If you want to maximize your trip, then visiting Iceland in summer and particularly during the summer solstice is the way! With 24 hours of light and almost 22 hours of sun, you can adventure the whole entire day. Here is our whirlwind itinerary to help plan your next trip.
Summer solstice is at the end of June so that is when we visited, over a long weekend, from Denver, Colorado with a direct flight on Icelandair to Reykjavík.
Viator Excursions and Activities: https://www.viator.com/partner-shop/mcexploring/Worldwide-Experiences?medium=link&medium_version=shop
For our specific trip, we’d appreciate your support on the links below when planning your trip to Iceland!
Day 1 GETTING TO ICELAND
Iceland is an island nation east of Greenland and west of mainland Europe. It was about a 7 hour flight from Denver, Colorado.
Side Note – Capital cities can be fun to explore but if you want the nature experience, skip it and head out of the capital to maximize your time!
Day 2 Reykjavík, Iceland
We landed in the morning from our overnight flight and picked up a rental car at the airport to drive ourselves around the next few days. They drive on the right side of the road and you can usually pick between a manual or automatic vehicle. It is fairly easy to self-drive.
We did a quick pitstop downtown for some traditional Icelandic food and wanted to stretch our legs. We visited Cafe Loki for some fermented Greenland Shark (see our video) and Rye Bread ice cream. It was a unique experience but a fun way to kick off the trip.
Next we had an afternoon reservation at Sky Lagoon to relax and recover from our overnight flight. It was a very relaxing way to start the trip! We recommend booking the 7-step ritual through Viator. (would appreciate you using our link).
After an afternoon of relaxing, we headed to the Ion Adventure Hotel outside of town and checked in. It made for a great basecamp for our adventures! https://booking.tpo.mx/Bn8nZGSm
Day 3 The Long Day
This day we got up at 4:00 AM to start our long day around the island. Here is where we went:
Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
Dyrhólaey Arch to see the puffins (head towards the lighthouse)
Vik, Iceland: Skool Beans Coffee shop to refuel and The Soup Company for a late dinner on the way back.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Diamond Beach
Day 4 Golden Circle/Silfra
We did not end Day 3 until about 2:30 AM and then relaxed a bit at the hotel to start Day 4.
We headed out on the Golden Circle and did a stop at Gulfoss Waterfall and Geysir before heading toward Silfra to do one of our last activities of the trip: snorkeling between the tectonic plates in the Silfra fissure.
Snorkeling in this water is cold but you do have dry suits and it is such a fun experience to swim in some of the clearest water in the world between Europe and North America. Afterwards, we explored the national park.
For our last evening, we wanted to see Volcanoes so we drove down toward Grindavik, Iceland and got to experience some of the geothermal areas and lava fields from previous eruptions.
Iceland is an amazing country and if we had two weeks here, we could have filled them! But, if you only have a few days, it is still possible to have a really great trip. Sometimes the PTO just doesn’t allow for a long trip. Anywhere in the US is possible to visit Iceland with a long weekend, especially in the summer time with the really long days. Iceland is an outdoor lovers paradise and worth the exploration if you are looking for your next destination!
MC Exploring 