Sky Lagoon > Blue Lagoon.

Or, really, just go to a neighborhood pool.

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!

^^Ion Adventure Hotel is a Marriott affiliated hotel

I wouldn’t stay at the Blue Lagoon hotel - morning of arrival go to Blue Lagoon. Rent a car (studs, 4wd and insured) and you’re on your own. Best hotel we stayed at was the Ion Adventure hotel and their pools were awesome as was the spa. I’d go to the tomato farm for lunch (need reservations) near the horseshoe falls (translation from one of those on your itinerary). I’d stay in a yurt or other clear roof hotel for the northern lights.

Anonymous wrote:The best thing we did in Iceland was a day of hiking in Thorsmork. It was amazing. We drove a rental car from Reykjavik, parked near the park and took the Trex bus in. (You need 4-wheel drive to get into the park. ) I can't say enough about this experience-- so great.

I loved Iceland and would go back in a minute. Absolutely rent a car and stay in different places. Outside of Reykjavik, there aren't many hotels, you'll be better off looking for Airbnbs.

Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen had a great write-up of her trip to Iceland a few years back, with a great itinerary.

https://smittenkitchen.com/travel/six-days-in-iceland/

Also, we liked this place much better than the Blue Lagoon. Don't miss the bread baking first.

https://fontana.is/

The best thing we did in Iceland was a day of hiking in Thorsmork. It was amazing. We drove a rental car from Reykjavik, parked near the park and took the Trex bus in. (You need 4-wheel drive to get into the park. ) I can't say enough about this experience-- so great.

I loved Iceland and would go back in a minute. Absolutely rent a car and stay in different places. Outside of Reykjavik, there aren't many hotels, you'll be better off looking for Airbnbs.

Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen had a great write-up of her trip to Iceland a few years back, with a great itinerary.

https://smittenkitchen.com/travel/six-days-in-iceland/

I agree that you don’t need a day in Reykjavik. We did a food tour for a couple of hours which we enjoyed but I think you could just do a half day there. If you do stay in Reykjavik, I recommend the Edition.

We decided to move around a bunch to avoid all of the long drives.

We really liked Hotel Umi on the south coast - close to the puffins and the Skogafoss water fall which was one of our favorite hikes while we were there. Personally, I thought the golden circle was highly overrated with the sole exception of the tomato greenhouse restaurant which we all loved https://fridheimar.is/. (Make reservations!). Hotel Ranga was in a beautiful setting and the dinner was great, but it’s somewhat out of the way unless you are planning to hike in Thorsmorck (also an amazing hike but a full day excursion).

I agree that the glacier hike isn’t worth it, especially if you are going to try to go to Diamond Beach and do the zodiac tour.

We stayed at the Retreat at the Blue Lagoon which was definitely high end and fairly out of the way. We did it our last night which worked well.

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 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.

We stayed in both the Retreat at the Blue Lagoon & Torfhus on the same trip plus a hotel in the walkable part of Reykjavik and an airbnb also in Reykjavik. We all loved Torfhus. It was very special. The Retreat had amazing rooms and the nicest shower ever, but we found the hotel kind of frustrating. The food options were very limited and expensive, and you’re kind of far from off site alternatives. There were also a lot of rules like you couldn’t bring your phone to the private lagoons and you had to be in a robe at all times around the lagoons.

This sounds incredibly and unnecessarily expensive. You don't need tours, this is Iceland, not Papua New Guinea. Rent a car, don't stay in Reykjavik - it's good for a few hours, you don't need to stay there.

Foss Hotels is an Iceland chain and are pretty decent and aren't off the wall expensive. As others have said, Snaefellsness, Golden Circle, South Coast, and maybe a 1/2 day in Reykjavik.

Don't plan anything crazy for that first day. We did Blue Lagoon after we landed (it was great becuase not only did we get to relax, we got to shower and freshen up for the day because you arrive way too early to check in at your hotel). Then we drove around that peninsula - but I absolutely crashed at around noon. So glad my husband was driving. We were ready for bed at 3pm, but powered through til 6 - and then crashed.

We did no glacier tours - we did this in Canada and Alaska so we didn't feel the need. Seeing them from afar was plenty.

If you decide to rent a car in Iceland, you’ll want full insurance coverage.

We used an Icelandic rental car company, “Zero Car”. All insurance was built in.

The AI probably wants you to spend 5 nights in one hotel bc there are not Marriotts sprinkled throughout the island. I think they are only near the city. I really enjoyed the eastern area myself--and agree it is very easy to drive yourself. We had some lovely hotels in Iceland--I really look forward to going back as the architecture is modern and clean.

Blue Lagoon is near the volcano and sometimes has to evacuate during eruptions.

Also recommend renting a car. So much easier.

The Edition (Marriott property) in Reykjavik is gorgeous and the breakfast there is fantastic, and the restaurant generally. Lots of really good food in the city.

Make it fully refundable.