1 Day in Iceland: The Best Itinerary | Travel Blog
A 24 hour self-guided itinerary of Iceland’s higlights | Tour by car
Is it worth going to Iceland for just one day?
Starting April 29 2018, WizzAir introduced a new low cost flight: Luton (LTN) — Reykjavik (KEF) and, accidentally, I was one of the first to find out about it. I did not miss the chance and I got my hands on the £30.98 return ticket to Iceland without blinking. The catch was that we were to arrive on a Sunday morning and leave early the next day, which would give us 24 hours to enjoy the beauties of Iceland. In this article, you will find the one-day itinerary for our trip, a nice selection of pictures and top highlights. My trip was inspired by Brenna’s series of blog posts, from which I picked the top highlights.
Itinerary
This is an hour-by-hour summary of the trip, together with a map of the trip:
- 09:10 — Touch down
- 10:00 — Grab the car rental
- 11:00 — Breakfast along the road
- 12:00 — Random stop along the road (will avoid these in the future)
- 13:00 — Geysir — Geyser
- 14:00 — Gullfoss — Waterfalls
- 15:00 — Lunch along the road
- 16:32 — Þingvellir — Tectonic Plates
- 18:07 — Reykjavik (Hallgrímskirkja) — Cathehdral
- 18:37 — Reykjavik (Perlan) — Museum
- 19:31 — Blue Lagoon
- 23:00 — Hotel
Total distance traveled: 355 km (5:23:00).
Favorite item in this trip: Nevica 10,000 mm waterproof ski jacket.
Trip Score: 8/10
Highlights in the order of preference:
Iceland’s roads
The biggest culture shock for me in Iceland was the population density. Iceland has an area of 102,775 km² and a population of 350,710, with 126,100 living in the capital (Reykjavik). That is a really low number. My first thought as I was seeing the lands and roads of Iceland from the flight was “This is a really empty island”. And it is.
Roads are really clear, you may drive long distances without seeing any car around you. You may enter a town and realize it is all empty: all shops closed, no human on the street, no car driving anywhere. Just a ghost town.
To add to this, a large part of the road infrastructure is four lane (two lanes each way), there is parking everywhere and everyone is really patient and polite on the streets, at least compared to Romania. I wish I was in Iceland back in 2011 when I started driving, it would have made my life so much easier.
Blue Lagoon
After the roads of Iceland, the stop that had the biggest impact on me, and also my favorite landmark of Iceland is Blue Lagoon.
Blue lagoon is a geo-thermal spa, featuring cyan-blue water, locally sourced exfoliating mud and an amazing surrounding landscape. We went there during 2°C weather, on a rainy day, which I believe added a lot to the spirit of the place. The pool is massive and due to the weather, really empty and really quiet. Water is constantly over 30°C and steam is coming out of the water at all times. The air pressure during our visit kept the steam down and created a foggy feeling, which, together with the general quietness and the constant low-pitch hum white noise, created an ambiance of tranquility and made me feel like I was alone in the pool.
The place also has a steam room, sauna, mud bar (for the skin) and a drink bar which serves alcohol and fresh juices. Blue Lagoon was allegedly also featured in National Geographic as one of the 25 Wonders of The World.
Geysir & Strokkur
Geysir is the first documented geyser in Europe and the one that inspired the generic name geyser. The geyser is in a park (area) together with few other geysers and pools of 100 C boiling water. Geysir erupts rarely (once a year or less often), but Strokkur which is just nearby erupts every 4–8 minutes, so you will not be disappointed with this stop.
Gullfoss
Gullfoss is a chain of steamy waterfalls with stunning views and perfect for portrait pictures. Not to be missed.
Reykjavik
Reykjavik has the vibe of a small town. It reminded me of my home town in many ways, finding parking easily being just one of them. While we looked through online pictures, Hallgrímskirkja, the biggest Cathedral and Perlan, a high-end Restaurant and museum with impressive architecture were the two stops we decided for. We were unlucky to find the Cathedral closed as we arrived in the evening, but the pictures outside show a remarkable architecture. Perlan was also a miss for us, because a damaging fire that happened just the day before forced them to shut down the building for refurbishments.
Þingvellir — Tectonic Plates
Iceland is the place where the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates meet. At Þingvellir you can see and walk along one of the rifts. We went there with the romantic idea of having one leg in America and the other one in Eurasia, but we either needed a tour guide to show us the exact spot, or the phenomenon is much bigger than the human scale.
When I realized my assumption was wrong, I immediately made an analogy with a thought I had as a kid. I used to look at the sharp peeks of mountains and wonder how do people stand on that sharp edge and not fall. When I had my first hike and arrived at the summit, I was disappointed to see that it was a lot flatter than it looked from the distance. I would say that the same thought came when seeing the rift between the two tectonic plates, but it was a nice experience regardless.
Final Tips
Hoping you are finding this article while searching for tips on how to make the most out of your Iceland trip, instead of conclusion, I will leave you with 6 tips on how to make the most out of the trip. Thank you for reading this far and if you are going to Iceland soon, have an enjoyable trip!
- Rent a car. You definitely need a car to go around. There is no public transport. The only option you may have is organized trips with a bus, which will possibly be a lot cheaper. Manual transmission cars are also a lot cheaper here than automatic, so plan accordingly.
- Plan for the weather. We visited in May. It was 2°C and raining (I left from Romania where it was 30°C and sunny). The following day, as we were going towards the airport it was slightly raining. The rain is London Style — more like a mist than a proper heavy rain.
- Book Blue Lagoon in advance. Since we left Blue Lagoon for the end, we were unsure if time allowed it, so we did not pre-book. That was a mistake. Blue Lagoon is definitely not to be missed. You’d better sacrifice other things along the way than to miss this. Not booking in advance meant that we paid 50% more than the price advertised online and we also had the risk of missing out if it was too full.
- You can rent swim wear at Blue Lagoon. Swimsuit was something which we totally forgot about. Fortunately, you can rent it out at Blue Lagoon for about €5.
- Prefer boots. I went there in sneakers, but if I were to go again, my waterproof hiking boots is what I would use.
- Food is really, really expensive, more expensive than Romania, USA, UK, or any other place I have visited so far. A casual 2-hamburger “meal” can go all the way to 15 GBP (20 USD) per person. That is just hamburgers, no drinks, sides or appetizers. They are delicious though.
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Many thanks Ovidiu for editing these pictures!
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