Compare Aurora Exploration (7 nights/8 days) by GJ Travel Iceland vs Iceland In-Depth featuring the Northern Lights by Tours of Distinction
Compare details and see what other travelers are saying.
| Trip |
5 | Excellent
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5 | Excellent
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| Duration | 8 days | 8 days |
| Price From | $ 3,755 | $ 3,699 |
| Price Per Day | $ 469 | $ 462 |
| Highlights |
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| Trip Style | Group tour | Small group tour |
| Lodging Level | Standard | Luxury |
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| Countries Visited | ||
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| Flights & Transport | Ground transport included | Ground transport included |
| Activities |
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| Meals Included |
7 Breakfasts, 1 Lunch and 6 Dinners |
6 Breakfasts | 3 Lunches | 5 Dinners |
| Description |
Keep in mind that due to narrow streets in Reykjavík City Center many hotels do not have enough space for a coach to stop outside. Walking distance for passengers can be up to 10 minutes, depending on location. GJ Travel will use a shuttle to transfer the luggage that passengers need to pick up outside their hotel without any extra charge. |
Iceland is one of the world’s ultimate islands of contrasts… fire and ice; long nights with colorful northern lights and daylight for 20 hours; glaciers and steaming hot geysers, waterfalls galore, pretty puffins, and magical elves. It is a fierce landscape of volcanoes, plains of mossy, craggy cliffs, and black sand beaches. It is an island still being formed by water, ice, and fire and closer than you believe. |
Day 1: Welcome to Iceland (50 Km/31 Mls)
Private airport transfer by coach & guide from Keflavík International airport to Reykjavík where you
spend the night.
Overnight: Icelandair Hotel Natura
Day 2: Reykjavik City Tour & Borgarfjörður Saga Valley (245 Km/152 Mls)
Meals: Breakfast and dinner
Accommodation: Icelandair Hotel Hamar
Meet your tour guide who shows the group the highlights of Iceland's exciting capital. Then we head west. Borgarfjörður is known as the Saga valley because of its many important historical events. We get a chance to climb the Grábrók volcano crater and get warmed at Deildartunguhver, Europe's most powerful hot spring which produces 180 liters per second of water that is nearly boiling - 97° Celsius. Hraunfossar is a series of waterfalls pouring from beneath a wide lava field. Barnafoss – the Children’s falls, is nearby with its own tragic tale. We spend two nights in Borgarnes, West Iceland. The afternoon includes a lecture about Northern Lights. After dinner, we step into the hotel garden in search of the Northern Lights followed by a hot cup of chocolate or tea.
Day 3: Snæfellsnes Peninsula & Fjord Cruise (250 Km/155 Mls)
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
The Snæfellsnes Peninsula “the peninsula of the snowy mountain“ just out from Iceland’s west coast, like a long arm with a clenched fist at its tip, and is in many ways a microcosm of the whole island. A rugged mountain chain runs its length. We travel to the charming fishing town of Stykkishólmur for a cruise in the Breiðafjörður fjord. After a light lunch a uniquely Icelandic “treat“ awaits us at Bjarnarhöfn, where they make Hákarl - the fermented shark. Depending on road and weather conditions, we visit the fishing village of Grundarfjörður, a place with an impressive coastline and mountains, lakes and waterfalls behind the village. Jutting out into the bay rises one of the most photographed mountain in Iceland, Mt. Kirkjufell. On the way back to Borgarnes the guide gives you some practical tips of how to photograph the Auroras as part of the Northern Lights Academy program. Naturally, once darkness falls, we are out in the hotel garden to chase the Northern Lights and to soak in the hotel’s outdoor hot tubs.
Overnight: Icelandair Hotel Hamar
Day 4: Golden Circle, Geothermal Taste & Icelandic Horses (220 Km/136 Mls)
Meals: Breakfast and dinner
Accommodation: Fosshótel Hekla
Today we travel along the Hvalfjörður fjord. The first stop is at an Icelandic wool outlet store, just to see what they do with all those sheep! We continue inland to Þingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We travel the Golden Circle route and see steam rising from the Geysir geothermal fields as we arrive. There is a variety of hot springs and bubbling pools. The original geyser is now dormant but has been replaced by Strokkur "the Churn" which erupts at 5-10 minute intervals. The chef of the Restaurant Geysir invites you to taste freshly baked hot spring bread served with Icelandic butter, geothermally boiled eggs and herring. It is best served with a small glass of Geysir Schnapps, very cold – nearly freezing. On we travel to Gullfoss, a double waterfall that tumbles 34 meters into the Hvítá River and attracts tourists and travelers in summer and winter. In the afternoon, you learn about the Icelandic horse, its special qualities and history and visit a geothermal greenhouse, before we reach the accommodation in South Iceland. Tonight, step into the darkness and search for the elusive Northern Lights, while best enjoyed from a comfortable hot tub in the garden of the hotel, amidst the peace and stillness of rural Iceland.
Day 5: Natural Wonders Of South Iceland (220 Km/136 Mls)
Today we travel along the South coast. We will visit one of Iceland's finest folk museums. This museum contains an outstanding collection of farm and domestic artifacts from Iceland's past and several turf-built houses. Nearby is Skógafoss waterfall which is 60 meters high and one of the most impressive waterfalls in the country. In the afternoon we take a stroll on the black lava beach and along bird cliffs at Reynisfjara in South Iceland. We spend 2 nights near Kirkjubæjarklaustur in the Vatnajökull National Park region, located in complete darkness and ideal for Northern Lights search.
Accommodation: Hótel Geirland
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner
Day 6: Skaftafell National Park & Vatnajökull Glacier (280 Km/174 Mls)
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner
Accommodation: Hótel Geirland
Today’s program is all about glaciers, ice and icebergs. We travel to Jökulsárlón, a glacial lagoon filled with floating icebergs, and we explore the extraordinary site and might see seals swimming in arctic waters. You can walk on the black sandy beach where large icebergs get stranded. In the afternoon we visit the tiny turf church at Hof and spend time at Europe’s largest national park, which has Iceland’s highest mountains, an alpine environment, and Europe's largest glacier. In the evening enjoy a film presentation about the Northern Lights as part of the Northern Lights Academy program. Be careful not to go to bed too soon in this remote and quiet location or you may just miss out one more chance of seeing the Northern Lights shimmering and dancing across the night sky.
Day 7: South Shore, Reykjavík & Blue Lagoon (370 Km/230 Mls)
Meals: Breakfast and Dinner
Accommodation: Icelandair Hotel Natura
From Kirkjubæjarklaustur we head across the Eldhraun lava field to the village of Vík, where we make a photo stop. The black lava beach with high bird cliffs and pounding waves is very impressive. Further west we reach the high but narrow Seljalandsfoss waterfall which plunges from the mountain. There is a trail that goes behind the falling water and offers interesting views, if you are prepared to get wet! In the afternoon we return to Reykjavik and have about 2 hour leisure time to explore Iceland's capital on our own, visit museums, do some shopping or simply rest after all this touring. In the evening we get to soak in the famous Blue Lagoon, followed by an Icelandic dinner at the Northern Light Inn Hotel and followed by one last nocturnal tour to seek more Northern Lights. Around midnight we reach Reykjavík for one last night.
Day 8: DEPARTURE HOME (50 km/31 mls)
Meals: Breakfast
Private transfer by bus (no guide) from your accommodation in Reykjavík to Keflavík airport.
Day 1 - Depart for Reykjavik, Iceland
Transfer to the airport and check-in for your overnight flight to Reykjavik.
Day 2 - Reykjavik
Arrive in Reyjakvik and head toward the famous Blue Lagoon. The lagoon is a geothermal wonder of nature, with pleasantly warm mineral rich geothermal seawater in the middle of a lava field. The high natural levels of silica, minerals and algae give the Lagoon its rich blue colour – hence the name Blue Lagoon. Later, a city tour will show us the highlights of the capital.
Welcome dinner and overnight at your Reykjavík hotel.
Day 3 - Iceland Countryside
After breakfast, we drive north out of Reykjavik and through the tunnel under Hvalfjordur, one of the country’s longest fjords. We make a visit at the Settlement Center museum in Borgarnes. We continue through the pretty lake-dotted valleys of the Borgarfjördur district where the ice-age glacier covered the area about 10,000 years ago. We will then make a brief stop at Deidartunguhver, Europe’s largest hot spring, where around 200 liters of 97C hot water flows from the earth every second. Enjoy our short stop at the beautiful waterfalls of Hraunfossar and Barnafossar in the river Hvítá before returning to Borgarnes.
Lunch and dinner and overnight in Borgarnes.
Day 4 - Iceland Countryside
The first highlight of the day is Thingvellir, the great lava arena in a rift valley, where the divide between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates is clearly visible. Founded by the Norse settlers in 930 AD in Thingvellir, you will see the world’s oldest still-existing national parliament. Get ready to visit Gullfoss, which is often described as Iceland´s most beautiful waterfall, and the famous Geyser area, Strokkur, the world´s most active, is likely to spout several times. We make our final stop at Friðheimar, known for using geothermal heating for cultivation of tomatoes and cucumbers – come and enjoy their famous tomato soup.
Light lunch in Frioheimar. Dinner and overnight in Selfoss.
Day 5 - Iceland Countryside
Today we will drive along the south coast and visit the magnificent waterfall of Seljalandsfoss. It is a narrow and high waterfall which plunges over the mountains of West Eyjafjöll. From there we head to Vík, a village east of Mt. Reynisfjall in Myrdal. In Vík and the neighboring coastline, there is a wealth of contrasts and landscapes renowned for their natural beauty. Mt. Reynisfjall and its cliffs have few rivals in Iceland for richness of vegetation and bird life and the black sand beach Reynisfjara is a large breeding colony for the Arctic tern. According to local folklore, three rock stacks rise up to 66m from the sea: Skessudrangar, Landdrangar and Langhamrar and are said to be trolls turned to stone at sunrise. Then we continue towards Kirkjubæjarklaustur, which in the old days was known as „Kirkjubær“ (Church Farm) and was an important farming village.
Day 6 - Iceland Countryside
From Klaustur, we travel along the south coast to Skaftafell. Skaftafell National Park was designated as one of Iceland´s three National Parks in 1967. Towering mountains, imposing glaciers, gulches with clear brooks and beautiful waterfalls, birch woods, a wealth of wild flowers and lush vegetation give credence to its status. The most majestic of its several waterfalls is Svartifoss (“Black Falls”) that cascade over a wall of symmetrical columnar basalt that resembles an organ. En-route to our stop for the evening, we visit glacier lagoon Jökulsárlón and the museum Þórbergssetur in Höfn. The museum is dedicated to one of Iceland‘s most significant twentieth century author, Þórbergur Þórðarson.
Day 7 - Iceland Countryside - Reykjavik
Today, we start by making a stop at the breathtaking waterfall Skógarfoss, which is 60m high and one of the most impressive waterfalls in the country. After, we experience the Folk Museum at Skógar before continuing to the power plant Hellisheiðarvirkjun for a Geothermal Exhibition about geothermal energy in Iceland.
Overnight at your Reykjavik hotel.
Day 8 - Depart Reykjavik
Say goodbye to Iceland this morning as we head to the airport for our flight. Upon arrival in the USA, transfer home.
