Solo Trip: The best week in Iceland!
Ever since I got into the world of solo travel, one place that’s been on the top of my list since my first trip was Iceland. All the trips I’d been on before were places that were on a lot of lists of safest places for women to visit alone. Iceland is the safest country in the world!
Ever since I started looking into it, I fell in love with it and it became my ultimate bucket list trip. There was so much I wanted to do and see there that I decided to make it a full week long trip. It was the longest and most expensive solo trip I’d booked so far, so it took a lot of planning. Compared to everywhere I’d been previously, Iceland is not a walkable country! My hotel into Reykjavik was, but all the main tourist attractions are so far spread out and there’s no trains there, a car is really the best way to do it.
I don’t drive but luckily there’s plenty of coach options, so for 9 months before the trip, I was booking the tours, airport transfers and coach pick up and drops for everywhere I wanted to go. It worked out perfectly though because by the time I got there, everything was done so all I had to do was get to the meeting points on time!
The Blue Lagoon is close to the airport so it’s recommended to go either at the start or the end of your visit, just because it’s so out of the way of everything else. I had an early flight that got in at 10am so I decided to go straight to the Blue Lagoon since I couldn’t check in to my hotel until after 3pm so it worked well.
It was the perfect start to a trip. You leave your phone and everything in the lockers and you’ve got the whole place to relax. The water was so nice and hot that it feels really good to be outside in it. I’d seen so many photos and videos of it during my research but it really surprised me how big it is! I was expecting it to be super crowded, which it was but because it was so big, there was still so much space to be able to have your own little area, it was perfect. The vibe was really nice aswell because everyone was just so excited to be there!
There’s different packages you can get, since I was on a solo trip I treated myself to full package which includes all the different face masks, a drink in the lagoon bar and a reservation and drink in the restaurant. You get a wristband that is used to buy stuff at the lagoon and you scan it on the way to pay for what you’ve ordered, there’s a limit of 3 drinks per person, that includes the free drink. You can also buy merchandise and some official Blue Lagoon skincare products.
When I came out of the Blue Lagoon, I got a phone call with some pretty horrible news that came as a huge shock. I was alone, in a new country, right at the start of my trip, with no idea what to do. I ended up just staying in my hotel after I checked in.
Luckily, I’d already booked the Golden Circle for the next day, and the pick up time was at 9am. So I woke up with no time to think about it. It ended up being one of the best days there, it took my mind off everything that was going on at home and I was able to re-start my holiday and enjoy the rest of the week.
It was an 8 hour tour that takes you to some of Iceland’s biggest attractions, Gulfoss waterfall, the Kerid crater and the biggest geyser site. It was like being on a different planet, I’d never seen anything like it! Standing next to that huge waterfall was absolutely freezing cold, and it was so loud it really blows you away. The sun was out the whole day though, there was even a rainbow at one point. It felt like Iceland just knew what I needed that day.
Halfway through the week, I took a trip to another lagoon called The Sky Lagoon. This one was new, it only opened in 2021 and it’s one of the few attractions that is walkable, it’s just outside Reykjavik.
Because it’s new, it was so fancy. It’s definitely going for more of a luxury vibe and it was about half the size of the Blue Lagoon. It was about the size I expected the Blue Lagoon to be. They limit the amount of people in the lagoon at one time tho so it’s never too crowded. Just like the Blue Lagoon, the water is 30 degrees so it’s lovely in the cold Iceland weather. The Sky Lagoon though, has an infinity pool that overlooks the ocean. I could of spent the whole day there just looking over at that view. They also have a sauna that has an incredible view of the sea, with a full floor to ceiling window.
I’d found this really nice looking lighthouse on a peninsula while I was looking up nearby sights. It was a couple of hours up the coast so I decided to follow it round and go and visit it and it was absolutely worth it!
The final thing I was hoping to see in Iceland was the Northern Lights. I had tickets booked with a coach pickup for the 3rd night of my trip. I was going into it completely expecting not to see them since it’s nature and you can never fully predict it. It was hard not to be excited of course, the tour guide does her best job to manage people’s expectations. The morning of that day, I got an email saying the tour has been postponed to the next night due to bad weather conditions, it wasn’t even worth going out in because there would of been no chance. On the next day, I didn’t get any emails so the tour was still on. The coach picked me up from my hotel at 9.30pm and we set off. The tour guide explained that they decide where to take us on the night, they want to give us the best chance of seeing them so they take us to wherever has the clearest sky that night.
It also has to be away from all light pollution, so we’d gone way out of town, even past the airport. The tour guide told us, if we don’t see them by 11pm, we’d call it a night and if it gets to 11pm and then they come, then of course we’d stay. Being outside in the middle of nowhere, was so much colder than it was in the city. There was no buildings or anything to block the wind, and there was a lot of wind. Even wrapped up in what I thought would be enough clothes, it was so so cold! They left the coach unlocked for us so we could go and sit inside when we needed. They also had a waffle van come with some nice hot drinks and warm snacks. Unfortunately the light’s didn’t come out that night.
Because we didn’t see them, they gave us a new opportunity, they emailed us new tickets that we could use for another day. This happened to be on my 2nd to last night and after last time, I was fully expecting not to see them again. When 9.30pm came, I was wrapped up in double the layers from the past night. 2 pairs of trousers and all the jumpers I could fit under my coat! They said they were taking us to the same spot as last night and thankfully there was no wind this time so it wasn’t as bad.
Before we even got off the bus, the Northern Lights started to come out! The tour guide kept us calm until we got off the bus and then we all went and picked our spots for the night. We were outside for about an hour and a half and the whole time the lights were out, it was absolutely incredible! We got so so lucky!
It literally looks like we’re on the moon!
On my final night, I took myself out for a nice dinner and then I went for a walk through town in the evening. When I’d been on the Northern Lights tour, we’d driven past the church at night and it was all lit up, so I decided to go and see it up close.
The city looked really nice at night, I heard music coming from somewhere so I followed it. It turned out to be coming from a bookshop/cafe that had turned into a bar for the evening, and there was a band who’d just started playing their set so I decided to stay and watch, it was such a nice way to spend my final night!
There’s so much to see in Iceland and it’s up there as one of the best solo trips I’ve done so far. I can’t wait to go back one day, there’s still another side of the island I didn’t even get to! I really can’t recommend it enough.
Coach transfers: website
Blue Lagoon: website
Golden Circle Tour: website
Sky Lagoon: website