Iceland Stopover – Day Trip to Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

Iceland Stopover Day 2 – Exploring the southern coast of Iceland

The drive along South Iceland has some big hitters as far as what you come to see on an Iceland Stopover. Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach, Geysir, and the black sand beaches and lots of waterfalls.

A day of driving

After an incredible Iceland Stopover Day 1, we begrudgingly left our wonderful Airbnb house early. So early that even the coffee shop wasn’t open. We anticipated a full day of driving with plans to get as far as Vik, hike some waterfalls along the way, see Geysir and then return to spend our last night in Reykjavik.

The weather was nowhere near as cooperative as it had been the day before. It was a rainy drive and fairly dark until past Reykjavik but we managed to find some coffee and start mapping out a plan. After looking at the map, we were determined that we could get as far as Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. For reference, this is a 5.5 hour drive from Borgarnes! One way! The choice was kind of a no-brainer, if you’ve ever seen the pictures, they are incredible!

Sister Side Note (ssn) – This is the part of the trip when I (Patti) finally gave in to the illness I had been fighting since arriving in England the week before. Cried pathetically leaving the AirBnB house, and then proceeded to sleep for 4 straight hours in the car. I was pretty useless during this period, and during the recap of this blog post.

With waterfalls every where and we ooh & aahed our way along the highway.

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Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon

Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon was absolutely breathtaking! The Glacier Lagoon is possibly the most unique place I’ve ever seen. The colors of blues and greens mixed with ice and black from the volcanic rock were amazing. There were even seals swimming among the glacier. Despite the cold and rain it was probably the most spectacular “part of our visit to Iceland.

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Diamond Beach is the same location as Glacier Lagoon so we did get out and look. The black sand was gorgeous and we hoped to find some “diamonds” and get great pictures but it just didn’t show up that way. I’ve included a picture below to show how frickin’ cool it is!

Waterfalls

First stop planned for our drive back was the ONE that I had been waiting for, Svartifoss. Svartifoss is the insanely cool waterfall surrounded by basalt columns that looks very Game of Thrones – click that link to see it on an Iceland travel site. Sadly, it was so rainy & cold that the normally 45 min hike (each way) was close to 3 hours. No can do on this mission. So sad, but I will be back to try again.

Second stop was the very large volume Skogafoss. The power of this water is thundering!

Last but certainly not least, Seljalandsfoss. The weather was clearing a bit and it was fantastic so we climbed up and behind the falls, it was so much fun!

ssn – These were all relatively easy hikes, and can be done by people of normal fitness levels (or slightly less than normal as the case of this sister may be)

Evening in Reykjavik

We arrived back in Reykjavik around dinner time and unfortunately it was pretty dark so we didn’t get to explore the city. And it was a bit of a challenge trying to park, but we got a little walkabout in and found a great restaurant, Rustik! The food was wonderful and the atmosphere was lively, energetic and happy (like us)! Unfortunately, Rustik now appears to be closed 🙁

ssn – Rustik closing makes me sad. The beef carpaccio was life changing! And I loved the bustling vibe from this downtown area of Reykjavik and I can’t wait to go back and explore the nightlife on an evening when I am not sick, and it’s not pouring rain.

What we missed

Our waterfall tour to Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon was worth the extra drive but it did get much too late to get to Geysir (and Gulfoss) so we will definitely save those for the next trip.

Also, and Little Sis still hasn’t gotten over this, we missed the Imagine Peace Tower (tribute from Yoko Ono to John Lennon) because you have to take a boat to a little island off Reykjavik to see it. Ferries run 5:30 to 7:30 and we just didn’t make it in time.

ssn – No, I’m still not over this. It was my one thing. Thanks for reminding me of this painful disappointment.

Perhaps most disappointing, we didn’t get to go to the iconic Blue Lagoon. We just didn’t plan far enough ahead to make reservations. Reservations fill up quickly so be sure to make plans a few weeks in advance!

All in all, this crazy, exhausting day was magnificent and worth every mile!

Check out the posts from the rest of our trip:

• Iceland Day 1
• Iceland Day 3