On many people’s bucket list is to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and it was on my own list. This March I was fortunate to be able to visit Iceland, in the hopes of ticking them off my list.
We stayed in the capital Reykjavik at the Hotel Fron, which is a perfect location right on the main high street, so it was within easy walking distance of everything the capital had to offer.
Walking around the city you can see the quirky style the capital has to offer with massive graffiti style art on buildings, lots of restaurants, bars and interesting museums in particular the Phallological Museum. In regards to eating here, it is an expensive place where on average a pint costs around £8, and a meal is around £20, but this still didn’t put me off the capital, as it was fresh and great quality. A little tip before you leave the airport there is duty free where you can get beer & drink cheaper and it is worth getting some, as none of the shops in the town sold alcohol.
Having seen how booked up the Blue Lagoon gets, we had pre booked this months in advance and I highly recommend doing this as the Lagoon was full when we went and it wasn’t even peak season. The Blue Lagoon was originally a geothermal power plant and people then began bathing in the waters and applying the Silica to their skin, and noticing the healing qualities and this was the start of the Blue Lagoon. What a brilliant experience the Blue lagoon was, we spent hours just floating around the warm waters.
One of the days we hadn’t booked any trips, so we walked around the city and we discovered RoomEscape which was a brilliant way to avoid the rain/snow on this day. You’re locked in a room and have 1 hour to escape you have to work out the code from the various clues dotted around the room, and you do have a phone to text if you get stuck, which we did! Even with our best efforts, we didn’t make it out!
On the last day we booked a trip where you spent the morning at sea looking for Whales/Dolphins and then in the afternoon we visited the Golden Circle. Due to it being cold you do get a full body suit to wear on the boat which I do recommend as it was cold out at sea, also they offer sickness tablets do take these and try and stay outside as it makes you feel better, being out there. We were unlucky to not see any whales, but we did have the joy to be at one point surrounded by 50+ harbour dolphins, swimming all around the boat.
The Golden Circle trip in the afternoon highlighted how geographical diverse Iceland is one minute it’s all snow and ice and then we stopped where the ground is geothermal and there’s geysers erupting every couple of minutes. One of the stops was where the two tectonic plates meet and you can see how the plates have moved, over the years.
We were unlucky due to the weather, that we didn’t make it out to see the Northern Lights, but this didn’t dampen the holiday. I truly enjoyed this mystical Isle and would go back again.
Florence Plumb is a Travel Consultant at the Holiday With Us Group.
