From Akureyri to Reykjavik in four and a half hours

I have one more story to share from my short Icelandic trip…the last segment of road from the popular Ring Road; last part: from Akureyri to Reykjavik. As I said in the last post. Akureyri is not one of my favorite type of cities but, it it still has its charm, especially when the weather is very nice, as it was in the morning of our day of departure. Actually the weather was a determinant factor that made us book a whale watching tour with Ambassador. The tour takes three hours and it takes you along the longest fjord in Iceland. Beside whales during this tour we got the chance to enjoy the sights; however, we were lucky enough to see four whales swimming very close to our ship. Awesome experience that worth the money. However, after the whale watching tour there was no time left for anything else but jumping into the car and drive to Reykjavik to meet some friends at 18:00. The clock was 13:00 when we left Akureyri.

The road down to Iceland’s capital is not as interesting as there were all the other segments of road until there. Thus, we made very few stops and very few pictures. This was also the first and the only time we had sausages at a gas station as lunch; those sausages everyone talks about on the YouTube videos about Iceland, sausages presented as being delicious and affordable…which indeed are, but I would still choose to have real meals.

As I said no to much activity, just an awesome traffic tunnel some about 50 km to Reykjavik, for which you have to pay to drive through, else you have to make a huge turn to get to the capital.

All in all there were about 290 km which we did in about four and a half hours, arriving in Reykjavik at around 17:30, just in time to find a parking spot and to meet my friends. Keep in mind though that on this route between Akureyri and Reykjavik there are several speed camera, so drive carefully.

This was it my roadtrip in Iceland. Next, in two days actually, I will travel to Nice, in France for a four days relaxation, with no car but lots of chilling moments and good food.

Stay close and enjoy everything you do!

First impressions from first time in Iceland.

I have just stepped on Icelandic land for the first time in my life. It was kind of a dream to visit this destination, since many talk about it using euphoric words and descriptions in regards to its nature in special. So, I managed to set together a couple of free days from work and study, and I took off from Copenhagen direction Reykjavik. I landed last night at midnight, although it looked more like a late evening, because there was quite much natural light outside, which surprised me in some degree…in a positive way because it means that there is more time to enjoy the attractions Iceland has to offer.

Then, there was not so cold…I was expecting to be cold, but even at midnight it was like seven degrees Celsius, with no wind, which for my skin trained in the Danish weather felt not so bad!

This morning me and my wife woke up around half past six planning to have breakfast in Reykjavik and then to do the Golden Circle, with arrival and spending the night at Blue Lagoon, Silica Hotel. However, to find a place where to grab a coffee and something for breakfast seems to be difficult in Reykjavik, even in a Friday. In the end we discovered a cozy place -C is for cookie- and enjoyed a cappuccino with almond milk in a friendly and warm atmosphere.

After consulting the barista from this cafe, but also someone from tourist office, we learned that to do the Golden Circle by ourselves, won’t take more than five or six hours, so we decided to spend a bit more time in Reykjavik and got in top of Hallgrimskirjka to enjoy the view over the city.

At around 11:30 we lest the city heading to Pingvellir’s National Park, from where we drove to Strokkur Geyser and Godafoss. All these attractions are great, especially the geyser and the waterfall. The geyser erupts very often and the eruptions are very exciting and powerful. Godafoss waterfall is also very attractive. We were lucky to get very nice weather and we even had the chance to see a rainbow over the waterfall (although not a big one) which made the sight even more exciting.

As a negative thing I can mention the roads, which on some segments were not very good, but having holes.

The drive took as we expected but, for instance at Pingvellir National Park is nice to have time and walk around the tectonic platforms, so I would recommend to allow more then five hours for driving the Golden Circle, with return to Reykjavik.

At around six in the evening we were at Silica Hotel ready to check in. This hotel is very expensive but I can say it worth every penny. It have  very cool surroundings, great rooms and its own blue lagoon, which is open from 09:00 to 00:00 for its guests.

In top of all these, the weather was great with a lot of sun, no rain and no wind.

We are no looking forward for tomorrow when we plan to drive to Vik and spend the night there.

If you have done this segment (Reykjavik – Vik) and have any tips for things to do, I would be more than happy to hear them, so I won’t miss to much from the amazing Iceland.