North South Iceland

Categories Adventure & Eco Travel Escorted Tours

An incredible tour. In just 6 days explore South, North and West Iceland as well as the interior highlands. This tour provides the comfort of hotel-based travel with walking amidst some of the most stunning scenery you are ever likely to see. Highlights in the north range from Europe’s most powerful waterfall Dettifoss to the magnificent Lake Mývatn. In the south there is the famous hot spring area of Geysir and the Queen of Iceland’s waterfalls Gullfoss. We visit the geothermal area of Landmannalaugar.

Accommodation is provided in hotels with private facilities. The hotels used on this tour are often “summer hotels”, used most of the year as boarding schools or country hotels which are simple and clean.

HIGHLIGHTS AND VALUES

•We only stay in two hotels which means less packing

•Whale watching included, weather permitting

•Visit to the Glaumbær folk museum and turf farm included

•Introduction to the Icelandic horse included

•Average of two hours walking a day

•Visit to two National Parks

•Visit to two Nature Baths

Itinerary

Arrive Reykjavik and transfer to hotel on your own.

The day starts with a visit to the historic sites of the first Icelandic Parliament at Þingvellir National Park. Then we continue to Gullfoss which is known in Iceland as the “Golden Falls” spanned in sunshine by a beautiful rainbow. Nearby is the fascinating geothermal area of Geysir. The most active geyser is Strokkur, “the Churn” which can spout up to seventy feet every five to seven minutes. From there we travel to Hella where we stay for two nights.

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A detour into the geothermal area of Landmannalaugar, a jewel in the Icelandic landscapes. The surrounding rhyolite mountains have the feel of another planet, ranging in colours from beige to red and from blue to black. We will have the opportunity to enjoy a relaxing bath in a pool of warm spring water.

Today we drive north via the highland desert Sprengisandur with its views of the distant ice-caps Vatnajökull and Hofsjökull. We visit the majestic waterfalls Aldeyjarfoss and Goðafoss. We stay up north for the next three nights.

We visit the high sea cliffs of Tjörnes peninsula, rich in bird life. Then to Hljóðaklettar, a place with strange rock formations. We visit the canyon of Ásbyrgi before arriving at Europe’s most powerful waterfall Dettifoss. We also visit the hot springs at Námaskarð before we head for our accommodation

Today we board our boat for a 3 hour whale watching tour, weather permitting. Then a short drive to Lake Mývatn, a unique area that features strange lava formations, attractive bays, pseudo craters and thousands of birds. We stroll through the lava field of Dimmuborgir, ending with a walk up to the rim of the ash crater Hverfjall. We relax at the Nature Baths before heading to our accommodation.

Today we return south through Akureyri, the capital of the north. We travel over the Oxnadalur mountain pass and on through the ever changing countryside to Skagafjordur where we will have an introduction to the Icelandic horse. We also visit Glaumbær folk museum before returning to Reykjavík.

Services end after breakfast

Notes