What follows is a sample itinerary based on the Budget Scheme.
Day 1: |
Fly from UK to Keflavik and transfer to the Blue Lagoon for a revitalising bathe in its geothermal waters. Continue to your accommodation for dinner and overnight stay. |
Day 2: |
Transfer to Reykjavik City Airport for a short flight to Hofn. Meet your guide and set the scene with a visit the Glacier Exhibition before studying the pro-glacial area once occupied by the huge glaciers that descend from the Vatnajokull icecap. Continue to your accommodation. |
Day 3: |
Head west to Jokulsarlon, a pro-glacial lake where icebergs in many hues of blue, turquoise and white can be seen. Fragmented ice of varying sizes can also be seen up close randomly scattered on the adjacent black beach. In the summer it is possible to take an optional cruise on the lagoon. Examine the landforms in front of the Breidamerkurjokull and continue east below the glacier tongues that descend from the Oraefajokull icecap. Interpret their pro-glacial landforms and possibly spend time undertaking a detailed transect of the terrain in front of the Svinafellsajokull. |
Day 4: |
Spend the day walking within Skaftafell National Park. Visit the columnar basalt waterfall, Svartifoss, and look at the human impact on the vegetation and landscape. You'll also see where the floods from the 1996 sub-glacial eruption of Grimsvotn swept across the Skeidararsandur. |
Day 5: |
Head west to Fjadrargljufur where glacial overspill has created a gorge with superb fluvial features. Continue through one of the world's largest effusions of lava, the Eldhraun from the Laki eruption of 1783, cross the huge Myrdalssandur outwash sands, where attempts have been made at soil stabilisation, to the impressive columnar basalt cliffs of Reynishverfi. Stay overnight near to Vik. |
Day 6: |
Return to Reykjavik via Gullfoss and Geysir taking in your choice of sites shown in Days 2 and 3 of the South Iceland programme. |
Day 7: |
You may like to spend time in the capital sightseeing and shopping or possibly join a three-hour whale watching trip from Reykjavik harbour between April and October. Alternatively visit the Krisuvik geothermal area on the way to Keflavik for the return flight. |