7 Days in Iceland

Have you ever been to a place so beautiful that it feels like you’re in a fantasy world? Have you been to a place where dreams come true like no other place ? Have you ever been to a place where happiness and joy originated? This place is Iceland ! I never thought that there was such a place as Iceland. Believe me, you would just be stunned on how beautiful this place is. Here you will find the most gorgeous and scenic places in the world. From waterfalls to glaciers to lava fields and lots more. My trip was really fun and I felt that Iceland is one of the greatest places in the world.

Let me take you through a virtual trip to Iceland :

Preparation
You need to bring lots of stuff for this trip. Iceland, compared to U.S, is way more costly in food, shelter, and the regular needs.Some important tips for packing : 

Food- If you are a vegetarian like me, food is a key thing you’ll need in Iceland. Trust me, in Iceland there aren’t many vegetarian restaurants or are very costly. My family took a lot of snacks and spices to eat. The shop "Bonus" is a good place to buy groceries in Iceland.

Jackets- Anywhere in Iceland, you will need jackets. Here, the winds makes you feel cold. Luckily my family was prepared, we came with winter jackets.

Camera (must)-I recommend to keep a good camera. There are lots of great places and moments to capture. I had the best time with my family. I captured lots of photos and those will be with me forever. 

International outlet- The outlet in Iceland are different than U.S. You should charge the phone because you can get pictures and use it as a GPS.


Rain Poncho- For some waterfalls, if you get close, you would get drenched. My family went behind a waterfall and kept rain ponchos. I got soaked even with a rain poncho so get a good one.

Full Packing List

Attractions we visited

1. Nautisk Beach
2. Hallimskraja
3. Pingvellir National Park
4. Great Geysir
5. Gullfoss waterfall
6. Seljalandsfoss waterfall
7. Skogafoss waterfall
8. Dyrholaey peninsula
9. Black Sand Beach 
10. Hjorleifshofdi Cave
11. Laufskalavarda
12. Skaftafell NP
13. Jokulsarlon lagoon
14. Diamond Beach 
15. Vestrahorn Mountain
16. Krafla lava Fields
17. Namafjall
18. Grjotagja Cave
19. Dimmuborgir lava fields
20. Skutustadagigar pseudo craters
21. Godafoss waterfall
22. Kirkjufell
23. Arnarstapi
24. Deildartunguhver 
25. Hraunfossar/ Barnafoss waterfalls

7 Days across the Ring Road

Day 1
We got out of the airplane and the world around us was way different than Pennsylvania. The clouds were everywhere. We got out of the airport and Brrr..it was cold, windy and rainy. We rented a car from Blue Car Rental ( via GuidetoIceland.com) and soon we were off to the great and biggest city of Iceland, Reykjavik. This city is not as big as New York or Chicago, but as we were driving around it was amazing me every second. There were many confusing words in street signs and places.

Nautisk Beach
Our first stop direct from the Airport was Nautisk Beach. It was a nice little beach. My family and I were feeling so cold that we immediately put on our winter jacket. It was cool, people were swimming in the freezing water!There was also a geothermal body of water, and a man made hot tub. I touched the water. It was hot. I could see Reykjavik downtown across from the beach. It was awesome.

Hallimskraja

After that we went straight to the Airbnb which we rented and took some rest. It was very small one bedroom apartment. At around 8:00 P.M, we went to visit downtown and it was so bright outside. It was unbelievable. “Look how bright it is and it is 8:00 P.M.”We went to a place called Hallimskraja. It is the most tallest building in Reykjavik. It is a big church. We went inside and it was huge! The roof was shaped like an arch. I wanted to go to the top so we did. You could go from an elevator. I saw the whole city of Reykjavik from there. We were so high up. The top of Hallimskirkraja was fascinating.

Bug Landmark Once we exited the church, we walked around downtown. We walked along the water to a strange bug landmark that looked like a grasshopper, I climbed all over it, it was amusing. I stood on the top. From a distance I could see a mountain totally covered by a cloud. I was so surprised and shocked that a cloud came so close to the ground. Reykjavik was beautiful, but I was really cold.

We soon went back to our Airbnb, I had a pleasant time at Iceland already. We went to Bonus to get groceries to make dinner. We got everything and made dinner. It was still bright outside at 12:00 P.M in the night. I wonder how people sleep. I had a fun first day at Iceland. Day 2 My mom woke me up early because we had lot to do today. I was really excited. We had to go lots of places. I was ready for another day of adventure. Pingvellir NP The first place we went to today was called Pingvellir National Park. It was prodigious. A tourist guide told us that the Game of Thrones movie's shooting was in Pingvellir National Park. We were going along south coast. I read that this is the only place where two continental plates are drifting away ,above sea level. It is the North American and Eurasian plates. It was breathtaking to hike between these two plates. The hike led us to Oxarárfoss waterfall. It was beautiful. We took a lot of pictures. It was really scenic with the flowers and mountain.

Great Geysir Next, we headed towards the Great Geysir. It is a cool geysir, smaller than Old Faithful. On the drive we met so many surprises. Wow! There are waterfalls, green mountains, and lots of purple flowers. Iceland is a land full of untouched nature. When we got there we saw steam coming from many different places. We went to a geothermal hot spring. I saw a circle with water bubbling in. It was cool to see it up close. It was once in a lifetime opportunity. BOOM! Water shot up high in the sky and came back down. Also the circle in the middle filled back up with water. That was the best sight ever. I was so fascinated of how it happened. This was the first time I saw a geysir. I was speechless. This was the best place so far. We also got 2 magnets from the gift shop afterwards. I wanted to stay longer , but we had to go to Gullfoss waterfall.

Gullfoss waterfall We drove to Gullfoss waterfall from Great Geysir. WOW! There are waterfalls, green mountains, flowers, glaciers, lava fields, animals and more. Gullfoss waterfall was really big I could feel mist from a distance. When I got there, I saw a rainbow because of all the mist and the sun. It was the widest waterfall I ever seen. The stop at Gullfoss waterfall was scary. It was really slippery. We followed a path that led you close to the waterfall. Although there was a lot of bugs, it was still very scenic. I couldn’t even see the bottom of it. What a spectacular sight it was.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall It takes about a 2 hour drive from Gullfoss waterfall to the great Seljalandsfoss waterfall. The sun came up on the drive. It is said that is is good to have sun when you’re going to this waterfall. When I got here, it was perfect weather. The place looked like a paradise. It was really beautiful with the rainbow in the background. In this waterfall, you could also go behind it. We came prepared by getting rain ponchos for everybody with water shoes so we wouldn’t get wet. We started our journey to behind the waterfall. My rain poncho went all over the place because of the mist and wind. I got wet. It was very slippery because there was so much mist in the air. My sister and I almost fell. AMAZING! I was behind a waterfall. The photos we took came dark. It was the most unbelievable thing ever. I got soaked. We went on some slippery rocks to get out of waterfall. That was the first time I actually went behind a waterfall. I loved every moment of me being in the wind, free, behind that waterfall.

Skogafoss waterfall The last place that we had to go to today was called the Skogafoss waterfall. It was really beautiful, it looked like heaven to me when I first saw it. I thought this was the most scenic place that we went to so far. This place has flowers, green mountains, a waterfall, and green grass. We took a lot of pictures. I even went so close to it that I could feel the wind from the force. We went up close to the bottom of the waterfall. My whole family’s jackets were soaked, but it was the most beautiful place I have seen. We stayed in a hostel close to the waterfall. I could see it from my window. I helped my family with dinner. This was the first time I stayed in a hostel. I had an awesome day. Day 3 I woke early because today would be exciting and fun. I was prepared. We all got ready. We headed to the car. Dyrholaey peninsula It will be the first time I saw black sand on a beach. The first place we are going to is Dyrholaey peninsula. I saw so many mountains. There were black, green, and some looked like it had golden sand on it. It was so cool. When we finally got there, we had to go up a gravel road on a mountain with little space for two cars to pass through. We made it to the top. WOW! There is a whole beach of black sand, glaciers, oceans, and an arch rock formation. This is awesome. Today was very windy on top of the mountain. I felt like I was flying. It was so cool to see all the rock formations like the arch or bridge.We went back down the mountain. Yikes! The road seemed a lot smaller and I could see the cliff. We drove down the mountain very slowly. We finally reached the bottom of the mountain. That was scary going down.

Black Sand Beach The next place we went to was called Black Sand Beach. It was a spectacular sight. All around was black sand. It was so awesome to see it on a beach. I was amazed. My family built a bench with stones so we could get good pictures. I went to touch the water and it was so cold. I threw rocks in the water to have fun. My sister and I realized that there isn’t any seashells, but only circular stones with holes. They looked like they came from a volcano. It was black also. The black sand beach stretched far. We soon left after eating lunch, to go to a cave.

Hjorleifshofdi Cave We drove to a place called Hjorleifshofdi cave. We couldn’t see anybody in sight when we reached there. My mom thought we should go back.”It is not safe. I can’t see one human being out there." My dad refused and we went on a gravel road to reach Hjorleifshofdi cave. We parked the car and saw other people also going to the cave. We walked behind them. At first, I saw tall rock structures with unique rock formations, but then I saw a huge cave with a wide opening. I went inside. There was green stuff growing around in it. It was huge. I admired the cool rock formations made from volcanic eruptions.

Laufskalavarda We went to a place where it seemed like there were millions of stones put on stones. My dad told me this place was called, Laufskalavarda .It is an Icelandic tradition. I was amazed by the amount of structures created. Some looked new and some looked very old. You could make one. I wanted to make one so I found a big rock, and started putting little volcanic rocks on it. It was fun. It fell down and then you had to restart. After a couple tries, I managed to make a pretty big structure in 10 minutes. I was happy. My whole family made one. It was fun to do an Iceland tradition.

Skaftafell NP The next destination that I really wanted to go to was Skaftafell national park. We reached there at around 8:00 P.M. it was really windy, but there were so many cool glaciers. My mom and dad gave us a choice. We could either go to the glaciers or the waterfalls. I wanted to see the glaciers, but the rest of my family wanted to see the waterfalls. We went up a trail to see the waterfall. It was steep. We also got LOST.”Where are we” Riya cried. Soon enough I saw a sign that showed a map. I ran to figure out where we had to go. I found out our mistake. We went left instead of right. We went back to the intersection and took a right. Soon my mom wanted to go back because she was tired and it was drizzling. We didn’t even see the waterfall so we walked a little more and found the great waterfall. It was really tall with black columns of stone behind it. It was wonderful, but soon we got wet from the rain. We walked down slowly because my sister fell down. It was really slippery. It was 11 P.M when we got down the mountain.

We headed back into our car to go to the hostel. On the way, saw one of the most spectacular sights. It was Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. It was amazing. Our hostel was 10 minutes away from the lagoon. I had lots of fun today. Day 4 I woke up at 8:50 A.M in the morning. We ate breakfast from the hostel. They give the best breakfast. The place where we stayed was surrounded by mountains. Also the rooms were very big. From the bed I could see the mountain. We had to go to Jokulsarlon lagoon for the boat trip. We went there quickly because our tour was at 9:30 A.M. In less than ten minutes, we finally reached there Jokulsarlon lagoon I was amazed all over again. In the sun, the glaciers looked really cool and beautiful. It was like seeing a totally different place. We stood in line for about ten minutes to get the tickets. After that our tour bus came. We first put on the life jackets they gave us. My family took the tour of going a little distance from the glaciers. I saw few black glaciers, dirty stuff, blue glaciers, white glaciers, and unpolished ice. It was so cool. I saw glaciers everywhere. Soon the bus with wheels went into the water directly. As soon as we got away from the land, I was amazed. I could see a bunch of glaciers. It was a lifetime experience because I never saw a glaciers so up close. Our driver even found a piece of clear ice, polished by the water. I also found out that the lagoon was 6.95 square miles . That is big. That driver let everybody take pictures. He also cut the ice into little pieces so everybody could try how glacier ice tasted. “Mmmm.. this tastes refreshing and cold." I saw a glacier that looked like an ice castle to my sister and I. We went to many cool glaciers. Soon we came back to the shore and off the bus. I had lots of fun on the bus/ boat ride.

Diamond Beach We got in the car and we have a long drive in front of us. Just Kidding. We were going to Diamond Beach and it is right across the street from the lagoon. As soon as I got there, I couldn’t see how this place was a beach. After a few minutes of walking, I found black sand and water. It was another black sand beach. This one is a little odd. As soon as I got closer, I saw crystals or what looked like big pieces of ice at where the sand touches the water. All of them lined up or in the water, moving from the waves. When I held one, I could only hold it for a few seconds before I had to drop it because it was way too cold to keep it in your hand for longer than a minute. Also the water was freezing. I wonder if the pieces of ice came because of winter time. I was also cold because today was windy. After 30 minutes of roaming around and enjoying the beauty, we got back into our car.

Vestrahorn Mountain On the drive I saw lots of spectacular wildlife from animals, waterfalls, water bodies, lava fields, purple flowers, and lots of mountains. It was magnificent. Soon we reached a tunnel. It would be the first time I went through a tunnel in Iceland. When we got in, it was dark with some lights. This was the darkest I have seen in Iceland so far. When we got out, sunlight and clouds hit us again. We finally reached a place called Vestrahorn mountain. It was a huge mountain covered by clouds. I wished I could see the peak of the mountain or how tall it reaches. Still it looked very big. We had to go to an ancient turf home first. It was located on the side of the mountain. It looked old. When I got there, it was really muddy. I stepped really carefully so I wouldn’t get dirty. WOW! There are so many houses covered with natural stuff. It looked so cool. There were houses made of grass, skin, and hay. I roamed around and played with my sister. I even started climbing the houses. My family took pictures on top of houses. It was really fun. Soon we walked back to the visitor center to get our car. I didn’t want to leave this place.


Private Black Sand Beach We went some place close by to Vestrahorn mountain. My dad bought a special pass to go in. When we got in, the sight was amazing. It was a spectacular sight with the clean black sand and the mountain. On the other side, there was a water body and it looked like it had clouds on it. I have never seen clouds so close to the ground. I wanted to touch it, but it was on water so I couldn’t . It was a miraculous sight. After playing around we got back into the car.
Long scenic drive That was the last destination and now we have to drive 3 hours to the hostel. In the beginning we saw lots of mountains. Wow!. Then we saw a whole lake. We went up a whole mountain. Climbing higher and higher up the mountain, we saw lots of waterfalls. I mean around 100 waterfalls all on the mountain. They all ran down the mountain and into the lake. I became hungry, and so did everybody else. We reached a little town with a Subway. We bought two 12 foot long subways for us to eat. I was full. After a long drive up the mountain and to our cottage, we finally reached. I was exhausted and tired.

Day 5 We woke up and I was ready to begin a brand new day. So far, I have had lots of fun and this trip has been a lifetime experience. We got all of our stuff and got ready. We ate breakfast and we were off again to a new place. Krafla lava Fields We first needed to go to a mountain with lava fields. When we got close to our destination, I could see lava fields and power plants producing energy from the geothermal pond. As soon as I got out of the car, I regretted it. I was super windy. Still we went up and took pictures. I kept walking, feeling tired. Then saw a clear blue shimmering lake. It was beautiful to see such a great wonder already. We had to walk up a mountain. So with adrenaline, I kept on walking up the mountain. It got windier and windier as we went up the mountain. As soon as we got to the top, I saw steam coming out of some water. It looked geothermal to me. It was so windy that I couldn’t even keep my balance. I have never felt such a strong wind. I enjoyed the sight very much. The view was splendid. After ten minutes we had to do the hardest part, go down the steep mountain. It was also hard to keep your balance. Soon the wind calmed down. Everybody started their trip, to the car. After ten minutes, we were all back in the car. On drive to Namafjall, I saw lake Myvatn.

Namafjall My sister and I saw something strange. It was steam coming out of the ground. Then I smelled sulfur. It smelled weird. I kind of liked it. Then as soon as I got out, my mom and sister complained about the sulfur smell. As soon as we got there I heard bubbling and popping sounds. It sounded satisfying. I wanted to see what it was. “ Look, Rishab come here” said my dad. I quickly hurried there to see what my dad was telling me. COOL! It was boiling mud. It was popping with lots of steam coming out. Next, I walked a little more and then I saw steam coming from a pile of stones. I think that the steam was coming from, the ground.


Grjotagja Cave I took a short time to get to the Grjotagja cave from Namafjall. When we finally got there I could see an opening. It was like a cave. I found out that a long time ago, people used to bathe in this water until it got too hot. I went into the cave with my family. My mom was scared of going inside the cave. Still we went inside the cave. It was so cool. I saw water inside that looked blue. It was also really dark in the cave. I had lots of fun. We went back out and back into the cave from another place. It was amazing because I could touch the water. It is hot. I didn’t expect that. It felt nice, the water. I liked it. We got back out. Yikes, it is bright outside! We went back into the car, to go to the Dimmuborgir lava fields.
Dimmuborgir lava fields Wow! As soon as I got out of the car, I saw so many lava formations. It was so cool to see them. We went down a path through the lava fields. It was so cool, I could see the lava formations from up close. There were so many unique formations. There was even a little cave. I had lots of fun. All around us were lava rocks. I even kept one. It was really light. I could have held 100 without it being heavy. It was like a paper. We weaved our ways through the lava fields. OMG! LOOK THERE ARE WILD SHEEP RIGHT NEXT TO US! They looked right at us. After a minute, they ran away. I never saw a wild sheep so close. I had lots of fun. There was an unique rock formation that looks like Iceland. Soon we got back to to parking lot. We got into the car to go to the pseudo craters.

Skutustadagigar pseudo craters On the drive to the pseudo carters, I saw lots of green grass. It was perfectly trimmed. It looked really beautiful. Soon we reached there. It was windy, really windy. We followed a path that led us to all the craters. It was hard to keep balance. After a few minutes, we saw a pseudo crater. WoW! It was big, also, it was green and black. I liked it a lot. On the way, we saw a lot of unique yellow flowers. My mom wanted to take lots of pictures with it. I could tell that she likes Icelandic flower fields. We went to another crater, a little smaller. Finally we reached all the craters. Today is a really windy day. We got in the car to go to the waterfall.
Godafoss waterfall As soon as we reached, I could see the great big waterfall, it looked like Horseshoe fall in Canada. I was amazed. We took lots of pictures. My family wanted to go close so we went near the bottom of the bottom of the waterfall. I could feel the mist from the waterfall. I saw lots of tourists everywhere near the great waterfall. We went to the top. I saw the whole waterfall. It was really scenic. We reached back into to car to go to the city, Akureyri. Akureyri Look at that. There are so many mountains with glaciers. There is also a big city called Akureyri. Akureyri is the second biggest city in Iceland also known as, the capital of the north. It was nice to see a city after a lots of nature. When we got into the city, first thing everybody realized was that the signal was shaped like a heart it was cool. I never have seen something like that. I also saw a lot of cruise ships in the harbor. It was a big city. I liked it. We were getting late so we started to head to the cabin.
Finally we reached our cabin. It was really nice. There was a bathroom, a kitchen, 2 beds, a couch and a table. It was like a mini house. In the distance I saw a green mountain with a big waterfall running down it. Today was very windy. Day 6 I felt that today was going to be a good day. When I woke up, I could hear a lots of wind outside. I figured that today was most likely going to rain. It would also be windy. We ate breakfast and got ready. Whoa! The wind is so strong that it is hard to even push the door open. I opened the door and we all ran to the car. We put everything in. We were ready to go. Kirkjufell When we reached Kirkjufell, it was heavily raining. We waited in the car to wait for the rain to stop. It didn’t. My mom and sister didn’t want to get wet for a mountain and a waterfall. My dad and I risked it. WoW! It looks beautiful. I could even see a rainbow. Right next to the waterfall was a great a triangular looking mountain. It looked like it was twisting. It was really windy and rainy, I was soaked in 10 seconds. We went up to what looked like a bridge. My mom and sister also came after the rain stopped.The rain finally stopped, but the wind didn’t stop. My mom and dad gave the jackets and earmuffs to Riya.Oops! Riya dropped the earmuffs. The wind blew it away, right into the waterfall. I was laughing. It was funny. My mom realized her mistake of giving it to Riya. We got back into the car, and my dad and mom’s ears were red. Soon they got better. Luckily, we packed extra hats. Djupalonssandur Beach Look at that, so many lava rocks all around us in the car. We had to stop to take pictures, there are so many. When we got to the beach, I only saw lava formations. I thought we came to the wrong place. The lava formations were really cool. I found out that a theory for the formations are that there use to be a plain field with lava underneath. Then eruptions caused the formations. After that all the lava dried up. All that was left were these cool formations. There were also the famous five stones. They were all the same size, but heavy weights. They were like 100 kg. We walked down a path that led us around the lava fields. We soon reached the beach. There were many rocks. We didn’t go all the way to the water because we were getting late. We went back up the amazing rock formations. Amazing, there is a rock formation shaped like an arch. That is so cool. We finally reached the car. I wonder, how the place used to look before the lava process.
Arnarstapi When we first got here, I saw lots of birds. It looked beautiful . They were all white. I even saw a structure that looked like it was made of stones. It was amazing. There was even a place where you could take pictures with the water. It was really fun to see the thousands of birds flying around. We got back to the car to go to a waterfall. Bjarnarfoss waterfall When we got there, I was excited, This waterfall was plummeting down. It was pretty tall. It wasn't the best waterfall, but the waterfall was nice. After a few minutes, we headed to another hostel. This was a very interesting day!
Day 7 Today would be a sad day because today we are leaving this amazing and beautiful place. Still, we have a lot to do today. Deildartunguhver I saw a lot of smoke when we reached. It was another hot spring. This one is one of Europe’s most powerful hot springs. It looks really cool. I couldn’t even see because all the mist covered my glasses making it hard for me to see. I could see the boiling water. It was all around us. I had fun. Then disaster struck. My sister had red spots all around her. It looked like an allergy. We quickly went to the car and went to get medicine. We found a town and got her fixed up. That could have been bad. As planned, we headed to the waterfalls.
Hraunfossar/ Barnafoss waterfalls When we reached there, I couldn’t see the waterfalls. We had to walk down a path. Wow! There are so many waterfalls. Hraunfossar falls has so many little ones. Barnafoss has blue water. We walked across a bridge. Amazing! It looked like the water came from the ground. What a beautiful sight! We saw a lot of tiny waterfalls. Barnafoss waterfall was also known as Children’s fall. The reason for this is that there used to be a natural bridge. 2 kids went on the bridge. A part of it fell off and they died. The mother got raged and broke the bridge so that doesn’t happen again.
I learned a lot. We got back into the car. Reykjavik Wow! “Look, it is a tunnel.”We entered the tunnel. Cool! This is the longest tunnel I have ever been in. We were under a mountain. I had lots of fun. Back in Reykjavik, I was kind of sad that we had to leave Iceland.
We visited Hallimskraja again. We also went around the whole downtown. I got to see lots of places. In one area, there was a shop field with an Icelandic sweet. It was a bread, tasting like root beer, with rose petals inside. Mmmm. It tastes amazing. I love Iceland. There are so many cool things. We went around shops and restaurants. I had lots of fun seeing the Icelandic culture. Sadly, the next stop was the airport. Keflavik Airport We reached the airport. We also returned the car. We took the shuttle. When we got out, I looked at Iceland and waved a goodbye. I didn’t want to leave this great and wonderful place. We were on the plane to Newark. Bye Iceland. The End