Iceland for families: Reykjavik, the South Coast and Snaefellsnes

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Reykjavik

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

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Reykjavik
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Keflavik International Airport (KEF), about 50 km from Reykjavik across the lava fields of the Reykjanes Peninsula. 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. 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)

   Option plus facile : Skip the pool and rest at the hotel; join the group for the walk at about 4:30 pm.

   Temps libre : Free until 2 pm

   Activité : If you land after about 1 pm, the guide meets you at the hotel when you arrive and you join the group at dinner; you can visit the pool on day 2's free afternoon. Hallgrimskirkja tower lift hours are something we confirm for your date. Bring swimsuits and towels in your hand luggage.

2. Jour 2 : Whales and Perlan

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

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Reykjavik
   Détail du jour 2

   A Reykjavik day for children. 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. 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. 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)

   Option plus facile : If a child is prone to seasickness, spend the morning at the Whales of Iceland exhibition or the Saga Museum instead and meet the group for lunch.

   Option plus active : Walk back from Perlan to the centre through the Oskjuhlid woods, about 2.5 km downhill.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : Mostly standing on the boat, which can roll; take seasickness tablets before you sail if you need them. About 3 km on foot across the day.

   

3. Jour 3 : The Golden Circle and a horse ride

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

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

   We leave Reykjavik at 8 am and reach Thingvellir National Park, about 45 minutes away, before most of the day coaches. Iceland's parliament, the Althing, first met here in 930, and the park is listed by UNESCO. Children can walk down the Almannagja rift with one hand on the edge of the North American plate. About an hour on, at the Geysir field, Strokkur erupts every few minutes, often 15 to 20 m high, so nobody waits long; ten minutes more and Gullfoss drops in two steps into a narrow canyon. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Instead of riding, meet the horses in the paddock and watch from the farm while the others ride.

   Option plus active : Walk the full length of Almannagja to the Oxararfoss waterfall, about 2 km, and meet the minibus there.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Hella

   Activité : About 3 km on foot on good paths, with some steps at Gullfoss. Riders wear long trousers and closed shoes; the farm sets its own weight limit.

   

4. Jour 4 : Black sand and waterfalls

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

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Hella
   Détail du jour 4

   The reason for two nights in Hella: a whole day on the coast without moving hotel. 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. 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)

   Option plus facile : See Skogafoss from the flat ground at its foot, and Seljalandsfoss from the front, without the wet, slippery path behind it.

   Option plus active : Older children and parents take the glacier walk on Solheimajokull while the rest of the group walks to the snout and on to Skogafoss; we meet for a late lunch at Skogar.

   Temps libre : Early evening free in Hella

   Activité : About 4 km on foot: sand and pebbles at Reynisfjara, a gravel path of about 1 km each way to the glacier, and spray at Seljalandsfoss, so everyone needs waterproofs. Parts of Dyrholaey can be closed in May and June for nesting birds; we use the lower viewpoint when they are.

   

5. Jour 5 : To Snaefellsnes and the puffin islands

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

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Stykkisholmur
   Détail du jour 5

   Today is the longest drive, about three and a half hours in all, so we split it into three short legs. We leave Hella at 8 am, skirt the edge of Reykjavik and pass under Hvalfjordur by tunnel to Borgarnes for a stretch and a snack by the water. On the road out to the peninsula we stop at Gerduberg, a long wall of six-sided basalt columns that children can walk along and count. 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. 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)

   Option plus facile : Stay on deck in the boat's sheltered area, or skip the boat and spend the afternoon at the Stykkisholmur pool.

   Option plus active : Climb Helgafell after dinner: a 73 m hill, about 30 minutes up and down, with the old rule that you climb in silence and do not look back.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Stykkisholmur

   Activité : Three legs of about an hour to an hour and a quarter in the minibus. The boat can be cold in the wind; bring hats and gloves.

6. Jour 6 : Kirkjufell and the Vatnshellir lava cave

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

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Stykkisholmur
   Détail du jour 6

   A loop round the peninsula below Snaefellsjokull, the glacier-capped volcano where Jules Verne began his Journey to the Centre of the Earth. We leave at 9 am, a gentler start, and reach Kirkjufell in about 45 minutes: a 463 m peak with a small waterfall in front of it. Past the fishing town of Olafsvik we round the tip into Snaefellsjokull National Park for the guided tour of Vatnshellir, a lava tube about 8,000 years old: spiral stairs take you down into the dark, and helmets and torches are provided. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip the cave and walk the short lava trail around its entrance with the guide, or wait in the minibus.

   Option plus active : Walk the 2.5 km cliff path from Arnarstapi to Hellnar, about an hour past sea arches and nesting birds, and meet the minibus there.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free before the farewell dinner

   Activité : About 3 km on foot. The cave has steep spiral stairs and a cold, uneven floor, so wear warm layers and good shoes; the Djupalonssandur path is rocky.

   

7. Jour 7 : Back to Reykjavik and home

   Stykkisholmur to Borgarnes, central Reykjavik and Keflavik International Airport

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   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. 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. 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)

   Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm. Lunch today is your choice, at the airport or in Reykjavik.

Faune et météo : June to August brings the longest days; in June Reykjavik has about 21 hours of daylight and the nights stay light. Puffins nest on the Breidafjordur islands and at Dyrholaey from about May to mid August, so late August departures may see few, and parts of Dyrholaey can close in the nesting season. Whale watching runs all summer; minke whales, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises are the usual sightings, humpbacks often. Sailings can be cancelled in high wind, and we rebook within the trip where we can. The Northern Lights are not visible in summer.

• Reykjavik2 nuits
• Hella2 nuits
• Stykkisholmur2 nuits