This week I am sharing some fun and easy winter day trips from Reykjavík that you can enjoy during your visit. The days have become noticeably shorter and soon the nights will be very long, which is something that Icelandic winter is known for.
While it is more than possible to travel the ring road (the road that goes around the whole country) of Iceland during winter, I often find that a decent number of visitors during this season use Reykjavík as their base and are interested in day trips that end up back in the capital.
These ideas are specifically catered to people who plan to drive themselves with a rental car. I have nothing against tour buses but if you’ve heard my other episodes about renting a car you know that it’s my preferred option and the one I recommend to everything that visits because it provides you the opportunity to explore so many places that tour buses don’t go to.
How I Made These Winter Day Trips Optimized for Iceland
I purposefully chose places that don’t include more than 4-5 hours of driving round-trip because, as I mentioned, we have long dark nights during winter and you will have limited hours of daylight. I think it’s good to use as much of the daylight at the sites and drive in the dark to the places and on the way back to town.
I’m including five-day trips and you can check out the full list of places below. Please note that rental car companies in Iceland do put studded tires on their cars to help with traction on the road during winter if the road is icy.
Where to Rent Your Car During Winter in Iceland
Before I jump into the places, I’d like to thank the sponsor of this episode, Go Car Rental Iceland. They are a local Icelandic rental company that has competitive rates, great customer service and a large variety of cars to choose from. If you use my code Iceland10, you can save 10% on your entire booking with them.
A few of you have reached out to let me know how great of an experience you’ve had with Go Car Rental Iceland after booking with them and using their vehicles. It brings me so joy to hear that because I only like to partner with companies that I have personally used and feel that my audience will also enjoy and/or find helpful. Please feel free to keep tagging me on Instagram or other places in your adventures. It’s fun to see what all of you are up to.
5 Winter Day Trips from Reykjavik, Iceland
1. The Iconic Golden Circle
To kick off this list, I‘m sharing the most iconic route in the country and that is the Golden Circle. At it‘s simplest, the Golden Circle consists of Þingvellir National Park, Geysir Hot Spring, and Gullfoss waterfall. I‘m going to share 12 Pleaces, including the three main attractiios that you can consider visiting on this day trip.
- Þingvellir National Park
- Laugarvatn Fontana (spa and place where bread is baked in the ground)
- The Cave People
- Efstidalur dairy farm
- Geysir
- Gullfoss
- Friðheimar
- The Secret Lagoon
- Faxi waterfall
- Skálholt
- Sólheimar Eco Village
- Kerið crater
2. South Coast
Iceland’s famous South Coast has so much to see during winter. Below is a fun list of places I think you’ll enjoy.
- Seljalandsfoss waterfall
- Gljúfrabúi waterfall
- Skógafoss Waterfall
- Skógar Museum
- Kvernfoss waterfall
- Sólheimajökull glacier
- Dyrhólaey
- Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
- Vík
- The Lava Show (in Vík)
3. Reykjadalur Hot Spring River Hike
Hveragerði in south Iceland is only about a 30 minutes drive from Reykjavík. I didn’t include this in the south coast list above because, on average, people spend about 3 hours hiking and spending time in the hot river soaking. 3-hours is the round-trip amount.
There is a great pizza place called Ölverk and a shopping place called Gróðurhúsið that has a food hall in the town, if you find yourself feeling famished after the hike.
I highly recommend bringing water shoes with you for the hot spring river. They come in handy because there are a lot of rocks in the water and the board walk area will, more than likely, be cold and might have snow or ice on it.
4. A Little Taste of West Iceland
When most people think of West Iceland, the Snæfellsnes Peninsula comes to mind. While that is an awesome place to visit, the goal of these winter days trips are to have less than 5 hours round-trip of driving.
Below are spots in West Iceland that are definitely worth seeing and most visitors are unaware of that these attractions exist.
- The Settlement Center in Borganes
- Krauma Spa
- Deildartunguhver Geothermal Area (Europe’s Most Powerful Hot Spring)
- Reykholt – Snorri Sturluson Exhibit
- Hraunfossar and barnafossar waterfalls
- Vidgelmir Cave – Iceland’s Largest Lava Cave
5. The Reykjanes Peninsula
Some time ago I shared about why the Reykjanes Peninsula is worth visiting on this podcast. What’s so nice about this peninsula is that it’s where the Blue Lagoon in located and Keflavík International Airport.
- Lake Kleifarvatn
- Seltún Geothermal Area
- Blue Lagoon
- Cafe Bryggjan
- Hérastubbur
- Gunnuhver Hot Spring
- Reykjanesviti Lighthouse
- Bridge Between Continents
- Viking World Museum
Thanks again to Go Car Rental Iceland for sponsoring this episode. Remember to use my code Iceland10 to save 10% on your full booking with them.
Random Fact About Iceland
From January to March in 2021, there were 11,960 visitors to Iceland. The same period in 2022 is 244,660.
There have already been over 1.2 million visitors to the country this year. While winter is a lovely time to see Iceland, most visitors are not here during that season, which provides a unique opportunity for you to explore Iceland. This data was found on the Icelandic Tourism Board’s website.
Icelandic Word of the Episode
Dagferð – day trip
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