A 5 day Iceland winter itinerary

Posted on by Juliet Frost

This is another of those gap-filling things. It occurred to me that I really should have a good collection of Iceland itineraries and so this is my Iceland series for 2022: a different itinerary every month. Leave me a comment if there’s any in particular you’d like to see and if you have a deadline for them. A week in Iceland in summer, Iceland for foodies, Iceland for volcano fans, Iceland for cultural types, that sort of thing. This one is a a 5 day Iceland winter itinerary. Five days is plenty in the snow, I think. If you want longer, I’ll leave a couple of other ideas at the bottom which you can use to extend your trip by going a bit further afield.

The wing of an Icelandair plane coming in low over Iceland which is well and truly iced and snowed over.

It’s also for doing without needing to hire a car. If you’re not experienced in driving in ice and snow, with darkness intruding heavily into both ends of the day, it’s best to let an expert take the wheel. You’re spoilt for choice for someone else to do the driving. There are dozens of tour companies running all the popular tours along with an entire coachload of new companions or you choose a smaller company that does small group tours or you can even book a private tour where you basically have your own driver. These will probably increase quite sharply in price from the big groups up to the private tour but I don’t want to limit this itinerary to any particular budget. And let’s be honest, Iceland is expensive and even the cheapest group tours are quite expensive so although I considered doing an Iceland Winter Budget Itinerary, I think you need to accept that you’re going to spend some money here.

You can open this map on your phone and you can also close and open each day separately, so if the full map is a big overwhelming, you can just see the particular day you’re looking at.

Day one

Arrive in Iceland. Take the bus into central Reykjavik and find your accommodation. If you’ve got time, go out and get acquainted with the city. Go for dinner, stock up on food, definitely walk down by the coast to look at Esja on the other side of the bay in her winter finery. Anywhere between Harpa and the Sun Voyager is a good spot that doesn’t require too much walking in the cold.

Downtown Reykjavik in the snow. The bay is navy blue, the path and shoreline are snowy and the city in the background is lit against the coming of the night. It's not yet dark out in the open and the sky is a fading pastel blue but it's probably dark indoors by now.

The Tjornin, Reykjavik City Pond. It's a small lake in the city centre and it's almost completely frozen. This corner is liquid because of warm water inlets and it's literally crowded with water birds relishing the warmer water and the visitors who occasionally feed them bread (but they shouldn't).

But my number one recommendation for your first night is to go looking for the Northern Lights. There are so many tours. Ordinary plain “let’s go and stand somewhere dark and stare at the sky” tours will be the cheapest but I like to do “Northern Lights and…” tours where at least you get something to do if the lights don’t show up. There are so many: Northern Lights From a Boat, Northern Lights from a Snowmobile, Northern Lights and the Blue Lagoon/Sky Lagoon/Secret Lagoon, Northern Lights with Horseriding, Northern Lights with Food Tour, anything you fancy, really. You can go as part of a big group – I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Lights properly, as part of a group that encompassed six full-size coaches, all packed to the roof, but you can also do tiny private tours that’s just three or four people or literally just the group you’re travelling with, if you’re not a solo traveller like I tend to be.

The Northern Lights swooping over a field. The lights are green swirls and the fields are some tall blades of grass positioned right in front of the camera, which I put down in the field and apparently didn't check I had a clear view.

Fontana spa by night. The fairy lights around the raised hot tub are visible, as is a bright light that might be the moon or might be a light. The photo is taken from one of the other pools so the water ripples in the foreground.

The reason for doing it on the first night is that the Northern Lights are temperamental and even if the conditions are perfect and the sky is clear and everything’s beautiful, the damn things might just not be in the mood to show up. You need to have time to have a second go. If you’re going with a tour, almost everyone offers a second go for free if you see nothing the first time. A word of warning – if you’re doing a “Northern Lights and…” tour the first time, your second free go will almost certainly just be an ordinary lights hunt with no extra fun included. It doesn’t really cost them anything to throw you on a coach for free but they’re not going to pay for a second hot bath or adventurous activity.

My pick: Warm Baths & Cool Lights by Reyjavik Excursions

Day two

This was originally meant to be a relatively quiet day but in fact, I’ve packed it with action. I thought we’d start with a 9am lava caving tour, go for a ride on an Icelandic horse and finish at the pool.

Lava caves are formed by rivers of lava running away in an eruption, leaving the top layer crusting over to form a natural tube. Thousands of years later, they’ve set solid and tour guides will take visitors down there. In theory, a cave is much the same temperature all year round but in practice, all the lava caves I’ve been into tend to grow icicles in winter and that’s quite a spectacular sight. Lava caves don’t form stalactites and stalagmites like limestone caves do because of the different composition of the rocks but glittering translucent spikes hanging from the ceiling are prettier and it doesn’t matter if you accidentally smash them. Try not to – the people coming in next want to see the pretties too but if you do break one, it’ll reform pretty soon whereas a stalactite will need another few thousand years to regrow. I know people who’ve been taken back into a cave to glue a broken stalactite back into place.

Glittering stalactites in a lava tube. The cave itself is dark and the rock is reddish. In the distance are two people wearing warm suits with reflecting stripes on the back, reflecting very brightly.

Yes, it’s dark. Yes, it’s a bit confined. But you’ll be given a light and you’ll be dressed up in a warm suit and you’ll appreciate returning to the open air a whole lot more once you’ve seen winter underground.

Me, post-caving, standing in the snow outside a hole in the snow which is the cave entrance. I'm wearing a red helmet with a torch on it and a neon orange boilersuit with reflective stripes across it.

When you get back to Reykjavik, you should have just enough time to grab something to eat before being picked up for a horse riding tour. You’ll get a little video lecture on how to approach and talk to the horses and get it well drummed into you that these are horses, not ponies, and then you’ll get all dressed up in suitably warm clothes and go out for a walk on the lava field.

An Icelandic horse standing in the paddock in the snow. It's a dappled grey and off-white with darker legs and rump and a long grey fringe falling over its eyes.

If you’re an experienced rider, you can break away from the beginners and try out the tölt, an extra gait unique to Icelandic horses. For people like me, a walk broken by the occasional short and gentle trot is more than adventurous enough. They’re really cute horses, prone to eating the scenery and they’ll be extra-fluffy at this time of year. Don’t worry about controlling your horse. The video will explain how to get it to turn and how to slow down and speed up but the reality is that the horses will all walk along in a line, noses in each other’s tails, and they’ll go wherever the first horse goes and at whatever speed that one is using. All you have to do is hold on.

Me on an Icelandic horse. This horse is dark brown with a slightly lighter nose. I'm in orange again, this time a two-piece rubbery suit designed for fishermen in storms.

I like hot water so I’d go to Sundhöllin, the public pool in the middle of Reykjavik when I got back. It has an outdoor lane pool, rooftop hot pots, a sauna and an indoor lane pool that’s a bit on the chilly side but set in a spectacular Art Deco building which was the first purpose-built swimming hall in Iceland. Worth looking at but I’d keep to the outdoor pool. Yes, even in winter.

You may prefer to go out into town for dinner. Reykjavik’s got plenty of choice and I’m not the right person to advise you. Dill gets recommended a lot and appears fairly regularly on food-travel TV shows. Either way, my point is this: even though it’s snowy, central Reykjavik will be fine for walking around because Iceland uses all that natural heat to keep its pavements ice-free. I don’t say it won’t be wet and I don’t recommend high heels but you can go out for dinner without needing your heavy-duty snowboots.

Downtown Reykjavik. The roofs are snowy and the road is wet and shiny but the pavements are snow-free, clean and dry.

If you missed the Northern Lights last night, try again tonight. You should already have details if last night was a failure. It’s not an altogether terrible idea to go down to the seafront but in the middle of the city, you’ll only see the Northern Lights if they’re really bright. As it’s often dark by 4pm and I’ve usually had a busy day, I tend to feel tired much earlier than normal, especially if I was lights-hunting the night before and if I’m not required by a bus, I mostly just go to bed. If you didn’t bother with the Lights at all last night, do consider one of the many tours. People come to Iceland specifically for the chance to see them and I don’t want you to miss out on even trying.

My pick: 9am – 12pm The Lava Tunnel by Reykjavik Excursions
1pm pickup for 2pm-5pm Lava Tour by Íshestar

Day three

Get out there and see the sights! The Golden Circle has been done so many times before but it’s for a reason. It’s the best of Iceland condensed into one long day. You’ll definitely stop at Þingvellir, the vast rift valley between the continents where the Icelandic Parliament used to be held; Gulfoss, the giant waterfall on the edge of the Highlands; and Geysir because people are on this tour specifically to see hot water shooting into the air. Depending on your tour, you might also stop at half a dozen other places along the way, like Kerið, the explosion crater; Skálholt, religious and educational centre, Friðheimar, the tomato farm and restaurant in a geothermal greenhouse; Faxifoss, a small waterfall with a salmon ladder; or even Hveragerði, if only to pick up coffee and fresh geothermal bread while you wait for the winter sun to catch up. There are tours that can do this in half a day or an evening but even a full day tour tends to feel rushed so do take the entire day over it.

Gullfoss, a large two-step waterfalls, almost completely frozen over. Its steep banks are all snow and its roaring falls are all fluffy ice.

The Strokkur geyser's pool simmers away, surrounded by snow and ice, which is especially glassy and slippery from constantly being remelted by regular explosions of hot water.

Thingvellir as the sun sets. The rift valley is all snow, broken up by small pine trees. The sky is pink along the horizon and fades to pale blue higher up.

What I would do is the Grayline tour that pairs the Golden Circle with the Sky Lagoon. I originally had it in for after the lava caving and horseriding but the transfers didn’t fit and so you had to take two public buses which was a bit of a pain, especially if you’re new to the world of public transport in other countries.. No, do the two-in-one tour!

The Sky Lagoon is Iceland’s newest spa – or at least Reykjavik’s, having only opened in 2021. Iceland has lots of spas and they’re all on my to-do list (and indeed, I’ve tried to put three of them in this itinerary!) but none are quite so conveniently located to Reykjavik city centre as the Sky Lagoon. I say conveniently. It’s only a few minutes drive out to Kopavogur, which occupies the little peninsula immediately south of Reykjavik but it’ll be two buses or an hour and a quarter on foot. I personally think they’re missing a trick by not running a little ferry boat between Nautholsvik, Reykjavik’s geothermal beach, and Kopavogur, at least in the summer.

The Sky Lagoon is right on the edge of the peninsula, giving it an infinity pool effect and it has a seven step Ritual where you experience hot water and steam as well as ice and mist. It sounds amazing and I’m really looking forward to when I can go to Iceland and luxuriate in that water on the harbour’s edge. It faces west so if you’re there at the right time of day, it has some spectacular sunsets.

My pick: Golden Circle & Sky Lagoon Bathing Experience by Grayline

Day four

Today we’re going to appreciate the ice and snow! We’ve enjoyed the sights and the hot water and the Northern Lights and now we’re going to see a glacier!

You’ll be heading north to Langjökull today. You may have seen it gleaming on the horizon from Gullfoss on day two and now you’re going right onto it because you’re going snowmobiling – or if you prefer, you can do a relatively sedate trip in a massive monster truck up to the top and then walk into the ice cave that’s been carved into the glacier.

Langjokull glows in pink sunlight on the horizon, a sea of ice in the distance contained behind a few low rocky peaks.

If you’re snowmobiling, take your driving licence – they will usually tell you to, rarely check them on the day but I guarantee they’ll check if you’ve forgotten it. Either way, you’ll be given a warm suit and you’ll have a helmet, balaclava and gloves for snowmobiling too. It’ll be a full day so take a packed lunch and something to drink too.

Snowmobiling is terrifying! You’ll probably be sharing with someone so you’ll get the opportunity to hang on tight as well as to drive and that’s probably just as well because holding the throttle down the whole time in the cold soon makes your hand ache. It’ll feel so fast and so wild but if you have any means of measuring your speed, you’ll probably never go above 10mph and almost definitely not over 20mph. You’ll get to see the glacier up close, fly over the ice and snow and come back hot, sweating and utterly exhilarated.

Me on a snowmobile. It's red and quite small. I'm wearing an all-in-one black suit and a helmet with a black visor.

If you’re doing the cave tour, it’ll all be a bit calmer. You’ll be packed into a huge vehicle that was converted from a UN missile carrier into the ultimate glacier-going monster truck and you’ll get to walk into the inside of the glacier. It’ll be kind of freezing but it’ll also be absolutely beautiful. There’s a chapel down here so you can get married if you want, although I imagine that’s the sort of thing you have to arrange in advance. You’ll be in your own clothes and the warm suit rather than a full white wedding dress but you can do the Instagram trick of wearing a dress tucked into your clothes and just take off your trousers and jacket to reveal it. Not that I’m recommending sneakily getting married on your day trip!

Back in Reykjavik, this is your last night so make the most of it. Go out for dinner, go for a moonlight swim, go out looking for the Northern Lights again – I hope by now you’ve seen something exciting because you’re going home tomorrow.

My pick: Glacier Snowmobile and Ice Cave Tour by Arctic Adventures
or
Into the Glacier by Arctic Adventures

Day five

Did you think I was going to send you home without going to the Blue Lagoon? Several tour companies do a special transfer whereby they take you to the Blue Lagoon and then pick you up later to go to the airport. You can do this the other way around as well – go to the Blue Lagoon on your way into town from the airport on your first day but I wanted to save the first day for the Northern Lights.

The Blue Lagoon in winter. There are piles of snow on the edge, the water is opaque pale blue-green and the lava hills around it are snow covered.

I’ve lost track of what they do with the luggage. Last time I was there, they had some magic logistics whereby they made sure your luggage was on the bus that picked you up from the Blue Lagoon and took you to the airport but I think you might leave your luggage at the store room on the edge of the car park these days. Don’t take it into the Blue Lagoon; the lockers are big enough for your swimming back but you’re not getting even a carry-on bag into it.

The Blue Lagoon changing rooms. Each vertical space is divided into two lockers with a squarish area for a bag on either top or bottom and a long bit for hanging coats. In the middle is a white seat with a wet towel on it. The whole room is in shaedes of grey with polished stone walls.

What can I say about the Blue Lagoon? It’s Icelandic premier tourist attraction, it’s glorious glorious hot geothermal water, you can use your bracelet as a credit card to buy a drink and a face mask while you’re in the water and if you’ve got time, there’s the Lava Restaurant on site. I’ve done the Blue Lagoon in summer and winter and there’s something much more special about it when the air is cold and there’s snow on the lava around the edges.

Outside the Blue Lagoon at night. There are lights shining on the water and also in the glass building to the left.

And when you’re done, you get back on the bus you requested earlier and you’ll be taken directly to the airport, just twenty minutes away, to fly back to your normal life.

My pick: Airport Transfer with Blue Lagoon Stop by Airport Direct