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Iceland Travel

A Week in Iceland

By Kamila Zawadzka / April 17, 2016

I’ve dreamt about visiting Iceland for years, since before I even moved to London, but especially so in the last 2 years when I’ve noticed more and more people going and sharing photos from what looked like another world. So along came March and after months of stalking people’s Instagram accounts for inspiration, it was finally my turn to visit.

Iceland sits in a league of its own. It’s unlike any other country that I’ve ever visited before, which is probably why it landed so high on my bucket list. The landscape is other worldly and there’s a new postcard moment around every corner. Spending a week driving around the whole country was one of the best holiday experiences of my life, I was even brought to tears at one point from the beauty of it all, and I’m NOT a cryer. Seriously. In fact, I relish in making fun of my mum each time she looks watery eyed at something and announces that it’s “just so beautiful, I’m going to cry”. I’ve even perfected the line in her great Polish accent, yet early one morning, the scene of a crystal blue glacier glistening in the sun against fresh snow and rocky mountains just took my breath away and the realisation that I was about to go climbing into a hidden ice cave inside that glacier was apparently just too much.

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The ice cave from the outside is completely hidden, when you duck down to squeeze through a little hole, you enter this incredible blue world inside

 

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You can only explore ice caves through tour companies as you need a monster truck to get anywhere near the glacier. Caves form each winter and I visited this one on what was probably it’s last day, as it was so warm that it was melting all around us

It was an absolutely jam-packed week with so many activities and sights each day and I’ll go into more detail of all the places I visited in coming posts, but for now I just wanted to share my favourite moments from the trip. Well, my favourite of the favourite. There were many.

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First night’s accommodation included a natural hot spring spa on the river

 

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It was one of the first days that the road had reopened after the winter to get to Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe, and the 1km trek through meter deep snow to get there was hilarious.

 

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Chasing all the waterfalls.

 

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One of the many incredible views from the drive

 

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Fallen glacier pieces travel down the rivers and settle on the black sand on Diamond Beach

 

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The beaches are all black volcanic sand, the perfect contrast to the white wash water

 

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The survivors of this plane wreck would have thought they’d landed on the moon! It was so eery.

 

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Trekked up hills and over rivers to find this hidden, naturally heated pool on an incredible wet & rainy day, and had the whole place to ourselves. It was incredible.

 

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Myvatn – the much lesser known version of the Blue Lagoon in north Iceland

 

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These gorgeous wild miniature horses are native to Iceland and are as good as posing as they are incredibly friendly.

 

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The hot spring water in this hidden cave was just that little bit too hot to swim in, but amazing to look at nonetheless.

 

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The drive along the Eastern Fjords was the most scenic drive I’ve ever been on, I literally took hundreds of photos.

 

Amazing accommodation on the Eastern Fjords
Amazing accommodation on the Eastern Fjords

 

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One of my favourite stays on the trip was in this incredible house from Airbnb, on the lake overlooking Akureyri – Iceland’s second biggest city.

 

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Managed to spot some Northern Lights in Akureyri – though they were weak, I was beyond excited!

 

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Spent the last day in the Blue Lagoon enjoying a floating massage, clay face masks and a glass of champagne. What a way to finish off the holiday!

 

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I flew from London to Reykjavik with EasyJet and hired a 4WD for the entire week, just a few km’s away from the airport. If you plan on driving around the whole country then I definitely recommend a 4WD as a standard car won’t get you far over the varying terrain or off the beaten track.

Ugh, I already can’t wait to go back! Next trip will be a summer one, to experience this amazing country in both climates.

Kamila
LNG x

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4 thoughts on “A Week in Iceland”

  1. Hello, this looks amazing !

    would you recommend any place for the accommodation ? i’m currently planning a trip but everything is soooo expensive any tip is welcome thanks

    Reply

    1. Hey Tiffany, you should definitely try looking on Airbnb as they have quite a lot of options especially around Reykjavik, and most are cheaper than hotels. I have a £25 discount code if you haven’t used it before – KAMILAZ19
      Otherwise, there are some cheaper hostels and hotels around, try the Fosshotel.is chain, I stayed in a couple of them and they were great for one night stops. x

      Reply

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