This is less of an ICELAND post, and more of a how to travel the capital city, Reykjavic, and do the most popular things around there. The chances are if you’re coming to Iceland, it’s just for a few days to do one or more of the following:
- See the northern Lights
- Go on a Golden circle tour
- Visit the Blue Lagoon
- Go whale watching (a bit less common)
- See various other waterfalls and things
A note about my photos: If you like the photos I’ve taken and shared on this post and want to USE them, please do but include a link back to this post or website as the credit for the copyright! 🙂
So I went to Iceland for a few days in WINTER meaning everything was under a thick coat of snow and ice, so it looked very different to how it would look In Summer, and there were several things and places we couldn’t actually get to, because of the snow and ice.
So if you’re planning on coming to Iceland to do one of those things, consider coming in Summer. That being said, the Blue Lagoon was particularly awesome because there was snow and ice surrounding the geothermal pool, which added to the contrast effect.
So to start with, here’s what I did: I went to Reykjavic for a short trip in Winter (January 2019) and stayed pretty much smack bang in the center of the city. This was great, because there are hardly ANY taxis (and forget Uber) in Iceland. If you do find a taxi it will cost you a lot of money, so luckily I stayed pretty central to everything I wanted to do.
There were actually lots of things I visited and found in Reykjavic, but we’ll get to those later. Firstly, let’s talk about the best things to do in Reykjavic and near it:
The best things to do in Reykjavic in Winter
Winter means one main thing for you, and that is it’s going to be cold and windy. This massively limits the amount of time you can comfortably walk around outside to much less than an hour. So things like hiking around the South of Iceland might be fine in Summer, but in Winter, it’s not possible for most of us.
These are the best things I’ve found in Icelands capital, Reykjavic, to do in WINTER. I should also mention that apart from the penis museum, I didn’t visit any of the museums around the city, although there were lots there. The things I mention I’ve done and can confirm were awesome, except Perlans ice cave, and the other museums. Okay let’s go!
1: Visit the Blue Lagoon
It’s hard to say what the BEST part of my 4 day trip to Iceland was, but the Blue Lagoon is in my top 3 along with seeing the northern lights, and the grand golden circle tour. The Blue Lagoon is one of the biggest geothermal pools/spas in the world (it might even be the biggest actually) and is comprised of several huge naturally heated sulphur pools.
The water is milky white and sometimes blue, and although it tastes horrible, it’s really good for your skin. It’s bad for your hair though!
There are several packages you can book for the Blue Lagoon, but I would just suggest getting the cheapest package, which includes a free drink and free mud mask. You don’t really need much more than that, and you’ll still feel like you’ve seen all of it! I wrote a whole post about how to visit the Blue Lagoon properly if you want to learn more!
2: Do the Grand Golden Circle tour
There are of course dozens of different tours around Iceland and around Reykjavic, but the one I went on was amazing. It was also great value for money, because Iceland’s so expensive, I was surprised that we got this tour including so much, for such low price. I won’t share the actual price, because prices change so often and it might have been a deal, I’m not sure.
You can’t tell how cold I was in this picture, but trust me, I was. Either way, the grand golden circle tour was worth the money and time, and you’ll love it! You get taken round in a heated bus to the main waterfalls and to what is supposedly the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland.
The tour guides usually speak good English (mine did) and can explain throughout the bus ride what you’re seeing and the history of things as you pass them. I was surprised to hear on our tour that Iceland generates more than 70% of it’s energy and hot water from geothermal and natural sources! Fossil fuels are only imported in small amounts fo support the transport sector and things like buses, cars and so on.
3: See the northern lights
Probably the highlight of the trip, although it was all so good! The northern lights are a beautiful experience to have, and involve solar activity mixing with charged particles in the air. It was explained to us how they work and why we see them, but I think I was lost gazing out of the window at that point.
This is a shot I took of the Northern Lights, using a Sony RX100VA camera on long exposure. I was SO proud of these shots!
So the actual tour itself is a bit weird, as they take you from Reykjavic city centre, out to a wooden hut that sells all sorts of hot drinks and snacks. It’s in the middle of nowehere, but there’s a toilet there, so I’d suggest using that. I would not suggest getting a hot drink at the overpriced shack. They are of course trying to make a bit more money by doing that, but you can just take your own drinks and snacks in a bag.
The real fun starts when you drive outside of that area, and pull up to a deserted garage or mountain top area where you can get out and look for the northern lights. The tour is run a bit differently every night, because they have to decide what’s the best chance of you seeing the lights.
Some nights you won’t see them for hours, or even at all, so they try and work out the best places and ways of getting to where you can see them. We eventually pulled up in an empty garage in the middle of nowhere (I guess so people could use the toilet, because there were about 5-6 buses all puled up there).
We were told to get out of the coach quickly because there was a faint green glow In the sky. At first I thought it was a joke, I’d paid to see more than just a ‘faint glow’. But it turns out that the tour guides know what to look out for.
Often the activity known as northern lights starts out as a glow in the sky, and then gradually gets more and more intense as the activity happens in the sky. That’s certainly what happened, and over the course of about an hour and a half, the glow evolve into a dancing ribbon of green energy and colors.
So we got out, and I have to say, it turned out to be absolutely stunning. I got some awesome photos of the northern lights on my Sony RX100VA, and I ended up writing a post about everything I’d learned. The post shows you how to photograph the northern lights properly on a compact camera like a Sony. Don’t rely on your phone to take a picture, because it won’t show up well or at all.
4: Find the Sun Voyager sculpture
The sun voyager is actually something I just found on Instagram. It’s a little metal boat sculpture down by the coast of Reykjavic near the centre.
It’s a really nice little thing to go and find and when you get there, you’ll have a good view of the mountains on the other side, and the road coming along the coast. It makes for some good pictures as well. I liked it because it’s one of the only things here that’s free!
5: Walk through an ice cave
There’s a section of Reykjavic about a 45 minute walk from the centre called Perlan which is a dome like structure on the top of a hill. Inside the dome you’ll find a large man made ice cave, and some other things like a video experience, and some facts about whales and things like that.
It’s apparently a really good day out and it’s highly reviewed online, (I also have friends that went there and said it was really cool) but I didn’t go. I was trying to focus on natural things like the Blue Lagoon, northern lights and the waterfalls and mountains. I felt like something like a man made ice cave and tourist trap like that wasn’t worth the long walk and entrance price of $40.
And that’s really what it came down to as well, it was going to be over an hours walk with our bags through the ice, on a day that had really bad weather so I left it out this time. I might check it out if I’m back in Reykjavic next year, so check it out if you’re going nearby!
6: Wander around the penis museum
One little thing we found on the way through a street one morning was a penis museum. We were later told that it’s the largest collection of penises or phalluses in the world.
I have to say, it wasn’t super impressive, in terms of size. The building and room itself is pretty small as you can see in my vlog but the novelty effect of seeing a load of whale penises is quite funny. I really did think it was overpriced though.
7: Walk across the frozen lake
Just a few minutes away from the centre is a giant series of frozen lakes! At least, they were frozen in Winter (January 2019) when I went! These lakes span across the length of a natural park and woodland area (very small woodland area). Not much grows in Iceland in the way of trees, but there were a few near the lakes.
There were actually people playing football and jumping around on the frozen lake, in shorts! I don’t know how they managed it but I didn’t want to run around on the lake! On one side of it you can see a load of swans swimming in the last NOT frozen part of water on the lake. They must have been having a field day being fed by all the tourists.
If you keep waling along the lake and away from the main city you’ll find a few statues and things, benches, another lake and a woodland area. It’s a nice walk, and it’s one of the only things in Reykjavic that isn’t really expensive because it’s free!
8: Visit some museums
Again, I didn’t visit any museums because for me, they’re not worth coming all this way for. I focused on the more impressive natural sites and things, but if you’re just looking for the best things to do in Reykjavic then I guess museums are on the list. There are several highly rated museums all around the city, and they’re fairly easy to get to.
I’m not sure about the price, but it’s probably not cheap. I don’t know of any free musuems, otherwise I’d have probably walked to those, but for me, I’d rather save my money and go on something like a northern lights tour!
Where to stay
If you’re thinking of coming to Iceland and Reykjavic for a few days, there are a number of options when it comes to where to stay. You could save money and stay at a hostel or one of the cheaper hotels, or you could spend a bit more for luxury, but be further away from the centre. I found that in general, the bigger better hotels seemed to be on the outskirts of the city, away from most of the things in the centre.
That being said, really you’re coming here to see northern lights, the lagoon, the golden circle and maybe a south Iceland tour. So if you’re just coming to do those things, and you don’t mind spending more, then by all means book a bigger, better hotel.
I found that the apartment we stayed in was much better for just walking around the centre of Reykjavic and exploring the little things the city had to offer, when we weren’t on tours. The apartment we booked was right in the centre and was fairly cheap. We booked it on booking.com but there are several little apartments in the centre like that.
What to bring
This depends on what you’re going to be doing, but I’d suggest as a minimum, bring:
- A good portable power bank (your batteries and phone dies fast in the cold)
- A good camera, really one with manual settings in case you want to photograph the northern lights properly. I use a Sony RX100VA at the time of writing (January 2019) and it worked fine.
- More than one pair of trousers: I wore long johns underneath my jeans, and I was STILL cold on the northern lights tour. Definitely bring something like that to wear underneath your main trousers.
- Enough layers: Bring things like a hat, scarf, gloves and enough layers, and a really thick coat. Even if you don’t normally get cold or don’t think you’ll need (like I did) trust me, you will.
How long to stay in Reykjavic
Well, if you’re doing the main things, you really don’t need to spend much longer than 3 days here. In Reykjavic itself, there’s not much to do. Most of the action happens when you go on a tour and go outside the city. With most things like the golden circle and the Blue Lagoon, they’re actually at least a 45 minutes drive out of the city anyway.
I’d say stay for 3 days, and then move on to other parts of Iceland if you want to see other things like the other waterfalls, the south and other things like that. That being said though, after 4 days in the snow here in Reykjavic, I won’t now come back until Summer, and I’ll probably rent a car and do the southern part of Iceland.
Tips and warnings
There aren’t really any warnings I can give you, because it’s just all so safe and lovely, but I’ll do my best to list a few things to be careful of here. Reykjavic is a very safe city and there isn’t much to think about or worry about, except maybe the cold, and money.
Bus floors get wet!
Something I didn’t expect happened. So, we went on several tours, and after walking in the snow with our boots for 30 minutes or so, we would come back into the coach. We’d put our bags on the coach floor in front of us, and the drive to the next location.
What happened though, is the snow on the bottom of our boots melted and turned the entire floor into a puddle. This mean the bag got soaked, and almost our coats too. If our coats had got wet, that would have been the trip ruined, because it would have made wearing them FREEZING and dangerous in the wind.
So don’t put anything on the floor of the tour bus or taxi! It will get soaked because the snow will melt off your shoes and make the floor wet. Most of the tour coaches and things like that have a storage area on the top of the coach for things like coats, bags and scarves so just use that.
Take layers off when you get in a coach or a building
This is a big one. The cold here is a fickle thing. Sometimes you’ll get cold and leave your coat on when you get back in the coach or in a cafe. This is probably a mistake, as your body will get used to the layers and then STILL be cold when you go back outside again.
I found the best system was to wrap up as much as you possibly can outdoors, but then when you go indoors or anywhere it’s warm like a coach, take the main coat, and your scarf OFF until you go back outside! This makes such a huge difference to how cold you’ll feel and ultimately how happy you’ll be and how much fun you’ll be able to have.
How to travel Iceland on a budget
So the one thing you’ll very quickly learn is that Iceland is expensive. The things you want to do like tours are pricey, and there’s not really any option but to pay the price. There are a few ways you can save money though, and travel Iceland in a more budget friendly way.
Save money by bringing your own things
Almost everything in Iceland and Reykjavic is super expensive. I found this out the hard way by forking out about $12 for a tiny smoothie. Learn to go to the Bonus store, get cheap snacks and a water bottle, and just bring your own stuff on the tours.
It saves you SO much money over the course of the 4 day trip, and that’s money that you can save and use for another trip! It’s certainly worth bringing your own water bottle. Water is free from the tap, and SUPER healthy that way too, so don’t waste your money buying imported expensive bottle water.
Don’t get all the extras
With most of the tours you book, like the northern lights, and then Blue Lagoon and things like that, there will be optional extras. These extras will be silly little things like extra hot drinks, a snack, or a pair of slippers at the Lagoon.
I’ve always said that the main thing you’re paying for is the experience. If they’re trying to sell extras that won’t REALLY make the experience any different, ignore them. At the Blue Lagoon, the experience is of the pool, the area and the serenity of it all. Having a pair of slippers and a robe for an extra $60 is NOT worth it.
For most of the tours, just pay the standard price and don’t get conned into buying the extras. The only exception to this would be if theres a choice between seeing say 3 waterfalls and 7 waterfalls on a golden circle tour, then of course, see the 7.
Be sensible with booking
There is a huge saving to be made by booking flights and accommodation at the right time of year and for the right times. We saved about $400 each on flights just by choosing a different day to come, and on all other days the flights were literally double or even triple the price.
There’s no sense in spending extra money when you don’t need to, so just really research things before you come and book flights in the cheapest way possible. This saving will allow you to be able to spend a bit more on things like tours and food or drink.
That being said, I only really spent about $50 on food and drink the whole 4 days and that included two Subway meals and a smoothie out, which was more than I thought I was going to spend. You can buy all you need at the Bonus stores. It’s important by the way to have a kitchen in your apartment because one of the main meals I cooked was pasta with beans and sauce in the apartment.
This saved LOADS because we’d have had to spend about $40 each on a meal if we’d gone out. It’s worth saving money on these little things because over the course of a 4 day trip or longer, they really do add up.
Expect to fall in love
I fell in love with Iceland even though this is the first time I’ve been there. There was so much to see for the 4 days I was there. I’m not sure how much there would be to do if I stayed longer. I think to stay longer I’d have to have bookings and arrangements to travel around Iceland, not just stay in Reykjavic.
On the last night of my trip, literally while I’m boarding the plane I saw the northern lights glimmering above the plane as if to wave me goodbye. This is particularly lucky because normally you can’t see them if there’s man made light sources near you. Also, after hearing that most people don’t see the northern lights on their first visit, I was even happier to have seen this.
I’ll certainly be back in the summer to explore the South of Iceland and fly the drone and things like that. There’s so much to explore but I feel like 4 days is perfect for seeing most of Reykjavic. I can’t speak for the other parts of Iceland, but I’m sure I’ll be back very soon.
Thinking of going to Iceland?
I’ve got more for you to read if you’re thinking of going to Iceland! The chances are if you’re reading this you’re thinking about going here at least for a few days. Check these out:
- How to photograph the northern lights: A guide I wrote showing you how to take photo of the northern lights with a compact camera, well worth a read. Don’t rely on your phone.
- How to visit the Blue Lagoon properly: I wrote an article showing you various tips and tricks for getting the most out of your visit to the Blue Lagoon. I show you how to save money, get the best photos, and not waste money on the optional extras that they try and sell you. (You don’t need them!).
- What I learned In Iceland: A more personal travel story, but I wrote a long post about all the things I learned about Iceland. This post shows all the little things and secrets I discovered about Iceland, Reykjavic and this whole place in general.