A country filled with lush green hills, volcanic rock, and so many rainbows 🌈 you think you’re going to see that pot of gold.

This was a mother daughter trip 🙂 I had told my mom I’ve wanted to go to Iceland and she and my dad went a year ago and she wanted to go back. We landed in Reykjavik, walked the streets, visited the shops, and got some food. It was cold to the bone.  So we had to buy a few more layers.

One of the places we stopped into was Brauð&co and wow, I definitely recommend getting a pastry (let’s be honest, pastries plural) here. Their shop is not easy to miss with it’s bright colors – it has such cool looking art work on its building from the outside. And the smell inside is divine…could this be my morning wake up call every day?! Yes please.

We booked two hiking trips through Arctic Adventures.  First: Landmannalaugar. Second: Þórsmörk Volcano Hike. Why? Because you need a vehicle that can handle driving through water and ice, and I wasn’t going to try doing that myself. Plus I don’t mind a tour guide.  And if you ever do go through Arctic Adventures, ask for Matt McKenna because he’s awesome – definitely the best guide I’ve ever had.

Landmannalaugar is in a geothermal area in the Fjallabak Nature Reserve. You cross over a lava field and hike up to Mt. Brennisteinsalda to see a rainbow like setting displayed in front of you. It was snowing when we went up, but gorgeous at the same time.

The next day we did the Þórsmörk Volcano hike where we went from Thorsmork valley up to Fimmvorduhals pass. You could see the craters from the eruption. Going down was a bit tricky to be honest – I fell on my butt 3 times (me and the practically everyone else) – it was steep, rocky and slippery. But the view was amazing everywhere we looked! Just don’t take pictures without stopping or you’ll likely fall off a cliff.

On the way back we saw the famous Seljalandsfoss waterfall.

Next on our agenda was to go to Snæfellsnes Peninsula where we stayed one night. It’s absolutely gorgeous there, and not a lot of visitors go. But it’s worth the journey. The roads of Iceland seem empty; you could drive for miles without seeing a car and there were a few times I would park on the side of a road and take a picture in the middle.

We saw the Lóndrangar Basalt Cliffs. And then journeyed to Kirkjufell Mountain, which was apparently featured in the Game of Thrones. Such a site!

Our last few days was spent at the Ion Adventure Hotel. Had done so much driving and hiking, that it was time to rest for a few days before heading home. We still saw some sites like the Gulfoss Waterfall and the Geysir Geothermal Area, and lots of rainbows.