Included
Departure
December 23
Travel Style
Guided Group Tour according to the itinerary with English speaking guide
Accommodations
Quality for 5 nights with Continental breakfast
Emergency
24 hour emergency service
Tax & Fee
Taxes and service fee
Northern Lights Tour
Northern lights guided hunt on foot one selected evening and Northern lights hunting kit (use of blanket and headlight)
Airport Transfers
Airport transfers to and from hotel in Reykjavík
Tour ID
GT04
Activities
Guided Christmas walking tour in Reykjavík on day 1, Entrance to the Northern Lights Centre, Geothermal bakery experience at Laugarvatn Fontana bathing fee and rent of towel, silica mud mask and one drink, Christmas treats from Icelandic Yule lads.
Dinner
Christmas dinner buffet on day 2, festive dinner on day 3, two-course dinner on day 4 (main course and dessert with coffee/tea).
Not included
Travel
Flights to Iceland
Meals & Drinks
at restaurants (unless otherwise stated)
Insurance
Personal travel insurance
Museums & Activities
Entrance to museums and optional activities not mentioned in the included section
Transport
Duration
6 days / 5 nights

Tour Map and Itinerary

Day 1 - Welcome to Yule-Land

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Transfer from Keflavík International Airport to Reykjavík (included).

If you’re arriving earlier in the day, you might consider adding a day tour. We’d be happy to make suggestions based on your interests. Just make sure you are back at the hotel in time for tonight’s walking tour.

One of our favorite activities after a long flight is to visit one of the neighborhood geothermal pools. It is so refreshing to relax in the warm water, breathing in the fresh Icelandic air. It’s a wonderful way to get to see Icelandic daily life and maybe meet a few locals. It’s also nice to take a stroll in the old city center, perhaps visiting one of the museums or relaxing with a cup of coffee in a cozy café.

Early this evening you will enjoy a walking tour in downtown Reykjavik. One of our local guides who is an expert in Icelandic traditions and folklore will meet you at your hotel. Enjoy Reykjavik’s twinkling lights and festive decorations as your guide tells you about holiday traditions.

Today is St. Thorlak’s Day, a day when stores are open late into the evening and Icelanders enjoy last minute shopping and greeting friends throughout the day and evening. You’ll surely enjoy this cheerful backdrop for your walking tour.

Dinner this evening is at your leisure. Reykjavík offers a multitude of restaurants and/or coffee-houses, making dinner a wonderful way to get better acquainted with Iceland’s capital.

Please note: If you have added extra nights in Reykjavík before your tour, your tour starts with the evening walking tour on Day 1 according to the standard “Winter Wonders of Iceland Group Adventure” itinerary.

Driving Distance
Approximately 50 km (30 miles)
Reykjavík

Day 2 - Christmas Eve at the Golden Circle

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Start your adventure by visiting the fascinating Aurora Reykjavik Northern Lights Center. You’ll get a great introduction to the Northern Lights, how they’re formed, and the folklore surrounding them. You’ll also get tips about how to capture the Northern Lights on film. You can also get assistance from the staff in adjusting your camera’s settings for Northern Lights photos.

Depart Reykjavík and head onwards to Þingvellir (Thingvellir National Park), a UNESCO World Heritage site, where the world’s oldest parliament met for centuries on the shores of Iceland’s largest lake. This place makes us Icelanders enormously proud of our heritage, and your guide will show you some of the amazing sites here. You might even have a rare chance to walk between two continents!

Continue on to the geothermal fields of Geysir with bubbling mud pools and the high-spouting Strokkur hot spring. Last but not least, you’ll visit the dramatic two-tiered Gullfoss waterfall, a spectacular sight in winter when frozen mid-cascade. Stop at Skálholt, Iceland’s capital during the Middle Ages, now a culture center with a beautiful church.

During the day you will also visit the town of Laugarvatn. The town is built around three hot springs, and the residents have cleverly harnessed the hot springs for heating, greenhouses and even cooking. You’ll visit a unique outdoor geothermal bakery where sweet Icelandic rye bread is baked in hot sands. You’ll have the chance to taste some of the freshly baked bread, hot from the ground. It’s especially delicious slathered in sweet Icelandic butter.

Tonight, enjoy a Christmas Eve buffet dinner at your hotel. If weather conditions are right, your guide will take you on a northern lights hunt on foot in the area outside your hotel tonight, or on the evening of Day 3 or 4.

Driving Distance
Approximately 185 km (115 miles)
Hella area

Day 3 - Christmas Day on the south coast

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Gleðileg jól! Merry Christmas! 

Drive along the South Shore, an area of Iceland that is especially beautiful to view in the winter. This is one of the main farm regions of the country, and the road will pass by typical Icelandic farms, often with Icelandic horses roaming in the fields.

This part of Iceland is home to the wonderful LAVA Center, an interactive, high-tech educational exhibition depicting volcanic activity, earthquakes, and the creation of Iceland over millions of years. Enjoy both the exhibit and viewing an interesting film about Icelandic volcanoes at the Center’s cinema.

Continue onwards. If the skies are clear you might see the area’s two most famous volcanoes in the distance: Mount Hekla (last eruption 2000) and Eyjafjallajökull (last eruption 2010). You might also possibly catch a glimpse of the Westman Islands archipelago off the coast of Iceland.

Stop at the spectacular Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss waterfalls. If trail conditions are right, you might be able to walk behind the ribbon-like Seljalandsfoss falls. Skógafoss is a beautifully shaped waterfall that makes a perfect backdrop for a selfie. It has an interesting history geologically, and it just may also be hiding some buried treasure from the Middle Ages.

Head onwards, passing Mýrdalsjökull Glacier, to visit Reynisfjara beach. Take a walk on the black sand, admiring the extraordinary rock formations and thundering waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Cross Eldhraun, a vast lava field created from a very destructive 18th-century eruption as you head into Southeast Iceland. The snows of winter make this landscape into something very mysterious.

Celebrate Christmas with a festive Christmas dinner at your hotel. You’ll also receive a gift to commemorate your Christmas visit to Iceland.

Driving Distance
Approximately 200 km (124 miles)
Kirkjubæjarklaustur area

Day 4 - World of glaciers

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Today you will be in a world of glaciers! You’ll be visiting the southern area of Vatnajökull National Park, named after Europe’s largest glacier. The total park area covers almost 14% of Iceland, making it the largest national park in Western Europe! Drive through vast sand plains created by glacial outwash as you head east.

Visit Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon where you’ll enjoy the breathtaking sight of icebergs floating in the fantastic 180-meter (591-foot) deep glacial lagoon. Make sure that camera is charged and ready! Nearby is the dramatic beauty of Breiðamerkursandur (the Diamond Beach), named for the shrinking icebergs that settle on the black sands before drifting out to sea.

Next, you’ll view Svínafellsjökull, one of the most beautiful glacial tongues that are slowly creeping down from Vatnajökull. Visit the national park’s famous Skaftafell area, a site of outstanding natural beauty dominated by several magnificent glaciers.

After your amazing day, your group will return to your hotel where you’ll have dinner.

Driving Distance
Approximately 260 km (162 miles)
Kirkjubæjarklaustur area

Day 5 - Hot springs & Blue Lagoon spa visit

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Head back along the beautiful South Coast, enjoying a different view of the winter landscapes. Visit the village of Hveragerði, which is one of the few settlements in the world located directly in the middle of a geothermal area. Hveragerði is often called “The Flower Village” because of its many flower greenhouses heated by hot water from nearby springs.

Turn onto a southern coastal road and follow alongside the shoreline with its breathtaking sea waves, passing through a deserted community that once was a flourishing center for the region.

The trip then takes you through the surreal landscapes of the Reykjanes peninsula, where you can enjoy a dip in the famous Blue Lagoon, a unique wonder of nature with pleasantly warm, mineral-rich water in the middle of a black lava field.

Return to Reykjavík, where your guide will bid you farewell at the hotel.

Driving Distance
Approximately 365 km (227 miles)
Reykjavík

Day 6 - Goodbye Iceland

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Transfer from Reykjavík to Keflavík International Airport by Flybus (included).

Breakfast at your hotel. Please note that this might be a light breakfast if you are taking an early morning departure flight.

We recommend you depart from your hotel no later than three hours before your departure flight. We wish you a pleasant trip back to your homeland and hope to see you in Iceland again!

Driving Distance
Approximately 50 km (30 miles)

Accommodation on this tour

When we design our tours we book the best accommodation available, in order to make the trip as comfortable and enjoyable for you as possible.
We offer a great selection of hotels, farmhouses and guesthouses for our clients. You can be assured of a warm welcome and an enjoyable stay at all the options offered by us.
Below you’ll find examples of the type of accommodation you could be staying in.

Please note

The accommodation options are shown as examples of the types of accommodation we book. Due to high demand during the summer time and limited accommodation capacity in some regions we cannot always guarantee availability. In these circumstances, we will supply an accommodation of an equal standard in the same region before your travel dates. We highly recommend you book as well in advance as possible.

Quality accommodation:

Rooms with private shower (or private bath) and WC. Quality accommodation may be in country hotels (3- or 4-star) or the best accommodation available in each area at the time of booking. Breakfast is included.
Svartifoss waterfall in Skaftafell National Park, Iceland

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