Northern light tour on our first day, but it got canceled due to unfavorable weather conditions. Then it got canceled again, and the next day and the next. We only had 4 possibilities. We thought we had bad luck with 4/5 rainy days, but it’s not strange for Iceland. The weather conditions in Iceland are not great and unpredictable. On average 213 days out of the year it rains, that is 2/3 of the year!! And to see the northern lights, there needs to be a clear sky.
When we went to the Perla museum we got to see a little bit of the northern lights on an aurora show. It’s something…
My tips for your city trip in Reykjavik
- #1 - If you dare (in winter) rent a car! Then you can easily reach your hotel (if you can park there for free) and you can drive yourself to the golden circle and south coast. Those are really cool routes to take! The roads are easily accessible and within Europe no extra data costs so you can easily turn on Google Maps. We went with bus tours, but then you need to adjust to their strict time schedules. We were only able to walk around for half an hour at each stop and only 2 hours in the blue lagoon. We didn't have enough time to enjoy each stop.
- #2 - Start to book your Northern lights tour early, there’s a big change it gets canceled due to bad weather conditions. So you have another chance the next day. You can rebook your trip for free.
- #3 - Depending on how long you stay, try to book some tours outside the city to explore the amazing natural wonders of Iceland. We booked the golden circle tour and a volcano tour, but a tour to explore the south-coast area is one to recommend. If I can redo the time we went to Iceland I would’ve booked the south-coast tour as well.
- #4 - In Reykjavik you'll see a lot of Icelanders riding on green electric steps. I've figured out how this works. You download the hopp.bike app, add your credit card details and you can travel through Reykjavik very easily and quickly. And it's a lot of fun!! Those electric steps go quite fast: 25 km per hour! So hold on tight.
Iceland is such a great place. Winter and summer can be so different. When we were in Iceland I was already planning the next trip in my head. We went for just 5 days and that was definitely not enough. If you want to have a good experience of Iceland you need to go at least 3 weeks, rent a car and drive the 1 route. Then you can see most (almost all) of the country’s highlights. I’m already planning my next trip in the spring / summer.