Iceland trip-2 day south coast tour

Start of our 2D1N tour of south coast with ice caving and Jokulsarlon lagoon. Weather report said that a storm will be coming to Reykjavík by noon time and we are lucky to get out of there by then. 

First stop will be Seljalandsfoss. Quite impressive with all these icicles around.

The snow was quite deep and so we are unable to go around behind the fall as that area was closed.

Next stop was skogafloss. 

On the right, there is a trail of stairs leading to the top of the waterfall. It’s quite a long climb and v slippery and we saw a lot of ppl struggling along the stairs. On the end, we did not go up due to time constraint and safety reason. One of the thing we realized on this trip is the importance of crampons, those spike thingy which u put on ur shoes. It’s v important! In fact, no matter how good ur shoes’friction is, it’s useless on slippery icy surface. Do invest in getting one if u ever wana come to Iceland. 

Next stop is the beautiful black sand beach with the basalt columns. The wind was blowing at abt 40km/hr...I think coz I felt like I will be blown away any moment. 

The wind was blasting hailstones at our face. It was crazy weather but quite fun also since I had never encounter such weather before.

The basalt columns were amazing! 

Inside of the cave.

I wonder how such structures can be naturally formed. Seemed quite unbelievable.

After that, we proceed to take a quick look at Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon just before the sun sets...

Can see large chunks of ice floating on the water....

After that, we check into a hotel near the lagoon called Guesthouse Gerdi. The room was v simple with no fridge, kettle or TV inside....and since there was other restaurants nearby, we had to eat dinner at the hotel. 

For dinner, in our tour group sat at a long table shoulder to shoulder with each other, almost like in a school canteen. It was quite uncomfortable....

For me, I ordered the artic char with rice while hubby ordered the Icelandic lamb with potatoes. We also order an Icelandic beer to try....in total it cost about $120 SGD! 

Definitely one of the most expensive meal we had at Iceland just for 2 mains and a beer. 

The weather was really bad that night as it rains non stop....so there goes our aurora hunting for that night with the possibility that ice caving could be cancelled the next day as the caves would be flooded....

The next morning, rain had subsided and we made our way to the lagoon to see if the ice cave would be cancelled. Luckily it’s was not cancelled. Yeah....

We climbed on board this giant wheels jeep which traveled across the glacier to our ice cave. The whole journey was v bumpy as the most of the ice has melted due to the rain and the Jeep was like swimming among the broken ice....haha...so exciting...

Into the ice cave!

It was really beautiful inside the ice cave.

Lotsa ppl inside this tiny ice cave....guess this is the only one remaining as the rest were closed....

Light from the outside passing through the ice made it look blue.




Somehow the ice look greenish when taken with my hp camera. It looks better with a SLR camera.

If only there weren’t so many ppl....

Simply amazing....so glad we get the chance to visit the ice cave! A tick of the the bucket list!

The ice caves were operated by this company called the ice explorers.

The scenery around there was simply stunning.

View of Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon in the daytime. 

Next stop is Diamond beach just located v close to the glacier lagoon.

Feels so out of this world....

One of my fave place. Quiet and surreal...

Next stop is this little traditional Icelandic house which is now a church.

Next to the church are all these graves...

Each bump is a grave. 

Next we stopped by this glacier called the Hollywood glacier as many movies were made against this backdrop. It was amazing as we are able to come so close to it.

The view was stunning! The bluish colour ice was the glacier. Wish I could climb onto it...haha...

After this, we made our way back to Reykjavik. To made up for missing the aurora hunt the previous night, our guide took us to a viewing spot outside of Reykjavik to look for aurora. When we were on the verge of giving up due to the rain and clouds again, the aurora suddenly appeared!

It started as a light greenish glimmer which became bigger and bigger when the clouds parted....we were all so excited to see it. 

It came and went out v suddenly when the clouds decided to close up after a minute. This was a good ending for my 2D1N south coast tour as I managed to see what I wanted to see. Ice caving, aurora, glacier, waterfall etc....and I think I was v lucky to be in this group where the ppl are punctual and nice. No PRC ppl in this tour, thankfully.