DAY 1

You begin with an early meeting in your centrally located Reykjavík hotel, for a brief orientation before departing on the 50-minute drive northeast of the city through the countryside to Þingvellir National Park, one of the three national parks that you visit on this itinerary. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Þingvellir, literally “Parliament Plains,” is the site of Iceland’s ancient parliament first established in 930 AD and convened continuously until 1798. Not only a gathering place for chieftains establishing law, it was also an open air meeting place for games, feasts, marriages, and trade, and the site of some of the country’s momentous decisions: from the adoption of Christianity in 1000 AD to the foundation of the Republic of Iceland in 1944. Fascinatingly, it is situated on the dramatic rift valley where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates pull apart, clearly visible at the great Almannagjá (Everyman’s Gorge), a group of gorges extending almost continuously from Lake Þingvallavatn north to Mt. Ármannsfell. The trail continues to Lögberg (Law Rock), where the “Law Speaker” proclaimed memorized laws. Moving into the park, a two-hour walk takes you through a lava field covered by patchy pine plantations, dwarf birch forest, and heathland plants such as bog bilberry, wooly willow, lady smock, sweet grass, and lichen. Crossing deep rifts, you reach Skógarkot—an abandoned sheep farm with wide views of distant peaks, rift walls, and Lake Þingvallavatn.

After a special lunch you make your way to your first hotel with a number of stops en route. The first stop is at Geysir, the place giving its name to the phenomenon worldwide, and Strokkur, or the “churn,” the latter spouting every five minutes. From here, a 10-minute drive takes you to Gullfoss, or Gold Falls, Iceland’s most famous and visited waterfall, a national monument. Then you continue about 90 minutes more through much of the country’s agricultural land to Hella, known for the gentle Icelandic horses. Before gathering for a welcome cocktail and dinner in the hotel’s acclaimed riverside restaurant, you may slip into one of its geothermally heated outdoor hot tubs. On the menu, from organic, high-quality local produce, you may choose the restaurant’s award-winning fish soup (with a quartet of fish and shellfish) followed by fresh wild salmon from the neighboring river, chocolate and skyr (Icelandic cream cheese) cake for dessert. With daylight lingering well into the night, your guides offer a peaceful evening walk along the banks of the Eystri-Rangá.
Hotel Rangá, Hella

DAY 2

After a bountiful buffet breakfast, you drive east along the Ring Road (the one road encircling the entire island) where you take in some of the southern coast’s most dramatic scenery—tall mountains with a succession of waterfalls cascading from the glaciers above on one side and views of the North Atlantic coastline with its black sand beaches and dramatic headlands on the other. A 20-minute drive brings you to a brief stop at Seljalandsfoss, a narrow waterfall dropping 130 feet into a shallow pool with space to walk behind it. From here another short drive brings you to the tiny village of Skógar, a summer resort and home to one of Iceland’s finest folk museums; its old turf farmhouse provides a glimpse into the fishing and farming culture of past centuries. After, you stop at the town’s breathtaking Skogafoss waterfall, which drops nearly 200 feet into the river Skógaá, full of salmon and char, and, according to legend, hiding a gold treasure trove visible when the sun hits it the right way.

Continuing eastward, a 35-minute drive brings you to the town of Vík, Iceland’s most southerly village. This quaint town is tucked in between mountains, sea cliffs, and a long, beautiful black sand beach. Following lunch at a charming local café in an 1831 timber house, a spectacular coastal walk departs directly from the restaurant. Reaching the outskirts of the village, you skirt the vertical Reynisfjall cliffs—home to a remarkable bird colony including kittiwakes, fulmar, and puffins—as well as the Reynisdrangar, a series of black basalt columns sculpted by the sea. According to local folklore, these twisted shapes are trolls turned to stone by the sunrise while dragging their boats to shore. The walk concludes with a stroll along the beach, ending with an optional visit to Vík’s lovely woolens shop, or if you prefer, a short hike up through a wildflower covered hill to Vík’s isolated white-and-red church, also the town’s shelter from volcano and flooding.

Another hour’s drive traverses the beautifully austere landscape of the moss-covered Eldhraun lava field, one of the largest lava fields in the world, and then another 90 minutes through a glacial flood plain called “The Sandur” (a black sand desert and the world’s largest example) full of sand and sediment deposited by subglacial volcanoes. By late afternoon you reach your hotel, situated at the base of vegetated glacial moraines in front of Iceland’s most impressive (and largest) glacier, Vatnajökull, and also adjacent to breathtaking Skaftafell National Park (the second national park on this tour). After settling into the hotel and eating dinner there, your guides offer an optional evening walk departing on foot from the hotel to the run-off glacier, Svínafellsjökull.
Hótel Skaftafell, Freysnesi

DAY 3

Following a buffet breakfast, a few minutes drive brings you to the start of the full day’s loop walk in Skaftafell National Park. Beginning at the foot of the Hrafnagil ravine, the trail follows the stony west bank of the Morsá River into the 6-mile-long flat-bottomed Morsárdalur Valley. Crossing a footbridge, it leads to the Bæjarstaður, Iceland’s tallest stand of birch trees near which you enjoy a picnic lunch. An ascent to the Skaftafellsheiði heath and Bæjargil gully with its multiple waterfalls closes the loop. The flora and fauna in the park are much more varied than in other parts of the country, and in mid-summer, you find large numbers of butterflies and considerable bird life on the wooded slopes—the redwing, common snipe, meadow pipit, and wren are among the most common species. This is also one of the North Atlantic’s most important breeding areas for the great skua. The park’s sheltered position and rich volcanic soil encourages a profusion of lush vegetation and more than 200 species of plants have been found here, including abundant summertime wildflowers.

A late afternoon coffee at Skaftafell visitor center is a chance to explore the exhibition room with an interesting display showing the intertwined lives of the local people and natural history as well as to view a video showing the effects of the Skeidarár glacial outburst floods (jökulhlaup) in 1996. You return to relax at the hotel before gathering for dinner in its dining room.
Hótel Skaftafell, Freysnesi

DAY 4

Today’s travels take you from Skaftafell in the south to the final destination of Seyðisfjörður in the east. With an early departure, an hour’s drive takes you to the dramatic Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, the best known and largest of a number of glacial lakes in Iceland. Here, you board an amphibious vehicle for a 40-minute boat ride and a close look at the blue-tinted natural ice sculptures, a myriad of unique shapes and sizes. Two James Bond movies, Die Another Day and A View to a Kill, were filmed in this fantastic location, where a large pool between the nose of Breiðamerkurjökull glacier and the sea formed after the glacier began shrinking rapidly in the 1940s, and filled with icebergs calved from the glacier. Floating among the ice you may spot seals, eider ducks, and, even witness the glacier calving into the crystal turquoise waters. Crossing the road, an awe-inspiring walk takes you along the iceberg-covered black-sand beach where you might spot seals as well as the Great Skua.

Climbing in your private coach, an 80-minute drive provides fantastic views of Vatnajökull glacier before arriving at the busy fishing port Höfn, the epicenter of Iceland’s lobster catch. At the lobster/langoustine capital of the north, the menu for lunch at a charming local restaurant with harbor views features langoustine tails grilled with butter, parsley, and garlic, served with salad and fresh bread. You have a short stroll before the 3-hour transfer to Seyðisfjörður. Breaking up the drive, you take a coffee break in the charming, East Iceland fishing village of Djúpivogur, at the tip of the lower Eastfjords, and visit Langa-Búð, the oldest house in the region dating from 1790.

You are able to reach your final destination of Seyðisfjörður on foot following a path along the south bank of the Fjarðará river dotted with numerous waterfalls, past Iceland’s oldest operational power plant (1913), and down the dramatic valley to your town-center hotel—truly a spectacular arrival! Iceland’s most picturesque coastal town, Seyðisfjörður is nestled in an 11-mile long calm, deep fjord, lined with snow-capped mountains and tumbling waterfalls. The town’s streets are lined with colorful Norwegian wood kit homes from the 19th and early 20th centuries, Iceland’s best preserved old wooden buildings. With a thriving arts scene, Seyðisfjörður also serves as the port to mainland Europe as the Smyril Line car ferry Norræna transits to Norway, the Shetland and Faroe Islands, and Denmark weekly. The modern Icelandic poet: Matthías Johannessen called the town a “pearl enclosed in a shell.”

Your home base for the next two nights lives up to the setting; a lovely heritage hotel, its rooms beautifully furnished with hand-crafted bedspreads, embroidered rugs, and antiques. The hotel’s warmly lit gourmet restaurant, housed in one of Iceland’s oldest general stores, invites and serves local, organic ingredients such as East Icelandic lamb fillet with celery purée, sautéed mushrooms, and red wine sauce, pan-fried fish of the day, or organic reindeer. Intrigued you may opt for a late-evening stroll through the old town with a local resident or visit the vibrant Skaftfell Cultural Center and Café where local artists and musicians meet in a grand, old house with an art gallery.
Hótel Aldan, Seyðisfjörður

DAY 5

A scrumptious breakfast buffet starts the day with still-warm home-baked bread, fresh fruit and cereals. Soon after, a 10-minute drive brings you to the trailhead for today’s 5-6-hour walk. The route from Stafdalur to Vestdalur is a spectacular traverse through peaceful upland heath, past the mountain-sided lake Vestdalsvatn, and down into Seyðisfjörður along the cascading Vestdalsá River. Appreciated for its scenery and birdlife, the area is one of the first sites in East Iceland to be listed on the Nature Conservation Register. Other than one steep downhill stretch at the day’s end, the trail isn’t too strenuous. Beginning at a ski lift, the trail heads north, with Stafdalsfell mountain on the left and the boggy Stafdalur River Valley on the right. Crossing the Stafdalur valley with a gentle ascent before rounding the west side of the lake, you soon arrive at the northeast corner of Lake Vestdalsvatn, where a picnic lunch is served. Nearby is the site of an amazing archeological discovery, the remains and jewels of a woman from the Viking Age around 940 AD, considered Scandinavia’s greatest Viking jewelry find. The trail then proceeds along the grassy Vestdalur Valley, with numerous waterfalls and fabulous fjord views the whole way. Upon reaching the Vestdalsá River, the trail descends steeply to the river bank and ends on the coastal road, just a few miles north of the village center. The bus is waiting to drive those back to town who wish; others may choose to walk the rest of the way into town.

You are free to continue your explorations this evening with dinner on your own in one of Seyðisfjörður’s restaurants or cafés, or at your hotel. With the late setting sun, you may venture out on a midnight sun paddle: an evening guided kayak tour in the lagoon in front of the hotel—a wonderful way to experience the fjord—chosen by Lonely Planet as one of Iceland’s 10 best experiences. (The tour is at your own expense but your guides assist in arranging). Or a more sedentary option is a visit to the local pub, Kaffi Lára, known for its beer, El Grillo, named for a British tanker sunk in Seyðisfjörður by German bombers in 1944.
Hótel Aldan, Seyðisfjörður

DAY 6

Today you leave the Eastfjords to head north with a final destination of Lake Mývatn, via a 3-hour drive across the fascinating interior of the island with its stark and barren northeast highland desert plateaus. The half-way point is a coffee break at Sænautasel Farm, a reconstructed turf farm on a 37-mile-long remote heathland called Jökuldalsheiði, where you may see reindeer grazing! Halldór Kiljan Laxness, Iceland’s Nobel Prize-wining author, used the farm as the setting for his novel Sjálfstætt folk, or Independent People.

Your destination—the Mývatn/Krafla region—is the part of Iceland showing that it is indeed a land in formation. Geologically active, the landscape is teeming with volcanic craters, recent lava fields, bubbling mud flats, and is part of the greater Krafla volcanic system, a 3-mile wide and 50-mile long strip of faults and fissures running north to south, with the Krafla caldera at its center. In the midst of the evolving geology is stunning Lake Mývatn, a unique ecosystem and Europe’s largest migratory bird sanctuary, with its many species of waterfowl feeding on the insects and algae of the lake’s warm shallow waters. The region is also the center of the country’s geothermal energy industry.

Not far from the lake in the active Krafla volcanic zone, you stop at Leirhnjúkur, an eerie expanse of still-smoldering lava resulting from the Krafla fires of 1974-1984. You fuel up with a picnic lunch before starting the day’s walk. This 4-hour ridge walk along a great fault rift provides an excellent view of the entire area, extending over the complete stretch of Mt. Dalfjall. The walk ends at the multicolored sulfurous slopes of Námaskarð pass at 1,300 feet above sea level and near Hverir, a large geothermal field, full of bubbling mud pots and pools and hissing steam vents or fumaroles. Your bus will be waiting to transport you to your final hotel on the shores of Lake Mývatn. After settling in to your spacious room, you gather for dinner at a country-tavern style restaurant next door, where the first course may be the national specialty “kjötsúpa” (Icelandic meat soup) served with home baked bread, followed by freshly caught pan-fried trout.

If you still have energy after dinner, your guides offer an evening walk along the southwest shore of the lake to observe some of the varied birdlife—merganser, widgeon, teal, and the rare, Barrow’s Goldeneye to name a few. Or you can jump on one of the hotel’s bikes for an easy spin. The Northern version of Reykjavík’s Blue Lagoon, the Mývatn Nature Baths, are nearby, and your guides can arrange a visit at your own expense. Lastly, a neighboring farm provides Icelandic horse rides, also at your expense, but with the guide’s assistance.
Hótel Reynihlíð, Reykjahlíð

DAY 7

Today’s focus is the Jökulsárgljúfur National Park, which translates as “Glacial River Canyon,” Iceland’s most well-known canyon replete with extraordinary rock formations, waterfalls, and plant life. You walk in three of its main areas, starting with Dettifoss in the south, Hólmatungur to Hljóðaklettar along the Jökulsárgljúfur Canyon in the middle, and finally Ásbyrgi, the wooded horseshoe canyon at the park’s northern end. The day begins with a hearty breakfast followed by an 80-minute drive along the west bank of the Jökulsá River, Iceland’s second longest river. Arriving at the park’s southern boundary, an easy, 1-mile loop leads to Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall (often compared to Niagara Falls). A short drive north arrives at the park center and the trailhead at Hólmatungur, with its luxuriant cascades and vegetation, for the moderate hike along Jökulsárgljúfur canyon from Hólmatungur to Hljóðaklettar. Hólmatungur is a soft green oasis where underground springs and cascades feed astonishingly verdant vegetation, streams and rivers. The trail heads north alongside the Jökulsá River until reaching Vesturdalur (or West Valley), an area of grassy meadows and rich vegetation, dotted with small lakes. Here the river is flanked by a series of towering cliffs, caves and honeycomb-shaped basalt formations. Northernmost Hljóðaklettar (Echo Rocks) is a maze of fantastic rock formations and castle-like cliffs and caves of varying sizes along the Jökulsá River. Birdlife en route are snipes, ptarmigans, and snow bunting, with gyrfalcon, merlin and ravens nesting on cliffs and rock pillars.

A subsequent 30-minute drive brings you to the Visitor center at Ásbyrgi where there is a choice of walks based on conditions and group preference. The broad, forested U-shaped canyon contains the rock “island” of Eyjan in its center, formed by a series of floods thousands of years ago. The island’s rare woodlands of birch, willow, and rowan are framed by cliffs colonized by fulmar.

In the later afternoon, a 2-hour drive along the east bank of the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon returns you to the hotel in Mývatn for a celebratory farewell dinner in the hotel’s dining room. Starting with the Mývatn specialty of Hot Spring bread, baked in the local underground bakery using geothermal heat and traditional methods, topped with butter and smoked arctic char, the main course may be wild thyme-crusted roasted leg of lamb or poached arctic salmon with a white wine butter sauce.
Hótel Reynihlíð, Reykjahlíð

DAY 8

The final day of your tour begins with an early morning departure to the city of Akureyri for the flight back to Reykjavík. En route, just under an hour’s drive, you stop at the beautiful Goðafoss waterfall, meaning as it sounds, “waterfall of the gods.” Another 50 minutes brings you to Akureyri for a lunch break and a little time to browse its streets. Nestled at the head of Eyjafjörður, Iceland’s longest fjord, Akureyri is North Iceland’s largest fishing port, and its cultural, industrial, and trade capital. After your short flight, you arrive into Reykjavík’s domestic airport in the early afternoon and from here an easy bus ride can take you to the international terminal or downtown Reykjavík.

Itinerary Changes

Please bear in mind that this is a typical itinerary, and the actual walks, sites, and accommodations may vary due to season, special events, weather, or transportation schedules. We reserve the right to alter the itinerary since tour arrangements are made up to a year in advance, and unforeseen circumstances that mandate change may arise. Itinerary changes are made to improve the tour and your experience.

Night 1

Hotel Rangá
Hella, Iceland

A member of the Special Hotels of the World, Hotel Rangá is beautifully situated on the banks of Iceland’s premiere salmon river, the Eystri-Rangá. This four-star log-cabin style resort features cozy and comfortable rooms—facing either the river or Iceland’s famous volcano, Mt. Hekla—as well as an acclaimed riverside restaurant and several geothermally heated outdoor hot tubs.

Nights 2 & 3

Hotel Skaftafell
Freysnesi, Iceland

Ideally located three miles east of breathtaking Skaftafell National Park, this 3-star property boasts incredible glacier and mountain views, a restaurant, spacious bar, and simple yet comfortable rooms.

Nights 4 & 5

Hótel Aldan
Seyðisfjörður, Iceland

This lovely in-town Heritage Hotel is comprised of three historical buildings: a former bank, post office, and one of Iceland’s oldest stores now completely restored—more than a century later—to their former splendor. Inviting rooms exude old-fashioned charm and are beautifully furnished with hand-crafted bedspreads, embroidered rugs, wood floors, and antiques. (Please note: while rooms do not feature telephones, there are phone services available at the reception).

Nights 6 & 7

Hótel Reynihlíð
Reykjahlíð, Iceland

The 4-star, family-run Hotel Reynihlíð is ideally located on the shores of Lake Mývatn. Spacious rooms, with lake or mountain views, are well-equipped with modern amenities. This comfortable hotel also features a welcoming lobby bar, sitting rooms, and restaurant.

Please note that this is a sample hotel itinerary for this tour. While these exact hotels are featured on most departures, we occasionally reserve other hotels of similar style and quality. If you are currently booked on a Country Walkers adventure, a hotel itinerary has been sent to you for your exact departure date. Please call Country Walkers at 800.464.9255 if you have any questions about the exact hotels selected for any of our tours.

Erling Aspelund

Erling is a native of Reykjavík. He received his Masters from the Tisch School of the Arts in New York and worked for years in the computer software industry in Seattle. Erling has traveled all over Iceland and is passionate about the outdoors. He enjoys hiking, kayaking, swimming, skiing, and photography.

Kristin Bjornsdottir

Kristin moved back to her native Iceland a few years ago after living in the US where she graduated from New York University and worked in educational media. She is a certified travel guide and loves to share her passion for the outdoors and all things Icelandic. Kristin offers her extensive knowledge of Icelandic folklore and folktales as well as history and culture.

Arngunnur Yr

Born and raised in Iceland, Arngunnur studied fine arts in San Fransisco. She is an accomplished painter who exhibits at galleries and art museums around the world. Her love of nature and the outdoors led her to guiding. She is a certified guide and spends her summers in Iceland sharing her extensive knowledge of Icelandic geology, nature, and culture with visitors.

Fridrik Erlingsson

Fridrik was born in Reykjavík. Trained as a graphic designer, he has dedicated himself to writing, primarily fiction and biography, but also scripts for film and television, as well as song lyrics. His novel, Benjamín dúfa (Benjamin Dove), published in 1992, received wide acclaim and has been translated into five languages. A movie based on the book was also well received in Iceland and abroad. Fridrik’s tours highlight connections between Icelandic nature, the medieval sagas, and modern literature.