Iceland's Must-Sees: Blue Lagoon & Golden Circle
Part I of 10-day Northern Europe Cruise on NCL's Prima Ship to Iceland, Norway, Belgium and England.
Nichole Carlson - Mountains to Waves Travel
Iceland is where thundering waterfalls, steaming hot springs, and skies that glow with the Northern Lights all come together in one epic adventure. From the famous Golden Circle to hidden geothermal gems, here are the must-sees and dos you won’t want to miss.
Travel Tip:
I will admit the long flight to Iceland was not my favorite part of this vacation. We had a 6-hour overnight flight with a 5-hour time change (7:30pm departure and 6:30am arrival). Not exactly what I call a fun time, but fortunately, we had the perfect activity planned for arrival - The Blue Lagoon!
If you have an overnight flight planned and you do not think you will be able to get enough sleep on the plane, I do not recommend renting a car and planning a long drive for your first day in Iceland. You do not want to be so tired that you end up falling asleep while driving!
Click on my recommended travel essentials link for your next vacation.
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The Blue Lagoon is a very popular and well-known attraction in Iceland, so we made our reservation for just after it opened to hopefully avoid the crowds and because we had an early flight arrival time. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, known for its milky-blue, mineral-rich waters that are naturally heated to around 102°F (39°C) year-round. There are different packages/pricing offered and all the packages include drink and mud mask. We opted for the basic package and it suited our needs perfectly. We enjoyed the hot springs for about 90 minutes, which in my opinion was plenty of time and then we were able to shower, change and get ready for the rest of our day. This was an awesome way to rejuvenate after our long flight and prepare for our Golden Circle Drive!
The Blue Lagoon
Travel Tip:
Due to it close proximity to the airport, the Blue Lagoon is an excellent activity to enjoy right before your flight departure or after your flight arrival. There are many transfer options that can be booked to include a stop at the Blue Lagoon so you do not even need to rent a car.
Click on my Viator link to explore some of the available transfer/tour options.
The Golden Circle is a scenic route with beautiful natural attractions to see along the way. One of the benefits of driving the Golden Circle yourself is that you choose which attractions you want to see along the way and how long you'll stay at each attraction. Our first stop was The Lava Tunnel Tour - Raufarhólshellir. Our guide was very knowledgeable and it is a really cool experience to be inside one of the country's longest lava tunnels.
The Golden Circle
We went to Friðheimar for lunch. It is a unique restaurant that is also a greenhouse with tomatoes growing all around you. The cuisine is tomatoes, in many different forms including tomato soup, fresh-baked bread, and other goodies. Reservations are recommended and they book up months in advance. We had tried to make reservations but were unable to do so even though we tried to make the reservations many months in advance, so we ended up just stopping by and we were able to get it with about a 30 minute wait time. The tomato soup and bread were awesome and we really enjoyed the experience.
Next Stop the Kerid Crater. There is a nice short hike around the crater with beautiful views.
Our next stop was the Geysir Geothermal Area, which was my least favorite stop on this drive. It is smelly, there is not a lot to see and you have to pay for parking and cross a busy road to access the Geysirs, geothermal pools and bubbling mud pots. If you have been to Yellowstone National Park you have definitely seen better.
Our last, and my favorite stop, of the day was Gullfoss. This is one of the major most popular stops on the Golden Circle and for good reason! It is beautiful and definitely one of the must see waterfalls in Iceland. It does get busy here and there is a steep paved trail to the waterfall that includes a lot of stairs to the lower viewing platform.
The Skalholt Church
The Secret Lagoon hot springs
Efstidalur ice cream barn
Thingvellir National Park
Other recommended stops that you can make on the Golden Circle that we did not do include:
At this point we were pretty tired and drove to our final destination for the day which was our hotel in Reykjavik. There is plenty more to see and do in Iceland, so don't miss Part II of this journey in my next post.
Reykjavik
Travel Tip:
Save money on international data plans by using an eSim during your vacation abroad.
The eSim that I use and recommend while traveling is Airalo.
