TOUR ITINERARY - 4 NIGHTS

Day 1: WELCOME TO ICELAND (50 km/31 mls)

The Flybus shuttle brings travellers from Keflavík International Airport to Hotel Cabin in Reykjavík where you spend one night. We provide you with ideas on how to explore Iceland’s capital on your own.

Accommodation: Hotel Cabin.

Day 2: REYKJANES PENINSULA, BLUE LAGOON AND CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS (220 km/137 mls)

At 09:00 meet your tour guide who will show the group the Christmas spirit of the capital and the Reykjanes Peninsula. At the end of the day, we get to soak off our travels in the warm blue waters of the famous Blue Lagoon. We stay for two nights in simple cottages in South Iceland.

In the evening we celebrate Christmas the Icelandic way. Before dinner, we join a guided bus tour to visit the Christmas lights in the villages of Hvolsvöllur and Hella. The traditional Christmas lights had their origins in the Middle Ages when people needed to keep the lights in their abodes during the Winter Solstice. In Iceland, the tradition finds its roots in the Pagan Old Norse beliefs when people would keep the fire alive inside the central pit of the Viking longhouses to keep the darkness of the Winter Solstice outside.

Your festive 4-course dinner starts around 20:30 and is served at Árhús Restaurant on the river banks in Hella, which is a small village in South Iceland. Drink a toast of sparkling wine as you enjoy a real special Christmas Celebration.

Accommodation: Árhús Cabins..

Day 3, 25.12: SOUTH ICELAND (200 km/124 mls)

After breakfast, we head along the South Coast and get out near the active volcano that is beneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier. We stop at the high but narrow Seljalandsfoss waterfall, which plunges over the mountain. There’s a trail that goes behind the falling water and offers impressive views if you are prepared to get wet! Further east we visit one of Iceland’s finest folk museums. This museum contains an outstanding collection of farm and domestic artifacts typical of Iceland’s past, as well as turf-built houses. Nearby is Skógafoss waterfall which is 62 meters high and one of the most impressive waterfalls in the country.

In the afternoon we offer an optional glacier walk on Sólheimarjökull’s glacier tongue. If you book a trip without the glacier hike, the tour continues further south where you walk on the famous Black Lava Beach at Reynisfjara, observe the Cap of Dyrhólaey and the Reynisdrangar Sea Cliffs before visiting the charming village of Vík.

If the night is clear, you might be lucky enough to see the Northern Lights swirling in a wild and carefree dance across the heavens in dramatic shapes, colors, patterns and sizes.

Accommodation: Árhús Cabins.

Day 4, 26.12: GOLDEN CIRCLE AND CULINARY EXPERIENCE AT PERLAN (210 km/130 mls)

Today we travel on the Golden Circle route. You see steam from the Geysir geothermal fields as you arrive. There are 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. You continue to Gullfoss “the golden falls”, a double waterfall that tumbles 34 meters into the Hvítá river, and attracts tourists and travellers in summer and winter. We travel inland to Þingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site before returning to Reykjavík for one night. Overnight at Hotel Cabin. The program includes a culinary treat at a panoramic restaurant located at the Pearl in Reykjavík. The menu is: Traditional Icelandic fried bread and whipped butter, pumpernickel; Cured and smoked salmon, cured goose breast & accompaniments; Glazed leg of lamb, creamy wild mushrooms & carrots & Columbia crème brûlée, dark chocolate, pistachios & bilberries.

Accommodation: Hotel Cabin.

Day 5, 27.12: DEPARTURE HOME (50 km/31 mls)

Individual transfer by Flybus airport shuttle from your accommodation in Reykjavík to Keflavík Airport.

CHANGE OF PROGRAM: Itineraries may be subject to change at short notice during severe weather conditions and certain outdoor activities/day trips may be canceled during the winter season in Iceland. In these rare cases, where situations of force majeure apply, excursions/activities cannot be refunded but the local guides will try their best to find reasonable alternatives where and whenever possible.

NOTE: Accommodations are subject to change.

Departures for 2023 SOLD OUT!

Why not experience a Christmas city break instead? NORTHERN LIGHTS CHRISTMAS BREAK 2023

Travel Dates: 23.12.2023 - 27.12.2023
Group Size: 40 people max

The price is from £1,595 per person based on 2 people sharing a double/twin room or 3 in a triple room
Solo traveller: £1,695
*Subject to availability

Please note upgrade to comfort package is available including 3 star hotel in Reykjavík and the countryside.

This includes:
- Return flights from the UK including hand luggage, taxes and fees
- Arrival & departure airport transfer by FLYBUS Plus shuttle (no guide)
- Fully escorted 3-day bus tour with an English-speaking guide/driver guide
- 4-nights accommodation, (2 nights at budget accommodation Hotel Cabin and 2 nights at Árhús Cabins) in rooms with private facility
- Daily breakfast
- 4-course festive dinner on the 24th of December
- Fine dining at culinary restaurant on the 26th of December, incl transfers
- Blue Lagoon, entrance and use of towel included
- 4k cinema at Lava Centre
- Northern Lights program during 2 evenings
- Use of winter & Northern Lights Explorer equipment: simple non-slip snow & ice grippers spikes for shoes and a flashlight that is helpful when walking in the dark and operating your photo camera at night
- Free Wi-Fi on the bus
- Financial Protection (ATOL)

Not included:
- Optional Excursions
- Travel Insurance
- Anything else not specifically listed under "this includes"

Upgrades

- Comfort upgrade available to 3 star hotel

All Iceland cooperates with airlines that offer direct, scheduled flights to Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland. When making a holiday enquiry, please state which airport you wish to fly from. We can offer a package with or without flights. When you book a holiday package including UK flights, your holiday will be fully ATOL Protected.

Flights to Iceland

Icelandair, full service airline: London Heathrow and London Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin to Keflavík Airport (KEF).
PLAY, low cost airline: London Stansted, Liverpool to Keflavík Airport (KEF).
British Airways, full service airline: London Heathrow to Keflavík Airport (KEF).
easyJet, low cost airline: London Gatwick and London Luton, Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh to Keflavík Airport (KEF).

Flights to Iceland, Akureyri

easyJet: London Gatwick

Domestic Flights in Iceland

Icelandair: Domestic flights between Reykjavík Domestic Airport (REY) to Akureyri, Egilsstaðir, Ísafjörður, Vopnafjörður, Grímsey and Þórshöfn.
Fugfelagið Ernir: Domestic flights between Reykjavík Domestic Airport (REY) to Vestmannaeyjar, Höfn, Húsavík, Bíldudalur and Gjögur.

Flights to Faroe Islands and Greenland

Atlantic Airways: Edinburgh to Vagar Airport Faroe Islands.
Air Greenland: Copenhagen to Greenland.
Icelandair: Reykjavík Domestic Airport to Faroe Islands and Greenland.