I didn’t mention that this trip was basically a last-minute trip, as I really felt the need to give myself a few days away from everything – and I mean everything. When I stumbled upon an awesome fare (paid $450 roundtrip) I had to click the “buy” button.
I knew I wasn’t going to stay in Reykjavík for four days, so I had to find myself a tour. Because it was last-minute, many of the tours have been booked up. If you think about the 2+ million visitors a year for a country of just over 300,000 people – you get the point. I found some help from the posters on TripAdvisor and booked me a tour with Troll Expeditions for a two-day South Coast tour.
Note: I didn’t book the Golden Circle tour for a few reasons. First was because I will most likely return with others, so I’ll be going there for sure; and secondly it’s simply because I feel that will be tourist central, so I avoided it on purpose.
The Tour Begins with Waterfalls
I was the first one to be picked up at Bus Stop 3 at 8:00am sharp. My guide, Vala, then proceeded to pick up 15 other people at various bus stops in city center, and we were on our way to our first stop, Seljalandsfoss.
The water from this waterfall comes directly from Eyjafjallajökull, which was the volcano that erupted back in 2010 and disrupted European air traffic. I too was stuck in Italy at that time.
What’s cool about this waterfall is that you can walk behind it and see the action behind the waterfall (and get very wet). It was also very cold!
On the way to Skógafoss, we stopped by to see Eyjafjallajökull.
Then it’s onto Skógafoss. I, like many others, climbed up the hill to see the waterfall from above. After coming down I filled my water bottle with some free Icelandic glacier water.
Black Sand Beach
We then headed to Reynisfjara, which is the famous black sand beach. The basalt column formations are definitely a sight to see, along with the puffins flying above. The one thing to note here is that the waves may appear calm, we were advised not to get too close to them as tourists have been swept away by waves.
Since we were running ahead of time, our guide Vala took us to Dyrhólaey just nearby, which is known for the arch. It also gave us a really beautiful view towards Reynisfjara.
A Long Walk to the Plane Wreck
The final stop of the day would be the DC-3 plane wreck on Sólheimasandur beach. Although I am not exactly sure why this is such an attraction, except the Justin Bieber and Bollywood music videos that were shot there. It was a 7-kilometer (4 mile) walk) roundtrip.
So all of that was the first day of the two-day tour. We stayed at a wonderful place called the Guesthouse Steig near the village of Vík. It’s a very clean, comfortable guesthouse that also served a wonderful meal to complete the day. Here’s a look at my Arctic char with local butter, along with barley in tikka masala sauce (even though it didn’t taste like tikka masala, but was still good).
Practical Information
Weather: You will notice that the weather changes very quickly in Iceland (and for me it was summer!). For the tour I did bring a rain jacket that was water repellent which helped with the waterfalls, and also kept the layers under me dry. In addition, I brought hiking shoes which had great traction and also kept myself from a lot of pain when walking on rocky pathways.
Traveling on a Tour: Bring enough food and water bottle. Can’t stress this one enough. I brought snacks from back home to eat, and you can get free Icelandic glacier water directly at the waterfalls.