If you haven’t yet, catch up with Iceland Stopover Day 1 and Day 2. We stayed at a cute little apartment AirBnB in Reykjavik with these amazingly cozy down comforters, perfect for your girl fighting the cold, and perfect for hitting downtown first thing in the morning for coffee.

I had been eyeballing Café Babalu since our layover in Iceland on the way to England, and it did not disappoint. Very eclectic décor, amazing coffee, and a full menu for breakfast.  But we took our lattes to go because we had some exploring to do.  Reykjavik is a really cute, colorful city, and I loved being able to walk and explore. 

Hallgrimskirkja

We headed to Hallgrímskirkja, the largest church, and the tallest structure in Iceland.  It is a very identifiable Icelandic landmark, and sits up on a hill, so is visible in most parts of the city.  The view is incredible, and the inside is picturesque like most European churches, with a grand organ aligning the back wall.

Kitty-corner (or…caddy corner?) from the church is a fabulous little breakfast spot, that does serve fermented shark, but I was not feeling that adventurous and opted for the smoked trout on homemade rye bread, and a little Icelandic coffee, with Brennivin (the local spirits) to warm me up. A fair warning to all that are planning an Iceland trip, it is expensive, and we spent $50 just on breakfast, for the boozed up coffee, trout on rye, a breakfast sandwich and a plain coffee.

Street views

Our morning was spent strolling around town, loving the peaceful, calm vibe of the city, the colors and the people. 

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Sun Voyager

One of the coolest things to see is the beautiful steel sculpture resembling a Viking long-ship, called Solfarid or the Sun Voyager. Sun Voyager is situated along the waterfront and the view of the bays and Mt. Esja are stunning on a clear day. The artist viewed his work as an ode to the sun, symbolizing light and hope. We love that!

Bridge Between Continents

We had just a few hours left on the rental car, so we headed out to see the Bridge Between Continents.  Iceland is the location of the meeting of the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates, and is the only place you can see the meeting of these two plates above ground.  Be a bit of a geological geek here and understand how cool this is.  There are also scuba excursions to see them underwater (I didn’t do this, because, um, duh prehistoric sharks could eat me).

ssn – at the center of the bridge, Midlina, you can straddle the continents. The two sides are marked “Welcome to America” and “Welcome to Europe”. The visitors center will give you a certificate to commemorate your walk from Europe to America.

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Random thought

And because this hasn’t been discussed yet, I feel like we have to talk about the moss in Iceland.

Moss covers most of the landscape.  And the country of Iceland, government and people, have asked repeatedly that the moss not be touched or stepped on, it takes years for it to grow back, and thoughtless tourists have been known to trample on it, or pick it to take a souvenir home.  Do not do this.  Just leave the countryside the way you found it.  It is a beautiful part of the landscape.

ssn – we hated to leave this beautiful country but this Iceland Stopover deal is too good (and they are in no way sponsoring this post) not to come back. Imagine if you were able to stop in Iceland for a day or two each time you traveled between North America and Europe? You could see so much of this magical island! We do still want to do the golden circle and get up to the northern part of the country which would take more than a couple of days, but each trip could bring a few more amazing adventures!

• Iceland Stopover – Day 1
• Iceland Stopover – Day 2

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.

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

When booking a trip to Europe on Icelandair, consider adding an Iceland stopover to either end of your vacation. This is really a great way to see this magical country. We decided to add 3 days to the end of our London trip.

Sister side note (ssn) – talking about Icelandair, let me offer this little tip….if you are taking a red-eye into Reykjavik from the USA (heading East), make sure you get a window seat on the A side! It will be possible to see the Northern Lights from the plane just in case you don’t get another opportunity. We were able to see a gorgeous display which sadly, we did not get to see in Iceland.

Arriving in Rekjavik

We left Heathrow and landed in Reykjavik in the evening. Two tips we had been given were, 1) Buy wine at the Duty Free shop (if you plan on needing it on your stay) and 2) make sure you get the WiFi option for the rental car. Both genius suggestions!

However, nobody said to reserve with the rental car inside the airport terminal rather than one that you have to shuttle to – even if it isn’t your favorite – unless you have time to spare (which we never do!). So I’m telling you! This literally took 2 hours between waiting for the shuttle and waiting in line at the facility. 2 hours!! And by then it was getting dark and we had a little over an hour drive into a fairly remote area.

Patti and Pat flew in later than we did and rented inside the airport and were able to get out of there fairly quickly – which was good because the rain had started and made the drive a little stressful.

So…after all that…we arrive in Borgarnes – starving! – and everything is closed except for this cute local pizza place, La Colina Pizzeria. It ended up being a great meal, although a glass of wine was $19 usd!! In the dark, it was a little challenging to find our Airbnb but oh, it was worth it. The property was absolutely incredible.

ssn – Borgarnes was a super cute little town, and I highly recommend it if you are looking to stay outside of the city, and tour the west. However, we once again notice my sister neglecting to mention the 3.5 mile long tunnel UNDER THE OCEAN!!!! It’s 500 feet under the ocean, in fact. UNDER . . . that’s worse than over for those not keeping track.

Day trip to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula

We got up early the next morning to get started with our very long day of sightseeing (and driving!!) on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. First stop, coffee and fresh pastries at the local market.

Patti and I both get carsick <wink, wink> so we climbed in the front seat, plugged the Snaefellsjokull National Park into the GPS, plugged some great music into the stereo and off we went with no real expectations.

ssn – in reality, we had expectations of puffins, however it was the wrong season so we would not be seeing them.

The drive was lovely! The scenery was constantly changing and the day just got sunnier and sunnier! And the sheep are the cutest!! I would have brought one home if that would have been an option.

Much to the annoyance of our carmates, Patti and I are car singers. And because we had the car WiFi, we had access to our Pandora & Spotify channels. There is something so enjoyable about driving in the spectacular countryside, admiring the views and singing along to great music.

Djupalonssandur Beach

You could easily take multiple days in the region and explore hot springs, lava caves, the Snaefellsjokull glacier and venture out to the Westfjords for whale watching and kayaking. The main point of interest for our trip to Snaefellsnes was the black rock beach, Djupalonssandur Beach.

Once there, you walk from the parking lot thru lava fields and cool rock formations before coming to the most stunning beach view. The black rocks are not at all like a black sand beach (which to tell you the truth, have always been a little underwhelming). The rocks are beautiful and shiny and they catch the light in a completely different way than anything we’ve seen. And the waves sounds so amazing when they hit the beach.

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Arnarbaer

As hard as it was to drag ourselves away from this amazing place, we had more stops and miles to cover! We were hungry and stopped for lunch at Arnarbaer, partially for food and partially because it was a “point of interest” where we found the marker for the start of the Journey to the Center of the Earth from Jules Verne’s book. Also the Bardar Saga statue, believed to be the guardian of the Glacier.

We stopped at the restaurant, one of the few we had seen on our drive, and man, was it good! So surprising! But inside was really cute, modern and some of the best Fish & Chips we had on our trip (and we just came from London the day before!). Plus, they had wine!

ssn – how did she just downplay that moment! It was amazing, we stopped at this cute little restaurant (and the lobster bisque was to die for), pull into the parking lot and Oh, What is that sign over there? It is the actual spot designated in Journey to the Center of the Earth. RIGHT THERE, just stumbled upon by us. It was amazing! (literary geek moment). This is the spot! This is where it all took place (in the novel, not the Brendan Frasier catastrophe).

Husafell and Barnafoss

After that fantastic lunch, we headed to Husafell see Hraunfossar and Barnafoss (Children’s falls). The legend of the falls is dark, named after some nearby children who drowned in the river. Trying not to think about that…

Husafell was inland, back beyond our Airbnb in Borgarnes; a little out of the way but we only had the one day on that side of the country and we were trying to fit everything in.

ssn – make this side trip! It was amazingly beautiful, and never really hit any of the other travel suggestions we found for a Stopover. But it’s worth it! That icy blue water was simply amazing.

Iceland Stopover Day 1 was incredible but we were running out of daylight and ready to head back to the Airbnb for an evening of hot tubbing and waiting for the northern lights. And duty-free wine!

ssn – the clouds rolled in and we did not get to see the lights. We were a little disappointed since this night had the best chance, but now it’s an excuse to go back 😉

See our related posts from the rest of this journey

• Iceland Day 2
• Iceland Day 3