Sightseeing in Iceland: What to Expect
Hiking is one of our favorite ways to experience Iceland, but it certainly isn’t the only one. An Iceland sightseeing tour lets you cover quite a bit of the country, and the scenery can change surprisingly quickly as you travel. You might start the day at a waterfall, walk along a black sand beach later that morning, pass glaciers along the road, and end up soaking in geothermal water before dinner. Not a bad way to spend a day in Iceland.
And sightseeing in Iceland doesn’t mean spending the whole trip sitting in the van (but, truthfully, this part is fun too!) Our Iceland Ring Road tours include plenty of time outside, and depending on the trip, you might go glacier hiking, explore a natural ice cave, go whale watching or soak in a geothermal pool. Our Iceland Knitting Tour takes things in another direction, combining sightseeing with Icelandic wool, workshops, museums and visits connected to Iceland’s knitting traditions.
One of the reasons we keep our small-group Iceland tours small is that it gives us a little more flexibility along the way. There’s time to stop at a café or local restaurant, spend a little longer somewhere when we can, and enjoy the drive. When you travel with us, you’ll also be traveling with a local Viking Women guide who knows Iceland, so you don’t have to spend your vacation figuring out the roads, weather, and logistics yourself. You can leave that part to us.
If you want to see more of Iceland without making hiking the main focus of your trip, a sightseeing tour might be a better fit. If you’re still picturing yourself out on the trail, take a look at our guide to the best hikes in Iceland. And if sightseeing is sounding more like you, one of the first things to decide is when to visit Iceland, because summer sightseeing in Iceland and winter sightseeing in Iceland can feel like two completely different trips.
Summer or Winter? When Is the Best Time to Visit Iceland?
Summer and winter sightseeing in Iceland offer very different experiences, which is why we offer both. In summer, the Ring Road takes you through black sand beaches, glacier lagoons, waterfalls, geothermal areas, green valleys and fjords, with those famously long days under the midnight sun. The extra daylight allows a more relaxed pace, with time for scenic hikes and plenty of time for stops.
Come back in winter, and many of those same landscapes look completely different. The mountains are covered in snow, waterfalls can freeze around the edges, black sand beaches may be dusted in white, and the glaciers and lagoons take on all those shades of blue ice. Winter also brings experiences we don’t have on the summer Ring Road tour, including exploring natural ice caves and watching the skies for the Northern Lights.
And winter doesn’t necessarily mean spending the whole trip bundled up sightseeing. On our Winter Wellness Retreat, for example, we head into the Highlands by Super Jeep, hike through the geothermal landscape of Kerlingarfjölls and soak in the Highland Baths. We set aside time to practice yoga, snorkel between the tectonic plates at Silfra, soak in geothermal baths, and really enjoy Iceland’s winter landscape.
So when you’re deciding when to visit Iceland, start with what you’d most like to experience while you’re here. If you’re picturing long days, green landscapes and the midnight sun, take a look at our summer sightseeing tours. If snow-covered Iceland, natural ice caves, geothermal baths and the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights are higher on your list, start with our winter sightseeing tours. Still can’t decide? We made a little quiz for that.
So, How Do You Want to See Iceland?
Now for the fun part: what do you actually want to do while you’re here? You can travel the Ring Road and experience much more of the country, spend time in the Highlands with a little wellness mixed in, experience Iceland through its wool and knitting traditions, or come during the holidays and see what Christmas and New Year’s look like up here in the north.
There’s some overlap, of course. This is Iceland, so waterfalls, geothermal water, beautiful drives and a bit of adventure have a way of sneaking into just about everything we do. But each of our Iceland sightseeing tours has its own personality, and knowing what you want most from your trip can make choosing one much easier.
Want to See More? Start With the Ring Road
If this is your first trip to Iceland and your list of places you want to see keeps getting longer, the Iceland Ring Road is a pretty good place to start. Route 1 makes a 1,322-kilometer (821-mile) loop around the country, and our summer and winter Ring Road adventures are both nine days long.
The itinerary covers a lot of ground. On the summer trip, that includes the Golden Circle, Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss, a glacier hike, black sand beaches, Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach, the East Fjords, Lake Mývatn, whale watching and the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. And yes, we finish with the Blue Lagoon.
The winter trip follows the Ring Road through a very different-looking Iceland, with snow-covered mountains, frozen waterfalls, glaciers, volcanic landscapes and those very dark winter skies.
Same island. Very different trip.
Rather Slow Things Down a Little?
Our Iceland Highland Wellness Retreats mix time outside with some very good reasons to slow down. These six-day, women-only retreats that combine hiking and nature with geothermal bathing, yoga, and good food… what’s better than that?
The Summer Wellness Retreat takes us from Reykjavík into the Highlands, with the Golden Circle, hiking around Kerlingarfjöll and Hveradalir, geothermal bathing and snorkeling between the tectonic plates at Silfra along the way. Summer also brings long daylight hours that make Iceland feel like it doesn’t particularly care what time your watch says.
The winter version keeps the same mix of movement and downtime, but now we’re doing it among Iceland’s winter landscapes. The retreat includes hiking, yoga, geothermal bathing and snorkeling at Þingvellir, with time deliberately built in to rest and recharge too.
And Then There’s the Knitting Tour…
Yes, we have an Iceland knitting tour, and no, you won’t spend the whole trip sitting inside knitting.
This seven-day trip is for women who want to see Iceland but are just as interested in the culture behind it. Led by Ásdís, a knitting designer and experienced guide, the tour includes hands-on workshops, Icelandic LOPI wool, traditional techniques, and lopapeysa patterns. Along the way, you’ll visit textile studios, meet craftspeople and dyers, and spend time at museums and historic sites.
And there’s still plenty of Iceland outside the knitting needles. The trip takes in South Iceland’s waterfalls, black sand beaches, geothermal areas and coastal landscapes. So yes, you can come home with Iceland photos and more yarn than you planned. We see no problem here.
Coming to Iceland for the Holidays?
We do Christmas and New Year’s a little differently up here.
The Christmas Adventure in Iceland is a seven-day winter trip that combines sightseeing and winter activities with Christmas markets and Reykjavík during Advent. There’s also an ice cave tour, so Christmas isn’t the only reason you’ll be heading home with some pretty good photos.
Or come for New Year’s. The New Year’s Eve Adventure is also seven days, combining winter activities and Iceland sightseeing with New Year’s Eve dinner and Reykjavík’s fireworks celebration. This one includes an ice cave tour, too.
Still Can’t Decide?
Ring Road? Wellness? Knitting? Summer? Winter? We know. There are worse problems to have.
Take our quick trip quiz and see which Viking Women adventure sounds most like you.
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