Active Iceland

Itinerary

• Day 1: Overnight flight

  Board your overnight flight, bound for Iceland. Sit back, relax, and learn how to say ‘vaðlaheiðarvegavinnuverkfærageymsluskúraútidyralyklakippuhringur’, the longest word in Icelandic.

• Day 2: Arrive in Reykjavik + optional Blue Lagoon visit

  Welcome to Iceland, the "Land of Fire and Ice,” and the home of active volcanoes, striking glaciers, really tall people descended from Vikings, and really tiny horses.

  Today's highlights:

  • Meet an EF representative and fellow travelers as they arrive at the airport.
  • Transfer to your hotel to check in and check out your room.
  • Get familiar with Reykjavik on an introductory walk with your Tour Director through the Old Town Center.
  • Enjoy a Welcome Dinner with fellow travelers at an authentic local spot.

  Blue Lagoon (extra cost)

  Lather on a mud mask and float weightlessly in the warm waters of this world-famous geothermal spa.

• Day 3: Travel the Golden Circle

  Aah, the Golden Circle—a route that hits Iceland’s most magnificent natural wonders. Is there a waterfall? Yep. Geysers? Multiple.

  Today's highlights:

  • Check out Thingvellir National Park, the boundary between the North American and the Eurasian tectonic plates.
  • Watch the Great Strokkur geyser erupt at Great Geysir Geothermal Area.
  • Enjoy a delicious lunch filled with Icelandic treats.
  • Discover Gullfoss, known as the "Golden Waterfall,” one of the most powerful waterfalls in Europe.
• Day 4: Explore the south coast

  Head for the south coast, a lowland region of lush farmland, striking waterfalls, beaches, glaciers, and picturesque villages.

  Today's highlights:

  • Stand behind the powerful Seljalandsfoss waterfall and discover what’s really on the other side.
  • Stick your feet in the black sand at Reynisfjara Beach.
  • View the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, which erupts once every few hundred years. Don’t worry—it erupted in 2010.

  Free time suggestions

  Icelandic lava show: Watch as a volcano expert (cool job, huh?) heats up actual lava to 2,000°F and pours it over ice in this spectacular show.

  Víkurfjara black sand beach: In Iceland, there’s always more black sand to stick your toes in. Check out this world-famous beach known for its beauty and big waves.

• Day 5: Skaftafell nature reserve + glacier hiking & kayaking

  If you haven’t realized by now, all of Iceland is basically a national park. Today you’ll check out Skaftafell, a nature reserve so large it contains regions and a glacier that covers nearly 10% of Iceland’s land surface.

  Today's highlights:

  • Hop on your morning bus to Skaftafell—feel free to close your eyes and pretend it’s a Viking ship.
  • Hike Svínafellsjökull glacier, a massive and surreal ice mountain.
  • Head to the Jökulsárlón Glacier lagoon, keeping an eye out for the Eldhraun lava field: the largest lava field in the world.
  • Do something that gets better with each word: Kayak. The. Glacier. Ice. Lagoon.
• Day 6: Travel to Egilsstaðir via East Fjords region

  Finally, a day to sing all those Icelandic folk songs you’ve learned on the bus to Egilsstaðir. Don’t know any folk songs? Make some up! May we suggest “99 Bottles of Skyr on the Wall”?

  Today's highlights:

  • Head to the supremely chill town of Egilsstaðir, on the east coast of Iceland.
  • Stop along the way for mind-blowing pics of the East Fjords region and mountains that descend straight into the sea.
• Day 7: Travel to Myvatn + explore the geothermal bath

  If Iceland’s out-of-this-world terrain hasn’t thoroughly scrambled your brain by now, it certainly will today! Start your morning with a ride across a desert plateau. Is that a glacier in the background? It sure is.

  Today's highlights:

  • Cross the Möðrudalsöræfi desert plateau by bus.
  • Gawk at the 144-foot Dettifoss waterfall, the country’s largest and most powerful.
  • Bathe like your ancestors—only if your ancestors were Vikings—in the Myvatn Nature Baths.
  • Arrive in Iceland’s “capital city of the north,” Akureyri, and take in all that charm.
• Day 8: Explore Langjökull Glacier + Farewell Dinner in Reykjavik

  It’s your final day in Iceland. That means one last day of bizarre, unearthly landscapes, one last day of being welcomed by its friendly inhabitants, and one last day to share with your new travel fam. Ready? Let’s go!

  Today's highlights:

  • Traverse the Langjökull Glacier via special snow truck.
  • Stroll through Langjökull Glacier’s blue ice tunnels.
  • Arrive back in Reykjavik and settle in for one final dinner with your group.
• Day 9: Fly home

  Bless, vinir! 
  Translation: Goodbye, friends. Your next destination awaits—home. But this isn’t goodbye. It’s “See you later.” The only question is, where?