People who have full time jobs can travel too! It’s all about being efficient with the time you spend at your destination. Pack in your days with planned areas to explore. Traveling to Iceland has been a dream of mine. I got to spend 5 days in Iceland with taking just three PTO days (leave Friday after work-Wednesday afternoon).

When traveling and planning a trip, you always picture it going a certain way. Usually it turns out perfectly in your mind, but in reality it doesn’t happen the exact way you want it. I had been planning a surprise trip to Iceland for my boyfriend’s 30th birthday for months. He wasn’t supposed to find out until the day we left. Also, he wasn’t supposed to know that our two friends were joining us at the airport. Then reality sets in.

He found out we were going to Iceland a few weeks before and our friends flights were cancelled. BUT, thankfully he didn’t know when we were leaving, so I was able to switch up the plan and keep it somewhat of a surprise. Our friends ended up buying another ticket for the next day, but this meant the plan for days 1 and 2 had to change a bit.

Even with plans going a bit crazy, there’s basically no way to go wrong in Iceland. It is just such a beautiful country that I cannot wait to go back and visit.

If you love nature, make sure to check out these related articles: Road trip through Oregon, Utah Road trip, A long weekend in Arizona, NH in the Fall.

Day 1: Let’s head South

After we landed around 4:30AM, we got our rental car from Sixt Car. Note: there is a shuttle to get to the car rentals. They will be open that early! One of the benefits of renting a car is that you’re able to stop and go whenever you feel like. Being able to take in the breathtaking and picturesque scenery along your route is well worth the freedom. It makes getting from A to B a lot more enjoyable! 

We headed to our Airbnb which was about 10 minutes outside of Reykjavík. Gudruns private room was literally perfect. If looking for an Airbnb, you will notice that there are very few entire home rentals. Most of them are private rooms because as the country has done a great job promoting tourists coming in, there aren’t enough homes to keep everyone! This was my first time staying in a private room, and I would absolutely do it again. It was a great location and I would recommend checking out if Gudrun has availability when you go!

After napping for a few hours, we quickly grabbed breakfast at a yummy bakery and headed south. Our first stop was to Seljalandsfoss. I remember driving down the road and stopping to get a picture before even realizing this was our destination – it’s just so majestic! You will get a bit wet so just make sure you have something to cover your camera if you have one.

Our next stop was to Skógafoss which was yet another massive, beautiful waterfall with a constant rainbow next to it. We saw the end of a rainbow finally, but unfortunately no gold (sad face). You can get a work out and head up the stairs for the view overhead then walk outside the gate and wander along the water. There’s not as many people the further you hike out which is nice and peaceful. We ended up just sitting in the grass listening to the wind and taking in the scenery, as cheesy as that sounds. I really do understand now why the people here believe in elves…

Driving to Vik there are a few places to stop. We took a turn at Dyrholaey, which brought us to a cool spot called Myraldshrepper that a friend told me about (you can also just type that into google maps). It’s a small cave that you can walk up and have an amazing view (cool rustic pictures too!).

If you keep driving on Dyrholaey, you can then take a turn towards the cliffs. You should definitely try to walk along black sand beach if you have time, but the sun had started to go down before we had time to find it. To get to the cliff, take a turn at haey and you’ll drive up and have a 360 view of the landscape all around you.

We heard that Vik was a cute town to stop in, so this was our last destination. We drove around and explored the area and ended up finding the black sand beach. The beach was unique and different from the ones we were used to.

To end our night we went to dinner at sudur-vik restaurant which was downtown Vik. It has a cozy ski lodge feel and really good food – including hot cocoa and of course some apple pie for desert. 

On the drive back to our airbnb, it was dark and I was exhausted. To keep me up, we looked up some fun trivia and also asked each other silly relationship questions. We learned even more about eachother in this short amount of time and had some good laughs. At one point we looked up and the sky kept getting a bit more color and we realized it was totally the northern lights! It wasn’t what we pictured because we assumed it would glow green, but later in our trip we realized it was definitely them.

Day 2: Gettin’ touristy with the Golden Circle

Our friends came in at 4:30AM so we grabbed them, hit the road, and napped once again for a few more hours before we attacked the day.

This was our golden circle day. Touristy, yes, but it’s one you really can’t pass up. There is so much to see along this path, and I would definitely recommend mapping it out before the drive. Below are the stops that we made and pictures of each of them – all were so worth it.

Kerid was another check off the list, but in my opinion wasn’t anything special to see. While it is on the way and an easy stop, it was the only place you had to pay for to see ($4).

Last but definitely not least, our favorite part of the trip was a hike to the reykjadalur hot spring thermal river.  This is a hot spring that not as many people know about, which are the kind of things I love. There is a small parking lot to leave your car (if you have one) and a path to follow. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the hot spring (that’s probably without making picture stops along the way).

Once you arrive, there are areas to change clothes, and different pools of hot springs you can jump in. We got there a bit later on and left when it was dark. There were people walking up as we were leaving so I assume on a clear night this would be an incredible spot to see the northern lights. I’d also love to try it in the morning when it is still dark and stay for the sunrise.

TIP: bring a bathing suit and towel of course. You will need to change in front of others but that’s just the nature of it!

Day 3: We travel North

There was a ton of driving this day, but it isn’t awful when there are incredible landscapes everywhere you look.

Our first stop was Hraunfossar, and one that we hadn’t originally planned for. We met a local woman who was going to school to be a guide. This was the one place she told us we could not miss. She was right. The water is crystal blue and there are awe moments everywhere you look.

A small village called Arnarstapi was our next stop, which has amazing cliff views and the famous arch called Gatklettur. This is all the way West – so while we had a home base close to Reykjavik, I would recommend actually staying up here as there are so many other places we didn’t get to see.

Then we drove north to Kirjufell, or Game of Thrones fanatics may know it as the fist of the first men. This is a view that can’t be beat and is right on the water outside a cute town called Grundarfjörður. After quite the photoshoot, we had dinner a Laki Hafnarkaffi before our long journey home. We ate pizza, which is what I believe I ate 2/5 times this trip. I also think this is where I lost my favorite Switzerland earwarmer, so if anyone spots it, let me know!

On our way back, it was late and pitch black so we knew we could have a chance to see the Northern Lights. The skies were clear, so we pulled over and we waited a bit. Then we saw something close to what Tom and I saw our first night. I forgot my tripod so I couldn’t get the best picture, but it was the northern lights alright!

Day 4: Blue lagoon

Our last full day and our friends were leaving in the afternoon. We booked the Blue Lagoon at 8 in the morning. I highly recommend booking this early to beat the crowds. We decided to leave around 10:30 and three massive tour buses came in crowding the lagoon. It’s also good because you’ll have the rest of the day to go do other activities. Take a peak at my post on what you need to know about the Blue Lagoon here.

We had some time to spare before we brought our friends to the airport, so we stopped in Keflavik, which is a small town on the water right near the airport. We ate lunch at a place called Duus and also walked into a cute troll cave they created based on an Icelandic children’s book. After we dropped them off and said our goodbyes, we went straight back to nap and re-energize.

A two hour nap was not in the plans, but we got up and drove about 40 minutes to Pingvellir National Park. This is also a must see in my eyes. There are several Game of Thrones scenes shot here, and on a dreary night you actually feel like you’re in the show. It was nice to just walk around and explore and take in all of the natural scenery.

To end the night, we drove straight into Reykjavik for dinner and ended up at Primo Ristorante.

Day 5: It’s not goodbye, it’s see ya later

The last day is always a sad one. Reality sets in that it is almost time to head home, but you just have to make the best of it. The night before, we saw this really yummy bakery that we decided we’d check out for breakfast called Sandholt. They had delicious pasteries and breakfast food. I got their pancakes, which is my favorite meal of all time, and they exceeded my expectations (I’m a tough critic in this space too!). After breakfast, we took a walk around Reykjavik and explored a bit, but then it was time to say our goodbyes.

Additional tips & info not to miss:

• One thing that you will read consistently is that Iceland is incredibly expensive, especially when it comes to food. Expect to either spend a lot, or be creative on other meals. Bring protein bars for snacks; go to the grocery store and buy bread, peanut butter and bananas for sandwiches for lunches; maybe cook for some dinners. There are ways to budget!
• Next time I would road trip it rather than going back and forth to the same Airbnb. Try to do a route with pit stops along the way, or you can even campervan or camp outside.
• Do research beforehand now places to see where it is good to see the Northern Lights. You absolutely can find them on your own and without a tour!
• Research restaurants beforehand to find out which are the good locations to eat. Trying to look places up while you’re there can take away from the time you actually have in Iceland.

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This trip took a lot of planning, but very little went according to the actual plan. It made me realize that everything doesn’t have to be in order for it to end up being absolutely perfect. This 5 days in Iceland itinerary was absolutely perfect in my eyes. What are your other favorite spots in Iceland?!