Three days in Iceland in winter: our spectacular itinerary

Iceland in winter: Our exact itinerary for 3 days in Iceland in February, including where to stay, what to see and travel tips t make the most of your time

A trip to Iceland has been one of my travel dreams for well over a decades.

I first set my wanderlusting eyes on Iceland’s otherworldly landscapes in 2001 but it is now that with the help of cheap flights and some intense travel planning I was able to make my dream come true.

I am just back from 3 days in Iceland and the country not only met my expectations but surpassed them by quite some distance.

Iceland is most simply stunning.

Asking an Iceland 3 day itinerary to fulfill a lifelong dream was a tall order.

When you dream of visiting a place for almost 20 years you want your 3 days to pack in as much as possible but you also want to have enough time to really enjoy what you see and not just tick sites off a list.

However, my itinerary did the job.

After one day in Reykjavik and 2 on the road, I left thinking this was the best way to spend 3 nights in Iceland / 3 days and if I had the change, I would do it again in the exact same way.

Here is my 3 days in Iceland itinerary. I hope you enjoy it!

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3 days in Iceland in winter: our trip

I took my trip to Iceland with a friend and we went in February .

Many people reacted with surprise to our travel dates but there are many reasons to visit Iceland in winter and our choice proved correct: Iceland this time of year is magical.

This was our Iceland winter itinerary. We:

Flew with Wowair from Dublin to Reykjavik on a Friday morning
Got a transfer from the airport to our apartments with Grayline
Stayed at Kerno Apartment
Booked a Northern Light tour
Went on a south Coast tour and glacier walk
Went on a Gold circle tour with Grayline
Went to the Blue Lagoon on Sunday night with the Grayline transport+admission combo ticket
Explored Reykjavik on our first afternoon and last morning.

Good to know! Iceland is an exceptionally popular destination also in winter and tours and activities book out fast. I recommend you book with good notice so you can secure your provider of choice and secure a convenient spot at the Blue Lagoon.

3 days in Iceland itinerary: 3 days and 3 nights in Iceland

Iceland day 1 – Reykjavik and Northern Lights

This was our travel day. We arrived in Reykjavik at about lunchtime and quickly made our way into town with the transfer we had pre-booked with Grayline.

We settled into our apartment, got dressed for the rain (there was an orange weather warning on the day and it was wild) and went for a first walk around town.

We headed towards the Harpa Concert hall, got almost knocked over by the wind and then retrieved towards the port first and Reykjavik old town next.

This is a lovely area of town with shops, cute buildings (very different from the modern ones you see on your way in from Keflavik) and many restaurants.

For the evening, we had pre-booked a Northern Lights tour but sadly the weather conditions were not good and as we wandered around town we got an email from our provider that the tour had been cancelled.

We knew this was a possibility so instead we found refuge from the rain in the city shops and restaurants and ended up having a lovely night.

Some places to try in town, according to our local guide, are Nora, Apoteke and Shalimar.

He also mentioned Glo (vegetarian) and The Sea Baron which is a casual place serving allegedly the best lobster soup in town: if you take a stroll along the port, where all the sea tour providers have ticket counters too, you cannot miss it.

Reykjavik is compact in size and you can walk to most places in the centre.

Iceland day 2 – South coast with glacier hike

This was the most adventurous of our days in Iceland, we booked a full day tour to the South Coast and it included a glacier hike!

Our day started really early with a pick up from the hotel but for once, I didn’t mind the early call.

Several friends had told me to expect stunning scenery in the South and indeed, my expectation were more than met.

The three that really made and impression on me were Skogafoss waterfall, where we saw an incredible rainbow curving along the precipitating water, the famous Black Sand beach and the glacier hike.

Skogafoss waterfall

Stunning Skogafoss waterfall is on the way between Reykjavik and Vik.

You arrive at its base but there is a good, albeit rather wobbly, staircase allowing you to venture up to where the water meets roaring its precipice.

We gingerly climbed up and the burn in our legs was most definitely worth it: Skogafoss is beautiful from all viewpoints.

The black sand beach

The other highlight of the day was the famous black sand beach.

The black sand beach: need to know.

You may have read that the black sand beach is one of the most dangerous places in Iceland.

Black sand beach in Via, Southern Iceland

I had come across that notion myself and our guide (otherwise very, very chilled) stressed how important it was for us not to get too close to water.

I could see in the eyes of our fellow travellers a skeptical ‘yeah, right’ smirk but it only took a few seconds on the beach to see why the warnings: the wavers here are huge!

And I don’t mean ‘surfers paradise huge’, I actually mean raging walls of water tumbling and crashing down on the shore.

They are stunning, powerful and a sight to behold but they do come very close (you think they don’t until one almost catches you very far from the water line) and they are not waves you want to try get out of.

There is no danger if you keep your distance but do pay attention!

Glacier hike

The last stop on our trip was also the highlight of our day: the glacier hike on Solheimajokull.

The glacier is on the way between Reykjavik and the black sand beach and it is stunning. At its base there is a glacier lagoon and you can hike onto the glacier with an easy 20 mins walk and then a short climb (no experience or any special level of fitness required but minimum age requirements apply – ours was 8).

It is quite unlike me to hike glaciers so I have this photo to show I actually did!

We booked our trip with extreme Iceland/Arctic Adventures and we met our guide at the base of the hike.

Here, we got kitted out with a harness, helmet, ice pick and crampons and off we went!

Overall, we spent about 3 hours reaching the glacier and on it. It was wonderful and it left us suitably tired for the return to Reykjavik.

The weather refused to cooperate for the Northern Lights again so we spend a second night in town.

Iceland day 3 – Golden Circle and Blue Lagoon

This day saw us packing in 2 of the most popular activities and attractions in the whole of Iceland: a tour of the Golden circle and the Blue Lagoon.

We started our day with another wander around Reykjavik.

The weather had moderately picked up and so we ventured along the seafront to see the famous Sun Voyager and Hofdi house.

The sun voyager is an evocative sculpture along the sea while Hofdi House is the location of a historical meeting between Reagan and Gorbachov.

Here, in 1986, they met in for a meeting that is said to have marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

After the waterfront, we made our way to the Tjornin Pond, which is lovely, had a look at the commercial street Laugavegur and then made our way for lunchtime pickup.

Golden Circle Express Tour

Grayline picked us up from our apartment at lunchtime and we headed off on their ‘Golden Circle Express’ bus tour. It was fabulous.

I had worried a big bus tour in a very popular location would mean crowds and impersonal experience but it was all but.

Our guide Darren was excellent and both the locations and his explanations made for a wonderful day.

I am going to write a full post about touring the Golden Circle but I can already share that we had 3 stops during our tour: Thingvellir national park, Gullfoss waterfall and Geyser.

The Blue Lagoon

We came back from our tour at about 7pm and quickly made our way to the last activity of the day: a trip to the blue lagoon.

Visiting the blue lagoon was one of my must-do activities for my visit to Iceland but I will be honest; the experience was very different from what I had anticipated!

While nothing bad happened, and I am full of praise for the place and the service that brought us there, the weather really didn’t cooperate with us and we had our ‘relaxation and pampering time’ while battered by icy cold rain in what I can only describe as choppy waters!

The darkness didn’t allow us to see anything (not sure why people recommended to us to go at night?) and while we made the most of what we had I must be honest: the best part was giggling with the other costumers about how unexpectedly cold and wild it was.

As I pointed out at a time, a good travel story (I will write fully about it and also tips on how to enjoy the blue lagoon in winter) but definitely not a relaxing time for us!

Final considerations about our Iceland winter trip

We left the Blue lagoon at closure and got back to our hotel after midnight. We quickly packed our bags for the early morning pickup to the airport.

I left Iceland at 6.45 am, eyes still filled by this country unique beauty and a steely determination to come back with my husband and kids too. This time, I won’t wait 20 years to fulfill that dream!

I hope you enjoyed my 3 days in Iceland itinerary for the winter. If you did, please do save it for future reference or share it with travel loving friends!