Iceland is the most incredible country to visit. My recommendation would be to spend a longer amount of time here, at least a week if not more to really do everything that it has to offer. 

However, we took this trip with a couple of friends back in 2016 when we were fresh out of uni and had next to no money. 4 days was all we could afford and that’s still only because we bought the flights on Black Friday and got a ridiculously cheap price. 

You don’t really need a spreadsheet for this 4 day trip but I’ve whipped one up anyway. The activity days are interchangeable, there’s no route to follow as you’ll be based in Reykjavik the entire time.

Day One in Iceland

Now first off, this is a bit of an odd one. If you arrive in Reykjavik early enough then make sure you visit The Icelandic Phallological Museum (The Penis Museum). It holds over 215 different species’ penises including a honestly terrifyingly large Sperm Whale Penis. 

It doesn’t take long to walk around, no more than 30-40 minutes depending on how closely you want to look at each specimen. It will at least cause a few giggles during your stay.

Spend the rest of the afternoon/evening exploring the city. We went in March and there was a lot of snow but we got some great photos of the harbour and the tallest building in Iceland which is a very impressive church.

Day Two

Today is a full day on The Golden Circle Tour. A coach will transport you thorughout the day and it will take around 8 hours. Just sit back and relax.

Depending on the time of year, there will be either a lot of snow or a lot of green. We went in March 2016 and there was a lot of snow and I’ll tell you, it was freezing. Luckily, all of Iceland is run on geothermal energy. Pipes run underneath the roads so the snow and ice just melt away. No need to panic that the bus is going to veer off the road.

Geysir Geothermal Park

The tour first takes you to the Geysir Geothermal Park. Essentially you’re going to see a load of hot water intermittently shoot up into the air. Pretty cool. Please note, this water is REALLY HOT. You can’t swim here (not sure this should need to be said). You’ll have much better visibility in the summer months but the contrast of the hot and cold was a cool sight. 

Gullfoss Waterfall

Then we drive along to Gullfoss Waterfall and it should be noted here that the fence is TINY. I mean it’s not really a fence, more like a chain attached to two posts. There is a very steep drop and when it’s covered in snow, it’s incredibly hard to see the edge. Please see the photo of me bent over laughing that my friend had fallen over (again) and look how close we are to the edge. Slightly terrifying. 

The view is amazing and again, depending on the season you go will depend on visibility. A lot of the waterfall had partly frozen over which was so impressive. 

Thingvellir National Park

After this we headed to the geology boffins dream site. Thingvellir National Park is where two tectonic plates (North American and Eurasian) meet. You can even scuba dive down and touch both at the same time! This would have been so cool but we just didn’t have time in our schedule to do this. 

This was a pretty hectic day, so we relaxed and had a chilled dinner. 

Day Three in Iceland

Whale Watching

Another day of activities. First up, whale watching. You’re almost guaranteed to see whales here. We saw around 5 humpback whales (I cried I was so excited) and porpoises. They will hand you overalls to wear. You’ve still got to wear your normal clothes and coats etc. Don’t go naked underneath – do I need to write this?!?

The Blue Lagoon

After an emotional whale watching cruise, we headed to the Blue Lagoon. We paid for the cheapest ticket to enter the spa. We got given free clay to use as a facemask so don’t bother paying for it unless you’re really particular. 

It was super fun in the spa, absolutely massive and because it was snowing it was just totally magical. There was snow surrounding the pools and honestly just incredible. There’s lots of hot springs that you can take a dip in across Iceland. They’ll be quieter with less people but you should still visit the Blue Lagoon. Just the scale is awesome and well worth the price tag. 

The Northern Lights

After dinner, we got picked up at the hotel to head to our Northern Lights Tour. Whilst we did not actually see the Northern Lights, I still think this was one of the best tours we did. The amount of stars we could see really put the definition to the work astronomical.

There was a little hut where you can get a drink and some hot food during the tour and whilst we hadn’t planned on going in, we kind of had to. The reason for this was the cold was so unbelievably biting and painful on our faces, that we had to take a break.

But each time we went back outside, we were amazed with the amount of stars we could see. 100% if you do anything, do the Northern Lights Tour. If you don’t see the Northern Lights on your visit, you get a free visit for next time. 

Day Four

Flight back to London

This is a really busy two days in Iceland alongside the two travel days. I would definitely recommend staying for longer. There are more activities that we would have liked to do including an ice cave experience. We would also like to maybe hire a car ourselves next time as this means we would get to control our own schedule rather than doing a tour for everything. 

This was a great trip and it just shows that you can do a lot in a short amount of time. I’ll be researching a week-long trip for Iceland and I’ll publish that soon. 

Click here for the spreadsheet: 

If you’re looking for something warmer – you’ve come to the wrong post. What about looking at my Tanzania trip.