A short trip to Iceland: Why not, actually? I have to admit, this kind of travel always felt a bit flat to me, simply because I had never really thought about it. But when more and more questions on the topic reached me in the chat of the Iceland App and our Islandliebe Facebook group, I thought to myself: This is worth a proper summary article.

No sooner said than done: Here we go…

Northern Lights & Aurora on a Short Trip to Iceland

Topic number one in this case: Northern lights

And because I find the topic so fascinating — and the answer to it genuinely important — I want to start with it right here. Again and again I was asked when the best time to fly to Iceland is in order to see the northern lights. The question wasn’t about a season, though, but about specific days and times of day. Once I was even asked at what time in the evening the northern lights get “switched on”. Dear reader: Sadly, that’s not how the aurora works 😉

If you come to Iceland for a short trip with the goal of seeing the northern lights, you are a great optimist and hopefully very tolerant of risk, because the odds are not particularly high even during peak aurora season. That’s mainly down to the weather and especially the cloud cover over the island. Even if the northern lights are highly active in the north of the country, for example, a thick blanket of clouds in the south can block the view entirely. You can always drive a few kilometers to dodge the clouds, but that option is fairly limited too.

By now I know quite a few people who saw the northern lights during a 1–2 day stopover, but I know at least as many who didn’t get to enjoy the aurora during a 2-week round trip.

In short: A short trip just for the northern lights is not something I’d recommend. Rather see them as a bonus if you’re planning to visit Iceland for a short time anyway.

Short Trip to Iceland in Winter

We’ve already written a few lines about Iceland in winter, but this section is specifically about short trips. So what do you need to keep in mind?

Above all, the weather when it comes to planning and timing: Again and again I receive travel plans where the last day consists of the drive from Akureyri in Iceland’s north to Keflavik airport in the southwest. According to Google Maps that’s easily doable within a day, even with 1–2 longer breaks. In winter, reality can differ from this theory by miles: Snow and wind can turn the trip not only into an ordeal — depending on the weather, the journey can even become dangerous or has to be abandoned entirely because of road closures.

In spring 2015 I was once stuck on Snæfellsnes for several hours because a storm was raging along the west coast. On the way back to Reykjavík I passed several overturned cars and trucks: Luckily, a gas station owner had advised me to wait until the worst was over!

So if you’re planning a winter short trip to Iceland, definitely keep an eye on the weather forecast and plan your excursions so that there’s no time pressure: If you’re at risk of missing your return flight, you might take a bigger risk and set off instead of sitting out a storm. That can end in a ditch — or worse.

3-Day Short Trip in Iceland

For most people, a typical short trip is probably a journey of 2–3 days, so I’d like to share a few tips for that here. I’m assuming 3 relatively full days, meaning arrival in the morning of the first day and departure in the evening of the last.

For this time frame I would recommend staying in the Reykjavík area and not undertaking any bigger tours. I’d see the maximum distance at the Jökulsarlon glacier lagoon or the Snæfellsnes peninsula in the west. Anything beyond that would personally mean too much time in the car for me and too little time exploring.

First, the question of a car: If you’re traveling alone, you’re well advised to take bus tours. They’re offered by the dozen from Reykjavík and cover all the destinations we’ll recommend over the course of this article.

If you prefer to explore on your own or are traveling with a partner, family or friends, a rental car in Iceland is a perfectly good option. From two people onwards it’s usually cheaper compared to bus tours. It’s definitely more comfortable and more flexible. In winter, absolutely consider a 4×4 vehicle.

Sights on a Short Trip in Iceland

Within three days we recommend a mix of the Reykjavík area and one other region, for example Iceland’s south coast or the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

The first day is perfect for the Golden Circle. It’s offered as a bus tour from Reykjavík by various operators and is also easy to reach by car. Depending on the season and length of daylight, you can also explore it in the afternoon, for example. In winter you only have a small window of time and should plan accordingly.

The Golden Circle is, depending on how you approach it, a half-day to full-day trip. If you like to move fast, you can comfortably cover it in 4–5 hours. If you take 6–8 hours, you can add a few extra stops, and if you want to make the most of the long summer days, you can easily spend 9–12 hours in the region.

On the second day we would recommend a full-day trip along the south coast or to Snæfellsnes. Both need a bit more time than the Golden Circle. Putting this excursion on the second day makes sense because you have more buffer if problems arise: If the weather turns while you’re standing at the Jökulsarlon glacier lagoon, you can simply decide to spend the night in a nearby hotel instead of having to drive through a storm because you need to catch your flight.

On the third day you can take your time exploring the city and head back to the airport by bus or rental car in the evening. No matter what the weather is like, you can almost always get from Reykjavík to the airport. The city offers plenty of smaller sights like the Sun Voyager, Harpa, Hallgrímskirkja, Perlan, Whales of Iceland and much more. There are dozens of small cafés, restaurants and bars. Street art and even whale watching tours. The Old Harbour of Reykjavík is a treasure trove for travelers!

5-Day Short Trip in Iceland

On a 5-day trip to Iceland you have considerably more buffer, and in this case we recommend either a small excursion into the highlands or an overnight stay in the northwest. The trip planning is basically the same as for the 3-day trip, but you can now easily stretch the visit to Snæfellsnes over two days, and the same goes for the journey along the south coast.

Another option is to make a detour from Snæfellsnes into the region around Reykholt. Besides the ice cave of Into the Glacier, you’ll also find Iceland’s largest lava cave there and several beautiful waterfalls. You can easily spend a whole day here — in fact, you’ll more likely need two to split up the activities sensibly.

If you’re willing to take some risk, a stay of 5 days also allows you to plan a visit to the Vestmannaeyjar. You can combine it with the trip along the south coast, for example. But you should absolutely keep in mind that it is, after all, a group of islands, and your journey back depends entirely on the weather: Neither the ferry nor planes will take you to the mainland when it’s storming. So definitely schedule this excursion for the beginning of your trip.

What you should not do on a 5-day trip to Iceland: A round trip around Iceland. Even though it’s theoretically doable and you’ll probably find a few trip reports about it online, I will explicitly not recommend it here. Not only do you spend more time in the car than in nature, you also unconsciously put yourself under time pressure. That can get really dangerous, especially in winter, which is why I strongly advise against it. Ideally, you should allow 10 days or more for a round trip. I did my first round trip around Iceland in 7 days and for me that was OK, but that’s certainly a matter of taste. In my opinion, 5 days are too short.

Weekend Trip to Iceland

A weekend trip is really tricky in my view, assuming Friday evening to Sunday evening: 4 hours of flying, one hour into the city — that’s already 10 hours gone just for getting there and back (in Iceland, mind you). So you essentially only have a day and a half: All of Saturday and half of Sunday. That’s enough to take a quick look at Reykjavík, eat well and visit the Blue Lagoon on the way back.

There are certainly people who do this, but I’m definitely not going to recommend it here, and for many reasons: For one, that’s nearly ten hours of flying for less than 72 hours on the ground, and the impact on the environment is, in my opinion, completely out of proportion to the trip. If you want to read up on this a bit, Ute from Bravebird has written a few lines on offsetting flights. Besides, for me it has nothing to do with an Iceland vacation: You see nothing of the country, you don’t meet anyone except flight attendants and hotel staff and… Well.

Like I said: Not something I’d recommend. Even a stopover should be planned for 2–3 days in my opinion.

Booking an Iceland Short Trip as a Package

You can book short trips to Iceland as a package with various providers — you’ll find the usual suspects all over the internet. I can’t say anything about these trips yet, but I hope to change that in the future and will of course gladly share my experiences with you then.

Until then, a purely theoretical view: I think package tours nowadays have a worse reputation than they deserve. My parents grew up with this way of traveling, and booking a rental car on their own was something only business travelers or rich people did in their eyes. I, on the other hand, have never booked a single package tour in my life and have always put my trips together completely by myself. That’s probably because I grew up with the internet, which makes research extremely easy.

A while ago I took a look at package tours and noticed that they are often not only very affordable but above all anything but boring or strictly regimented: With the Iceland trips I found, you’re often only offered the flight, a rental car and accommodations. Not only can you often choose the building blocks yourself, you can also customize them quite individually.

But like I said: Hopefully more on that soon in an article of its own!

Conclusion: Short Trip to Iceland

Once more, short and sweet: For a travel time of 2–5 days I would recommend focusing on the capital region and taking day trips to Snæfellsnes, along the south coast, to Reykholt or the Vestmannaeyjar.

I advise against a round trip along the entire ring road, as you should rather allow 7 or, even better, 10+ days for that.

In winter you should definitely be careful with the weather and, if necessary, build good buffers into your planning. And, as always in Iceland, a suitable rental car is enormously important!

If you still have questions, feel free to leave us a comment and we’ll try to help!

Have fun in Iceland!