24 Hours in Iceland

Last week we spent a night in Iceland, as a stopover on our way to New York. I’ve had Iceland on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, there’s something about the Icelandic vibe that’s totally me. Jordan is the biggest Bjork fan, so he was ready for a visit too.

I wasn’t planning on booking Iceland, but when I checked flight prices with SkyScanner (the very best way to find cheap flights!) for New York, I saw that Icelandair had the best price for Glasgow to NYC. I hopped on to their site to book, and saw that they did a ‘7 Day Stopover’ – basically, since you have to change flights in Iceland anyway, you can choose to have your second flight pushed back for a week, at no extra cost. That way you can travel to your final destination, but have a little vaycay in Iceland while you’re at it!

I had never heard of this before (and neither has anyone I’ve spoken to about it!), but the booking process was SO easy – you can choose to have your stopover at the beginning or at the end of your trip, and we went with the beginning which worked out best as we were zombies on our way back from New York. The whole thing was so easy to work out, and I highly recommend doing this – our flights were super cheap and everything was really effortless.

I’d never flown with Icelandair but they were amazing, so attentive and a really fun airline – we were SO dehydrated after the Blue Lagoon that we were constantly asking for water! The planes are named after Icelandic spots, and beautiful Icelandic music was playing while we were boarding. On the flight, there’s loads of Icelandic documentaries and films to watch, Icelandic music to listen to, and the TVs show awesome facts about the people and the country while you’re seated. Obviously you can choose to watch Hollywood films and all that, but Jordan was in his element watching the Bjork film Biophilia. That creepy bitch.

Also: can we all take a minute to appreciate how awesome the Northern Lights feature is on the flight?! The glimmer of the cabin lights was incredible, I have no idea how they did it. I got a little video of it, perhaps I shall upload it somewhere…

The Iceland tourist board have got things absolutely nailed – never have I seen such an efficient way of doing things. We booked everything online before we went – including our tickets to the Blue Lagoon (definitely buy tickets beforehand!), our transfers to and from the airport, our accommodation, the transfer to the Blue Lagoon… everything. I really recommend doing this, it’s just such an easy process – Reykjavík Excursions will pick you up from your hotel, and then take you to the Blue Lagoon, and then either on to the airport or back to the bus station. You can also be picked up from the airport, taken to the Blue Lagoon and then on to the bus station – it’s crazy how good they’ve worked it out.

Taxis are expensive, everything is quite far from each other and I’m not sure how you would get around if you didn’t book the bus – other than renting a car.

My brother and his girlfriend had been to Iceland a month before we went, so I was able to grill them a little about their trip – they ended up renting a car as they stayed for a week. There’s no way I could ever drive on the other side of the road, so I didn’t even consider it – but I would say it’s a must if you stay for longer! Especially if you plan to see quite a lot, although I think Reykjavík Excursions offer quite a lot of trips, as do Gray Line.

We arrived in to Keflavik airport around 3pm on the Friday, and we had booked a transfer with Grayline to take us to our hotel. Once there, we got settled in and then headed for a look around the town; Reykjavík is the capital, and it’s around 40 minutes from Keflavik airport. It’s where you’ll find everything, and it has a really fun feel about it. Iceland doesn’t really get dark in the summer as it’s so far north, so everyone goes out late on the weekends – ideal if you’re up for a party!

We ended up exploring the main street all evening, there’s SO many beautiful shops here. It reminded me of Amsterdam in a way, as it’s quite touristy, the people are so chatty and it has the most amazing homeware shops. I was in heaven!

For food, we headed to Bunk Bar. I hadn’t really looked up restaurants but there were quite a few on the main shopping street – I loved the look of Bunk Bar, which I think is a hostel too. The menu was small, but incredible – we went for some Teriyaki Beef tacos, prawn tacos, ribs and a cheese and meat plate. Jordan sampled some local beer and I had a heavenly honey and gin cocktail. The food was amazing and the whole place was really cool.

We saw the Hallgrímskirkja church on our way in, and our bus driver said you could walk up it (there’s a life, phew!) and see all of Reykjavík from the top. We decided to go as it was still light and we like a good view; it was around £3 each to go up, and well worth it for the sights – my photos don’t really do it justice, but it was a really awesome experience. The church itself is pretty impressive (and rather phallic), so even if you don’t decide to head on up, go for a look around.

After more exploring, we popped in to an arcade for a look (it was on a street just off the main street, next to an ice cream shop) and then on to another bar/restaurant, The Laundromat Cafe. This place was pretty awesome, and I’ve heard the food is divine – we just had some of the local beer, and took in the cool interiors. If you like lots of books, all organised by colour, this is the place for you. It was entirely satisfying!

If we were in Iceland for a little longer, this would be our brunch spot of choice – the menu looks delicious. A reason to come back, for sure. Oh, and there is actually a laundromat downstairs – that was a surprise.

I won’t lie, the real reason for our trip was to experience the Blue Lagoon. I’ve wanted to come here for YEARS! A geothermal spa in the middle of an exposed, cold pile of rock? I’m in. I have to say, the Blue Lagoon ranks high on my list of ‘best life experiences ever’ – it was unbelievable.

We were picked up from our hotel around 8.30am on the Saturday, taken to the bus station where we hopped on another bus to the Blue Lagoon, which is near Keflavik airport. As we were driving through Iceland, Jordan put an Icelandic playlist on his iPod (we each had a headphone in an ear) – I chose Sæglópur by Sigur Rós, and Jordan followed it up with some Mew (apparently actually Danish, who knew), Bjork and more Sigur Rós! I really recommend doing this, it amplified the experience and it was something I’ll never forget.

The Blue Lagoon was really exposed to the elements, so dress warm if you’re heading here as even getting off the bus is super cold. We left our luggage in the storage room on site, it was only about £5 per bag or something. Since we purchased tickets online beforehand, we didn’t really need to queue to get in, and I think we went for the Comfort Package in the end – I really recommend this one, it’s nothing too fancy but you have everything you need to enjoy the experience.

Everyone told me not to get my hair wet in the water as it really dries it out. I left conditioner in while I was in the water, but I like to swim and splash so it eventually got rinsed out. Jordan went back in to get the GoPro and bought me out a handful of conditioner, a nice gesture… albeit slightly strange. Boys eh.

You’ll find that you get brain freeze a little as it’s so cold outside of the water, and you kinda wanna put your head under to get some warmth! I ended up just rinsing my hair with conditioner around five or six times after I had come out of the lagoon, and my hair was fine. It was like using a good salt spray!

Oh, and like most European countries, everyone just gets nudey rudey right in front of you. The women’s changing rooms did have one cubical per block that had a door though, but I didn’t care enough to step in. Seen one, seen ’em all, I always say.

The Lagoon uses wristbands so you can swim up to the in-water bar and get drinks without having to exchange money. Jordan had a beer (surprise, surprise) and I went for some strawberry sparkling wine – it was incredible slurping this delicious fizzy wine in the hot pool with my love. We were halfway through our first drink when I looked up and spied the clock – not yet 10.30am, and we’re cracking into the booze. No regrets.

Once we got our Blue Lagoon fix (I could have stayed in there forever, it was divine!), we dried off and headed for the airport. Once checked in for our flight to NYC, we got a cold pressed juice from Joe & The Juice and rehydrated. Heavenly!

All in all, an absolutely incredible trip – in such a short time, we saw so much and I ticked ‘Blue Lagoon’ off my list. I really recommend Iceland if you want an ultra cool (literally) getaway – the people are too cool for their own good, the whole country has such a relaxed energy and there’s so much to see and do!

Have you been to Iceland?