Trip to Iceland

At the end of March, my friend, Zoya, and I took a four-day trip to Iceland. It was my first time out of the country, and the first time in Iceland for the both of us. We left Dulles around 20:30 (EDT) on Sunday night, and arrived at Keflavík around 07:00 (UTC) Monday morning, after about a 6 hour flight. We picked up our luggage, had a quick breakfast at the airport, exchanged some money, and then boarded our shuttle. We arrived at our hotel, the Reykjavík Natura around 09:00. Our room was small by US standards, but more than adequate for the two of us. Iceland uses standard European plugs, 220 V at 50 Hz. Most chargers nowadays are 110/220 V and 50/60 Hz compatible, so the packet of cheap, pass-through adapters I bought on Amazon was all we needed. One quirk we found was, the lights in the entrance hallway were controlled by a master switch which also turned off all the other plugs and lights in the room, which made it a pain to charge our devices if we wanted it dark while we slept. The one exception was the outlet for the TV, which we immediately unplugged and turned into a charging station.

In Reykjavík, at least, hot water is geothermally heated, and then piped in separately from cold water to houses and hotels while still hot. There are no hot water heaters or tanks, which means you don’t have to worry about using up all the hot water while you take a long shower. Our shower had one knob to control the water flow, and another knob to control the temperature, so you don’t have to keep fiddling with the hot and cold water to get the right temperature, you can just set it and forget it. We had been warned before coming to Iceland that the hot water might smell of sulfur, but that turned out not to be the case for us. Apparently, there are two different sources of hot water, one of which is ground water that is naturally heated (and which contains a small amount of sulfur), and the other is cold water which is heated at a geothermal plant, and therefore doesn’t contain any sulfur. Our hotel must be getting their water from the latter.

After arriving, Zoya took a nap, while I decided to go for a walk. I walked up Öskjuhlíð Hill, which was just across the street from the hotel. On the hill, are the remains of several World War II installations left behind by the British and American occupation of Iceland. At the top of Öskjuhlíð Hill is Perlan ("The Pearl" in English). The building consists of six hot water tanks, with a glass dome over the top. Inside is a museum, a rotating restaurant, and a café. Unfortunately, Perlan was undergoing extensive renovations while we were there, and the only things open were the café and the observation deck. The view from the observation deck is fantastic.

By the time I walked back down the hill, it was about time for lunch. Zoya and I walked to the BSÍ bus terminal (about a 10 minute walk from our hotel), which also contains a gift shop and a restaurant called Fljótt og Gott (which translates as “Quickly/Fast and Good”). I got a burger, fries, and a soda for ISK 2490 (about $23.75 US). Icelanders are apparently not particularly fond of ketchup. They have it, but you won’t get it with anything unless you specifically ask. The burger was quite good (medium rare seems to be the standard way to serve burgers here), the fries were meh. I was suspicious of the orange dipping sauce they gave me with my fries, and didn’t try it (though in hindsight, I suspect it was the same sauce they put on the burger). After lunch, we headed back to our hotel to catch our shuttle to the Blue Lagoon.

Our shuttle picked us up at the hotel around 13:30, took us back to the bus terminal we just left, where we boarded a larger bus that actually took us to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is near Keflavík Airport, and about 40 minutes outside of Reykjavík. Once there, we were given ID bracelets with RFID tags inside. The bracelets controlled our lockers (no combination to remember), and allowed us to buy drinks at the bar. Showering before (and after) entering the lagoon is mandatory, and there isn’t much privacy. Men and women have separate locker and shower areas. In the men's area, only a couple of the shower stalls had doors; most did not (I assume the same was true of the women's area). Once showered, I walked down to the lagoon. It was 45 °F (7 °C) out, and I was rather chilly wearing just a bathing suit. However, the water in the lagoon is heated, and once I got in the water, I was quite comfortable. The water is also loaded with silica, which gives it a pale-blue, milky look. The silica also makes you much more buoyant than you would be in a regular swimming pool. Different areas of the lagoon are different temperatures, so you can move to where ever you’re most comfortable. At no point in the lagoon was the water so deep that I couldn’t stand on the bottom with my head above water. There is a bar right at poolside, so you can get your drinks (both alcoholic and non) without leaving the water. The bartender just scans your ID bracelet, and the drink is added to your bill, which you pay when you’re ready to leave. Also offered are several different facial treatments you can try (which I did not try, although Zoya did). We stayed in the water for several hours. When I got out, for about 10 minutes after, my legs felt like they were made of lead. At the Blue Lagoon, they also have a restaurant and a gift shop. We opted not to eat here, but waited until we got back to the hotel instead. Buses ran back to the bus terminal on an approximately one hour schedule (except for a gap around 20:00), so once you get here, you can stay pretty much as long as you like.

Once back at the hotel, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant, called Satt. We opted for charcuterie, Satt salad with smoked salmon, and a bread basket, all of which we split between the two of us. Our waiter seemed a little confused about the menu options, but other than that, the service was good and the food was excellent. Total price of the meal was just short of ISK 7000, or about $66 for the two of us. Afterwards, we retired to our room.

Tuesday, we had a Golden Circle tour planned, and then a Northern Lights tour in the evening. We grabbed a quick breakfast from the hotel snack bar (Skyr and juice for me), and then boarded a shuttle back to the BSÍ bus terminal, where we boarded a larger bus for the tour. Our tour took us first to Þingvellir National Park, which commemorates the spot where the Icelandic parliament (Alþing) was held from 930 to 1799, before it was moved to Reykjavík. From there, we went to Geysir, and from there to Gullfoss. All three locations had cafés and gift shops. We had lunch at Geysir. The weather was overcast and in the forties all day. A cold breeze started to blow while we were at Geysir, and really picked up at Gullfoss (Note: Make sure you bring a windproof jacket/coat with you if you go). Once back at the hotel, we received an email that our Northern Lights tour had been cancelled, and we were given several options. We elected to reschedule the tour for the next night, Wednesday.

Wednesday we left free for exploring Reykjavík on our own. We had another quick breakfast from the hotel snack bar. The hotel lent us a bus pass, so we were able to ride the city buses for free. There was a bus station right outside our hotel, and that took us to Hlemmur, which is at the east end of Laugavegur, the main shopping street in Reykjavík. We walked down Laugavegur, stopping in various shops along the way. When we reached the end of the shopping district, we continued to the old harbor, and then to the Saga Museum. After touring the Saga Museum, we had lunch at the museum restaurant, called Matur og Drykkur (which translates to “Food and Drink”). Here we had fish soup, followed by the catch of the day, which turned out to be wolffish. Our meal came with bread and butter. Everything was excellent. This was probably my favorite meal while we were in Iceland. At this point, we received another email telling us our Northern Lights tour was cancelled again. As we didn’t have enough time left to reschedule another tour (Northern Lights or otherwise), we opted for dinner at a restaurant called Kopar instead. This turned out to be a mistake (though no fault of Kopar’s, I should add), which I’ll explain in a bit.

After leaving the Saga Museum, we headed back down Laugavegur to pick up some souvenirs that we didn’t want to carry all over town, and then we headed to the Hallgrimskirkja, a large Lutheran church which dominates the Reykjavík skyline. Unfortunately, we misread the times the Hallgrimskirkja was open (we were looking at the summer hours), and it was closed when we got there, so we were not able to go up in the tower. Still, it was pretty impressive to see from the outside. By this time, we were pretty tired of walking, so instead of walking all the way back to Kopar, we walked back to the Hlemmur bus station, and took a bus to Kopar.

The tour company had given us a certificate for a two course meal for two people at Kopar. What we didn’t know was that the meal was a fixed menu, and that the main course was the exact same fish we had at Matur og Drykkur for lunch. Kopar did offer substitutions, but at extra expense. Also, even though our reservation at Kopar was for 20:00, we were still kind of full from lunch. We had tusk and langoustine. The food was excellent, but we left over half of it. Afterwards, we boarded the bus back to our hotel.

Thursday was our last day in Iceland, and really only about a half day. Since Zoya hadn't seen the Perlan, we walked up Öskjuhlíð Hill, enjoyed the view from the Perlan, had a quick snack at Kaffitár Perlan, and then headed back down to our hotel to pack, and catch the bus back to Keflavík. We left Iceland around 16:50 UTC, and arrived back at Dulles around 19:00 EDT.

Some tips for those considering a trip to Iceland: Pretty much everyone in Iceland speaks English, and doesn’t mind speaking English, and most signs have English translations, so not speaking Icelandic is no impediment to getting around. All the clerks, hotel staff, bus drivers, etc, we met were friendly. Everything is expensive, especially food. However, prices already include VAT, so what’s on the price tag is what you pay, and there’s no need to tip. Also, if you spend ISK 6000 or more (on one purchase), on items that you are not going to use until you get home (e.g., souvenirs), you can get a refund on the VAT.

To see the rest of the photos I took while in Iceland, click here.