A Family Road Trip in Iceland

Iceland: The land of fire and ice or the land of waterfalls and sunshine?

If anyone had mentioned a trip to Iceland 2 years ago, I would have asked them to pick me up some frozen peas and a Walls’ Viennetta. We didn’t know a lot about this amazing country that sits midway between North America and mainland Europe. We hadn’t heard about the amazing waterfalls, the black sand beaches, the friendly people or the constantly moving glaciers.

M paddling at the Diamond Beach Jokulsarlon

It was in November 2017 that we first thought about Iceland as a holiday destination. As always, we were looking for somewhere a little different. We had been holidaying in the UK for a while but last year we had come to the realisation that our Labrador, Millie was struggling to keep up. She would be much happier staying at home with friends and this gave us a new sense of freedom. We wanted the children to experience something new, something exciting, Iceland ticks all those boxes and more.

 As we discovered, flights to Iceland are readily available. With some flexibility on our dates, we managed to fly via EasyJet, for a very affordable price. We had heard from friends that Iceland is not the cheapest destination, but it is possible to travel within a reasonable budget if you just take care.

Top tips:

- Food can be expensive but by shopping at Bonus supermarkets and picking basic ingredients we didn't spend much more than at home. (think porridge oats, pasta and yoghurt).

- Accommodation costs can be reduced by using Airbnb or by hiring a campervan, Campervans are easy to rent and give you the flexibility to travel as well as being your accommodation and kitchen.

- Outside of Reykjavik most of the attractions are either free or reasonably priced, choose your days out carefully and avoid some of the tourist hotspots such as the Blue Lagoon. 

- Fuel stations in Iceland have a good range of basic food at reasonable prices, we bought porridge pots, hotdogs and ice creams whenever we were passing.

- Alcohol is very expensive in Iceland, we picked up two bottles of wine in duty free and paid around £12 a bottle. In town this would have been much more.

Shop at Bonus to save money on food

 As we were in Iceland for only 6 days we decided to stick to the south coast and see as much as we could without driving too far each day.

The below route was perfect for a week’s family travel. 

Day 1. Reykjavik

Hallgrimskirkja Church, Freddi Arcade and Toy Museum, The Sun Voyager Monument and the Perlan museum.

Highlights. We loved Perlan with its ice cave and glacier exhibitions, the view from the top of the observation deck was pretty cool. Watch out for the price of coffee and cake in the café. We stopped at the petrol station for hotdogs on the way.

Day 2. Waterfalls

First, we picked up the campervan, went food shopping at Bonus, then onto Seljalandsfoss, Gljufrabui and Skogafoss Waterfalls.

Highlights. A few hundred yards to the left of the main waterfall Seljalandfoss is Gljufrabui, a hidden waterfall in a crevice. If you don't mind wet feet you can paddle to the base. 

Gljufrabui the hidden waterfall

Day 3. Icebergs & Glaciers

Kirkjugolf, Fjallsárlón, Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Skaftafell

Highlights. Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon was amazing and should not be missed. We went on an amphibious boat and the children even had a paddle in the water to retrieve the ice. 

Day 4. Back to Vik

Skaftafell Glacier, Laufskálavarða lava ridge and the Voyage monument at Vik.

Highlights. A lovely walk from the campsite to another great glacier at Skaftafell. (Unfortunately, we missed the Svartifoss waterfall)

Day 5. To Geysir

Icelandic Horses, Slakki Petting Zoo, the Secret Lagoon.

Highlights. The children loved the petting zoo and the Secret Lagoon is a great alternative to the more popular Blue Lagoon. 

Day 6. The Golden Circle

Geysir, Gullfoss, Laugarvatn Fontana, Thingvellir and then home.

Highlights. The Stokkhur Geysir spouts 30m jets of water every few minutes and the Laugarvatn Fontana is another hot spring pool that is worth a visit.

The amazing Gullfoss Waterfall

To Summarise.

 We were so lucky to have great weather on our trip to Iceland. The long hours of daylight and the sunshine made the campervan a great choice, we had the freedom to see some great places and stop for lunch wherever we liked. The campsites were reasonable, and the fuel wasn't too bad. Had the weather been as cold as we expected we would have really struggled with a lack of space and may have had to eat out a lot more. The VW T6 campervan we hired had no kitchen, all cooking was done outdoors and with no tent, storage was a bit of a problem.

We did see one Iceland supermarket whilst we were in Iceland. We never did get that Walls' Viennetta though.