Iceland is a country I had wanted to visit for many years and once I got the travel bug this country was at the top of my list. The previous year I had been to Copenhagen and Stockholm, and I already knew by then how much I loved The Nordics. It isn’t as cold as I had imagined but I still brought some thermals which were needed on some of the excursions.
On my first morning on Reykjavik, I left my hostel at what must have been around 9am/9:30 (it was the end of February) the streets were so quiet, and morning had only just broken. The small cute little wooden buildings lined their main high street, certainly was nothing like any capital city I had been to before. It was a mild February (no snow) but the weather was dull, during my four days there I saw very little sunshine.
Reykjavik is quite small and really you wouldn’t want to spend any more than a day strolling through the city. The remaining days (and indeed on my second visit) I did day trips to see other parts of this beautiful country.
Winter 2019 
4 DaysI wasn’t really used to staying in hostels and I don’t think I’d ever stay in one through choice. But as I did a lot of travelling in a short space of time, hostels were the only way to make regular travel affordable. KEX, however, I would stay here through choice. When I arrived (which was late one Thursday evening) I was dropped off at the door and was greeted with a graffitied door and stairwell and my first through was “what am I doing here”. I walked up the stairs to reception on the first floor and I couldn’t believe what I was treated with. It was a massive floor/bar area, moderately busy, with the reception desk at the front. It felt very warm and inviting and the space had such an overwhelming smell of delicious food that I felt instantly safe and relaxed.
KEX is an old biscuit factory (KEX is the Icelandic for biscuit). The decor of the hostel of very industrial and raw, and yet so warm and welcoming. There are dormitories that range from 40 beds to just 6 or 4 bedrooms. They also have private double or twin rooms with shared bathroom facilities. The rooms are clean and warm, though the metal beds and metal lockers do make you think you’re on an army barracks!
I had read some reviews afterwards and a few people complaining about the shower facilities. They were communal showers with open stalls, at least that’s how it was in the men’s showers. This didn’t bother me as it is no different to showering at the gym, and at least it was all clean.
The bar area is very chilled and relaxed, plenty of tables or sofas, most near to power points so people could charge phones or sit on laptops. As it’s a hostel everyone is friendly and sometimes, I find it a bonus knowing that your with likeminded people, of whom some are solo travellers which makes it easy speak to people and hang out when you want company.
Despite reading a few reviews telling people not to visit the blue lagoon as it was too touristy, I’m so pleased I didn’t listen and I booked to go. I purposely booked to go at the 5pm slot so I could watch the sunset and experience both day and night there and it didn’t disappoint. When I first arrived and got into the lagoon, the weather was dull, misty and sleet showers where you couldn’t see to the other side of the lagoon. Within half an hour the dull weather cleared, and the sky turned yellow, then pink and then night started to draw in.
Looking back at my photos it feels like they had been taken on different days, not all within 3 hours. You get a drink, free silicon mud mask and a towel included within your entrance fee and other drinks weren’t too expensive. There is a steam room there too and a relaxation area.
This is the main shopping/high street that runs through the main part of the city and because Reykjavik is so small I ended up walking this strip many times and became very familiar with it. Lots of nice cafes and restaurants which are central to everything.
Probably the most famous landmark of Reykjavik. Whilst I don’t particularly think it’s a beautiful building, the inside of it is pretty impressive, and you can go to the top for a small fee and it gives you the best views over the whole of Reykjavik.
I have to be honest, it wasn’t very pleasant! But when in Iceland...
You get 4 small cubes, which many friends who saw my pictures were convinced I was eating cheese. But it was shark! The shark has a very spongy/rubbery texture but had the taste of a strong Camembert cheese! It’s then washed down with an equally disgusting shot (similar to vodka) that’s made of potatoes!
Also the Icelandic are also big on dried fish, the warnings when you get in coaches not to open fish packets because of the smell we’re enough to put me off trying!
Seeing the street art in the streets of Reykjavik was very impressive, mostly off the streets of Laugavegur you see every so often entire building’s painted in a grand design or murals.
During my stay this lake was pretty much frozen over, and the most enjoyable thing was seeing the ducks skating on the top! When I visited the second time in January 2020 the whole lake was frozen over and I walked right across the middle! There was a group of young kids playing football there.
There are a couple of these restaurants around Reykjavik but the one I visited was on the old harbour. Lunchtimes they do an all you can eat buffet and comprises of only fish dishes. Even if you are not the world’s biggest fish fan, they do enough dishes here in so many ways it would be hard to not find something you could eat. This was outstanding.
This cost around £20 for an adult entry fee, and I didn’t think it was worth it, as I was there around half an hour. The life-sized models of the whales are impressive, and there are boards in which you can learn more about the mammals, but that’s about it really.
The price is a bit steep for what is especially something that lasts only 30 mins, and the main event which is the flight simulator lasts only around 9 minutes! However the flight simulator was fantastic, you are strapped into your seat and the propelled forward into a massive eye lease type of shape/dish and moving images of Iceland flash before your eyes as the motion and sometimes sprays of mist simulate the experience.
This is one of the more popular museums in Reykjavik, around £15 entrance fee, and you’ll learn about the maritime history in Reykjavik. Personally, I didn’t feel that it was worth the entrance fee as I wasn’t even there more than 30 minutes.
In seeing How to become Icelandic in 60 minutes Bjarni Haukur Thorsson teaches you everything you need to know about being Icelandic, in just one hour. You will learn how to walk, talk and behave like a regular Icelander. Additionally you will learn why eating sour sheep balls might save your life. The show is much more than a stand up comedy routine, it is a hilarious blend of incisive and visual observation of the Icelandic human condition, their attitudes, struggles and everyday life.
South of Iceland Full-Day Tour from Reykjavik
This glacier was one of the stops on a 10-hour day tour of the south coast, coach pink up from Reykjavik. The Glacier was stunning and probably the highlight of my 4 days. From the roadside, its roughly a 15/20-minute walk until you reach it. Our tour guide told us that the glacier melts 100 meters per year due to global warming. You get to go up to the glacier and partially walk/climb on it, though this wasn’t a glacier hike. It’s a stunning and breath-taking sight, no photograph could do justice what my eyes were seeing!
South of Iceland Full-Day Tour from Reykjavik
This was another stop on our days south coast tour, and probably my least favourite out of the 4 stops. I think the weather and rain didn’t help, but the tide was coming in fast, so it was a quick stop. Apparently, it’s the most dangerous beach in Iceland.
South of Iceland Full-Day Tour from Reykjavik
This waterfall was one of the stops on a day tour of the south coast. Getting this close to the waterfall makes you feel the sheer power of it, and especially with this waterfall as you can go behind it and into the cliffs. It was very dangerous though, as it wasn’t even a proper path, but for me personally was well worth the risk as it was an amazing experience.
South of Iceland Full-Day Tour from Reykjavik
This was the second waterfall we saw on our south coast day tour. Personally, I preferred the Seljalandsfoss waterfall as you got to go behind that one. However this was still impressive and probably better looking from the ground. There is a hill at the side where you can climb to go above the waterfall, I counted little over 400 steps!
Having done the classic south coast tour on my first visit which was amazing, I found this day trip which looked similar on the west side of Iceland.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a patch on the south coast tour and I was slightly disappointed. There was snow on the ground everywhere which I guess didn’t help as it made all the scenery look very similar. We saw cliff formations, a black beach and Kirkfall mountain range.
The black beach was impressive and especially as the black beach I visited on the south coast tour was cut short due to the weather. But for me when it’s freezing cold (and if there is rain) I find it difficult to walk around at ease and take everything in.
I honestly don’t know why this tour is ranked so highly because I personally didn’t think it was that good, and the people I spoke to who had been didn’t rate it either. As with the peninsula day tour there was snow on the ground everywhere and a grey sky which doesn’t help as everywhere you go looks the same! But first we saw went to the area where you can walk between the Eurasian and North-American tectonic plates, followed by the Geyser and the then golden waterfall. But having done the south coast tour the previous year you end up seeing similar things and nothing can beat the south coast tour.
We did this as an extended part of the golden circle tour and it ended up being the best part of the day. It’s a small thermal pool that you can walk around and see small Geyser bubbling to the surface with steam coming out trickling into the main pool. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a patch on the Blue Lagoon, it completely lacks the surrounding scenery and doesn’t have the milky blue water. But if you do the golden circle tour I would definitely recommend doing the one that includes this.
This was a great way to spend a couple of hours and well worth the £25 admission fee. The main attraction was the indoor/man-made ice cave, and due to limited time in Iceland I didn’t have time to see the real thing so this was the next best thing. There is also a 40 minute movie about the northern lights and the nature in Iceland as well as exhibits about the effects of global warming in Iceland and what the next 100 years is set to bring.
I had heard about this gym in Reykjavik and was very keen to visit, a proper martial arts/Icelandic gym. I only was able to use the weights are and the sauna afterwards, the best thing was that there were no tourists! It made me feel like a local, if only for a few hours!
There are a number of ice cream parlours is Reykjavik, and it is said that ice cream is eaten all year round, no matter how cold it is! Of course, I had a hot waffle with ice cream!
