The Most Unbelievable 7 Day Iceland Itinerary
Traveling to Iceland anytime soon? You came to the right place! 7 days of unbelievable waterfalls, volcanoes, glaciers, and much, much more. Get ready for the best week of your life!
I’m giving you a step by step guide to an entire adventure along the south coast of Iceland. You will not regret anything about this trip. Lets get into it!
Here is The Most Unbelievable 7 Day Iceland Itinerary!
A few tips:
- Rent a car. Although there are transportation services that can bring you to many of these destinations, having a car and the ability to do whatever you want, when you want, is the best way to get the full experience. I recommend you get a car with snow tires if you visit in the winter – you will need as much traction as you can get while venturing through Iceland’s snowy season.
- Stop at grocery stores periodically and cook your own food when you can. Iceland is a very tourist driven country, so restaurants can get pricey.
- Pack warm clothes! I can’t stress this one enough if you’re traveling in the winter time. One thing I regret is not bringing warmer clothes. Iceland’s weather is very sporadic. It would be sunny one second and hailing the next. Come prepared with the right gear and do your research on weather beforehand.
- If you see something cool on the side of the road (like a sign to a waterfall or a herd of horses), pull over! Every single place off the coast is worthy to stop at.
Now, let’s get into the Itinerary!
Day 1
- Arrive in Reykjavic
- Explore downtown – get Icelandic hotdogs, look at shops
- Check into City HI Hostel
- Experience night life in Reykjavic – The Dubliner
Arrive in Reykjavik in the morning, pick up your rental car, and head straight to downtown Reykjavik. If you stay at City HI Hostel, check-in may be in the afternoon, so this gives you plenty of time to explore downtown.
Laugavegur street is the most popular street with tons of gift shops, restaurants, and cute boutiques to stop in. You could spend hours going into shops and walking around downtown admiring Iceland’s rustic and electric atmosphere.
For lunch, I highly recommend trying Iceland’s famous “Icelandic hot dogs.” There is a small pop up place called Baejarins Beztu Pylsur (say that 3 times fast) located at the end of Laugavegur street. This is the perfect place to stop for a quick lunch after all your shopping and site seeing. What to expect on the hot dog: fried onion crumbles, white raw onions, mustard, ketchup, and remoulade (another condiment that contains herbs, mustard, mayo, etc). Yum!
After walking around for awhile check into City HI hostel and settle in. If you need to, take a quick nap after your night of traveling and walking through downtown all morning.
After resting up, make sure to experience the night life in Reykjavik and have fun meeting some awesome Icelandic people. One favorite spot is a bar called the Dubliner – check it out!
Day 2
- Complete the Golden Circle
Time to check the Golden Circle off your bucket list! A quick background – the Golden Circle is about 140 miles roundtrip and hits some of Iceland’s biggest attractions. I’ll give you the exact spots to visit down below.
You can complete the Golden Circle driving nonstop in about 3 hours, but of course you have to stop and look at all the attractions, scope out local bites to eat, and take in Iceland’s beautiful sights. For a time reference, we left our hostel at about 10:30am and finished around 4:30pm.
First stop: Thingvellir National Park
There are multiple hikes you can do in Thingvellir National Park. Since you have plenty of stops to make on the Golden Circle, choose a shorter path to start out with.
This is exciting as it will most likely be your first time stepping foot outside the city and seeing some natural wonders!
Second Stop: Haukadalur Geothermal Field
Continue on your Golden Circe journey and arrive in Bláskógabyggð to eat lunch. There is a restaurant called “Restaurant Geysir Glima” where you can order a banana pizza! It was actually pretty good… I was skeptical at first, but they proved me wrong😊 Their pizza is fantastic, so if you don’t want to try the banana pizza, you can’t go wrong with any other options for lunch.
After eating lunch go check out some geysers at the Haukadalur Geothermal Field. There are two main attractions, one named Geysir and the other named Strokkur. If you are looking for a consistent eruption, go to Strokkur because that one erupts every 10 to 15 minutes, but Geysir on the other hand tends to be more sporadic.
Third Stop: Gullfoss
Also in Bláskógabyggð is Gullfoss waterfall. Absolutely breathtaking – a MUST see. It’s one of the most popular attractions on the Golden Circle, and for good reason. If you don’t end up doing the entire Golden Circle, I still highly suggest you carve in some time to see Gullfoss. It’s about two hours from Reykjavik for reference.
Side note: Gullfoss is in my top 3 for most scenic waterfalls!
Fourth Stop
The fourth and final stop – Kerid Crater. We stayed here for a solid 2 minutes because it was absolutely freezing out! Enough time to snap a picture and take in the views of this awesome crater. Hopefully when you go you can stay here for a longer period of time!
Day 3
- Arnastapi
- Grundarfjörður (Kirkjufell)
- Helgafellssveit
- Dinner in Reykjavic
If you haven’t realized by now, these days are PACKED! I encourage you to try and fit in as many attractions as you can because well, you only have 7 days and there is so much to see! Of course, add more or less to your liking. Some people are willing to fit in more attractions, and some are good with 1 or 2. Totally up to you! I personally stick with days ranging from 9am-5/6pm and then end with dinner and drinks at night.
On Day 3 head over to Arnastapi. A cute little place with a stunning view of the ocean and short hiking trail. There was a restaurant where you can dig your faces with pizza (again). If “you are what you eat” were true, I would have been a whole dang pizza after this trip. Of course they have other options as well if you’re pizza’d out.
On the way to Arnastapi, we saw wild horses on the side of the road and without hesitation we pulled over to pet them. I highly recommend you do the same (there will be many chances too – they’re everywhere)!
After Arnastapi, head to Grundarfjörður. This is where the famous Kirkjufell mountain is located (Arrowhead Mountain in Game of Thrones season 7). It is the most photographed mountain in Iceland and has beautiful waterfalls nearby to accompany it. You can walk up stairs to the top of the waterfall and overlook the beautiful landscape. Tip: if you travel here in the winter, dress warm! It was quite chilly at the top!
P.S. If you’re trying to see the Northern Lights in Iceland, Kirkjufell is your place. It depends on the time of year you’re visiting, but if you find yourself here at night, make sure you stick around because you have a good chance of seeing the green aurora appear across the sky!
After Kirkjufell, if you have a sudden idea to eat shark like we did (whose idea was that?), head over to the Bjarnarhofn Shark Museum. It is a small building with tons of cool shark displays and facts about the Greenland shark native to the Arctic Ocean.
At the end of the tour, shark will be waiting in a bowl for you to eat. You can read about my experience eating shark on my next blog post!
After the shark museum head back to Reykjavic and have a nice dinner at a local restaurant. Today is a pretty long day so maybe take a snooze and get ready to leave the hostel in the morning.
Day 4
- Blue Lagoon (Grindavikurbaer)
- Seljalandsfoss
- Gljúfrabúi (Hidden waterfall)
- Skogafoss
- Vik Hotel
We checked out of our hostel at 10am and headed to the Blue Lagoon. You guys. This place is so cool! It’s a massive bright blue hot tub. Just kidding – it’s a natural hot spring! They give you a free drink and face mask, so basically a spa day. I felt like I was on another planet the entire time because the water was so blue and it was steaming. They have a swim up bar with multiple choices of drinks. I chose wine – pinky’s up! Definitely a must see when you visit Iceland.
Next we headed toward Vik, the city where our hotel was in. On the way we had multiple stops at some of the most unbelievable waterfalls I have ever seen. This was probably my favorite day!
First stop
Seljalandsfoss – a waterfall you can walk behind! It’s about a 15 minute hike and can be a bit slippery, so be aware! We stayed here for quite a bit because we thought it was just so cool. You definitely have to get some videos when you’re underneath/behind the waterfall.
But WAIT! Don’t leave Seljalandsfoss just yet. There’s a HIDDEN waterfall about a 1/2 mile away – Gljúfrabúi. Another unbelievable find. There is a path connecting Seljalandsfoss to Gljúfrabúi that is 100% worth it. There is a small opening where you can see a little bit of the waterfall trickling down. You have to step on small rocks to get there, and fair warning you will probably get a little wet! Wear your waterproof hiking boots if you have them! Find an awesome and more in depth post about Gljúfrabúi here.
Second stop
Skogafoss. OK this waterfall is INSANE. The biggest one I have ever seen. I felt like the smallest human standing in front of it (and looked like it too)! There’s a ton of steps you can climb if you want to go to the top – 527 to be exact. I recommend going up there, but dress appropriately again. The wind made it freezing!
After Skogafoss we headed to a hotel for the night – Hotel Vik. A hotel with a bar is truly all a girl can ask for. If you plan on staying in Vik definitely choose here!
We then had an unsuccessful trip to the Sólheimasandur plane wreck. Well, my friend and I did, my brother and his friend made it all the way! Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been more cold in my life (me being dramatic). It’s a 2 hour walk, and they usually have shuttles that bring you there and back. Unfortunately, we couldn’t catch a shuttle this day. As we began walking, the weather went from snow, to hail, to rain, to sunshine, to hail, to rain, etc. in a matter of minutes. It was so bizarre! My friend and I chickened out but my brother got some cool pictures of the plane!
Day 5
- Dyrholaey
- Reynisfjara (Black Sand Beach)
- Ate lunch at Systrakaffi in Kirkjubaejarklaustur
- Svinafellsjokull Glacier
- Jokulsarlon (Diamond Beach)
- Drove back to Vik
First Stop
We started our day at Dyrholaey which was an awesome view. It was pretty cold and windy since you’re on a cliff right next to the ocean. Definitely worth it for the view! I can imagine it is a beautiful view for sunset, but this just happened to be the first stop for the day.
Second Stop
We then headed to Black Sand Beach. This was another place that made me feel like I was on another planet. The softest and darkest sand I have ever seen. Plus a beautiful view of the ocean – a must see! Tip: make sure you watch out for sneaker waves. On our way to our next stop we ate lunch at Systrakaffi – a great restaurant to fuel up before the next few attractions.
Third Stop
The next two places are probably my favorite out of the entire trip. After eating lunch we drove about an hour to Svinafellsjokull Glacier (also called the glacier tongue). I have never seen anything like it. There are tons of small cracks, contrasting colors, and just a lot going on in general. I sat alone for about 15 minutes and had a little transformative moment. It was completely silent. Nothing moving and nobody around me. I sat in awe. The fact we can travel to places like this and experience God’s creations is beyond me. I am so blessed to be able to see these remarkable landscapes. Please go to this glacier if you have the chance!
Fourth Stop
Next, Diamond Beach! Absolutely UNREAL! Another black sand beach, but add some diamonds to it! There’s huge ice chunks that wash up on shore from the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon (which we also visited and recommend – a seal popped up super close to us)! The contrast of the ice and black sand makes for great photos and beautiful views. The waves crashing into the ice chunks are stunning.
We then drove back to Vik and spent another night in the hotel.
Day 6
- Checked out of Hotel Vik
- Travel back to Reykjavik
- Checked into Bus Hostel
Today we slept in, checked out of our hotel, and made the journey back to Reykjavik (about a 2.5 hour drive). If you missed anything between these two cities, now is the time to hit them on the way back! We checked into Bus Hostel at 3pm and got ready to have our first nice dinner in Reykjavik (we were so used to our homemade sandwiches and spaghetti this was a treat)! At night we bar hopped and I think we ended up at a club. I wish I could remember all of the names! I do remember going to “The American Bar,” which we thought was a pretty funny name. We actually met some fellow Minnesota Gophers there!
Definitely scope out the night life and introduce yourself to some Icelandic people. they are so kind and have tons of fun and interesting stories to tell.
Day 7
- Last day!
- Ok stick with me here, we stopped at Iceland’s penis museum
- Vikings museum
Today our flight home was at 4:45 pm so we had until about 2 pm before we had to head to the airport. I would say we filled our time pretty wisely, at museums! We wanted to see what Iceland was all about, and apparently Penis’ are a big thing there (no pun intended?). The Icelandic Phallological Museum has the largest display of Penis’ in the world. Of course when we saw it was an actual museum we chuckled and bought tickets ASAP. Honestly one of the weirdest things I have ever encountered, but I’m here for it. They have an audio tape you can listen to as you go along if you want to hear the history about the museum and how it began. I personally was entertained without the audio. I would love to say more about this, but it’s pretty self explanatory. I plan on making a separate post only about this museum so make sure to check it out!
We then ended our trip at a Viking museum. Us being Minnesota Vikings, we had to! It was located near the airport which was convenient and a nice way to end the trip.
Well that’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this itinerary on Iceland’s southern coast! There are many, many more itineraries to come so keep on the lookout! You can subscribe to my emails on the homepage or click here so you never miss a post! Bye for now!
How to See the Northern Lights in Iceland - kirthetraveler
[…] this sparked your interest in visiting Iceland, I highly recommend you check out my post 7 Day Ultimate Southern Coast of Iceland Itinerary for some travel inspiration and a trip of a […]