Iceland: A Family Journey

Arrive in Reykjavík and transfer to your 56-room hotel on the city’s main square. Tonight, join fellow guests for a welcome dinner. The next day, explore this coastal capital, starting with an Artisan Connection at a workshop, where a local craftsman reveals the tradition of Nordic knife making. Continue to the National Museum of Iceland, Hallgrímskirkja church — with its super-tall tower inspired by lava flow — and Icelandic design shops. In the afternoon, hop on a fishing boat for a sea angling adventure. Watch and learn from local pros, who help you reel in your own catch. Make the Culinary Connection when you bring it to shore for a chef-prepared feast.

Hop on a bike and ride through the forest at Heidmork Nature Reserve. Stop to meet a real-life Viking who shares stories of the old Norse seafarers around a roaring fire. Known as both remarkable plunderers and explorers, the Vikings established a settlement in Iceland in the ninth century that marked the country's first recorded history. Check in to your 51-room countryside hotel and enjoy dinner. Begin the next day with a horseback ride on a black sand beach atop an Icelandic horse. Continue with a drive along the jaw-dropping south shore, seeing waterfalls and strange lava formations, and stopping for a walk on the beach. On the third day, board a Super Jeep for a rocking SUV tour of lunar-like Landmannalaugar, a gem of the Fjallabak Nature Reserve. Venture across lava fields and scoria deserts to contrasting green and orange mountains, stopping for a dip in a naturally warmed pool. Recount the day over dinner tonight at your hotel.

Today, set your sights on Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is both a spectacular geological rift and the exact site where 10th-century Vikings established the world’s first democratic parliament. Continue to Friðheimar, a geothermally heated organic greenhouse, for a tour and fresh lunch. Next, visit the regularly erupting Strokkur geyser and Gullfoss, Iceland’s most amazing waterfall, keeping your eyes peeled for a rainbow. Check in at your cool boutique hotel, filling up on dinner with mountains in view.

Today, travel to steaming Deildartunguhver for a look at the highest-flow hot spring in Europe. Visit the stunningly blue Hraunfossar and fabled Barnafoss waterfalls. After lunch, ride in a specially equipped 8-wheel truck on Iceland’s colossal ice cap and Europe’s second largest glacier, Langjökull. Get ready to explore when you enter its man-made tunnels, which move deep into the glacier, revealing glacial formations, winding bends, and an illuminated restaurant and chapel.

Drive to Siglufjörður, stopping on the way at Skagafjorður Heritage Museum with its sod-covered ancient houses and in small-town Blönduós for lunch. In Hofsós, it’s time for a swim in a hillside thermal pool overlooking the sea. Check in and have dinner at your new boutique hotel in a fishing village. The next day, embark on a whale watching tour from Dalvik in search of the 20 species that inhabit the surrounding sea — and that may appear right next to your boat! The rest of your day is at leisure to explore pretty Siglufjörður.

Venture to the small north coast city of Akureyri. Explore its legendary Jólagarðurinn (Christmas garden), complete with a candy-covered house. Fly to Reykjavík. Celebrate your journey with a farewell dinner featuring Icelandic dishes. The next day, board your flight home.