A weekend in Iceland includes seeing the spectacular Northern Lights, overall amazing landscapes, and a waterfall featured in the Game of Thrones. Some interesting facts about Iceland: a Viking named Floki originally came up with the name for Iceland; 25% of its land was forested in the past, this is now at 1%; and around 400,000 people live in Iceland.
Author: Rob Skinner
This was a guys’ trip, and now I can’t wait to get back to Iceland at some point with Barbara.
The Northern Lights
Our first tour, on our first night in Iceland, was to try to find the Northern Lights. We met up with Gummi, our Iceland Everywhere Tours guide, for their Northern Lights Midnight Adventure tour. Gummi explained that the Northern Lights are most active between 2300 – 0100, but less than 5 minutes into our tour, we pulled over to view the most spectacular light show I have ever seen.
I brought my Nikon Z8, tripod, and remote trigger, and I’m very happy with the photos I got.
We stopped a few more times, but saw nothing as good as at the beginning of the tour. Watching Game of Thrones and having some Floki whisky rounded out our night.
Iceland landscapes
Off on a driving tour, listening to Alpine Universe and GOT soundtracks, we headed to the thermal hot springs. John and Brook both completed a Stone Lift Challenge, which got them a free drink at the bar, and we all enjoyed an excellent seafood stew.
At the Hot Springs, we went from pool to pool, enjoying the relaxing thermal baths, eventually making it to the fjord for a cold soak.
The water temperature was about 2 C, so no one stayed in for long.
Ice Cave Tour
The next day, we drove out to see some sights before a scheduled Ice Cave Tour. Overall, my favorite stop was in Skógar, seeing the stunning Skógafoss Waterfall. In Game of Thrones, season 8, this is where John Snow and Daenerys Targaryen landed with her dragons.
We booked with Troll Expeditions through Viator for an Ice Cave Tour. We joined a group in their 15-passenger van that was basically a monster truck. They drove us out to onto the glacier on Katla volcano, taking time to let air out of the tires for the ice.
Once in place, we put on helmets and crampons, and we all walked over the glacier to the ice cave. The ice cave wasn’t very long, and was only half-frozen, but it was cool to see the thickness of the glacier, and walk through a naturally formed cave.
Pubs of Reykjavik
After long days of touring around the countryside, we managed to visit a few pubs in Reykjavik. Vitabar is a small local pub that made us feel welcome and serves up excellent burgers. For a pint of the pure in Iceland, we visited The Irishman Pub, and of course we had to visit the Lebowski Bar, with themes from The Big Lebowski.
Weekend in Iceland
Our guys’ weekend in Iceland was a great time seeing spectacular scenery, and adding a new country to our travel maps.
Iceland Logistics
| Flights | IcelandAir 4 hour direct flights, MUN – KEF |
| Lodging | A spacious Airbnb right off the pedestrian mall, close to many restaurants and pubs |
| Transportation | Avis rental car, this is key for getting out and seeing things |
| Tours | Northern Lights Midnight Adventure Tour, with Iceland Everywhere Tours Ice Cave Tour, through Viator |
| Restaurants / Pubs | Vitabar The Irishman Pub The Lebowski Bar |
| Time Zone | EST +4 |
| Currency | Icelandic Króna Most places take credit/debit cards |
| Plug In | Standard EU |
2 responses to “Weekend in Iceland”
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You were very lucky to see such spectacular Northern Lights! Great photos of Iceland’s stunning landscapes
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Thank you, Tanja! Rob is loving these opportunities to take photos around the world. 😊
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