AI Iceland Itinerary- would you change anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We added on Diamond Beach and the Glacier area which is not in your itinerary. We saw puffins around Vik and there's also a beach formation there that people like to see. We had lunch at black crust pizzeria while driving through Vik.

We went to Sky Lagoon not Blue Lagoon, but I would theoretically like to try both for myself!

In Reykjavik, I liked the coffee shops Sandholt and Braud & Co. (for cinnamon rolls at the latter). We also had dinner one night at OTO as recommended by our travel agent - it might be worth checking out the menu to see what you think. We liked it.

In Pingvellir, we had lunch at Friðheimar - a tomato greenhouse. I don't really think any locals were eating there at the time that I went - just tourists, but it was an interesting meal for us.

We rented a car and my husband drove - but it was a lot of driving.
He was fine with it - but you have to decide if you are. Have fun!

If you rent a car, know it will probably be a stick-shift.

[Anonymous]

You MUST see the penis museum and get a hot dog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would stay in Hotel Ranga. It’s nice and close to many cool sites.

Blue Lagoon is far from everything.

Reykjavik is cute to visit but I prefer stay closer to natural beauty.

Actually, there is another luxe hotel that has private springs - that is a better option imo.

Here is the other hotel - I haven't seen it in person but it looks cool.
https://www.torfhus.is/

Definitely just rent a car and check out the sites yourself. Don't do tours.

Tours are better IMO because you will get a better explanation of what you are seeing.

[Anonymous]

When renting a car, be aware of speed traps, ask me how I know. My other suggestion is only rent a car if you all aren't sleepy drivers as far as driving distances. I drove all around and a lot of the roads are boring and it's easy to dose off.

I wouldn't stay at the Blue Lagoon, too isolating. I would stay in Reykjavik the first 2 nights, check in to your hotel upon arrival and then walk around the city which is easy to do. Find a lunch and dinner spot and then crash. Wake up the next morning and do the puffins or some kind of boat tour. Wake up refreshed the next day and move on to another location up the ring road and stay a night or so and then move again.

[Anonymous]

Blue Lagoon is very much a tourist trap. Iceland has hundreds of thermal spas...literally every little town has one (and there are at least 12 spread around Reykjavik) and they are far more authentic and far cheaper.

Other noteworthy thing...if you plan to buy your own alcohol, do it at the Duty Free shop when you land. It is much cheaper than what is sold in the local stores.

Final tidbit...try the hot dogs where ever you go. Iceland hot dogs are excellent and made out of lamb and beef. Not your typical American hot dog.

[Anonymous]

Especially if you're not big hikers, a day in Reykjavik is good. (We were there for a week and spend 3 days in the city, and that was too much.) Also consider going to a public pool rather than the touristy ones. The water is just as nice, and you get a better sense of how Icelanders live. We rented a top floor apartment and our hosts (who lived in the house) said they went to the public pool virtually every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We added on Diamond Beach and the Glacier area which is not in your itinerary. We saw puffins around Vik and there's also a beach formation there that people like to see. We had lunch at black crust pizzeria while driving through Vik.

We went to Sky Lagoon not Blue Lagoon, but I would theoretically like to try both for myself!

In Reykjavik, I liked the coffee shops Sandholt and Braud & Co. (for cinnamon rolls at the latter). We also had dinner one night at OTO as recommended by our travel agent - it might be worth checking out the menu to see what you think. We liked it.

In Pingvellir, we had lunch at Friðheimar - a tomato greenhouse. I don't really think any locals were eating there at the time that I went - just tourists, but it was an interesting meal for us.

We rented a car and my husband drove - but it was a lot of driving.
He was fine with it - but you have to decide if you are. Have fun!

If you rent a car, know it will probably be a stick-shift.

I had no problem renting an automatic car in Iceland. You just have to specify when you rent it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We added on Diamond Beach and the Glacier area which is not in your itinerary. We saw puffins around Vik and there's also a beach formation there that people like to see. We had lunch at black crust pizzeria while driving through Vik.

We went to Sky Lagoon not Blue Lagoon, but I would theoretically like to try both for myself!

In Reykjavik, I liked the coffee shops Sandholt and Braud & Co. (for cinnamon rolls at the latter). We also had dinner one night at OTO as recommended by our travel agent - it might be worth checking out the menu to see what you think. We liked it.

In Pingvellir, we had lunch at Friðheimar - a tomato greenhouse. I don't really think any locals were eating there at the time that I went - just tourists, but it was an interesting meal for us.

We rented a car and my husband drove - but it was a lot of driving.
He was fine with it - but you have to decide if you are. Have fun!

If you rent a car, know it will probably be a stick-shift.

I am the PP and I am 99% sure our car rental through Europcar was automatic. I am pretty sure I "splurged" for automatic because in the Azores I got a stick, which my husband does know how to drive, but it was slightly challenging on the hills there so I think I decided to do automatic going forward if I didn't know what the terrain would be like! The one thing that was kind of annoying was that we flew in so early, we had to wait like 45 mins for the car rental desk to open.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting the Smitten Kitchen trip report. I enjoyed that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Especially if you're not big hikers, a day in Reykjavik is good. (We were there for a week and spend 3 days in the city, and that was too much.) Also consider going to a public pool rather than the touristy ones. The water is just as nice, and you get a better sense of how Icelanders live. We rented a top floor apartment and our hosts (who lived in the house) said they went to the public pool virtually every day.

Could you share the name/location of the top floor apartment?

[Anonymous]

When we went, the flight landed at 6 am.
Check in time to hotel is in the afternoon.
You could ask for an early check in or if you could just leave your luggage at the hotel front desk.

I recommend Fly over Iceland

[Anonymous]

The Center Hotels usually offer free early check in if there is space and you book direct on their website. It was a godsend on our last trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not do the full day in Reykjavik-it’s tiny and there’s not that much to see. I’d add a tour of the Snaefelsnes Peninsula instead. (Sorry for any spelling errors)

The thing I most regret not seeing when I went was the glacier lagoon and diamond beach on the south coast (we were there off season so days were shorter and fewer tours). It’s a long day trip from REK, you could consider staying somewhere closer for a night.

It’s puffin season, any interest in a puffin or whale watching tour?

Take your own Binoculars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re really destroying our drinking water and driving up our electricity costs and inflicting these data centers popping up all over NoVa on us and enabling the wholesale theft of IP just to ask AI to come up with the most basic and dull travel itinerary imaginable?

Did everyone just switch off their brains in 2025?

[Anonymous]

You'll be fine renting a car. Just take a pic and videos before you leave the rental agency and AFTER you drop it off (because you might get an email about paying for damages that you didn't cause).

We loved snow-mobiling on the glacier, it was fun and gorgeous.

I think your itinerary looks good for a relaxing time with your spouse