Our (Not So) Comprehensive Tourist Guide to Iceland

Ranking Our Activities/Encounters in Iceland (Out Of 10)

Last week, we spent a whirlwind 2 ½ days in Reykjavik, Iceland, and thought the best way to dish on all our activities would be to rate/rank them for you, on a scale of 1-10. Spoiler alert: everything was awesome!

Reykjavik Bars/Restaurants: 9.5/10

We really loved the nightlife vibes in downtown Reykjavik. And when we say ‘nightlife’, keep in mind that night accounts for about 19 hours of the day, because the sun didn’t rise until 11:00am and was already setting before 4:00pm. However, the city center is filled with a number of really cute bars and restaurants and we found some favorites straight away. Our first night, we had dinner and drinks at Bastard Brew & Food, which immediately attracted us based on the name alone. It was a nice cozy spot with delicious comfort foods, including flatbread pizzas, burgers, and fried tiger prawns–perfect after our 12-hour travel day from London. We shared everything and celebrated our arrival with specialty Reykjavik Mules that the bar had on tap!

Following that, we walked across the road to Lebowski Bar, a bar themed around–what else–Cinematic Masterpiece/Fever Dream ‘The Big Lebowski’. Basically that means funny slogans and movie quotes on the walls, bowling-alley decor, and even a rug that really pulled the room together. This bar was truly awesome; Ross had visited it during a class trip to Iceland 10 years ago, and really wanted to come back. There were tons of cocktails, many of which centered around The White Russian (duh); Della opted for the classic while Ross chose a chocolate-infused version. It was already late by the time we arrived and we were fixing to leave around midnight, but a group of Icelandic girls came in and paid the bartender 2500 Icelandic Króna (about $18) for a spin on a huge prize wheel positioned behind the bar. The prizes were all kinds of free drinks (White Russians, Shots, Beers, etc), while the failures continued the Lebowski theme (‘Gutterball’, ‘Over the Line’). It was a real 50/50 gamble, and as soon as the wheel started spinning, we started cheering along–both because we’re always team players, and because we’re desperate for attention any way we can get it. Well, it certainly paid off, because the girls won 6 beers on their spin, and since a few of them didn’t like beer, they handed us a couple pints as a thank you for cheering them on. We got to chatting with these girls and found out they worked at a restaurant across from our hotel called Sæta Svínið (say that five times fast–it means ‘Sweet Pig’ in English), and we promised we’d come visit them before we left town. 

Two nights later, we went on a bar crawl and found a few more local treasures. We started at another place Ross remembered from his previous trip, SlippBarinn, a really cute and modern bar near the docks. We each had two Whiskey Sours Par Excellence–easily the best whiskey sours we’ve ever tasted. The name really delivered–plus, we hit this one at happy hour, so we left very happy indeed! Next stop was Sweet Pig to see our friends. This restaurant was also a great bar atmosphere. As you might imagine, the theme was pigs, and pig paraphernalia covered every inch of wall space. We got a few drinks…then a few more…and then our friends gave us free shots of Brennivín, Iceland’s signature distilled beverage. And then, instead of continuing the bar hop, we decided this was our spot for the night. We would have liked to hit up some of the other bars in the area but we were happy and warm, the bartender was super nice, and the music was pure 2000s perfection. So we stayed longer than we intended, got a late-night pizza from a place next door, and headed back to the hotel to pack our bags. 

Rating: 9.5/10 because Della would have really liked to spin the wheel at the Lebowski Bar but didn’t have the stones to possibly lose a good 20 bucks. 

The Northern Lights: 8.5/10

The Northern Lights was one of those things that we couldn't possibly go to Iceland and NOT make an effort to see. As many people warned us, there was no guarantee we would see the Northern Lights, as the phenomena is so dependent on weather, location, moon brightness, and other atmospheric conditions. But we had to give it a shot. 

We showed up at the main bus terminal at 9pm for our guided tour, which was an hour-long bus ride out into the heart of the Þingvellir (pronounced ‘thing-vell-ear) National Park. Along the way, we learned from our tour guide all about the history and lore of the Aurora Borealis and what makes it such a unique occurrence. To put it simply…the Northern Lights are caused by disturbances on the sun (sun spots) pulling on Earth's magnetic field. This pull creates cosmic undulations known as ‘Alfvén waves’ that launch electrons at high speeds into Earth's atmosphere, and the speed of these electrons causes the aurora that we witness as a natural light show. That’s science, bitch! 

So, we take this bus ride out to the national park and realize once we arrive that we are actually just one of a fleet of buses from companies all doing the same thing. And we file off the bus and find ourselves standing in an icy field at -16C (about 3.3F) staring up at the sky, waiting to see these lights. The moon was full and super bright in the sky, and the tour guides weren’t sure we were going to be able to see them due to light pollution. But still, we waited, and about 20 minutes later we started to see the pulsing lights! Another fun fact: the green color from the aurora is too bright for the human eye to perceive on its own, so that vibrant color shows up in photos brighter than it actually looks in the night sky. It was truly incredible to watch these waves of light pass through the sky right above our heads, and we stayed out there for about 90 minutes, taking it all in and snapping dozens of photos and videos. Della had to take refuge inside the bus for a few minutes at one point because her toes had turned to stone from the cold, and by 11:30pm everyone was pretty well frozen and ready to head back to the warm bus for the ride home. We felt incredibly lucky to have been able to catch the lights on our first try, and it was an experience we’ll never forget!

Rating: 8.5/10 because it was literally so cold at one point Della was convinced she had frostbite, but 100% worth it and would do it again! (If possible, we would plan around the moon and pick a time when it’s at its dimmest to heighten our chances of another viewing).

The Blue Lagoon: 12/10

Okay, this one totally broke the out-of-10 ranking system. This was sincerely a top-ten life experience for us and we would highly recommend it to anybody who travels to Iceland. And we didn’t even commit to it until our last few days in England, when we were researching what else to do in Reykjavik! It was a bit on the expensive side, especially for our current fixed income of $0, but it was highly rated–National Geographic named it one of the 25 Wonders of the World back in 2012–so we knew it would be something special. 

A bit about the Blue Lagoon…well, I guess first, a few things we learned about Iceland:

Iceland is actually part of the longest mountain range in the world–the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This mostly-underwater mountain range stretches north-to-south through the Atlantic Ocean like the seam of a baseball, and Iceland is just one peak that happens to protrude above the water. The whole island was formed by volcanic forces that are still at work today. Because of this, Iceland is abundant in geothermal energy, which the nation uses to power pretty much everything.

The Blue Lagoon is a result of those two forces–volcanic formation and the use of geothermal energy–coming together. This geothermal hot spring is actually man-made, but it’s uniquely positioned to create a spa-like environment in the middle of a field of volcanic rock, above an active lava field. There are units situated around the lagoon that pump scalding-hot, silica-rich water up from over 6000 feet below the earth’s surface, in the process cooling it from over 450 degrees Fahrenheit to just over 100F–which just so happens to be the perfect spa temperature.

When we went to book our reservation, all of the Della-and-Ross-Friendly times (11am onward) were taken, so we had to select a 9am slot instead. And honestly…it was probably the best thing that could have happened. Getting to the Blue Lagoon in the early morning, while the moon was still high in the sky, was truly magical. Wading out into the lagoon, surrounded by snow-covered volcanic rock, with dense steam rising up around you, felt like something out of Jurassic Park. There were very few other people there so we had plenty of room to roam around. There was a map of the lagoon that we glanced at, but we preferred to explore it ourselves, discovering little nooks and crannies as we went. The first thing we realized is that the Blue Lagoon is HUGE–much bigger than we expected it to be. Especially with the steam obscuring your vision, it would be easy to get lost if you strayed away from your group. We got to watch the sky lighten as the sun rose around 11:30am and then we headed to the swim-up bar to grab a drink. Just as we cheers’d our hard cider and sparkling wine, the most incredible thing happened–it started to snow! We were totally in awe of the snow falling around us in this cozy hot spring, and genuinely never wanted to leave. There was a little cave to explore, a silica-mask station, a sauna, a waterfall, lots of seating built right into the walls of lagoon–it was truly a paradise. When it came time for us to catch our shuttle home around 1:15, we had a really hard time pulling ourselves out of the water. We could have stayed all day! 

Rating: 12/10. No further explanation necessary. If you get the chance, you HAVE to go! 

**READER QUESTION** : Have you been to anything considered a “Wonder of the World”? If so, would you recommend it to others? Or, are there any that stand out to you, that you’d like to visit? Let us know in the comments! 

The Icelandic Phallological Museum: 8/10 

This was a super-silly little side trip we took to a local museum that attracts a lot of attention in Reykjavik. In case you didn’t catch the meaning of the word ‘phallological,’ this is the Icelandic Penis Museum! Housing the world’s largest display of penises, the collection spans over 300 real phalluses from species from around the world, and 22 penises from mythical creatures and people from Icelandic folklore. We got specialty drinks with penis-shaped stirrers (alcohol is allowed while you wander the collection) and took a stroll through the display, which was just as funny and surprising as it was educational! DID YOU KNOW that a crab has a special hatch on its shell that pops open for the penis to come out?! Or that back in the day, bull penises (pizzles) were used as whips? Or that humans are the only primate without a baculum (penis bone)? I didn’t think so! Look how much you’re learning here today. We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours here, learned some interesting facts and had some good laughs along the way. 

Rating: 8/10. It’s a relatively small museum and you could go through it pretty quickly if you don’t stop to read the plaques and/or have an aversion to dehydrated body parts in formaldehyde, but luckily we did, and we don’t, so it was a great way to spend a few hours! This one also came recommended by our new Icelandic friends, and as an added bonus, it’s around the corner from a famous Icelandic hot-dog stand, which feels oddly appropriate. 

Hotel Complimentary Breakfast: 10/10

We stayed at the Center Hotels Plaza and besides being a great hotel with all the amenities we needed, the complimentary breakfast was BUSSIN. Tons of delicious options, hot and cold, unlimited buffet-style, and we made a point to get there every morning we stayed. We even took extra bread, meat and cheese and made sandwiches to take along with us on our travel day to Madrid! Excellent value. 

Rating: 10/10. We love a free breakfast, especially one of this caliber. Big props to the hotel. 

Honorable Mention: Cats in Iceland. 

We met some fantastic cats out around town, many of them so friendly and approachable!

Special shout out to Storval, wherever he may be. We love you and would die for you. 

No Points awarded for:

Della getting the bus station wrong for the Blue Lagoon shuttle pickup and instead having to pay a cab driver $100 to drive us 45 minutes out to the Blue Lagoon so we didn’t miss our 9am reservation. Oopsie! 

We'll leave you with just a couple more photos of the beautiful scenery (and us) that we’re only missing a little since we’re no longer freezing our butts off!