Those taking Temple World’s recommended flights on Iceland Air from Heathrow at 13:05 will arrive at Keflavík airport 15.15.   Those making their own way to Iceland should meet the group here.

Our guide and transport will be waiting to collect us and the visits start right away as
you’ll be driven through the old city of Reykjavik to the superb National Museum. Offering an excellently curated overview of Icelandic history using objects from the mundane (gaming pieces made from cod bones) to the magnificent (silver hoards, bronze figures) the museum’s creative displays run from rule of the chieftans and the introduction of Christianity to the difficulties of foreign rule and finally independence. Iceland is the penultimate major land mass to be settled by humans (only New Zealand was settled later) and its first major inhabitants were Norse people (Vikings) as well as slaves and/or hermits from Scotland and Ireland, starting to settle in earnest from the year 874. Most of the museum’s historical artifacts were previously exhibited in Denmark, so this museum is an important reflection of Iceland’s independent national identity.

Afterwards, continue north (around 1 hour drive) to the town of Borgarnes where you’ll check into your hotel for dinner and overnight.

Overnight: Hotel Hamar  or similar.   |    Meals: D

Borgarnes, on the island’s west coast,  is the gateway to the dramatic Snæfellsnes peninsula, which is often referred to as “Iceland in Miniature” because of the diversity of its landscapes. The 90km long peninsula is dominated by the Snæfellsjökull volcano, covered by the Snæfellsne glacier made famous by Jules Verne in Journey to the Centre of the Earth.  The fishing villages along the coast are interspersed lava fields, caves and waterfalls.

We will enjoy a full day excursion to the peninsula today to explore. Stop at the fishing village of Arnarstapi, where a trail leads through lava fields to the black-pebble Djúpalónssandur beach.  Continue to the charming village of Ólafsvík and on to the much-photographed Kirkjufell (Church Mountain in Icelandic), which rises 463 m above the shoreline, jutting out into the sea.   Enjoy a picnic lunch today amidst the beautiful scenery of the national park.

After today’s excursion, return by road to Borgarnes for dinner and overnight.

Overnight: Hotel Hamar   or similar  |   Meals: B, L, D

Explore the nearby Borgarfjörður region today,  going to visit Hraunfossar (Lava Waterfall) & Barnafoss (waterfall of the children) where rivulets flowing from the Langjökull glacier emerge from the lava field forming waterfalls into the Hvítá river.

Continue to the dramatic Deildartunguhver thermal spring. This is Europe’s most powerful hot spring and its 100°c water is used for central heating in Borganes and Akranes.

Before leaving the area we shall visit Grábrók crater,  which is one of three formed by a fissure eruption approximately 3,000 years ago. There is a good path to the top from which there is an impressive view over Borgarfjordur. We shall enjoy another picnic lunch today during our explorations.

Return to Borgarnes and visit the excellent Settlement Centre, which offers contextual insight into the early settlement of the Nordic Vikings in Iceland. The centre is also devoted to one of the most loved Icelandic Sagas, Egil’s Saga.

This evening, the group is free to enjoy dinner at leisure at a restaurant of their choice (own expense).  The Settlement Centre actually boasts an excellent restaurant on site, or you could try Englendingavik, which has outdoor seating on its deck overlooking the waterfront.  Note, the hotel is around 3km out of town so you will need to arrange a taxi.

Overnight: Hotel Hamar  or similar |  Meals: B, L, –

After breakfast , check out of the hotel and travel to the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Þingvellir National Park to visit the remains of Þingvellir, Iceland’s single most important historic site. This Viking site is where the first democratic national parliament of Iceland, the Althing, was established in 930AD, believed to be the oldest surviving parliament in the world (Þingvellir translates as “the fields of parliament”).   For two weeks each year, the most powerful leaders of the Icelandic Commonwealth would meet in the valley here to set laws and settle disputes in the open air.  All free men were able to attend, and so the assembly became a large-scale social gathering of farmers, craftsmen, tradesmen and their families, staying in temporary camps. There are remains of some of early turf and stone booths in the valley.

The valley the assembly was held in actually has huge geological significance as it is in fact a fissured rift valley marking the crest of the Mid-Atlantic ridge where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet and are slowly pulling apart at a rate of around 2cm per year. At Þingvellir the movement happens in bursts, usually as a result of a buildup of tension followed by an earthquake. The valley has subsided by at least 4 meters and the valley edges have drifted apart around 8.5 metres in the 1100 + years since Iceland was settled.

We shall enjoy a picnic lunch during our explorations today, and continue to visit Geysir from where the English word geyser comes from. Very infrequent eruptions spout boiling water high into the air however the nearby Strokkur geyser erupts every few minutes sending boiling water up 30 meters.  We shall also visit Gullfos (Golden Falls). Here the powerful water from the Langjökull glacier cascades 32 meters in two stages down Gullfoss.

Continue to Skálholt, one of Iceland’s important historic places. The first bishopric was founded here in 1056 and it became a centre of learning and culture. A medieval tunnel linking the Cathedral to the school is mentioned in the Saga of the Sturlungs.

This evening, check into our new hotel in the town of Selfoss, the largest in Southern Iceland but still a small town by UK standards, with a population of less than 8,000.

Dinner is at leisure once again this evening (own expense), and there are plentiful options within walking distance of our hotel, including the well-regarded fine-dining Icelandic restaurant Tryggvaskáli.

Overnight: Hotel South Coast |  Meals: B, L, –

Checking out of the hotel after breakfast,  spend a full day in the nature reserve of Þórsmörk,  named after the Norse god Þór (Thor).

Situated in a valley between the glacier-capped stratovolcanoes of Tindfjallajökull and Eyjafjallajökull, the beautiful scenery includes black desert expanses, dramatic mountain scenery, volcanoes, lava fields, glaciers, fast glacial rivers, waterfalls and hot springs. If the name Eyjafjallajökull sounds familiar, it was the volcanic ash cloud from eruptions of this volcano that grounded Europe’s air traffic in 2010. Much of the area of Þórsmörk was covered in a thick layer of volcanic ash.  We shall enjoy a picnic lunch amidst these glorious surrounds.

Iceland is famous for its lack of trees, but parts of the valley here are rich with moss, fern, and forests of Betula pubescens, the downy birch, the only tree species from pre-settlement days that survives in the wild in Iceland. Around a quarter of the country was forested at the time of the Viking settlement, with much of the landscape not able to support trees due to shallow soil depths over lava flows,  but within a century of arriving, the Vikings had cut down as much as 97% of the island’s trees for building and to create grazing land.  Despite ongoing reforestation projects, Iceland today is still Europe’s least forested country, with only 0.5% of the island covered with forest.  The lack of trees has led extensive desertification despite the country’s far northern location.

After our visit, we shall drive towards the picturesque small village of Vik on the island’s south coast. If there’s time, we shall stop to visit Seljalandsfoss, a beautiful waterfall with a drop of 200 feet. A slippery path leads into a cave behind the waterfall, but we recommend taking a raincoat as there is a lot of spray! When the sun is out the spray forms rainbows – sometimes even double rainbows. This waterfall is on the Seljalands river that originates from the volcano glacier Eyjafjallajökull.

On arrival in the Vik area, check in to the Hotel Katla just outside the town, for dinner and overnight.

Overnight: Hotel Katla  |  Meals: B, L, D

After breakfast we shall travel east by road, to Skaftafell Nature Reserve, now part of Vatnajökull National Park, the largest national park in Europe. This icy wilderness is situated between two glaciers and features the island’s highest mountain peak (2110m), waterfalls, forests, ice caves, a glacial lake and an exciting variety of flora and fauna.

Time (and fitness permitting) we shall take a 1.5 km hike along an uphill trail through the park to the dramatic Svartifoss (Black Falls) where water falls between very striking dark basalt columns. An alternative, shorter walk is possible through an 1873 lava flow.

Another highlight today will be a visit to Jökulsárlón, a stunning glacial lagoon filled with meltwater which developed after the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier receded from the edge of the Atlantic ocean. Here luminous-blue icebergs breaking off from a tongue of Europe’s biggest ice-cap Vatnajökull drift slowly through the lake and eventually down to the sea.  Some bear black streaks of ash from eruptions many centuries ago. The icebergs wash up onto nearby Diamond Beach in dazzling contrast to the black sand. Jökulsárlón has been a setting for four Hollywood movies: A View to a Kill, Die Another Day, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Batman Begins.

Time permitting, we shall have a chance to get up close to an outlet glacier which is popular with ice-hikers. Known for its sharp ice ridges, the dramatic blue-hewed glacier will be recognisable to viewers of the popular TV series Game of Thrones as the backdrop to various scenes which took place ‘north of the wall’. We shall have a picnic lunch in the park.

Return to our hotel just outside Vik for dinner and overnight once again.

Overnight: Hotel Katla  |  Meals: B, L, D

After breakfast, check out of our hotel and drive to Skógafoss, one of Iceland’s biggest and most beautiful waterfalls with a drop of almost 200 feet. The spray from the waterfall will also produce a rainbow when the sun is out. It is located on the Skógá river which has a large char and salmon population. According to legend, Þrasi Þórólfsson, the first Viking settler in the area, buried a chest of gold in the waterfall.

Nearby,  visit Skógar museum with its collection of historic folk art. The regional folk museum is housed in wonderfully preserved old turf-roofed houses.

Continue to Dyrholaey (if accessible). Here there are staggering views of the South Coast. In the volcanic rock promontory, puffins and arctic terns make their nests.  Visit Reynisfjara where three freestanding black basalt sea stacks (called the Reynisdrangar) protrude from the North Atlantic. Walk on the black sand Reynisfjara Beach, voted in 1991 as one of the top ten most beautiful non-tropical beaches in the world. There is a good chance to see puffins here. We shall enjoy a picnic lunch again today during our explorations.

Our last visit today will be to the Lava Centre exhibition in Hvolsvöllur which depicts volcanic activity, earthquakes and the creation of Iceland.  Check in to our final hotel, Landhotel, a modernist boutique hotel in a wilderness location with beautiful views from bedrooms and common areas. Enjoy a farewell dinner at the hotel.

Overnight:  Landhótel or similar    Meals: B, L, D

Today is the day the tour ends, but there is time to fit in a full morning of sightseeing before those booked on Temple World’s recommended flights to London need to travel to the airport or continue onwards on the Greenland extension if booked.

After checking out of our final hotel, travel west towards the airport, which is located on the lava-scarred Reykjanes Peninsula in the south-west of the island. The peninsula lies on one of the world’s major plate boundaries, the Mid Atlantic Ridge, where the North Atlantic and Eurasian tectonic plates diverge, and the whole area is volcanically active.  We shall visit the geothermal area of Krýsuvik within a fissure of the mid-Atlantic ridge. Here, a boadwalk leads through steaming volcanic vents and boiling hot springs, surrounded by red, green and yellow hills.

Beside the mudpots and sulphur deposits is Lake Graenavatn, an explosion crater formed by volcanic eruptions which because of the thermal algae and crystals, is a deep green colour.

A few minutes’ drive away are the Krýsuvíkurberg Cliffs where thousands of sea birds nest – we shall stop to see what we can spot. The most common birds found here are guillemot, razorbill, Brünnich’s guillemot, kittiwake, puffin, black guillemot, fulmar and cormorant.

Our last visit of the tour will be to the recent lava flows near Litli-Hrútur, a hill in an uninhabited area of the Reykjanes peninsula.  Fagradalsfjall started erupting again on 10 July 2023, the third time since 2021.

Bidding our guide farewell, we shall make the final short drive to the airport, where the tour ends.  Those taking Temple World’s recommended Iceland Air flights will depart at 16:10 and arrive into Heathrow at 20:20.

There is a set Greenland extension to this tour departing early the next day on 29 June- please click on the ‘extensions’ tab above for more information on the Greenland extension itinerary and price.

We can also arrange flights home on later dates for those who wish to extend their stay in Iceland, either with a city stay in Reykjavik, a pampering spa retreat at one of the two Blue Lagoon hotels,  or further explorations on the island. Our small tailor-made team will be happy to quote for any extra arrangements needed, from hotels and transfers to privately guided touring, if desired.   Please contact Alice at alice@templeworld.com for ideas and prices.

Overnight: –  |   Meals:  B, L