Germany, Iceland

Aug 30-Sep 8, 2019
UA1236 IAH-LAX, Aug 31 AC792 LAX-YYZ, AC876 YYZ-FRA, Sep 1 LH868 FRA-KEF, Sep 7 LH869 KEF-FRA, AC873 FRA-YYZ, AC793 YYZ-LAX, Sep 8 UA1977 LAX-IAH

Iceland is one of our favourite countries and we’ve very much enjoy our two previous trips. When last October I learned of a very low cost business class fare from Los Angeles to Reykjavik in the summer I jumped on it and knew that we could build a great trip around it. As Tom is our Iceland expert, he was in charge of this trip and found an opportunity to check out new parts of the island. This was also the first time we’ve traveled to Iceland in the summer, so it opened the opportunity to get a 4x4 vehicle and explore some of the rural mountain roads.

As we started in Los Angeles, we spent a good portion of the time traveling to and from Los Angeles for Tom and ultimately through Toronto and Frankfurt with a very long layover. As we basically had all of Sunday to explore we refreshed at our airport hotel and then took the train into the city.

Sep 1

I’ve lost track of the number of times we’ve flown through Frankfurt and we’ve dropped off and picked up cars there in the past, but this is the first time we actually went into the city. I’ve always known Frankfurt as an industrial city so did not have particularly high expectations for the city might offer, so we were pleasantly surprised that the old town was actually quite nice and we had a great day of walking and exploring.

Fountain in Romerberg Square

Some colourful anti-war demonstrators

More of the medieval buildings of Romerberg Square

Frankfurt Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, originally from 1550, reconstructed after a fire in 1867 and again after WWII

240m Main Tower dominates the newer town skyline

Frankfurt Train Station

Locals enjoying the public amenities

Content with our tour of the city, we headed back to the hotel for a rest and then to the airport lounge for some dinner before our 10:00pm flight to Iceland. Upon arrival, we immediately checked into our airport hotel and got rested for our time in Iceland.

Sep 2

After breakfast, we headed back to the airport to pickup our rental car and to head to Hvammstangi on the North West edge of the loop road. On our first trip to Iceland we have driven through here on our way back around, but this time we made our way there through some less-traveled roads. On the way we were going to pass some of the more famous sites of Iceland so we couldn’t resist stopping again for a quick peek.

The 32m Gullfoss, in addition to being one of the more beautiful waterfalls, is the start of the F35 highway cutting between two volcanoes from the south to the north of the island.

A good perspective on how F-35’s drive road cuts through the barren countryside

Imposing Langjökull Glacier poking over the mountainside

We found a little more green to contrast the rock

Although we had a 4x4 vehicle for the most part the road was pretty well maintained

Langjökull Glacier cutting through to ground level

Hvítárvatn Lake with Langjökull Glacier in the background

Doing my best not to show how cold it is

A little better closeup of the massive glacier, the second largest icecap in Iceland

Jokulfall river 

Stopping for a hike at Kerlingarfjöll

We had a few visitors on our hike

Hofsjökull Glacier is the third largest in Iceland, and is the second one framing our journey northward

Me standing on a relatively small waterfall on our way back to the main F35 highway

As we went further north the road got a little less maintained making for a slower drive and rougher ride

Tracking the source of some of the warm geothermal pools in Hveravellir area

One of the many active features of Hveravellir with the glacier in still in view

Sulfur coloured steam vent

Larger vent

Great panoramic shot of the colourful geothermal features. Thanks to the remote location and cool weather we had it basically to ourselves.

Great contrast of water colours in the pool

Some of the many steam sources

Svínavatn Lake at the end of our unpaved F35 journey

After a very long day of driving we made it to Hvammstangi just before sunset

Sunset at Hvammstangi

Tom found a friend by our hotel

Having taken full advantage of the long day of sunlight after finally get to Hvammstangi we managed to find a very late dinner before turning in.

Sep 3

After a filling breakfast in the hotel, we headed out for another full day of driving and exploring the Westfjords area of Iceland. The Westfjords jut out on the northwest tip of Iceland and stretch far off the main loop road that most tourists keep to, including ourselves on our first trip. Although it is a relatively small area, the main road traverses the coast and the many fjords that cut through, making for breathtaking scenery, but also very long winding roads that don’t get you very far. This was the focus of the rest of our trip.

Some of the locals enjoying the view of the Norwegian Sea

We stopped for a quick unmarked hike up the hillside

Pausing our hike for Tom to capture an image of me and the road ahead

A small island with a small sheep population, a last stop on the coast on the eastern side before cutting across the mountains to the more rugged western fjords

Making our way through the pass

A causeway and bridge cut off some drive time on the fjord

Drangajökull glacier across the fjord 

Better close up of the Drangajökull glacier, the northernmost in Iceland and also one of the smallest

Lighthouse marks the coastline

Stopping for a hike at the Hvítanes seal colony

More of the Hvítanes seal colony

Lone seal balancing on rock outside the main seal colony 

Beautiful landscape of Seydisfjörður

Great perspective of how the road hugs Álftafjörður, our second last fjord on the long drive

Panoramic of Seyðisfjörður

A quick stop to see an Arctic Fox at the centre in Súðavík

Skutulsdjörður, from the town of Ísafjörður, where we are staying for the night

Beautiful reflection on the calm fjord. A perfect end to the day.

Great panoramic of the Skutulsdjörður as we finish exploring the town

We had a little less driving, so had more time to explore the town before grabbing some dinner. We didn’t exactly have a luxury dinner, but did get some very tasty takeout pizza which we paired with some wine that we purchased from the duty free on our way into Iceland.

Sep 4

After some well-earned rest and a hearty breakfast, we continued our journey around the fjord. We would have a full day of travel ahead and were happy to have another day of blue skies and relatively warm late summer weather. The journey started with a drive through the Vestfirdir Tunnel which is a 5 mile one lane tunnel with passing spots, that actually has a Y intersection allowing us to cut west through to the next fjord; alternatively, we could have taken a different exit heading north.

Early morning in the small town of Flateyri on the north side of Önundarfjörður 

A bit of panorama trickery captures the road and the fjord

Some fall colours cut into the green as we cross the mountain on the way to the next fjord

Our first view of Dýrafjörður with a little bit of cloud cover

Larger Dýrafjörður has more varied terrain

We basically had Skrudur Botanical Garden to ourselves

Some of the arctic flowers on display in the gardens

The main garden gate, constructed from whale bones (an unfortunate Icelandic tradition)

Berries cut through the green

Marker above wetlands along edge of Dýrafjörður

The end of the very bumpy 622 towards Helgafell, looking back up Dýrafjörðu

Panorama of Dýrafjörðu

Looking across the large inlet of the fjord

We left the car behind as we walked our way around the southern tip of the fjord

Technically this is a road

The rocks that we hoped would stay above us

Capturing the curve in the “road”

As far as we walked before turning around

Heading back to the car and into the fjord

View of the fjords from the top of our drive/hike up Kaldbakur Mountain 

Starting the mountain pass from Dýrafjörður and Arnarfjörður

The very windy mountain road

Dynjandi waterfall greets us as we descend into Arnarfjörður

Spectacular Dynjandi was the first crowded place of the day. Surprising, given the poor roads that connect with the rest of the island 

Capturing the lower tier, before we ascend

Up close to the terraced upper fall

Beautiful perspective from the mid tier, mostly free of tourists

Looking up Trostansjörður towards the Denmark Straight

Further down route 63 we find a small waterfall

24km down the fjord on another bumpy road, the remote town of Selárdalur features the artworks of Samúel Jónsson 

One of the many whimsical structures

Uniquely Icelandic statuary

Hand was actually pretty accurately raised for the afternoon sun

Closeup on some of the more interesting details

We finally made it to the small village of Patreksfjörður, where we stayed for the night. We traveled just 66km as the crow flies, but spent about 11 hours with stops passing through 8 fjords, by short cutting in a tunnel, navigating the coastline or zigzagging our way up and down the mountains between. We still had enough time to relax before finding dinner.

Sep 5

For our last full day in the Westfjords, the Látrabjarg bird cliffs was our main target. We were hoping that we might have an opportunity to see some puffins up close, but unfortunately we were a few weeks too late as the colony had headed out to sea. We still enjoyed hiking the rugged coastline and exploring more of the fjords. After breakfast we made our way to toward the cliffs.

Garðar BA 64, oldest steel ship in Iceland, grounded at the mouth of Patreksfjörður 

Our first look at Látrabjarg bird cliffs

One of the smaller birds on the heavily populated cliffs

Stunning cliffs even without the puffins

Northern fulmar just outside the nest

A little cold for early September but the western tip of Iceland had some blisteringly cold winds

Northern fulmar undercarriage

After hiking for an hour we could look back on our path

Although the cool weather scared away many, there were still a few on the trail

Making our way back from the tip and head east across the mountain path

Now heading south over the pass from Patreksfjörður to northern shore of Breiðafjörður

Looking at the road winding down towards the fjord

Having made it to our hotel in Stykkishólmur, we took a walk to the harbour and looking across to Súgandisey Island

From the hill on Súgandisey Island, we looked back across the causeway to Stykkishólmur with the low afternoon sun

Súgandisey Island Lighthouse

Panoramic of Stykkishólmur from Súgandisey Island

Final look at the harbour of Stykkishólmur before we found a late dinner

We ended the day with a wonderful fresh seafood dinner and some local beer before checking out for the evening.

Sep 6

For our last day in Iceland, we needed to make our way from the Westfjords to the airport in Keflavik for our red eye flight to Frankfurt. We didn’t actually have a lot of distance to cover, but had a lot of options of where to explore before our flight. We left the hotel with a few ideas of what we might do, but mostly played it by ear throughout the day.

Our first stop was the Snæfellsjökull peninsula and the national park there.

Svörtuloft bird cliffs at the end of the peninsula 

Moss growing inside collapsed Saxhóll Crater, and looking at the larger volcanic crater

Having hiked down we look back at the Saxhóll Crater

Although we could see the lower hills, unfortunately the clouds obscured the higher glacier

Djúpalónssandur beach in the national park

More of Djúpalónssandur beach

Tourists exploring debris of Edring, a British trawler that wrecked on the beach in 1948, on the Djúpalónssandur beach with the beautiful green cliffs

For our last stop on the way towards Reykjavik, we headed inland to Hraunfossar, a lava field waterfall where the water streams from cracks fed by an interior river

Surface portion of Hraunfossar before it flows into the lava tube

We cannot stop in Reykjavik without stopping at the Sun Voyager sculpture

As Mike Pence had visited Iceland the day before, the people wanted to remind him what tolerance of LBGT looks like, by decorating the town with rainbow flags

After exploring the city, we grabbed a nice dinner near the waterfront before heading towards the airport to drop off the rental car and to start our long journey home. It was a great trip, and between all of our trips, I think we can now say that we’ve covered the majority of the island. However, it doesn’t mean that we won’t plan to go back again.