Iceland Babymoon Itinerary, Tips, and Advice

I have been getting questions about our itinerary and how much to budget so I figured I'd put together a quick informative post!

Iceland is truly magical. It's so breathtaking and really hard to capture its beauty in photographs. It's something you should totally experience for yourself, but I'll try to break it down and give you some advice and tips on how to make it happen. 

Going in the fall/winter has it's benefits and drawbacks. The weather is colder but you can see the Northern Lights from September to March and the sun sets around the same time as it does in the Northeast of the States - around 4-5pm (1600-1700). In the summertime its a bit warmer and the days  are longer. The sun is out for 23 hours so you don't have to rush to beat the sunset to see the sights.

Now for getting there. WOW air is actually stupid cheap right now, where you can get roundtrip tickets for two people for around $600. Unheard of to get an international flight to Europe for this price! Different days have different prices so look into it ahead of time to see what days end up being the cheapest for you to fly there and back. You also need to pay about $10 for each seat, or more for "extra room" seats. Then there's always a tax added. Keep this in mind when booking!

Europe is a whole different world to pack for in terms of packing specific items like adaptors for outlets, grabbing funds from the ATM, or making sure you have layers for those colder weather days (a must for Iceland in the winter!). Iceland's average high even in the summer is in the high 50s and their record high was in the id 80's so they stay relatively cool. Refer to my European Travel Planning Tips and Packing for Europe posts for more info on packing for Europe.

Clothing items I packed for Iceland:

2 black tank tops

3 dark or neutral colored t-shirts

1 thermal

1 over sweater (duster)

Rain Jacket (you'll thank me later)

2 tights

2 leggings (I layered these over the tights)

1 pair of comfy pajama pants (I have these Lularoe's I'm obsessed 

with and stretches over my bump)

Lots of wool socks (I used 2 and layered them over the tights)

Warm hat

Two pairs of gloves (one thin one thick for layering)

2 scarves (one thick for outdoors, one thin for just walking around)

Comfortable bra and sports bra

undergarments

Bathing suit (for hot springs of course!)

Most days I was outdoors I wore a sports bra, tank top, t-shirt, thermal, 

hat, gloves, and thick scarf, and rain jacket with tights and leggings, wool socks, and water resistant boots. Wear your heaviest layers on the plane so that you don't have to pack them - and you're warm! I used my huge thick scarf as a blanket on the plane ride. For guys it about the same in terms of what to wear. Mike wore jeans instead of layering bottoms and he said he was fine. And for shirts he wore a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt or button down, thermal and rain jacket.

I was able to quickly and easily put together an itinerary through tripcreator.com. You can tell them what budget you're looking for and what type of trip you want and they'll give you suggestions! It's great for if you don't know an area too well and you're not sure what you can do for activities or how much they cost. It also provides detailed descriptions about each item, driving times from each spot to the next, and you can add activities in between if you have a lot of free time.

You can see my Iceland Itinerary here. We didn't stick to the itinerary exactly, but there were things we didn't do or things we added, or days we switched up due to the weather, etc. Feel free to create your own based off what you want to do!

We also downloaded CityMaps2Go in the app store because you can use this offline without wifi connection. Saved us a few times!

Next we'll move on to budgeting for a trip like this. Like I said, flights right now are unbelievably low so getting to Iceland is cake. 

What they don't tell you is Iceland is expensive in terms of food. Wool is cheap though if you're in the market for a nice wool sweater or throw. Iceland is a country of non arable land for the most part, they do have greenhouses but they need to import mostly everything. I'd highly recommend buying groceries from the grocery store since eating out can add up to about $80-$100 USD very quickly, especially if you're drinking alcohol. Definitely buy your booze at the duty free shop in the airport before heading to your accommodations in Iceland. Gas was around $75-$80 to fill the tank so that wasn't too bad if you just want go to Iceland to see the sights.

One way we saved on food costs was by finding accommodations with a free continental breakfast. HUGE! The hotel we stayed at called the Grand Hotel Reykjavik had one of the best buffet breakfasts I've ever had and it was totally worth it to not have to worry about one meal everyday while we were there.

If you're not planning to go off road, you can save by renting the cheapest car you can find. If the conditions are going to be iffy, I'd play it safe and highly recommend 4 wheel drive because there are a lot of dirt roads and the rainy season can make it pretty sloppy. Maybe even think about adding sand and ash and gravel insurance since the car in front of you may be kicking up rocks. 

You can also just book tours right from Reykjavik and avoid that cost and driving/ gas altogether! Only downside to that is you don't have any control on how long you linger at certain landmarks. If you want to see all of Icelands majesty on your own time without the groups of people on a tour bus, definitely rent a car. Iceland drives on the right side of the road so you won't have to deal with that learning curve! Make sure you get a GPS with your car rental.

Accommodations can be a bigger expense. Staying in an airbnb may be more economical and it will probably have a kitchen. You could skip the northern lights tour, and eliminate your shopping budget, and cut down your food expenses by going to the grocery store and cooking for yourself. 

There are also pretty cheap food options at food wagons around Reykjavik. There was a hot dog stand where you can get a loaded lamb dog for $4 at Baejarins Betzu Pylsur. Delicious! Apparently lamb dogs are a thing since they have far more lamb than beef or chicken. These I actually felt good about eating because they don't add any hormones or other additives like they do in the states where they are viewed more like fast food. They also have a lot of soup and noodle places throughout town. Nothing like a nice bowl of warm soup after a long cold day!

You can pass on a lot of the activities to lower costs but I would at least go to the Blue Lagoon. Yeah it's touristy but its such a nice relaxing spa experience to check out either the first day or the last day you're there. We went on the last day we were there to wind down before catching our plane back. It's only about 20 minutes from the airport so it makes it easier to do it that way. The geothermal water stays between 98-104 degrees, and pretty much powers the whole country. Mike and I thought it was great that they use geothermal energy for all electricity and heating! While you're in the water you can also swim up to their silica mud face mask bar. The silica really does wonders for your skin! Make sure you book in advance because they book up fast! You can read more about the blue lagoon in my post here.

I'll also mention that it is perfectly safe to go into the Blue Lagoon while pregnant. That was what was so great about this trip was that everything we did was pregnancy friendly. All of the sights we saw were a quick walk from a parking lot, and if you're walking around the city for a while there are benches you can sit down on to rest. And there is no Zika in Iceland! Our doctor went to Iceland while she was pregnant and highly recommended it to us.


So there you have it! 5 days in Iceland in a nutshell. Take a look at each amazing day in Iceland below!

Iceland Babymoon day 1: Touring Reykjavik

Iceland Babymoon day 2: The Golden Circle

Iceland Babymoon day 3: South Iceland

Iceland Babymoon day 4: Museums and Monuments

Iceland Babymoon day 5: The Blue Lagoon and Home