11 days and barely scratched the surface
Iceland
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Feb 18 - Feb 28, 2025
Where to begin? KimKim helped us plan an 11-day ring road trip and we hardly scratched the surface of this beautiful place.
Lodgings: Eric and his team did a great job finding us off the beaten path places to stay within our budget. We especially loved Frost & Fire in Hveragerdi - cute room, great view, nice restaurant and their own hot springs tubs on the side of the hill. We also loved Gistihsid Lake Hotel in Eglisstadir - really nice rooms, views, great restaurant too. They had an indoor spa/hot tub too. Also of note were the Stracata apartments near Kirkjubæjarklaustur - it was an adventure arriving in the dark to discover the next morning that we were in a lava field filled with pools of water. It was raining that night so hard to tell where we were. Would be fantastic for Northern Lights! Also, the Mork Cottage in Hvammstangi was so cute, only 1.7 km from town but felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. We wished we could have stayed there a few days - the Northern Lights over the fjord were amazing. We would have liked to explore this part of Iceland more. The other lodgings fit our budget but were more standard hotels, met our needs, and had comfortable beds.
Excursions: We did 3 guided excursions. Horse back riding at Eldhestar stables outside of Hveragerdi, Glacier hike with Arctic Adventures on Sólheimajökull, and a crystal blue ice cave super keep/hike with Blue Iceland. Riding 2 hours in the rain was an experience in itself. We are glad we went - the horses are wonderful and the scenery beautiful even in the rain. The glacier hike was great too. We learned a lot about glaciers and climate change from our guide, Tin. Finally, the Ice Cave tour was beautiful. We went late in the day and had the cave to ourselves. It wan’t a sunny day but the blue in the cave was gorgeous. We would recommend spacing excursions out (we had one each of our first 3 days) - this felt rushed to us, but they did fit within the schedule.
Maps, Sites, Options - the maps were fantastic and linked right to google. The hardest part was letting go of all the things we could see but didn’t have time. The final trip plan contained 50-60 pages of site descriptions, recommended sites, and optional activities. Some of the most memorable - the South Coast Lighthouse trail on our first day, Hveralaug wild hot springs afterward. Skaftafoll Nature Reserve and Svartifoss waterfall (2.5 m hike). All of the East Fjords drive & Stokkanes beach (we missed the South black sand beach because the wind was crazy when we arrived). We also loved Húsavík and Akureyri.
Hot Springs - we asked Eric & team for a hot spring almost everyday. We had hot tubs at many of our lodgings. We visited Fontana Nature baths near Gullfoss, Geosea in Husavik, Lake Mývatn Nature Lagoon, and Forest Lagoon. All were wonderful - Forest lagoon was probably our favorite.
Food - Amazing! We tried it all. 3-4 different tasting menus including ending with Michelin Guide restaurant Matur of Drykkar in the Saga Museum. Also, hot dogs, burgers, tomato, mushroom and Icelandic soup. Most days we made sandwiches for lunch because they gave us flexibility to eat in the middle of nowhere.
Our car was great. Enough 4x4 to get us over gravel roads, puddles, pits, and snow.
Fortunately, we did not need to flex schedule because of weather. We just did everything in whatever weather we got. We saw the Northern Lights twice! The biggest gift of Iceland to us.
Thank you Eric & team!
Activity Reviews
I’m only giving it a 4 because it poured rain. Horses were great, scenery was wonderful and they waited for us when we took a wrong turn and ended up 15 minutes late
Again, super windy. Great view.
Lovely. We were there late 7:30 pm, so didn’t get to really see the lake, but the pools and facilities were top notch.
Perfect for what we wanted (easier hike). Great guide.
So beautiful!
Super windy. These pools are heated through rocks and gravel under foot - warmer/cooler depending on where you stood. They are also expanding so view wan’t quite as good as it could be.
Gorgeous, new, and very quiet at 2 pm.
