Day 4 - Travel Day to Akureyri, Iceland - September 3, 2025

**if you don’t have time to read today’s blog skip to the bottom for a surprise**

Road Trip to Akureyri, Iceland

We wanted to get an early start to the day since we had a 5 hour driving day ahead of us! We grabbed some little pastries and yogurt from the cafe downstairs before heading out to our first stop. The chocolate muffins were to die for.

Things to Do in Northwestern Iceland

Our first stop was less than 5 minutes down the road, the famous Kirkjufell Mountains and Kirkjufellsfoss. This was a very short but iconic filming location for Game of Thrones. They use it twice to represent land beyond the wall, it’s the location for the creation of the first White Walker! There were also horses just across the street so Taylor was happy she could get close to the wildlife.

We started the drive out of the Snæfellsnes Penisula but first stopped at the same visitor center to use the restroom and grab gas for the first time. Not going to lie it was nerve racking filling up gas in a rental car in a foreign country for the first time! Once we got filled up we continued for another hour or so to the Daníelslundur Forest. There was a short but beautiful trail through the trees we enjoyed, not a single other tourist there!

We were starting to get hungry on the drive to the next stop and saw a sign for a cafe inside a gas station. We knew there wouldn't be another food stop for the next couple hours so we decided to give it a chance! What could go wrong, right? Well actually it was delicious! Taylor got a ham and cheese sandwich serviced with pineapple in it and I got the chicken sticks which were great but very oddly prepared in a panko crust. We had a lot of road ahead so we scurried along to the mysterious waterfalls. We hit our first cloud and my goodness I had to drive very slow, I had such little visibility!

We saw a thread only about these two hidden waterfalls a short hike off the main road in the middle of no where in northwestern Iceland, so we decided why not lets give it a try. We parked at a guesthouse to begin our trek to the hidden waterfalls. There was absolutely no one within 10 kilometers of us, not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing! We walked down the dirt road passing the sheep and horse (there was a baby!) until we saw a sign on the post with an arrow saying stairs to waterfalls. Stairs to waterfalls? What possibly could that mean! Yes that is correct, there were wooden stairs over the barbed wired farm fence.

After we got over the fence we continued along the little valley until we heard the sounds of rushing water, and there it was the first mystery waterfall! It was really cool to see from above but there was already a beaten path walking down the side of the hill to get to the top so obviously we went down. This was such a unique and special experience since there was no one anywhere around. It was freezing though with the wind whipping around.

We had heard there was a second waterfall if we continued down the river so we gave it a shot. You couldn't see it around the corner but the second waterfall was probably only about 500 yards away. This one was way more powerful which was awesome. We ended up getting quite wet because we were at the bottom and the wind had picked up. We set up the phone for a self timer photo and as I ran up to stand beside Taylor she decided to jump in my arms with ZERO warning. As you can see we both fell on our butts and yes the rocks hurt.

Hotel in Akureyri

We hiked all the way back to the car and hit the road to check into Hotel Akureyri, it was going to be about a 2 hour drive. It rained most the time but at least we didn't hit any more clouds. The hotel was cute, had good wifi and no sulphur water showers! Check in was a bit odd, we had prepaid for the room but the receptionist didn't even bother asking for an ID or credit card or anything, when we told him our name he just handed us the keys.

Dinner in Akureyri

We walked a couple blocks down the road to get dinner at Mulaberg Bar & Bistro, and to say this was our best meal yet would be an understatement. I got arctic char topped with prosciutto on a pumpkin puree, and Taylor opted for the grilled pumpkin steak, we both cleared our plates. Of course we needed to get dessert so got a simple chocolate cake but the vanilla bean ice cream was the best part.

Forest Lagoon, Akureyri

We ended the night at the Forest Lagoon, a geothermal spa just outside of Akureyri. This is a newer lagoon, very similar to the popular Blue Lagoon or Sky Lagoon but a third of the price! There were two large thermal pools, a cold plunge pool, two swim up bars and a dry heat sauna. We got a blue raspberry & 7up slushy to cool down in the hot water and it was very yummy!

NOW FOR THE SURPRISE!

The drive from the lagoon to the hotel was about 5 minutes. We left around 11:30pm and it was pouring down rain. Obviously since there were swim up bars some guests were partaking in alcohol, but we were not one of them. However the local police did not know that. No less than 45 seconds after I turned out of the parking lot a cop car pulled out and turned his light on signaling for me to pull over.

As the officer approached the car Taylor and I were trying to figure out what I could have done, unless he was pulling me over for going UNDER the speed limit. I handed him my drivers license and asked what happened and he replied "We are checking the conditions of our drivers tonight, Have you had anything to drink?" I replied no. He then proceeded to ask if I could blow into a breathalyzer, I did with no problem and passed with a perfect score!

He told me we were all set and to have a great night. I very politely asked if I could take a selfie with him and he said no. I promptly drove away and did not look back. We later researched the laws in Iceland and the legal limit to drive in Iceland is only a 0.02, where in the US it is 0.08, thank goodness I didn't even have one drink!

That's all for today, hopefully we don't get pulled over tomorrow!

Ben :)