PART 1 | 9 days in Iceland on a S$1500 Budget (includes diving!)
- alaughingseal
- Nov 16, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 26, 2019
Iceland - the dreamiest country with its Northern Lights (if you are lucky!) and the astounding beauty of nature. A nature-seeker would love the works of Mother Nature in Iceland - the natural hot springs, the waterfalls, the craters and the standalone accommodations, with the surreal Northern Lights shining down on you.
Number of days: 9 days
Budget per person: $1500 (inclusive of diving @ Þingvellir National Park
Travel period: March 2016
Weather: Winter
Accommodation: Airbnb (many hosts out there!)
Main Activities:
"Chasing" Northern Lights!
Admiring many waterfalls
Trekking to attractions
Cooking every night and preparing for dinner and 2 meals for the next day
We (a group of 5 friends) visited Iceland on a tight budget as we were students back then. As we had the luxury of time, we did the ring road in an anti-clockwise direction- travelling along the perimeter of Iceland. Here is a map plotted with attractions (in red) and accommodations (in blue).
The accommodations were mainly from Airbnb and here's a tip for saving money: before signing up for an Airbnb account, always look out for sign up referral codes here (!!), where you can save about S$40 for each booking!
Useful websites you would need:
Day 1
Travelling to Reykjavik Airport
We flew with WOW! Air Airlines from Amsterdam Airport to Reykjavik Airport at an affordable price of about S$500. Once the 5 of us had reached the airport, we headed to the Car Rental Shop just outside the airport to collect our car. Here's what you need to take note:
Opt for a 4-wheel drive as some terrains (e.g. sand or snow) can be tricky to drive on
Opt for an auto car for an easier drive
Ensure that you buy the car insurance (accidents are possible!)
Add on for a GPS - you will need it terribly (for finding convenience stores, petrol kiosks, attractions and accommodations!)
Money-saving tip: fill the car to the maximum occupancy (5 in our case) so you can share the cost of the petrol and the car!
As we were aware about the prices of the food in Iceland, we drove to the nearest supermarket and stocked up a week's worth of food for 5! As exaggerated as it sounds, we truly bought enough food for 5 people for 3 meals a day (of course, we felt pathetic nearing the end of the trip as we were having pasta all day)!
Day 2
The Famous Golden Circle - Þingvellir National Park, Gulfoss, Strokkur
Þingvellir National Park is one of the most popular attractions in Iceland as it is the nearest to the airport and many would do day trips here. Þingvellir National Park is anglicised as Thingvellir National Park for easy googling online.
At Thingvellir National Park, you would be amazed with the clarity of the water - visibility of up to 100m! Some of us dived (S$450 per person - yes very expensive I know!) and some of us snorkelled. This was truly an out of the world experience as the water was extremely cold and you get to be between 2 tectonic plates! Despite donning on 8mm dry suits, that were supposed to cover us almost entirely, the chilly water still seeped into our suit and we were trembling underwater.
The water was so clear that we could see the seabed from the surface, it was BEAUTIFUL! In fact, watching my friends dive, while I snorkelled, was a wake up call and it made me want to take my Open Water Certification! This was truly a life-changing moment that opened up the endless underwater world for me :)
We also visited the majestic Gulfoss Waterfall, which cascades down 32m! A truly beautiful sight in Iceland. During summer, you can trek to the tip of the waterfall and get a closer look. As we went during winter, we could only descend slightly and CAUTIOUSLY to get a closer look at the waterfall.
To end of the day, we visited Strokkur - the active Geysir, which left us all in awe when it erupts up to 30m tall every few minutes. You merely needed to follow the crowd and stop at this typical spot to watch the geysir erupt! There were other smaller holes, but the sight wasn't as magnificient as the 30m sprout!
Acommodation: Eyarbakki (S$170 for 5 people)
Activities/Attractions:
Diving (S$450 per person) or Snorkelling (S$200 per person) at Thingvellir National Park
Gulfoss Waterfall
Strokkur - the active Geysir
Day 3
Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, Sólheimasandur Plane Wreck and Vik Black Beach
If I had to choose between Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss, I would choose the latter due to the higher probability of seeing a beautiful rainbow across the waterfall!
Not only that, there was a path, where you could climb up to the mouth of the waterfall and watch it flow from high above! If you have a fear of heights, I would suggest that you do not look down from above, it does look really scary!
After our waterfall adventures, we headed towards one of the most painstaking attraction - Sólheimasandur Plane Wreck. Many people have visited this attraction but what they don't tell you is HOW HARD IT WAS TO GET THERE! In the past, you could drive all the way to the plane wreck. However, what we heard was that many cars were stuck on the gravel/sand and as a result, they cordoned off the area for cars. We had to fight against the strong wind and walk painstakingly towards the plane wreck. It was 4km in and 4km out. Can you imagine the amount of time we took to walk in and out?! Many a times we wanted to give up as the plane wreck was not in sight and we did not know if we were on the right track. Thank god we saw tourists along the way and they encouraged us that it was nearing!
On the way to our accommodation - Dalshöfdi Guesthouse, we went past Vik Black Beach. Nothing much here but it was definitely cool for Singaporeans as we had never seen a beach filled with black sand before!
Did I mention that we "chased" the Northern Lights with our handy website and we got lucky!
Day 4
Skaftafell and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
Skaftafell is an area in Iceland's Vatnajökull National Park. As it was during winter time, we could not see much of its beauty, with melting glaciers. Instead, it looked pretty dull in there! During summer, you could hike in the ice caves. You can check that out!
We made the most of our own trip to Skaftafell and had fun sliding on those huge pieces of ice. We also had the coldest cooked pasta throughout the trip!
We drove towards the famous Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and we were sad to see that it looked so white, without the typical broken off ice from the glaciers. Still beautiful to a group of Singaporeans, who rarely ever see snow or ice in this magnificent form!
Accommodation: around Hofn area (Airbnb - $150 for 5 people)
Read PART 2 to find out which natural hot spring you should go to apart from the overly-commercialised Blue Lagoon!
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