Holy moly ICELAND. One of the most gorgeous trips of my entire life, for sure. Reykjavik, the capital, is also hands down one of the most expensive cities I’ve visited in my entire life. When I was planning for this trip I was a little nervous about how gluten free Iceland would be, if I’d be able to find things to eat, etc. – but it’s basically fish and potatoes everything, so it was pretty easy to eat here (albeit expensive, but we’ll get to that soon enough). We did tons of hiking, saw tons of waterfalls, froze my butt off in May (was not expecting that on my summer vacation), ate salmon and potatoes pretty much every single day, and got my butt kicked at Crossfit Reykjavik. I’m going to recap all my favorite food tips, restaurants, hikes, and sights to see from our 5-day stint in Iceland – let’s go!

A couple tips before you go…

• Things you must bring: hiking boots, lots of layers for hiking, a warm hat and gloves, sunglasses.
• The weather changes at the drop of a hat. Bring a rain coat.
• Bring a sleep mask because even in May when we went, it’s bright outside from 4am-11:30pm. Not kidding. And it doesn’t exactly get dark after that either.
• RENT A CAR. You’ll want one to do day trips to all the awesome hikes and sights I’m going to recommend!
• People dress super casually here. Like all hiking clothes and boots or athletic clothes pretty much all the time because it’s so dang cold. Apparently Icelanders love their fashion, and the locals dress up more than this, but most of the people we saw in restaurants were all wearing hiking boots and gear!
• FOSS means waterfall. You’ll see this soon enough.
• Basically everyone speaks english.
• Almost every restaurant menu (and all the packaged groceries too) have english translations under the Icelandic.

Being gluten free Iceland style is not that bad!! You can always get a burger with no bun for a less expensive option. I did this a LOT. Honestly, I think my blood is going to be running salmon, potatoes, and burgers by the time I leave here. 

**if you’re worried, you can also download a gluten-free restaurant card in Icelandic (I do this whenever I travel internationally) from Celiactravel.com. You can also use this in restaurants at home – they have it in a tooooon of lanugages!!

DAY 1 – ARRIVE

The first day is brutal.

You’ll get in around 6am, and the goal is to survive as long as you can through the day without passing the F out from the jetlag. Bonus points if you can get someone else to drive and you can sleep a little bit on the way from the airport or on the way to/from hiking today (which, you guessed it – is exactly what I did!).

First thing we headed downtown Reyjkavik to find some breakfast.

Culture shock #1:

holy MOLY this city is expensive. We first walked into this breakfast buffet place called Geiri Smart which came out to 3,000 ISK (about $30 a person), so we figured we would try somewhere else. Turns out even at a little cafe, a plain bagel with cream cheese is $15, so we figured we’d go back to the breakfast buffet and just chill/eat for a while since we would be hiking all afternoon and probably not eat lunch.

Brunch: Geiri Smart

Geiri Smart is in a hotel and turned out to be an amazing first meal in Iceland. The breakfast buffet was super allergen friendly – they even had gluten-free bread, almond milk and oat milk for coffee, and the options were awesome. Had some cured salmon (obviously), fried eggs, roasted veggies and potatoes, they had lots of pastries, frittatas, fancy coffees, oatmeal, skyr, museli, fruit, different green juices, and lots of other fun things. The salmon though. Oooo the salmon.

pro tip #1 coming right atcha:

Get an AirBnb. Or somewhere with a little kitchen/refrigerator and laundry if you can!

We rented an AMAZING little AirBnb apartment just outside of the center city, which had tons of space, a great kitchen, and laundry too – which was key for the 5 days we were there and hiking all over the place + getting really dirty, sweaty, and sometimes wet.

Went to the grocery store (Kronar) before we even checked into our place to stock up on essentials for breakfast every morning and hiking lunch/snacks throughout the week.

We grabbed some:

• Eggs
• Potatoes
• Bananas
• Froosh fruit + vegetable juices (loved the orange, ginger and carrot one!)
• Wild friends gluten-free oatmeal cups with nut butter
• Skyr + museli for the fam
• Some bars for hiking (but you know I brought all my own snacks, duh.)

Food in Iceland

Is really expensive. Like $25-$3o for a regular freaking hamburger. So be prepared to spend some serious cash, even if you’re eating breakfast at your place and just taking snacks or something for hiking! Because groceries are expensive too. Even though the flight is cheap, this is definitely not an inexpensive vacation. But don’t worry – eating gluten free Iceland style is not that hard!

Funny story – they really like their Joe and the Juice here. There’s one in the airport and one in downtown Reykjavik – not really sure what it’s doing here, but you know you have that as an option in an (expensive) pinch if you’re dying for some green juice.

Day 1 hike: Glymur Waterfall

Highly recommend the hike we did that afternoon to Glymur Waterfall (the tallest waterfall in Iceland!). It seriously looks like you’re somewhere in Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings! At one point of the hike, you’ll have the option to wade across the river to the other side – you’ve gotta get about thigh-to-waist deep depending on how tall you are. My brother would be more of the thigh deep, I would totally be waist deep, by my extremely inaccurate measurements. You can also cross back over where it’s much more shallow at the top so you see and do both sides of the waterfall on the hike!

My parents and I didn’t go across at the top or bottom because the views were already spectacular and we didn’t particularly feel like crossing some freezing a** water and getting all our clothes wet. But my brother crossed over at the top and walked down the other side and apparently there was a whole other (totally beautiful!) part of the waterfall we couldn’t see from our side. So if I did it again, I’d bite the bullet and cross over at the bottom – because it’s much shallower to cross at the top, and then you get the worst part over with first, and have the whole rest of the hike to dry off!

Dinner: Saegreiffin – the Sea Baron

Dinner that night I found a really casual, really cute little restaurant called Saegreiffin – the Sea Baron. It’s in the old harbor part of Reykjavik. They have the freshest fish and vegetable kabobs – you pick which fish you want, and they grill it right there for you. Parents said the Lobster Bisque was amazing (they use some flour to thicken it, so no-go for me), my brother had the Cod Kabob, and I had the Salmon kabob + a Veggie Kabob. They’re about 1,890 each (about $19 for the fish, $5 for the veggies), which is super reasonable for Reykjavik prices!

DAY 2: The Golden Circle (day trip)

Most of what you’ll do in Iceland are day trips (or longer!) from Reykjavik. Our second day (after sleeping 14 hours, lol!) We did a day trip to the Golden Circle it took about 40 minutes to get to Thingvellir, and you’ll be out all day between exploring different sites, walking, and driving. Bring snacks! If you can, plan this one for during the week – some of the stops were packed with tourists since it was the weekend – it’s the most popular tourist route in the whole country, and you’ll see lots of tour buses.

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park

We started out here at this really cool spot where the continental divide between North America and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. Again, it totally looks like you’re in Game of Thrones (and it is – because part of it was filmed here in the Almannagjá gorge!). One of the park’s walks takes you alongside the North American plate, along a HUGE rock wall, streams and ends in an awesome waterfall (though definitely not as big as the one you’ll see later at Gulfoss!) called Öxaráfoss.

You can also go snorkeling or diving a gorgeous lake called Silfra, where the water is so clear you can see for 100 meters in front of you! But you have to book that in advance.

Þingvellir is also a really important historical site for Iceland as well, and it translates to the ‘field of parliament’ for a reason! It was here that Iceland abandoned their old pagan belief system and began to take on Christianity in 1000 AD, and in 1944 during WWII, Icelanders declared their independence from Denmark and confirmed their first president.

Geysir

Next up: Geysir! Here you’ll see geothermal hot spots (where steam continually comes out of the ground) and a HUGE geyser. Though apparently, the one you’ll see (Strokkur) is the smaller of the two – it shoots off steaming hot water between (65ft) up to 40m (130ft) high (Source). Strokkur goes off about every 5-15 minutes, and the (much) larger geyser (Geysir) hasn’t gone off since 2000. So if you see that one, you’re in some serious luck, because it’s currently in an inactive phase. But if you do see it, it might shoot water up to 70m (230 ft)!

Lindin Restaurant

We stopped here during our day trip to the Golden Circle – it was a cute little restaurant with really delicious options. Loved the Arctic Char dish and the burger as well! My parents loved the lobster bisque (again – they’d just had it the night before at Saegreiffin!) The place has gorgeous views and it’s a great place to stop while you’re driving around all day seeing the sights.

Friðheimar

We didn’t actually eat here, but I got a great recommendation for this place – the only reason we didn’t eat here was because I didn’t realize it was on the Golden Circle, and we ended up driving past it right after we had lunch! The restaurant is in a greenhouse, and all the dishes are based around fresh vegetables. You can view the menu here! If I’m ever back in that area, I would try this place over Lindin!

Gulfoss (Golden Falls)

Prepare yourself for one of those most totally epic waterfalls you’ve ever seen in your life – Gulfoss. It is huuuuuge you guys. And really accessible, you don’t have to do any crazy hikes to get there. The falls actually has two stages, so it’s like you’re getting two waterfalls for the price of one.

Kerid Crater

Kerid Crater makes you feel like you’re on the moon, or mars, or a desolate place on earth that just got hit by a huge meteor and left a lake in the middle of some alarmingly red sand. Really, it was formed by a small magma chamber beneath the crater that emptied towards the end of a volcanic eruption. You can walk around the top ring of the crater and do a short walk down to the bottom as well.

Hot Springs near the Golden Circle

We also tried to go to some hot springs (either at the Secret Lagoon or Laugarvatn Fontana – which are much less touristy and much less expensive than the Blue Lagoon, which is close to the airport in Keflavik) but they were closed already by the time we got around to them! Huge bummer, since that would’ve felt sooo good after hiking and exploring the Golden Circle all day.

Cafe Paris (Dinner)

Stumbled upon this gem of a restaurant while walking around Reykjavik for dinner options. Sure, it felt kind of weird to be going somewhere called Café Paris while in Iceland, but the food was totally delicious. We all had a Cod with carrot ginger purée and smoked almonds which was amazing and I need to recreate it at home!!

DAY 3: Snæfellsnes peninsula (day trip)

This day was honestly kind of a bummer. It was rainy, cold and wet pretty much the entire day, so aside from the first place we went, we couldn’t really see much out of the car windows. I was really, really glad I packed layers on this trip – because I wore every single one of them. This day was a loooot of driving. There were definitely some cool sights, but it would’ve been a lot cooler with better weather (the coastline is supposed to be amazing!!) – but such is Iceland!

Kirkjufellsfoss

We started with a long, rainy drive out to the peninsula to Kirkjufellsfoss (it took a little over two hours to get there.) Met with another stunningly beautiful waterfall, Kirkjufellsfoss, and a beautiful small mountain in the background that has made this such a popular photography spot – called Kirkjufells.

Songhellir

We *tried* to visit Songhellir, which is supposedly a cave where trolls used to live, and ancient Icelandic people carved paintings into its walls…but we couldn’t find them; neither the trolls (well, duh) or the paintings! It was a bummer. But the cave was still cool.

VATNSHELLIR CAVE

We also wanted to do the tour at Vatnshellir Cave, which is an 8000 year old lava tube that expands over 200 meters and goes 35 meters below the surface! But, whomp whomp, my mom is claustrophobic and said that would be a no go. And honestly, we were all freezing and didn’t think going down into a cave would change that situation much. But it sounded really cool!

Arnarstapi

We stopped in Arnarstapi, which used to be an important trading post in Iceland, for a quick hot chocolate break. You can do a nice walk along the coastline here between Hellnar and Arnarstapi, which has great views if the whole coastline isn’t covered in fog, ha! There’s also an iconic statue called BÁRÐUR SNÆFELLSÁS in Arnarstapi, that is somewhere between a fisherman and troll/giant.

If you walk directly down to the coastline behind the statue, Harry Potter nerds like me will go nuts. Not-so-casually freaked out when I thought this was Voldemort’s cave entrance in Harry Potter and the half blood prince…it’s fine. You can see what looks like the rock that Dumbledore and Harry were standing on before they go into Voldemort’s cave to grab the locket horcrux, and it totally looks like this could be the entrance to the cave too. Apparently the scenes were actually filmed in Ireland but WHATEVS I had my hardcore nerding out moment.

Bjarnarfoss

Next stop, for our only real hike that day – Bjarnarfoss! By then, the weather had finally cleared up somewhat and we could see the gorgeous coastline. Some people just walk up to the base of the waterfall to view it (it’s gorgeous), but obviously, my fam couldn’t do that. Kyle (little bro) and I hiked up as far as we could without getting totally soaked. And it was so. totally. worth it.

Jamie’s Italian (Dinner)

Another night where we had another country’s cuisine for dinner. Oops. But after a long, cold day in the car and hiking we really needed something close to home to warm up and hit the spot, so we headed to Jamie’s Italian, which is Jamie Oliver’s casual Italian restaurant in Reykjavik. I had gluten-free bolognese pasta for the win!!

DAY 4: THE SOUTHWEST WATERFALLS (day trip)

This day and the Golden Circle were my two favorite days, in terms of all the really cool stuff we got to see. They were also the most touristy, but totally worth it. Glymur waterfall had the best hike so far, but this day unexpectedly gave Glymur a run for it’s money! This day had probably the most epic and unexpected waterfalls/hikes of the whole trip. PS – I hope you brought more snacks, because you’re gonna need them.

Favorite snack of the trip – CHOMPS jerky sticks! Packed with protein so you don’t get hungry immediately after (which happens to me with fruit and bars), and they’re a great Whole30 approved snack too! Plus, the flavors are amazing. These ain’t your typical gas station beef jerky. For one, they’re 100% grass-fed, non-GMO, all natural, and come in some amazing flavors like Jalapeno, Cranberry and Salt & Pepper Venison. LOVE them.

The first major sight you’ll run into on the gorgeous drive down here from Reykjavik is Seljalandsfoss, which takes about an hour and a half from Reykjavik. But if you’re making this a day trip and not continuing further south, I’d highly recommend you drive all the way to Skogafoss, which is about a 2 hour drive from Reykjavik, and then work your way back! You’ll also pass Eyjafjallajökull, the famous Icelandic volcano that erupted in 2010 and halted flights all across Europe. You can’t see it that well, since it’s engulfed in a glacier, but there is a little museum that showcases the event on the way to Skogafoss.

Skogafoss

YES. This is what you think of when you think of Iceland and waterfalls. You can climb to the top and behind it so you can view it and the coastline from all sides. It’s pretty freaking spectacular and not to be missed.

If you go further than the town of Skógar, where Skogafoss is located, you’ll hit Vik, where there are a ton of black sand beaches. You can go glacier hiking down here, but you need a guide.

Seljavallalaug

This time we actually tried to go to some hot springs at Seljavallalaug, which is a protected 25-metre outdoor (naturally warm!) pool. The pool is one of the oldest swimming pools in Iceland and was built in 1923. I didn’t really feel like swimming, so went off exploring to find some more waterfalls.

If you hike past the pool along the river, you’ll find some stunning views of cliffs and waterfalls galore. BUT be prepared to cross the river if you want to see the best views! We crossed the river (yes, it was freezing), put our shoes back on, and hiked up into this moss-covered valley that was hiding like 6 more waterfalls. No joke. I think my friend and I spent about 3 hours up there and the time just flew because every time you turned we saw something even more amazing. And the best part was it was totally unexpected!!

Seljalandsfoss

I know I’ve said all these Icelandic waterfalls have been epic, but holy CRAP you guys. This one, as soon as we walked up, there wasn’t just one rainbow, but a DOUBLE rainbow. Sure, it’s super touristy, but you can tell why. You can walk up to the front of the waterfall, even walk behind it if you want – but I’d highly recommend a poncho if you’re going to do that! And I was already half soaking wet from practically falling in the river crossing the second time after our hike, so I wasn’t trying to get even more wet.

If you walk down from Seljalandsfoss, you’ll see two more smaller waterfalls. The second one, you can actually walk through a cave to get there, because it’s hidden behind a fissure. If you’re careful, you don’t have to get that wet either. And it was SO cool.

Restaurant 73 (Dinner)

For dinner back in Reykjavik we walked around trying to find different places that weren’t out of this world expensive (it’s harder than you would think!) and we found Restaurant 73, which is a burger place serving up ‘tiny’ (5 oz) and ‘epic’ burgers (10oz) with all the fixin’s. Everything on the menu is gluten-free except the hamburger buns and desserts. I actually got salmon with a baked potato and feta salad here since I’d had a few burgers on this trip already and it was unexpectedly amazing.

Day 5: Exploring Reykjavik

Our last day here was more of a chill day. I went to Crossfit Reykjavík in the morning, we explored the National Museum of Iceland, and did an awesome 2-hour walking tour of Reykjavik with CityWalk Reykjavik.

Crossfit Reykjavík

I. Loved. This. Place. And wish I could’ve gone back more during our stay! It is freaking HUGE. They hosted 18.5 here, so you know it’s gotta be big. It’s also the home of Annie Thórisdóttir (she’s a part owner and coach here!) All the coaches and people were super nice here. The class was in Icelandic, but there were a few drop ins so they made sure to come over and translate everything to English. We did a longer group warmup with barbell work and mobility, and then the WOD…

the workout was:

20 min time cap:
1000m row buy in
10-8-6-4-2 snatch (working from 65% to 85% of your 1rm snatch)

It was killer! We don’t do much snatching in our wods at Crossfit Silver Spring back at home, so this was rough going from rowing to high rep snatching. Holy moly. But I somehow ended up hitting a PR double too (even heavier than I went for a single in my last weightlifting meet). Who knows how that happened but I’m okay with it!

If you’re ever in Iceland and looking for a killer crossfit workout, definitely recommend checking out Crossfit Reykjavík!!

National museum of Iceland

I’m not big on museums. This one was pretty cool, and I’d highly recommend doing it with a tour guide so you can actually absorb and understand some of Iceland’s long history – but I liked the CityWalk tour a lot better!

Reykjavik CityWalk Tour

I’m not normally a huge fan of touristy stuff like city walking tours, but this one was one of the best I’ve ever ben on. Our tour guide, Nanna, was hilarious and extremely knowledgeable about all the sights around the city she took us to, taught us how to speak some Icelandic (spoiler alert: we were grossly horrible at it), and gave us some locals’ tips too. Like not buying water at the grocery store because it’s exactly the same as what comes out of the tap, and not to buy any beer at the grocery store because it’s non-alcoholic. Apparently locals get a kick out of not telling tourists that. Lol!

The tour is free, and you tip the guide at the end. You should reserve online in avance.

Messinn (Dinner)

What a great dinner to finish off our stay in Iceland. Messinn was definitely more of an expensive place than we had been visiting, but holy moly was it worth it for the super fresh and delicious seafood dishes. They serve all their fish in large cast iron dishes, so cool! You definitely need a reservation here. We had the salted cod with tomato + olive sauce and a salmon with braised parsnips, broccoli and cashews! Favorite dinner of the whole trip! 

Overall…Iceland was freaking awesome.

I’d love to go back and do the whole ring road and see the rest of the country. I’d definitely be better prepared this time about how expensive it is, knowing what to get at the grocery store, where to stay, etc. And if you’re thinking about going + worried about how gluten free Iceland is, not to worry! There are plenty of options all around.

All Reykjavik Restaurant Favorites

• Saegreifinn – the Sea Baron ($$ casual, lunch or dinner): Salmon + Veggie Kabob
• Messinn ($$$ fish restaurant): Salted Cod with tomato-caper-olive sauce, Salmon with braised carrots, parsnips, broccoli and cashews
• Café Paris ($$-$$$ any meal!): Seared Cod on Carrot-Ginger Purée
• Geiri Smart ($$ brunch)
• 73 ($$ moderately priced burger place with fish options too!): fam had the burgers, I had salmon with a feta salad. AMAZING.
• Jamie’s Italian ($$ Jamie Oliver Italian Restaurant): GF pasta bolognese
• Friðheimar ($$$) the restaurant is in a greenhouse, and all the dishes are based around fresh veggies! On the Golden Circle.
• Lindin Bistro + Restaurant ($$-$$$): little bistro on the Golden Circle.

Favorite Hikes, Day Trips + City Finds:

• Glymur waterfall hike (day trip)
• The Golden Circle: Thingvellir National Park (the wall / continental divide, small waterfalls, hot springs (geothermal hot spots), Geysir, Gulfoss, Kerid Crater
• The Southwest (towards the famous volcano, Eyjafjallajökull – Skogafoss, Seljavallalaug hot springs valley, Seljalandsfoss) – best waterfalls of the whole trip!
• The North West Peninsula: Kirkjufellsfoss, Arnarstapi, Bjarnarfoss – honestly, I would’ve skipped these and done another day towards the south along the ring road
• Reykjavik Walking Tours (free, book online) – favorite tour guide Nanna!
• Crossfit Reykjavik

When planning your trip, you should know…

• Your flight to Iceland might be cheap, but the country is NOT. Be prepared to spend some serious cash.
• There are no northern lights in the summer.
• Rent an Airbnb or some place with a small kitchenette. Laundry if you can! Link to Airbnb
• Hit up the grocery store for hiking snacks and breakfast, then you’ll only have to pay for dinners. Bonus is the cheapest one, which is kind of like Aldi, but it doesn’t have that many fresh food options. Go to Krona for more fresh stuff.
• Don’t buy the water at the grocery store. It’s all the same from the tap as in the bottle.
• From our tour guide: don’t buy beer in the grocery store, it’s non-alcoholic. You have to go to a dedicated liquor store to buy regular beer, wine, and liquor. Most people (even locals!) stock up at duty free so they don’t have to go to the store later – plus it’s tax-free, which makes a huge difference given how expensive everything is!
• If you want to do the Blue Lagoon (that famous hot springs everyone talks about!) you have to book in advance, and it’s about $100 a person. We didn’t do it but I’ve heard it’s really cool! There are hot springs all over the country, so just do a little research and you can probably find some that are free! There are some in Thingvellir National Park on the Golden Circle, but we missed out because they were closed on Sundays.

If you’re planning a trip here…

We didn’t get to the East or North of the country really at all, since we only had a few days. I’ve heard quite a few people say that doing the entire Ring Road (which goes around the whole country) is a must! Also didn’t see the Northern Lights at all, so that would be super cool to plan for next time.

Have you been to Iceland? Did i miss anything totally awesome?!

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