How to spend less then 1 day in Iceland

We flew Icelandair to get to Copenhagen (which I covered what I did in Copenhagen in previous other posts), and when you fly Icelandair they offer the opportunity to have various lengths of full day(s) stopovers to enjoy Iceland rather then just connecting through the airport and not seeing the country. I would have liked to stay longer but we had a friend moving away from PDX that we were already hosting and seeing right before she moved on Sunday, so we only decided to stay Friday night – Saturday afternoon. So this post is our take on how to spend less then 1 day in Iceland.

This would just be a sample taste of Iceland that needed to be simple and restful after our week in Copenhagen – so what did we do?

What to Do Late Night in Reykjavik

First, we landed pretty late in the evening at Keflavík International Airport. But, it was Friday night – so I decided it was worth it to rent a car and to stay at a place in Reykjavik. We found a place right by the Old Harbour area. This put us only a few blocks from the nightlife that included several bars and late night eats around the harbor and Ingólfur Square, such as

• Tapas Barinn which is open late with food to 1 AM
• Islenski Barinn is another late night restaurant during the weekends to 3 AM
• Brewery Bryggjan Brugghús is by the Old Harbor
• Micro Bar carries 80 different beers from around the world, including 10 Icelandic beers on tap –  the linked article lists even more craft beer bars in the vicinity

Most importantly, I had to stop at Baejarins Beztu aka Reykjavik’s no. 1 hot dog stand. Open until 4:30 AM on Fridays, the only thing you can get at this humble stand is the pylsur, Icelandic hot dogs in a traditional bun with chopped onions, mustard, ketchup, crispy fried onions, and pickled mayo.

Despite the pelting icy rain and wind, there was a line – and I got in that line twice because I had naively only ordered one pylsur to get a taste but it was so good I needed another.

In the morning, F and I decided to spend the morning two different ways. Since he had been working all week, he wanted to sleep in, grab some coffee at a local coffeeshop like Cafe Haiti, located nearby.

Morning at the Blue Lagoon

Meanwhile, I reserved for the opening time at the Blue Lagoon geothermal spring, as I had heard that going very early, or much later in the evening, are the best times since there will be less people. Yes, it is a tourist trap, but picking the right time makes a huge difference when visiting any tourist trap.

There is also no getting around the expensive price tag per person ($60 per person) – but the longer you stay and soak and just enjoy the atmosphere, you can stretch the cost over time and make it a better average cost per time. So try to spend 3-4 hours here if you can.

Going so early also meant the possibility to enjoy the transition to sunrise/dawn light. And, easy parking! They do offer bus transportation here and back from the city or even the airport for an additional fee, but because of the limited time I wanted to use the car to better control my schedule. I parked in the first row of spaces and at opening only the first two rows were filled and one bus (which wasn’t full) was there in the parking lot.

There was only a line to check in because they weren’t open yet – and when they did open I was inside in less then 7 minutes. I had my pick of many locker areas and lockers, and since I changed  and showered fast, even my first photos of the lagoon didn’t have anyone in there yet. These are time-stamped at 8:15 AM – that’s how fast I was able to get in the water!

Even an hour or so in, as I explored new areas, there would be so much room between myself and others I never felt crowded in. And there are a lot of separate areas in the lagoon, so make sure you wander away from the front area by the bar and entrance stairs.

The Blue Lagoon was so worth it for me – I loved the experience in terms of how relaxed I was for the whole rest of the day. It was also fun talking to several of the other guests who came from all around the world and hearing where they were from and their plans in Iceland or why they were going through Iceland.

The hot mineral-rich milky blue waters in this lava field is as beautiful as the photos – in fact, probably more so in person because of the way the large lagoon surrounds you with the blues of the water and the white of the mist contrasted by the blacks of the rock. The water felt great to soak in and the heat (water temperatures are around 100°F) just makes your body feel so wiggly jiggly jelly.

Depending on some of the lighting provided by the cloudy morning, from lights from the Blue Lagoon, and how hot the water was (some parts were sometimes a little hotter then others), depth of the water, and how steamy it was, you did get to see a little change in the water color too. The geothermal seawater in the Blue Lagoon – all 9 million liters of it – are enriched with silica, minerals, and algae.

Included with your admission is one free drink – and it can be alcoholic like Gull beer or various sparkling wine, or non-alcoholic like a blueberry smoothie with blueberries, mango, water, banana, and skyr, or vegan like the Fresh Forever smoothie with oranges, carrots, apple, and ginger. Your first drink is complimentary when they scan your wristband you received at check-in – all other drinks will get tracked on the band and you will pay for them when you check-out.

This was the area that I encountered the most people and the most noise as some groups would cheer, or somehow emboldened with a beverage would talk a little louder as they sipped their drink in this shallower area.

The next and only other area there was a bit of congestion but not much (maybe I waited for 1-2 people in front of me) was for the included in the price free silica mud face mask. You can get additional other treatments using your wristband here such as a lava scrub, mineral, or algae face masks as well.

At this point it’s 9:40 am on Saturday and as I’m waiting out the time on my face mask although there are more people there is still lots of room as long as you are not at the bar area. It was too cloudy for dawn – in fact the whole day ended up pretty overcast and really windy and at times there was icy rain.

Since the rest of my body was in the soothing waters I didn’t mind, and it made the lagoon more picturesque with the white steam and the wind blowing the steam. Also, people tended to stay more submerged so I less of the people that were there too haha.
 

Note that the silica in the water does harden and dry your hair – so I recommend washing it several times and using lots of conditioner before and after your soak. You can see it in my hair below how its sticking a little. If you go under the waterfall (there was no line for it when I visited – I saw a steam and sauna room too but no photos from that sorry!) it’s pretty hard to not get your hair wet.
 

Lunch at Salka Valka

I returned to check out with F, and then we had lunch at Salka Valka before we headed to the airport. Get 15% off by getting a coupon from the Visitor’s Guide book at the Information Centre. This was a good homey spot for the two of us because it has vegan options for him, while I got to try at least one Icelandic specialty, the Plokkfiskur. We started however with local sourdough or sweet bread with local jams, cheese, marmalade and peanut butter; some coffee and fresh oj; and the Booster Smoothie with frozen bananas and blueberries, mixed nuts, chia seeds, raisins, milk/non-dairy milk, oats, dates, coconut flakes and cinnamon.

Next for him was the comforting and warming soup of vegetables in a liquidized chickpea, coconut milk, red bell pepper, fresh ginger, fresh chili and curry soup with sourdough bread.

I had Iceland’s Traditional Plokkfiskur, the Salka Valka signature dish of fish stew. The dish includes oven baked plokkfiskur (haddock and cod mixed with potatoes, onions, spices and herbs) topped with bernaise sauce and served with sweet potatoes, broccoli, Rúgbrauð which is an Icelandic sweet rye bread, butter, basmati rice and in house sauces.
 

And, it has free wi-fi so I could let my phone do the auto backup of my Blue Lagoon photos to the cloud during our meal.

If we hadn’t been chilled by the 30 mph icy winds after the lunch we could have walked to nearby Hallgrimskirkja, an iconic church. But, we were too cold, and opted instead to promise we’d be back to Iceland in 2019 and we would be better prepared with puffy coats for those arctic winds!

Where do you think we should go when we return to Iceland this year – I would love to hear your recommendations based on where you went or what is on your wishlist!