Sight-seeing and spa day-trip to Iceland! 🇮🇸 ✈️
✈️ Departure airport: London Luton Airport.
🛫Outbound flight: easyJet U2 2643 06:25 - 09:35.
🛫 Return flight: easyJet U2 2646 19:10 - 22:10.
💰 Costs: See the end of this post!
📲 Coverage coming up on my travel Instagram soon: https://www.instagram.com/robbiewatson. I would love to hear from anyone else with travel Instagram accounts to follow!
Highlights
– Visiting iconic Hallgrimskirkja Church, including the tower ⛪
– Exploring Reykjavik in the snow
– Experiencing Sky Lagoon and the 7 Step Ritual Experience – FINALLY seeing the Northern Lights! 🏔 😍 Want more information on what I got up to? Read below ⬇️
– Car hire – I booked a compact SUV car with auto-transmission with Expedia/Europcar. The counter was in the terminal and the car was parked nearby. There were cheaper options, but this would have meant getting a smaller car (not great in the snow) and having to get a shuttle to get to the car hire counter which is wasted time.
– Travel to Reykjavik –
I drove from Reykjavik Keflavik Airport north towards Reykjavik itself. This took about 45-50 minutes along one main highway. The car had Apple Car Play connection so I could use my phone to provide SatNav.
– Reykjavik –
Arriving around 11:15am, I parked down a side street near Hallgrimskirkja Church. Parking was free as it was during the weekend – win! I visited the church, which looks iconic outside and inside. I paid for a ticket to take the elevator up to the top of the bell tower which had views out in all directions around the city. Tickets cost around £6 and they accept card only I believe.
Afterwards I walked down Skólavörðustígur (the main boulevard down from the church towards the city centre) and saw Rainbow Street. There are lots of shops and cafes in this area to visit if you have time, and cute Icelandic buildings to photograph.
The city centre had large shops and restaurants, as well as museums. I passed the Punk Museum and took a peek inside the Phallological Museum (🤣) - this costs £16 to visit but they have a free lobby to visit with shop and cafe which is worth popping into.
I bought a hot dog from a street vendor, which is seen to be a staple tradition. This cost £6 and tasted nice!
There is lots more to do in the city centre, but due to lack of time I walked to visit the Harper Concert Hall. A must-visit for architecture lovers! There was also a local market inside here during my visit selling lots of local produce and Christmas gifts.
As I walked back towards my car I strolled along the sea front which had views out towards snowy mountains in the distance. The Sun Voyager is also located along here too.
– Sky Lagoon –
A 15 minute drive from Reykjavik city centre is the Sky Lagoon, which opened in recent years jumping on the success of Blue Lagoon (currently closed due to volcanic activity). There was free parking available here, but you can also visit by taking the local bus or booking a transfer coach online.
The spa has three different types of tickets to choose from: – Pure Lite (access to the lagoon only. Shared changing rooms/showers). £40. – Pure (access to the lagoon, and ‘7 step ritual’ experience. Shared changing rooms/showers). £56. – Sky (access to the lagoon, and ‘7 step ritual’ experience. Private changing rooms/showers). £85.
Prior to my visit I booked a ‘Sky’ ticket for 2pm. Pre-booking is a must for this facility as most slots were sold out on the day. The private changing and shower facilities were modern and made the experience a lot less hectic than the shared facilities.
The lagoon is man-made but well designed. It’s one of those places (like the Blue Lagoon) which is nice to visit once to say that you’ve done it, but it’s purely a touristy destination with ample of people scrambling around to capture the perfect photos of them in the lagoon. It’s a well designed lagoon, with towering rocks, a waterfall, ledges to relax on, and an infinity edge looking directly out onto the sea. It was a snowy and windy day, so the hot water was lovely! Top tip from me is to wear a wooly hat to keep your head warm.
The lagoon has its own swim-up bar, which has a three drink limit per guest. Don’t expect any bargain drinks here though – a cider set me back £9.80! It’s quite the novelty to be sat enjoying a drink in the warm lagoon overlooking the landscape.
The 7 step ritual was worth the extra cost over the Pure Lite ticket. Before you enter there is the option to have a plunge in the cold tub (it certainly wakes you up!). There was the most-beautiful sauna that I’ve ever been in, with a huge panoramic window looking out at 5e rocky landscape and sea. Also, a cold misting chamber, a salt scrub room, a steam room and showers. My recommendation would be to take your time in each section and enjoy it – you only get one go at this so you can’t re-enter. I timed my visit for part day time and part night time so that I could see the lagoon in both lights, plus any wonderful sunset in between. It was quite cloudy on the day that I visited, so no nice sunset sadly! I’d still recommend visiting at this time of day though.
After a few hours here I showered and changed. You pay for any purchases at the exit which was nice and easy. There was a nice-looking restaurant, cafe and shop here too.
– Return trip –
I left Sky Lagoon at 4:30pm and drove to Keflavik Airport, stopping off at a petrol station nearby to put in about £10 of fuel. I dropped the hire car off at 5:40pm with no issues and headed into the terminal and through security. There were no queues for security. My flight came up with a 90 minute delay, so I found a quiet corner and relaxed for a while. There are shops and places to eat in the terminal, but these were extortionate even by airport prices! I waited until the flight to get some dinner instead.
The flight departed at 8:46pm (was scheduled for 7:10pm). As we reached cruising altitude the Northern Lights appeared on the left side of the plane. The cabin crew dimmed the lights, and as there were a couple of empty rows, people were all able to move across and have a look. I’ve been to Iceland three times, and Lapland once, and this was my first time seeing them! A memorable flight, for sure.
We arrived into London Luton at 11:30pm, and I was back at home just after midnight. Perfect.
– Summary –
A very good option for a day trip, for those experienced day-trippers who have already visited Iceland. I really enjoyed my day in the land of fire and ice! If you haven’t yet visited, I’d strongly recommend a long weekend minimum to begin with so that you can at least see The Golden Circle.
– Costs (solo trip) –
Flights: £36 return (staff travel).
Car hire: £95.
Fuel cost: £10.
Hallgrimskirkja church tower visit: £6.
Sky Lagoon ‘Sky’ ticket: £85.
Total: £232
This can be less when splitting cost of car hire, and choosing the ‘Pure Lite’ ticket at Sky Lagoon. Maybe £122pp based on two people when selecting the cheapest hire car option and ‘Pure Lite’ Sky Lagoon pass.
