We’re getting very excited for our first trip to Iceland, which is now less than two months away! We’ll have about a week to explore the island, with Reykjavik as our home base. We’ve opted to try Airbnb for the first time and look forward to what will hopefully turn out to be a very lovely flat! Here are some of the things that are on my priority of to do’s, most of which seem to involve food (ufufu). Being a first-timer, I’m afraid my list is a bit ‘touristy’ so please let us know if you have any favourite local restaurants or spots that we should check out!
- Blue Lagoon – One of the main reasons we’re going to Iceland is to have a soak in a geothermal spa and cake ourselves in white mud. I look forward to reporting back on the experience.
- Gullfoss Waterfall – We prefer to avoid ‘popular tourist destinations’ as much as possible but some places are simply too beautiful to miss. We weren’t impressed with any of the ‘waterfalls’ we saw Down Under but I have a feeling Gullfoss may just take our breath away!
- Bonus – I absolutely love wandering up and down the aisles of foreign supermarkets so of course I must visit Iceland’s top discount chains.
- Baejarins Beztu Pylsur (The Best Hot Dog In Town) – I’m not a huge fan of hot dogs, but I’m willing to give everything a try especially if they’re supposed to be the best in town!
- Kolaportið – I hope there will be time to have a poke around the weekend flea market at the Old Harbour. I hope it’s nothing like Sydney’s Paddy’s Markets as that was a complete fail (we stayed all of 5 seconds had to leave due to the overwhelming odour of mothballs). But this place sounds promising and may be a good place to hunt for some great craft and souvenir stalls. I can’t leave without my Icelandic tourist tat!
- Sægreifinn (The Sea Baron Restaurant) – I’d love to try their lobster soup and also the sea-agra soup, which key ingredient is sea cucumber. In fact, I’d like to try a bit of everything on their menu!
- Fiskmarkaðurinn – There are so many tasty looking dishes that I want to try here. It will hopefully be a nice spot for a welcome to Iceland and long overdue reunion dinner with G.
- Kringlan / Smáralind Shopping Mall – No holiday is complete without a bit of shopping (I can hear my hubby moaning about it already, but hey we’ll be on holiday)!
- Hallgrímskirkja Church – I love how unusual this church looks, like something from a fantasy novel and would like to take my own photos of the magnificent structure. I’ve heard there are quite a few unique churches so I hope we’ll stumble upon some others during our adventures around the city and beyond.
- Tapas Barinn – From the reviews, it seems this would be a great place to sample a variety of local Icelandic delights. I hope the food is as tasty as it looks on their website!
Catastrophic Findings 
I would love to know how your airbnb experience goes – I’ve heard so much about it but haven’t tried it yet! Your activities sound like good fun. I love reading everyone’s blogs – you read about places you never knew about, and suddenly it’s added to the ‘list of places to go to’ ha 🙂
Yes, yes! So much world to see, yet so little time with work in the way. 😛
I’m not sure I’d rank going to Bonus so highly! It’s like Lidl/Aldi only with even less atmosphere. I think you would like the town’s “pond” Tjornin, and you can also go whale watching trips from Reykjavik. Buying wool products is always high on my list. 🙂 I wrote one of my very first posts about Reykjavik: http://idratherbeiniceland.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/things-i-like-about-reykjavik/
Haha! I love supermarkets, though! Is there a nicer one? Tell me it’s not like Iceland (no pun intended) but I’ve always been too frightened to go in there! I’m all for local markets, too. We’ll definitely check out Tjornin and I hope to score some winter chic at 66°North! Thanks for the tips! x
It’s a bit like Germany where they like cheap, basic no frills supermarkets. Definitely more of the Lidl variety than Iceland. You will see shops like 10-11 which is more of a convenience store, nicer on the inside but also more expensive. By the way, if there is some kind of Icelandic food you want but didn’t buy at Bonus there is a food store at the airport and duty free has chocolate/liquorice.
I’m from northern Australia wher it’s mid-summer but I’m travelling to Iceland in January in search of the Aurora Borealis! Is there a good place to buy reasonably priced winter gear in Reykjavik?