Hidden Powers & Northern Lights of Iceland
Tour Itinerary
Arrival at Keflavík International airport. Transfers to Reykjavík are not included in the tour. We would be happy to arrange shared or private transfers for you, so let us know at booking time.
If you arrive earlier in the day, you might consider adding a day tour. We’d be happy to make suggestions based on your interests. One of our favourite activities after a long flight is to visit one of the neighbourhood geothermal pools. It’s also nice to take a stroll in the old city centre, perhaps visiting one of the museums or relaxing with a cup of coffee in a cosy café.
Dinner this evening is at your leisure. Reykjavík offers a multitude of restaurants, making dinner a wonderful way to get better acquainted with Iceland’s capital.
Please note that hotels in Iceland start check-in around 14:00 (2:00pm), and early check-in is not guaranteed. Most hotels will be happy to store your luggage if you are not able to check in early.
Reykjavik
Breakfast at your hotel. Your guide will meet you in the lobby of the hotel. Start your adventure by visiting the fascinating Aurora Reykjavík Northern Lights Centre. You’ll get a great introduction to northern lights, how they are formed, and the folklore surrounding them. You’ll also get tips about how to capture northern lights on film.
Depart Reykjavík and head onwards to Þingvellir National Park (UNESCO World Heritage site) where the world’s oldest parliament met for centuries on the shores of Iceland’s largest lake. This place makes us Icelanders enormously proud of our heritage. You might even have a rare chance to walk between two continents!
Continue to the geothermal fields of Geysir with bubbling mud pools and the high-spouting Strokkur hot spring. Finally, you’ll visit the dramatic two-tiered Gullfoss waterfall, a spectacular sight in winter when frozen mid-cascade.
During the day, you will also visit the town of Laugarvatn. The town is built around three hot springs, and the residents have cleverly harnessed the hot springs for power and hot water. You’ll visit a unique outdoor geothermal bakery where sweet Icelandic rye bread is baked in hot sands. You can taste some of the freshly baked bread, hot from the ground. It’s especially delicious eaten with Icelandic butter and smoked trout.
Head to the lovely historical town of Selfoss for your overnight. Dinner is on your own. Selfoss offers a pleasant variety of restaurants.
If weather conditions are right, your guide will take you on a northern lights hunt on foot in the area outside your hotel tonight, or on the evening of Day 3 or 4.
Breakfast- Selfoss Area
195 km / 121 miles
Breakfast at your hotel. Drive along the South Shore, an area of Iceland that is especially beautiful to view in the winter. This part of Iceland is home to the wonderful LAVA Centre, an interactive, high-tech educational exhibition depicting volcanic activity, earthquakes, and the creation of Iceland. Enjoy the exhibit and an interesting film about Icelandic volcanoes. Continue onwards. If the skies are clear, you might see the area’s two most famous volcanoes in the distance: Mount Hekla (last eruption 2000) and Eyjafjallajökull (last eruption 2010).
Stop at the spectacular waterfalls Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss. Each waterfall is unique and makes a perfect subject for a photo.
Head onwards to visit Reynisfjara beach. Take a walk on the black sand, admiring the extraordinary rock formations and thundering waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
- Breakfast / Dinner
- Vik Area
- 150 km / 93 miles
Breakfast at your hotel. Today you’ll be visiting the southern area of Vatnajökull National Park, named after Europe’s largest glacier. The total park area covers almost 14% of Iceland, making it the largest national park in Western Europe!
Start by crossing Eldhraun, a vast lava field created from a very destructive 18th-century eruption. You’ll then enter the region of the national park.
Visit Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon where you can enjoy the breath-taking sight of icebergs floating in the fantastic 180m (591 ft.) deep glacial lagoon. Nearby is the dramatic beauty of the Diamond Beach, where shrinking icebergs settle on the black sands before they drift out to sea.
Visit the national park’s famous Skaftafell area, a site of outstanding natural beauty dominated by several magnificent glaciers.
- Breakfast / Dinner
- Vik Area
- 410 km / 255 miles
Breakfast at your hotel. Head back along the beautiful South Coast, enjoying a different view of the winter landscapes. Visit the village of Hveragerði, which is one of the few sites in the world located directly in the middle of a geothermal area. Hveragerði is often called “The Flower Village” because of its geothermal greenhouses.
Next, you’ll visit a horse farm to meet some locals: Icelandic horses. This Viking horse breed played a pivotal role in Icelandic history. Enjoy petting these friendly horses and snapping a few selfies with them. You’ll also taste some sweet refreshments that are traditionally served on Icelandic farms.
Turn onto a southern coastal road and follow alongside the shoreline with its breathtaking sea waves. The road takes you through the surreal landscapes of the Reykjanes peninsula, where you can enjoy a dip in the famous Blue Lagoon, a unique wonder of nature with pleasantly warm, mineral-rich water in the middle of a black lava field. Return to Reykjavík, where your guide bids you farewell at the hotel. The evening is open for you to enjoy your own activities.
- Breakfast
- Reykjavik
- 270 km / 168 miles
Breakfast at your hotel. Please note that this might be a light breakfast if you are taking an early morning departure flight. Transfer on your own to the international airport for your departure flight. The airport transfer is not included, but we are happy to help you arrange shared or private transfers.
We recommend you depart from your hotel no later than three hours before your departure flight. We wish you a pleasant trip back to your homeland and hope to see you in Iceland again.
- Breakfast
- Reykjavik
Customer reviews
I booked the tour from Nordic Saga as they gave me all the information I needed without delay and with patience. Their assistance was very good and speedy. The tour starts from Reykjavik which is a very nice city with lots to do and see. We spent 3 nights in the countryside, seeing national parks, glaciers, falls, volcanoes, lava beaches, lagoons. The landscapes were amazing. Nothern lights were the highlight. I was truly amazed and cannot compare this experience to anything I saw before. It is a cosmic experience to be recommended to everybody once in a lifetime. Many thanks to the guide who was very professional and gave a lot of information on every sight and phenomenon.
With best regards,
Leo T Konrod
We booked this tour through Nordic Saga. They helped us to get perfectly ready for the trip as this was not an ordinary trip. It was a magical trip! We spent 2 nights in Reykjakik and 3 nights in the south of Iceland .
We found this tour really relaxing. We had a chance to see the extraordinary beauty of Iceland's nature and find out a lot of interesting facts about this county's history, culture and habits. The food we had was extraordinary good and served with grace.
The itinerary was very well chosen . This trip was excellent value for money. Hotels were of decent quality.
We mostly enjoyed Gulfs waterfall ,the Glacier lagoon , black sand beaches and many other things. We had an excellent guide, who gave us a lot of information about the sites and Icelandic culture. The weather was a bit too cold and windy but the beauty around us compensated for this.
Overall, we loved this trip and definitely recommend it to everyone.
Beata J J , Alabama
Our group was small and therefore it was an excellent way to explore the highlights of Iceland. This country is incredibly beautiful. The glaciers, volcanoes and lava field , hot springs, lagoons will stay in our memories forever.
Our guide was an outstanding expert - extremely knowledgeable, professional and entertaining. We had a chance to experience the cultural and more personal side of Iceland and its history. We hope to take another tour with Nordic Saga in the future.
Brian Foster
Good Morning. How are you? We are finally back home after our long trip and are under jet lag. Anyhow, I did not want to wait and wanted to write to you about our wonderful trip you had arranged. We had a great time, even though we did not get to see the Northern light due to weather, followed by bright moon the only night it did not rain. May be we have to take another trip for that.
Bobby, you did a great planning for us, and the next time when we plan to visit Scandinavian countries we would definitely like you to plan out our trip. Thank you again, and keep up the good work.
With best wishes
Achinta/Jayanti Bhattacharya
Cleveland, Ohio
All our paperwork advised us and our tour guide advised us that the ice cave adventure cost 230 kroner, but when we went to pay, we were charged 240 kroner. Someone brought this to the guide's attention and he just shrugged his shoulders. People would probably have preferred a specific answer or and "I will look into this" response.
More importantly, the most disappointing aspect was the lack of time at the Blue Lagoon. Our reservation was at 6:15 and we only arrived at 6:35. There was no reason why we could not have left the hotel at 5 rather than 5:30 PM. There had been free time for a few hours beforehand. Consequently, after an additional 10 minutes before someone came to let us in the experience was poorly organized, very short and led to a serious injury to one of our tour members. Her injury was directly related to rushing and poor organization, causing us to be lost within the facility and hurrying to meet up at the designated time. Additionally, I had read that we should wear flip flops or some sort of foot wear to prevent slippage and infection. The guide stressed how this was not necessary. I am happy that I wore my flip flops, but he injured individual did not. She slipped on the wet floor and broke her upper arm/shoulder as a direct consequence of this. A totally preventable accident.
Had we had the extra half hour plus in the blue lagoon that we were expecting, it would have been a much more pleasant end to an amazing voyage.
I am only mentioning these issues so they can be corrected/addressed for future reference. All in all it was a terrific experience.
Thank you
