To give you some context, for my 40th birthday in January (*gasp!* “But Wendy, you look so young!” Oh, stop. You’re making me blush! ❤️) my husband and I planned a kid-free winter-wonderland journey through 80% of the Nordic countries that we lovingly dubbed my “Nordy Forty.” We kicked off this two-week adventure with a 48-hour Iceland Stopover that we spent in the capital city of Reykjavik.
While a stopover will be, by nature, time constrained, Reykjavik is a great destination to explore on a compressed timeline. It’s picturesque, easily walkable, and immediately encourages vacation-mode with its small, New-England-fishing-village vibe. Below I’ll break down everything you need to know to make the most of two days in this quaint European capital.
Please note any prices listed are approximate and will depend on the exchange rate while you’re there so please don’t quote me on any of them. Kthanks.
Reykjavik 101
Geography: Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital with a population of 140,000, is found on the southwest coast of Iceland in the North Atlantic.
FUN FACT:
Sitting at 64°08′ N, Reykjavik is the northernmost capital of any sovereign state.
Airport: Keflavik (KEF) is the primary, international airport in Iceland, located 32 miles south from Reykjavik.
Getting Around: Reykjavik is a city made for walking. If there’s anywhere you need to get that is outside of the city center, your hotel can easily get you taxi or you can use your map app of choice to navigating the public bus.
Many hotels offer parking so if Reykjavik is only your starting point, a rental car may be a great choice for you, but be sure to confirm before booking.
PRO TIP:
Download the city map in your phone’s navigation app
so you can find your way even when offline.
Climate: Reykjavik has a subpolar oceanic climate, which generally means cool summer and mild winters. One of the mornings we were in Reykjavik, we experienced fog, sun, misty rain, pouring rain, back to sun in the span of about 30 minutes. From what I understand, this is not uncommon.
Time: Reykjavik is on Greenwich Mean Time. If you live in a country that observes daylight savings time, the time difference will vary. For our winter trip the difference between Eastern Standard Time and Reykjavik was +5 hours.
CULTURE SHOCK:
For anything event related, the time will likely be displayed using a 24-hour format. For example, if you have a 7:30 pm flight, the time will be written out as 19:30.
Language: The official language is Icelandic, but everyone we met spoke flawless English and all of the kiosks we used had English as an easy-to-find navigation option.
Currency: Iceland uses the Icelandic Krona. I always use the xe.com mobile app to get current rates on the road, but for some frame of reference, as of Feb 18, 2024, $1 USD was equal to 138 ISK and €1 was 149 ISK.
In our experience, there is no need to get cash ahead of time as everywhere accepted cards, including cabs. If you do need to get cash, there were ATMs readily available around town.
PRO TIP:
Getting any needed cash out of an ATM at your destination will save you time AND money as you’ll get a better exchange rate versus having your bank at home get you currency ahead of time.
The Musts
Must Eat & Drink:
- Rye Bread Ice Cream at Cafe Loki
- Appelsín orange-flavored soda
- Pescado Tacos at Fuego in Hlemmur Mathöll
Top Souvenirs:
- Icelandic-Wool Knitwear
- A t-shirt of a Godzilla style puffin wreaking havoc on Reykjavik emblazoned with “Reykjavik” in Japanese
Can’t Miss Sites:
- Relaxing at one Iceland’s picturesque geothermal lagoons
- A leisurely wander around town with stops for pastries and Hallgrimskirkja
The IcelandAir Experience
For this trip, we opted to fly Icelandair. While we had to travel 160 miles from our home base in Richmond, Virginia to Baltimore (BWI) Airport to catch the flight, the pros (an inexpensive flight with a built in stop in Iceland) outweighed the potential inconvenience (which ended up being not so inconvenient thanks to BWI having their own Amtrak stop a comfortable 2-hour train ride from Richmond).
Icelandair is a low-cost, international carrier with service to several destinations in Europe, Greenland, and North America. When booking your flight, you can easily add an Iceland Stopover based out of their Keflavik (KEF) hub lasting from one day to one week at no additional airfare.
As a low-cost carrier, the base, economy flights are extremely affordable, but are limited in terms of amenities such as seat selection, allowed baggage, etc. The process for pricing and making any needed additions is extremely easy both during the initial booking or after the fact.
We did end up upgrading our seats to the extra-legroom section of economy and really loved our experience. The plane was clean, blankets and pillows were included on the longer flights, everything was on time, and the staff was friendly and helpful. 10/10 would recommend and we already plan to fly with them again.
Cost: $1450 USD for two roundtrip extra-legroom economy seats with carry on and a checked bag.
PRO TIP:
While Icelandair does have entertainment screens at every seat, as a low-cost carrier, headphones onboard are only available for purchase. Bring some with you, have your credit card handy, or be prepared with offline entertainment.
Arrival & The Flybus
Depending on where you’re traveling from, your arrival time will vary wildly. Coming from the east coast of the United States, our flight was wheels down at KEF by 6:30 am local time.
While there are several options for how to get into town (taxi or public bus), we opted for the Flybus Airport Transfer as it hit’s the sweet spot between being cost effective (as opposed to taxis) and time effective (as opposed to public buses).
The bus picks you up right outside of the airport and takes you 45-minutes to the City Center Bus Terminal. From there, if you opted for the hotel drop-off, you will transfer to a smaller shuttle bus that will then drop you further in town. While it is called hotel drop-off, they don’t actually take you to the hotel’s door. They drop you nearish. In our case, we had to walk an additional 5 minutes to actually arrive at our hotel.
I should note that the kiosk where I booked our ticket did process and charge my credit card twice. I was able to email the contact address off the website and after providing the specifics of the transaction was able to get a refund for the extra charge with very little inconvenience. Everyone I communicated with was efficient and helpful and even with the technical difficulty, I would still use them again.
Cost: $75 USD for two hotel drop offs.
Hotel
Reykjavik has a wide offering of hotel options in terms of amenities and prices. For us, as this was the portion of our trip that my actual birthday would land on, we splurged and opted for the City Suite at the centrally located Ion City Hotel.
Pic by Matthew Wynn Photography.
The room had an amazing view of the city, a spa-like bathroom including a private sauna, and a good amount of space. While the room reflected the simplicity one would expect with Nordic design, there are subtle, but gorgeous nods to the local geography with the addition of a lava-stone wall and decorative details in the bathroom.
The hotel in general has a modern style including a moody, night-club feel in reception with cheeky portrait of David Bowie reminding you to keep it down.
There is a Middle Eastern restaurant called Sumac attached to the hotel, but we didn’t end up checking it out. It had good crowds though and might be worth a try if the menu appeals to you.
Cost: $930 USD for two nights.
If you’re looking for a lower cost per night, you might want to check out Fosshotel Baron or Local 101 as both are centrally located, three-star hotels with good ratings. I can’t personally vouch for them though, so do your research before booking please!
Day One
Late Breakfast at Brauð & Co: This bakery comes highly recommended among travelers and after going in, it’s easy to see why. While the self-serve, drip coffee was too dark roasted for my personal taste, the cinnamon roll and maple pecan rolls were both well worth the stop. If bakeries aren’t your thing at least walk by and take in the energizing paint work on the exterior.
Cost: $20 USD for two pastries and two coffees.
Hallgrimskirkja: This Lutheran church is the quintessential hallmark of the Reykjavik skyline. It stands at 244 ft (74.5 m) and is one of the tallest buildings in Iceland. The church was built between 1945 and 1986 making it a surprisingly young addition to the city’s history. The exterior was designed to reference the landscapes of Iceland such as the rock formations at Svartifoss. The interior has a simplistic design, but the use of height, curves, and lighting naturally draw the eye upward and it is well worth a peek inside.
Leif Erikson: Right outside of Hallgrimskirkja stands a monument to Leif Erikson, which was gifted by the United States in 1930 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the Icelandic parliament. The statue was placed in 1932, which makes it 54 years older than the church it stands in front of.
Rainbow Street: Walking straight away from the monument and church will lead you to one of the main shopping streets in Reykjavik – Skólavörðustígur. In addition to local shops, the other main draw is the rainbow mural painted down a pedestrians-only section of the street.
The Handknitting Association of Iceland: This association storefront on Skólavörðustígur is a great option for finding hand-made knitwear crafted from Icelandic wool. If you’re a knitter, there is Icelandic-wool yarn for sale in various weights and colors and they also have a fun selection of ornaments and other knickknacks.
Blue Lagoon Store Reykjavik: If like us (spoiler alert), you’re not able to get to the Blue Lagoon, this store is your conveniently-located opportunity to load up on some mud masks, skin care, or other goodies. Fair warning, it is pricey so proceed with caution and with your exchange rate app ready to translate the prices into something that’s tangible to you.
Polar Bear Store: Aptly named for the two, giant stuffed polar bears standing watch at its front doors, this is a tourist shop, but one that is actually worth the stop. They have tote bags, stickers, ornaments, lava rock jewelry, and most importantly, a t-shirt of a Godzilla style puffin attacking the city emblazoned with Reykjavik in Japanese. Who would want a t-shirt of a Godzilla style puffin?! Me. I would want and did want and did get.
Bónus: I am a sucker for checking out local grocery stores and this one was pretty unique for one key reason – it has a piggy mascot. That’s all I had to know. They had me at piggy mascot. Stop in for extra water bottles, Appelsín, snacks, Icelandic chocolate, a figurine of their piggy pal, a reusable bag, and more.
Early Dinner at Café Loki: Located directly across the street from Hallgrimskirkja, this restaurant serves traditional Icelandic food. They have several sampler plate options, which are a great way to try new things without having to take the risk on a full serving. For example, the Icelandic Plate Loki is a sampler that includes thick, gingerbread-adjacent rye bread covered in Plokkfiskur – a creamy, dense fish stew, rye bread topped with smoked trout, flatbread with smoked lamb, dried fish with butter, and fermented shark – the national dish of Iceland.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
I’m now going to start talking a lot of shit about the experience of trying the shark, but you should try it. It’s a cultural touchstone as their national dish and the price we travelers rightfully pay.
If you’re up for trying shark, or hákarl in Icelandic, the tradition is to chew it for about 5-10 seconds to release the … distinct flavor, and then drink it down with a sip (NOT the full shot) of a caraway-flavored local spirit called Brennivín, or more commonly “Black Death.”
I am in the school of thought that everything is worth trying once, but I’ll give you this tidbit… Anthony Bourdon described it as, “the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing.” For what that’s worth.
FUN FACT:
Fermented shark is traditionally paired with “Black Death” because you wish for death to get the taste out of your mouth.
On the other end of the enjoyment spectrum, the very best dish at Cafe Loki, without a doubt, is their signature rye bread ice cream. We dodged a huge potential miss here because we didn’t order it. Dumb. The ridiculously sweet waiter and waitress, though, had somehow caught wind that we were on our trip for my birthday and surprised me with a cup. To anyone who hasn’t experienced Icelandic rye bread, the combination of rye bread and dessert sounds certifiably insane, but with theirs, it works. It’s caramelly and densely creamy with a hint of cinnamon. Just so, so good.
Cost: $130 USD for the Plate Loki, the roasted lamb, a beer, a glass of wine, and two shots of Black Death.
Day Two: AKA My BIrthday
Breakfast at Sandholt: Sandlot is a bakery and restaurant combo where you can either grab things to go or grab a table and relax for a bite. The cappuccinos were perfectly balanced, which made them as enjoyable as they were necessary for the dark winter mornings. The star of the meal, however, was the waffle with fried egg, bacon, and cream cheese dressing. It was warm and savory and salty and I still think about it longingly from time to time.
Cost: $45 USD for two cappuccinos, a bacon sandwich, and the best waffle dish to have ever been created.
Sky Lagoon: We had originally planned to spend my birthday at the Blue Lagoon including a night at their Silica Hotel. Unfortunately the seismic and volcanic activity literally right around the corner left us feeling less than enthused about the risk that could pose to our Iceland Stopover experience. Once we considered all of the options, we called an audible, changed our hotel plan, and booked a day at the Sky Lagoon instead.
Located a quick 15-minute drive from Reykjavik, the Sky Lagoon is the new kid on the block having opened in 2021. It boasts an infinity-style geothermal lagoon with gorgeous views over the Atlantic Ocean, architecture and landscaping that perfectly reflect Iceland’s natural beauty, sleek and comfortable changing areas with toiletry-included showers, and a swim-up bar at the lagoon offering souvenirs and a varied selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
The Sky Lagoon’s differentiator is its signature seven-step wellness ritual that adds a spa quality to the experience. The starting point is the lagoon (naturally) and a small cold-plunge pool that in full disclosure I took no part in. It was an extremely cold morning and stepping out of the warm embrace of the lagoon felt cold plunge enough for me.
Next to the cold-plunge pool sits the Turf House, which looks adorably like a little elf house carved into the hillside. Inside you’ll find the remaining five of the seven steps that aim to enhance the therapeutic qualities of the lagoon. The stations include a dry sauna with unparalleled ocean views courtesy of a floor-to-ceiling window wall, a refreshing and stimulating cold mist, a station to rub down with their signature sesame and almond oil sea salt scrub, a steam sauna to encourage maximum oil absorption, and a cove of showers to rinse off in before heading back out to the lagoon.
PRO TIP:
In the steam sauna, you’ll find cold-water hoses places along the bench.
Just be careful not to accidentally grope your neighbor trying to find it through the wall of near-opaque steam.
There are different packages available if you do or don’t care to do the seven-step ritual and that provide varying levels of changing room amenities. We opted for the Sky package which is their premium option. Don’t judge me for being bougie. It was my 40th birthday.
Once you are ready to head back to Reykjavik there is a convenient gathering of taxis outside available to take you to your next stop. If you do opt for a rental car for your trip, there is ample parking.
While I clearly can’t compare to the Blue Lagoon since I wasn’t able to go, I can say that when I get back to Iceland I will ensure that I have time built in for the Sky Lagoon.
Cost: $220 USD for two Sky packages. $85 for two rounds of drinks.
Lunch at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur: This iconic hot dog stand has been in operation in Reykjavik since 1937, but has expanded its locations as its popularity has grown. One of its two locations at Keflavik Airport will probably be one of the first things you see when you land.
The flagship location is at Tryggvagata 1 in the center of Reykjavik and it makes the perfect stop to restablish equalibrium after sweating out all the toxins at an Icelandic lagoon. Even if there is a line, it moves quickly as they sling out perfectly snappy hotdogs topped with your preferred combination of ketchup, sweet mustard, remoulade, crispy fried onion, and raw onions. Even as a raw onion hater, I would encourage going all in.
Cost: $15 USD for two hot dogs and a coke.
Photo by Matthew Wynn Photography.
Second Lunch at Seabaron: Right along the harbor, Seabaron is a bright teal beacon of seafood deliciousness. The draw here is the creamy, but still brothy, and unbelievably flavorful lobster soup. It is served and pairs perfectly with an included basket of fresh white bread that will soak up any last broth remnants. The lobster itself is less like the large, meaty creatures we would associate with in the United States as it’s more shrimp-like in size, but with a distinctly delicate texture and savory flavor.
Cost: $50 for two soups, a wine, and a beer.
Harpa: Walking back toward the center of town from Seabaron takes you down a lava-rock lined path along the harbor. One of the first things you’ll pass is the Harpa, a concert hall and conference center famous for the its unique use of organically-shaped glass panels in its facade. The visual effect of the glass against the sky, sea, and carefully placed LED lighting make it extremely cool to see.
Sun Voyager: Further along the water-side path is the picturesque Sun Voyager sculpture. The design was created by Jón Gunnar Árnason to represent “the promise of a new, undiscovered territory.” He submitted his design to a sculpture competition in 1986 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the city of Reykjavik. The final sculpture was unveiled on August 18, 1990, more than a year after the sculptor’s death.
Fun Fact:
The artist’s concept was for the ship to face west, toward the setting sun, but based on the final location chosen, the ship in fact faces northeast.
Dinner at Hlemmur Mathöll: Sitting in the refurbished former bus terminal, the Hlemmur Mathöll (Mathöll is Food Hall in English) hosts a plentitude of options for any food-loving traveler. While tacos don’t exactly scream “Icelandic food,” I would be remiss not to tell you to immediately, IMMEDIATELY pick up Pescado tacos from Fuego Taco. You can eat them as an appetizer while you check out the full scale of options ahead of you. There are eight food stalls total and menus are out on the bars surrounding the stalls so take a lap before deciding.
Cost: $21 USD for two pescado tacos and an Appelsín from Fuego.
Departure
Like all good things, our time in Reykjavik came to an end. Unfortunately our departure was just as early as our pre-dawn arrival so we did opt for a taxi instead of figuring out the timing and location for a Flybus pickup. The total cost from downtown Reykjavik to KEF was around $120 USD.
Departing out of KEF was an efficient, pleasurable experience. Kiosks were plentiful for printing out luggage tags and boarding passes, and staff was readily available if you needed any guidance. Security was efficient and on the other side, there is an impressive number of shops and restaurants for anything you might need, including several high-quality options for last-minute souvenirs.
The bottom line is KEF is doing the work to establish itself as a gateway airport for flights between the United States and Europe in a way that is as enjoyable as it is geographically practical.
Places We Didn’t Get To This Go Around
Like most trips, we weren’t able to hit it all, but here are some of the other places we have on our list for next time in case any of them strike your fancy.
- Reykjavik Chips: Fries, fries, sauces, and more fries.
- Fish and Chips Vagninn: Iceland cod fried in English fashion and served with fries, mushy peas, and their signature remoulade sauce.
- Reykjavik Roasters: A roaster and shop serving coffee in downtown Reykjavik.
- Mjúk Iceland: A family-owned store featuring knitted and woven goods.
- Farmers & Friends: A store focused on sustainable Icelandic design.
- Blue Lagoon: One of National Geographic‘s 2012 25 Wonders of the World, this geothermal lagoon boasts turquoise water full of skin-loving silica.
- Hvammsvík Hot Springs: A 45-minute drive from Reykjavik, this site includes eight hot springs, a steam room, ocean access, and a facility with changing rooms and food options.
48-Hour Iceland Stopover Google Map
Click here for a complete Google map with everywhere mentioned above!
Happy travels. 🧳
Other Resources:
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