Private travel in 10 days

Day 1 Arrival to Iceland and Blue Lagoon

You will meet your chauffeur at Leifur Eiriksson international airport in Keflavik. After a long flight it’s good to go to the Blue Lagoon taking the jet leg out of you for upcoming adventure. Enjoy the warm water of the lagoon.

Afterwards it’s time to head to your hotel in Reykjavik with the city center in walking distance. Your first introduction of Iceland will be like a city escape. For the younger crowd the nightlife in Reykjavik is fantastic. After dinner you can head out to coffee houses or bars to look at the locals having fun. But remember your adventure starts tomorrow morning!

Day 2 Golden circle

Today you will start your guided luxury tour. Our first stop is at Thingvellir where the Vikings established the first Parliament and now the oldest still working Parliament in the world. Althing (the Parliament) has been working uncut since 930. Today Thingvellir is a national park and the only place in the world where you can stand on one tectonic plate overviewing another plate. Thingvellir is a natural wonder on an international scale earing a place on UNESCO World heritage list.

It’s time to visit Geyser area. After a good lunch we explore the geothermal pools around Geyser and see Strokkur erupt. If your camera does not get a good picture of the spouting geyser then you just wait 5 minutes and Strokkur will erupt again.

We now proceed to Gullfoss waterfall. The glacier river Hvita is feeding Gullfoss with milky green colored water from the glacier Langjokull, the second biggest glacier in Europe. Gullfoss waterfall is the most known waterfall in Iceland and is worth a visit.

Day ends at your hotel on the south shore.

Day 3  South shore – Solheimajokull glacier

We will travel along the south shore, where the rugged landscape offers up firsthand evidence of nature’s power. You will find many photo opportunities on this excursion.

Unique waterfalls one of which you can walk behind, black sandy beaches, mountains and numerous strange lava formations are found along the way. Solheimajokull glacier tongue extends down from its mother glacier, Myrdalsjokull, Iceland’s fourth largest.

Ice walk. Easy walk on crampons up on to the ice field where a wonderland of ice sculptures, ridges and deep crevasses awaits discovery.

The Myrdalsjokull glacier (1480m) is the fourth largest glacier in Iceland, with an area of about 590 km². It rests on a very volcanic ally active massif mountain, which erupted very powerfully in 1918.

Quite a few glacier snouts flow down onto the lower lying areas and discharge a great volume of water.

Just west of this glacier is another one, much smaller (50 km²), Eyjafjallajokull, already infamous the world over for its power to bring global air traffic to a screeching halt and of course for being completely unpronounceable for non-Icelanders.

Day ends at your hotel on the south shore.

Day 4  Vatnajokull glacier – Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon – Skaftafell national park

The drive to the ice lagoon goes along the south coast. We will stop first for a hike in Skaftafell National Park, is an oasis wedged between sand and glacier. Its unique natural beauty is a result of favorable weather conditions and the interplay between fire and ice. Your guide will take you for a light hike in the national park and up to one of the glacier tongue. Lunch advised by guide.

The glacier lagoon in Iceland is just by the highway, about 350 km east from Reykjavík, and it is said to be one of Iceland greatest wonders. The surface is at sea level and the sea flows into the lagoon at high tide.

Huge blocks of ice constantly break off the Breidamerkur glacier tongue and large icebergs from the glacier float on the lagoon. The lagoon is not wide but up to 248 meters deep. The glacier Breidamerkur glacier is an outlet of the Vatnajokull glacier.

You are able to enjoy a private sailing on the ice lagoon on your customized journey. The glacial lagoon Jokulsarlon was also a film location for the James Bond movie, Die another day. Among other things to see on this trip are beautiful waterfalls, and the southernmost point of Iceland Ingolfshofdi, where if you sailed due south, you would not touch land until Antarctica.

Day 5  Djupivogur – Small fishing villages – Klifbrekkufossar waterfalls – Seydisfjordur

Today we drive towards Seydisfjordur taking a scenic route through the east fjords. On our way we reach Djupivogur between 2 fjords Hamarsfjordur and Berufjordur. We stop at Djupivogur for coffee and see this small but beautiful little fishing town. In Djupivogur we will take a decision if we want to take the route of the fjords or the highland route. If the highland route is chosen we drive up Oxi on a small mountain road that leads us to Egilsstadir.

Drive from one fjord to another and see the small fishing villages on the way. We take a small detour into Mjoifjordur to see the amazing Klifbrekkufossar waterfalls. From the waterfalls we drive over Fjardarheidi to reach our destination for the day Seydisfjordur.

Overnight stay.

Day 6  Dettifoss waterfall – Asbyrgi canyon – Husavik – Namafjall geothermal area – Myvatn lake

Travel across Modrudalsoraefi highlands to the mighty Dettifoss waterfall, about 100 meters wide and drop of 45 meters having an average water flow of 193 m3/s making it the most powerful waterfall in Europe. With such a powerful nature phenomenon you feel how small we are against nature.

From Dettifoss we go to the bespoken Asbyrgi canyon. The horseshoe shaped depression measures approx. 3.5 km length and 1.1 km across. Nicknamed Sleipnir’s footbring as it’s said that the canyon was formed when Odin’s eight legged horse, Sleipnir, touched one of its feet to the ground.

We continue to the fishing port of Husavik. In Husavik you go whale watching, whales most frequently seen in Iceland are the Mink whales, groups of White-beaked dolphins and Porpoises. Very often we see the popular humpback whales and the Killer whales (Orcas) and sometimes Fin- Sei- and Blue whales.

We now drive to Namafjall. Namafjall is a geothermal area with a collection of mud pits, steam eruption and an otherworldly landscape. You sometimes feel like Curiosity on Mars driving in Namafjall and it’s good to stop and walk and explore the area for yourself.

A great way to end the day is a visit to the Myvatn Nature Baths, where you will be able to completely relax and unwind from the busy day.

Afterwards we head to your overnight stay.

Day 7  Myvatn lake – Dimmuborgir lava tubes – Godafoss waterfall – Akureyri

We go to Lake Myvatn a shallow eutrophic lake not far from Krafla volcano that erupted from 1975-1984 (not constantly). We will make few stop at Lake Myvatn and see Skutustadir and Dimmuborgir (Dark Cities). The Dimmuborgir area consist of a massive collapse lava tube formed by a lava lake. Today it’s visited due to various volcanic caves and unique rock formations that are well worth seeing.

We drive to Godafoss (waterfall of the gods). At Godafoss around the year 1000 a law speaker threw his statues of Norse gods into the waterfall and made Christianity the official religion of Iceland. Smart move as now 1000 years later we still stop at this waterfall to see its beauty and of course remembering our history sagas.

Afterwards we head to Akureyri Iceland‘s second largest urban area after the greater Reykjavik area with about 18.000 thousand inhabitants. You will end this day like others on your customized journey at you overnight stay.

Day 8  Breidafjordur islands – Shark museum

Explore the cold water environment and the abundant wildlife. The environment is very photogenic and the summer light contributes to your unique photographs of the beautiful shoreline and the islands.

Flatey is the second largest of the Breidafjordur islands, about 2 km at its widest point. Inhabited by Norse settlers in the 800’s and has played an important part in Icelandic history since. The island was a popular a trading post with about 400 inhabitants at its peak around 1900 AD. Make Flatey one of your Ocean Safari destinations and stay at the Flatey Hotel. On our way to and from Flatey we can explore the surrounding islands.

Afterwards we stop at Bjarnarhofn. On the Northeastern edge of Berserkjahraun is the farmstead at Bjarnarhofn – a must for every traveler with a taste for adventure (literally). Smell that? Yup, its rotting shark flesh – the farm is the region’s leading producer of hakarl (putrid shark meat), a traditional Icelandic dish. The on-site museum details the fragrant history of this culinary curiosity by displaying restored shark fishing boats, harpooning tools, and explaining the fermenting process. Before you leave, ask about the drying house out back.

Arrival back to your hotel.

Day 9  Discover the Peninsula – Snaefellsjokull peninsula – Djupalonsandur – Arnarstapi – Eldborg volcano

We are going to follow our designed itinerary and drive to Snaefellsjokull with stops in few of the small fishing villages Rif and Hellissandur along with a stop at Djupalonsandur.

Snaefellsjokull, (1,446 m) an ancient cone volcano, one of finest mountains in Iceland. An impressive sight from as far away as Reykjavík, from where it can be seen in clear weather, seeming to rise from the sea. Many prehistoric eruptions took place in the glacier-covered crater at its peak, and its slopes are covered with lava. A Journey to the Center of the Earth, the entrance to the underground way was through the crater of Snaefellsjokull. In the eyes of both “traditional” believers in the supernatural and new agers Snaefellsjokull has more hidden power than any other mountain.

Djupalonssandur is a beautiful pebbled beach, with a series of rocks of mysterious form emerging from the ocean.

It is one of the few areas that lead down to the sea along this coast with its high dramatic cliffs. Watch out for the famous ghosts roaming the place!

The rests of a shipwreck can be seen on the beach. On the beach there are also big stones which people tried to lift and test their strength in the days of the fishing stations: Fully Strong 154 kg, Half-Strong 100 kg, Weakling 54 kg and Bungler 23 kg. Weakling marked the frontier of wimp hood, any man who couldn’t lift it was deemed unsuitable for a life as a fisherman.

We will reach Arnarstapi area that is with rugged shore cliffs and abundant bird life. Nearby are a wealth of caves, volcanic craters chasms and fantastic lava formations.

Budir, an old anchorage, later a trading center. The 19th century church is unusual, not only in its setting, but also because it was raised by a woman who did not have the support of the church authorities, but special permission from the king in Denmark.

This can be seen on a ring on the church door. Fine views. One of the best sand and shingle beaches in Iceland, good for sea and sun bathing. Lunch advised by guide.

The beach near the abandoned farm of Ytri Tunga is well-known for its seal colony. The seals are friendly and curious and will climb up on the rocks near the sandy beach.

Sometimes you have to be patient and wait for them.

Eldborg crater a beautifully-formed crater rising 60m above the surrounding lava. The spatter cone is the largest crater along a short volcanic rift, 200 m in diameter and 50 m deep. Its last eruption was about 5000-6000 years ago. According to medieval chronic there was also one around the time of the colonization of Iceland about 1000 years ago, but today it is known that it came from another of the many craters of the valley Hnappadalur which are part of the volcanic system Ljosufjoll, the mountains of the light.

It is easiest to approach Eldborg from Snorrastadir on its southern side, walking 2,5 km through the shrub-covered lava field. It is possible to walk all the way around the crater as well as up it.

Through the Ages, the agrarian, hunter culture of the Nordic people saw just about every last man carry a knife or dagger in a sheath on a belt. Whether they were tending their land, foraging or hunting for food, or setting out on epic Viking voyages of discovery, the blade played a significant role in their existence.

Meet Icelander Palli Kristjansson who is carrying on that tradition. Using natural materials also available in the Viking Age he brings them to light in today’s modern times in a new and highly artistic way. With his artistic approach to knife making he creates therefore, decorated knives that evoke the feral surroundings of his native land and the Age of his Viking forefathers.

Arrival back to civilization in Reykjavik.

Day 10  Reykjavik – Departure

As this is the departure day we can relax and take you into Reykjavik city for a private guided little sightseeing tour. During your luxury travel tour here in Iceland the guide will gather information about your interests and take on the city with you in mind. If you want to shop something then this is the day and your guide could plan the best way to do it.

Your guide will drive you to the airport aiming to be around 2 hours before departure.