Iceland for families: Reykjavik, the South Coast and Snaefellsnes

Arrive in Reykjavik

Keflavik International Airport to your hotel in Reykjavik, then Laugardalslaug and the city centre

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Reykjavik
• Environ 45 min de route

Matin

Many flights from North America land early in the morning, so a private transfer takes your family straight to the hotel, which holds your bags until your room is ready; early check-in is something we request but cannot promise. Rest, find breakfast, and at 2 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at the hotel. The first stop is the best cure for an overnight flight: Laugardalslaug, the city's largest geothermal pool, with hot tubs, a waterslide and Icelandic families in the water in any weather. Afterwards a short walk in the centre: up to Hallgrimskirkja, whose tower lift gives children their first view over the coloured roofs, and down to the pond at Tjornin to feed the ducks.

Soir

A short briefing on the week, then a welcome dinner together in the centre and an early night.

Compris

• Private transfer from Keflavik International Airport (KEF)
• Laugardalslaug geothermal pool, entry included
• Short guided walk: Hallgrimskirkja and the pond at Tjornin
• Welcome briefing and welcome dinner

Activités en option

• Hallgrimskirkja tower lift (small fee, paid on the day)

Whales and Perlan

Reykjavik's Old Harbour, out on Faxafloi bay, then Perlan

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Reykjavik
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

We walk to the Old Harbour for the morning sailing, about three hours out on Faxafloi bay, where minke whales, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises are the usual sightings and humpbacks come in often. Morning sailings are usually calmer, and the boat has a warm indoor deck and overalls to borrow. Sightings are never certain; the guide on board will explain the rules if a sailing sees no whales.

Après-midi

Back on land, lunch is the Icelandic classic, a hot dog with crunchy onions, or a soup if you prefer. In the afternoon the minibus takes us up the hill to Perlan, built on top of the city's hot-water tanks: walk through a man-made ice cave, see how glaciers and volcanoes shaped the island, watch the planetarium show on the Northern Lights, and look out over the city from the viewing deck.

Soir

We are back at the hotel by about 4 pm, and the evening is free for your family.

Compris

• Whale watching from the Old Harbour on Faxafloi, about 3 hours
• Lunch in the harbour area
• Perlan: the ice cave, the exhibitions, the planetarium show and the viewing deck

Activités en option

• Sky Lagoon in Kopavogur in the evening (price shown at booking)

The Golden Circle and a horse ride

Reykjavik to Thingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss, then Reykholt and south to Hella

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hella
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is at a greenhouse farm near Reykholt, where tomatoes grow under lights all year. Then an easy hour south through Fludir to Hella, home for two nights, in time for the afternoon ride: about an hour on gentle Icelandic horses, led by the farm's guides, with a turn at the tolt, the smooth gait only these horses have.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Thingvellir National Park with your guide: the Almannagja rift and the Law Rock
• Geysir geothermal field and Strokkur
• Gullfoss
• Lunch at a greenhouse farm near Reykholt
• Horse ride near Hella, about 1 hour, with helmets and the farm's guides

Black sand and waterfalls

Hella east to Vik and Reynisfjara, then back west by Dyrholaey, Solheimajokull, Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hella
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Matin

We leave at 8 am and drive to the far end first, about an hour and a quarter to Vik, so we reach Reynisfjara by about 9:30, before the day coaches: black sand, basalt columns to climb on the cliff, and the sea stacks the story says are trolls caught by the sunrise. The waves are dangerous here, so the guide sets a line well back from the water. Then Dyrholaey, where puffins nest in summer; access to the headland is limited in the nesting season, into late June, so early in the summer the guide takes us to the lower viewpoint over the arch. Then the snout of Solheimajokull, a tongue of the Myrdalsjokull ice cap.

Après-midi

Lunch is at Skogar, below Skogafoss, a 60 m fall with a legend of a Viking's chest of gold behind it. We finish at Seljalandsfoss, which faces west and glows in the afternoon light; when the path is free of ice, children can walk right behind the falling water. Back in Hella by about 5 pm.

Compris

• Vik and Reynisfjara with the Reynisdrangar sea stacks
• Dyrholaey headland and sea arch
• Walk to the snout of Solheimajokull with your guide
• Skogafoss
• Seljalandsfoss and the path behind the falls
• Lunch at Skogar

Activités en option

• Guided glacier walk on Solheimajokull with crampons and a certified glacier guide, about 3 hours, for children 10 and up and adults (price shown at booking)

To Snaefellsnes and the puffin islands

Hella to Borgarnes and the basalt columns of Gerduberg, then Stykkisholmur and a boat on Breidafjordur

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Stykkisholmur
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is in Stykkisholmur, a fishing town of old wooden houses at the edge of Breidafjordur, our base for two nights. In the afternoon we board a boat among the bay's small islands to look for puffins on the grassy cliffs, with fulmars, shags and, if we are lucky, a white-tailed eagle; the crew shows how the basalt islands formed.

Soir

Back on land, the evening is free: the town pool has hot tubs and a slide, and the short climb up Helgafell comes with a legend of three wishes.

Compris

• Stop in Borgarnes
• Gerduberg basalt columns
• Lunch in Stykkisholmur
• Boat trip among the Breidafjordur islands to see puffins and seabirds, about 2 hours

Activités en option

• Settlement Centre in Borgarnes (price shown at booking)

Kirkjufell and the Vatnshellir lava cave

Stykkisholmur to Kirkjufell and Olafsvik, round the tip to Vatnshellir, Djupalonssandur and Arnarstapi, and back to Stykkisholmur

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Stykkisholmur
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is nearby. At Djupalonssandur a path through lava leads to a black pebble beach, iron from a trawler wrecked in 1948 and four old lifting stones that fishermen once tested themselves on. At Arnarstapi, children meet the stone statue of Bardur, the half-troll guardian of the peninsula, above cliffs full of nesting birds.

Soir

We drive back across the mountains for a farewell dinner together.

Compris

• Kirkjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss
• Snaefellsjokull National Park
• Vatnshellir lava cave, guided tour of about 1 hour, helmets and torches included
• Djupalonssandur and the lifting stones
• Arnarstapi cliffs and the statue of Bardur
• Lunch on the peninsula
• Farewell dinner in Stykkisholmur

Back to Reykjavik and home

Stykkisholmur to Borgarnes, central Reykjavik and Keflavik International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

A last breakfast by the harbour in Stykkisholmur, then we leave at 8:30 am for the drive back to the capital, about two and a quarter hours, with a stretch stop in Borgarnes and the tunnel under Hvalfjordur. The road runs along the coast below Mount Esja, the mountain you saw from the whale boat on day 2, so it is a good moment for the guide to go over the week with the children, and for them to choose the best moment, which is usually the puffins or the horses.

Après-midi

Families staying on in Reykjavik are dropped in the centre at about 11:15 am; the rest of us go on across the Reykjanes lava fields to Keflavik International Airport, arriving at about 12:15 pm, in time for the afternoon flights to North America. Your guide says goodbye at the airport.

Soir

If your flight leaves in the evening, ask us about a drop at the Blue Lagoon on the way, at a price shown at booking.

Compris

• Transfer to central Reykjavik or Keflavik International Airport (KEF)

Activités en option

• Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport for evening flights (price shown at booking)