New Year's Festival in Reykjavik 2022

Individual transfer by Flybus shuttle bus from Keflavik airport to your accommodation in Reykjavik. You may explore Iceland’s capital city on your own if time allows. Grand Hotel Reykjavik (External View rooms). Dinner is on your own.

Enjoy a guided Reykjavík City Tour and explore the highlights of Iceland’s exciting capital. We see the charming city center, the Parliament, the harbour and Hallgrímskirkja church, whose steeple is a landmark. We pass the Harpa concert hall and visit the Pearl, a remarkable building and viewpoint. The city tour ends around noon.

The afternoon is free at leisure, to explore Iceland’s capital on your own or do a bit of shopping. You might consider visiting museums, galleries, and exhibitions, such as the fantastic Whales of Iceland exhibition, consisting of 23 man-made life-size models of various whale species found in Icelandic waters. At the Perlan Museum, you can walk through a unique indoor ice cave which is a replica of an ice tunnel dug straight through a glacier.

Grand Hotel Reykjavik. Breakfast included.

By a scenic route, we reach Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. We stroll around the country’s most sacred site, home of the oldest existing national parliament in the world, the Alþingi, and major events in the history of Iceland. Thingvellir is a place of fascinating natural beauty, a spectacular geological vista, set on a vast plain flanked by large fissures, right by Iceland’s largest lake, Thingvallavatn. The Mid-Atlantic rift is clearly visible; a rift that is forming as Iceland is being pulled apart by tectonic forces. Next, we drive to the mighty waterfall of Gullfoss – the Golden falls – perhaps the most beautiful in the country. Explore the active geothermal area of Haukadalur which contains the geyser Strokkur erupting hot water and steam to an elevation of 25 metres (82 ft) every 5-7 minutes. We pass the greenhouse town of Hveragerði and continue over the mountain pass Hellisheiði, an area with large lava fields and steaming valleys. Passing the geothermal power station Hellisheiðarvirkjun we learn how Icelanders use geothermal energy to produce electricity and hot water for house heating. The tour ends in Reykjavik around 16:00.

The doors of the restaurant open at 17:00 and the traditional festive buffet starts at 17:45. After the main course at 20:30, the guests will be picked up by our guides for the evening Bonfire Tour where we celebrate with Icelanders at one of the largest bonfires in Iceland. The bonfire tour takes about two hours. Good shoes, warm clothing, headwear and gloves are needed. After the tour around 22:30, we go back to Grand Hotel Reykjavík for dessert and some festive live music. The guests who decide to stay at the restaurant can dance away until the clock hits twelve and raise a toast to the new year.

Grand Hotel Reykjavik. Breakfast, lunch & NY festive dinner included.

We leave Reykjavik at 10:00 and explore the Reykjavik peninsula with its dramatic seashores, fascinating geology, moonscapes, lava fields and fishing villages. We make a short stop at Bessastaðir, the residence of the President of Iceland.

The guided tour continues to the Bridge over the continents and the lighthouse at the edge of the Reykjanes peninsula. We reach the Blue Lagoon in the afternoon, an oasis in the lava that owes its existence to a nearby geothermal power plant. Enjoy lunch (included) and a refreshing bath or a swim in the pleasantly warm mineral-rich water, reputed for its healing properties. Return to Reykjavik around 18:00. Evening and dinner are on your own.

Grand Hotel Reykjavik. Breakfast & lunch included.