1. Diamond Beach
I have NEVER in my life seen a cooler beach. Black sand with chunks of 1,000-year-old ice. WHAT?! This was top of my list of places to see in Iceland and it did not disappoint. Even in the pouring down rain. Dreamiest most unique beach I’ve ever been on. I want to go back to Iceland JUST for this beach. If I could park myself here for days and see the chunks of the glacier at all times of day I would. If you can go at sunrise or sunset and see those “diamonds shine”, do it. You can also do as the boys did and try to beat the waves taking a selfie with the giant chunks in the water just off-shore. They definitely got soaked while doing so 😅.
2. Fridheimer Tomato Farm | Restaurant
I have NEVER in my life dined in a tomato greenhouse 😂. This will without a doubt go down as one of our favorite dining experiences AND meals of all time. The menu is crafted around the tomatoes grown right there on the property. Our waitress told us that Fridheimer supplies 40% of Iceland’s tomatoes. They sell them all over the country. The all-you-can-eat tomato soup and homemade bread are by themselves worth going for. The table comes set with Icelandic sour cream, butter, and a cucumber relish. Along with a bouquet of basil grown in the greenhouse. We ordered the soup to share and the heirloom tomato and burrata salad. TO DIE FOR 🤤. Jake is still dreaming about that salad. We also tried the pesto ravioli, and mussels, and got the cheesecake with tomato jam which were all amazing as well. We collectively loved this experience which isn’t always easy to do when you’re traveling with a group. I wish we could have gone back for another meal here. This is the perfect spot to go to when you’re exploring the Golden Circle as it’s only 25 minutes from Gullfoss. We booked a later lunch which was great because it wasn’t packed out. You’ll definitely need to make reservations ahead of time.
Oh, and get the Happy or Healthy Mary for your drink. Made from green tomato, lime, honey, and ginger, served chilled with sparkling water…the happy has gin in it. so. stinking. good.
3. Hot Spring Thermal River | Reykjadalur
I have decided that if you’re traveling to a place that has a hot springs river, GO. Even if it’s out of your way. Even if you have to hike into it. Do it. This is my 3rd hot springs river experience and every single time it is the highlight of my trip. For Reykjadalur, there’s a parking lot at the bottom. You pay for parking when you leave. It’s a 2.1-mile hike to the river. There’s a loop you can hike if you don’t want to do the river but you should definitely not do that. You should definitely pack a swimsuit and a towel and get your buns in the river. After hiking straight up for an hour, you will want to. The hike is not that bad but it does take about an hour and it’s mostly uphill. We made this stop the only thing we did for the day and it was well worth it. We had an easy morning at our Airbnb and then headed to the river which is less than an hour from Reykjavik. That gave us the rest of the day to hike in, soak, and hike back out. We didn’t want to leave we loved it so much. The water is hottest at the end of the boardwalk and gets cooler at the beginning. We found a spot more towards the end where the cold river runs into the hot and it created the perfect temperature for hanging out for hours. Plus we could do a cold plunge back and forth between the hot and cold sections. We checked out 4 different hot springs on our trip and this one was our favorite by far. I’d say pack in some snacks or a picnic lunch and make a day of it if you love this type of thing. We left because we were hungry but we would have loved to stay longer if we had brought food with us!
4. Vatnajokull glacier
They say it’s about 1,000 years old. It looks that way. It looks wise and otherworldly. Like it’s lived many lives and has seen many things. Head East from Reykjavik and you’ll know as soon as you see it. It’s vast and beautiful and you won’t be able to stop staring. Pictures will not do it justice. There is a National Park you can stop at to hike around and explore while you’re there. Follow the map here and you’ll get to the national park area. We weren’t able to do the glacier hike this time but it’s on our list for if we visit again. Make sure to stop here while you’re in the area and on your way to Diamond Beach. Even if you’re not doing a boat tour, it’s so cool to see the lagoon.
5. Sky Lagoon
It’s a toss-up for me between the infamous Blue Lagoon (we did on our first day of the trip) and Sky Lagoon (we did on our last day). The group collectively loved Sky Lagoon more and here’s why. The temperature of the water was slightly cooler making it a lot easier to hang out for hours without ever feeling overheated. I personally prefer warmer water so this was not a selling point for me. The VIEWS. The view at Sky is incredible. You’re overlooking the ocean which you really can’t beat and they did a beautiful job with the infinity pool. The food was surprisingly good and reasonably priced. They even had iced coffee you could order and take into the pool with you. And the ritual. It was only $21 extra to get the ritual and it consisted of a cold plunge, dry sauna (again, the view!), cold steam shower, body scrub, steam sauna, and rinse. They recommend you spend 45 minutes-1 hour doing the ritual but it took us less than 30 minutes. If we went back I would spend a little more time but it was still worth doing. You go at your own pace so that was on us…we should have slowed down 😂. We spent quite a bit longer at Sky Lagoon overall because we didn’t have anywhere to be after so that also made it feel more relaxing. And the locker rooms and showers at Sky were nicer and cleaner. It felt luxurious walking into the changing areas. Overall, I think both experiences are unique and I would say you should do them both at least once. But if we return to Iceland, we would choose Sky over Blue. We paid around $110 per person for both places (Blue Lagoon included a drink and face mask with our entry) but we ate and drank and did the ritual at Sky so we definitely got more for our money there. And for those reasons, it was the preferred choice.
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