An amazing Iceland roadtrip!
Iceland
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Jul 25 - Aug 1, 2026
My husband and I wanted to a celebration trip to Iceland for him finishing his medical residency, and Adam was the perfect person to help us plan it! We wanted to drive around and visit key sights, but also relax and enjoy ourselves. Adam's guidance was crucial, and his expertise really helped us figure out what places to visit and what to skip. The driving instructions for each day were amazing, and it was a seamless experience to have all the bookings for tours/hotels done in advance. It took a lot of pressure off us, and it was a fantastic trip!
The highlights were the Skaftafell Glacier Hike, RIB Whale Watching, Westman Islands, and Sturlureykir Horse Riding!
Hotel Reviews
We stayed in a nice 1 bedroom apartment at The New Post Office. It was very spacious and clean, and suited our needs. The kitchen was well stocked with appliances. My one suggestion is that the bedroom could use a cupboard or chest of drawers for items.
Pros of this Hotel: 1) Great location downtown as everything was within walking distance. 2) Breakfast was a small spread but really fresh and tasty. 3) Parking was easy to find. 4) Very friendly staff! Cons of this Hotel: 1) The bathroom is TINY! The shower and toilet don't have a separation on the floor, so it's easy for the area to get flooded. There is no room to maneuver and for 2 adults this was a challenge. The sink was in the room next to the bed and it splashed very easily, which caused some issues. 2) The Petite Double was way too small for 2 adults and luggage. It was hard to move around. I would recommend that for 2 people, you size up in the room size.
Great hotel in the middle of Vik! The rooms were spacious and clean, and were well designed. The breakfast spread was awesome, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. Highly recommend for a stay in Vik!
This was a really lovely apartment in Hveragerdi! The owners have put a lot of thought into the interior design and made the place very cozy. The apartment was well stocked with kitchen appliances and thoughtful touches (like a first aid kit, candles, blankets, robes, hottub slippers etc.) The place was clean and very comfortable for a couple during a 2 night stay. The access to a hottub, sauna and steam room were amazing bonuses after long days of hiking and driving. Highly recommend!
This was a perfect hotel for a 1 night stay in Borgarnes. The room and bathroom were clean and spacious. The breakfast spread was pretty decent and made it convenient for us. The highlight of this hotel is the hottub and sauna with amazing views!
Activity Reviews
The RIB boat experience was very cool! The tour gave us warm jumpsuits, gloves, scarves, goggles and even motion sickness meds to make us comfortable on the boat. It was really cool that the boat could get really close to whales (as opposed to the big whale watching boats that have to stay far away from the animals). The tour guide Laura was friendly and knowledgeable and even showed us puffins. It was nice that if you didn't see many whales, they allowed you to do the tour again on another day free of charge! We could not avail of this perk due to our schedule, but it was thoughtful. We managed to see only one whale, because of low levels of feed in the area on that day, but it was still worth it! Note: sometimes the tour runs late, so leave at least 30 minutes buffer before any activities.
Sky Lagoon was an amazing experience! I had visited Blue Lagoon many years ago, and this was a superior experience in my opinion. The 7 step spa ritual is included with every admission and it was really relaxing and fun to do it. The lagoon was quite large and even though there were many people around, it still felt relaxing and rejuvenating. We went at 4pm and stayed till 7 pm as there was no limit on how long you could stay. The views are incredible and worth it. The shared changing rooms were very clean and the access to private showers, towels, and free lockers was great.
We had a fantastic horseback riding experience at Sturlureykir with Lena! It was just the two of us on the tour and we got there early, so we actually spent some extra time with the horses. We started with grooming our horses and getting to know them before getting up on our saddles. Lena was patient and very thorough with what we can expect on the trail. We are both beginners at riding and it was an exceptional experience. Our horses were perfectly trained and very friendly, so we loved our time with them. Lena took us through the river and took lots of photographs for us, which was super nice of her. After the horse riding, Lena took us around the farm and gave us rye bread and hot chocolate. I absolutely recommend doing a horse riding tour as it was a flawless experience!
You know how when you have to do a school project on a topic that's only 5 minutes but you have to fill time to make it 45 minutes? That's what we felt this tour was - a time fluffer. The geothermal bakery was very cool to learn about, but this tour genuinely felt like it could've been 10 minutes total. We felt the guide was just filling time by digging holes and shoveling dirt when it wasn't entirely necessary. The tour group had 30 people in it which felt like a lot. The bread itself was tasty, and was served with butter and fish. You could get a piece and then get more if there was still leftovers. I felt like the experience should have included a drink (tea/coffee/hot chocolate) but that was only there to purchase for high prices. This was a small tour that I only recommend if you have a lot of time and want to do something instead of exploring nature.
This hike was the highlight of our trip! We did the Arctic Adventures tour and had Frasier as our guide. He was really knowledgeable and friendly, and made the experience amazing. The tour gave us a harness, helmet, crampons and a pick axe. We were bused over to the glacier area and then it was a bit of a walk to the glacier itself. However, we spent plenty of time on the ice and it did not feel rushed at all. Frasier took photos for anyone who wanted some and made the whole hike really fun! I highly recommend this to hikers of all levels (we were complete beginners at glacier hiking).
Thank you for the review, Aashini!
Thank you for taking the time to write such detailed feedback. It means a lot to us, as it helps us understand what works really well and what we can still improve.
I'm so happy to hear that you had a fantastic time in Iceland, and I'm glad I could help make your trip a memorable one!