One of the coolest perks of flying Icelandair to Europe is the Iceland Stopover

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