Iceland: Day 6

My final day in Iceland. I spent the day just going around Reykjavik. I left my stuff at the left luggage booth in the SBA bus terminal then started thinking whether I still wanted to take aany of the half-day tours offered in the capital. There’s a Puffin Express tour that lasts only an hour - you go on a boat and get really close to these very colorful birds. I decided not to take that tour since I had seen puffins already (albeit not up close and personal) and I instead opted to take a riding tour.

There are a few tours offered where folks get to ride the famous Icelandic horse, and some of these tours don’t require any riding experience. The main reason I wanted to take this tour is that the Icelandic horse is famous for providing riders with a very smooth and comfortable ride. Unfortunately, when I called them, they were apparently fully booked already. So that meant I had a slow day (finally!) to go around the city.

I made my way to the Sólfar (Sun Voyager), a unique sculpture created by Jón Gunnar Árnason. My book didn’t mention it, but since I kept seeing it in postcards so I swung by the Tourist Information Center to ask where the sculpture was.

My flight was departing Reykjavik for Copenhagen at 1am the next day and the last bus to the airport was at 10pm so I had lots of time left. I spent the rest of the day looking for and buying souvenirs. I had gone over-budget already, so I was just thinking of getting a few little trinkets like magnets and key chains. But I figured it would be a long while before I would ever get to visit Iceland again, and Iceland t-shirts aren’t exactly the easiest to find anywhere else in the world. So I decided to get a shirt for myself, my mom, and my two nephews.

Here's a summary of all my Iceland blog posts:
Day 1: Blue Lagoon and Hallgrímskirkja
Day 2: Glacier Lagoon Tour
Day 3: Whale-Watching in Reykjavik
Day 4: The Golden Circle
Day 5: Trip to Dettifoss and the Jewels of the North tour
Day 6: Last day in Iceland

However, if I had to do this trip over again, I’d make a couple of changes in my itinerary and have the following instead:

Day 1
Go around Reykjavik and visit the Blue Lagoon via (Iceland Excursions)

Day 2
South Coast & Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon tour

Day 3
Take the Gulfoss and Geysir Express, then take the last flight to Akureyri. This is about a thousand pesos cheaper than the Golden Circle Classic and you get to visit practically all the same places that you see in the Golden Circle Classic as well. The only two places you skip are the Nesjavellir Power Plant and the Skálholt church, which I personally think you can miss. The Gulfoss and Geysir Express also takes about 2-3 hours less, so you end up being more rested

Day 4
Jewels of the North tour

Day 5
Take a whale-watching tour and spend some time going around Húsavík
As I mentioned, Húsavík is apparently the best place in Iceland to see whales. And taking this tour from Akureyri would actually take less time and money than taking the Ólafsvík tour from Reykjavik.

Day 6
Go around Akureyri in the morning, fly back to Reykjavik at around lunchtime, then take one of the Icelandic Horse riding tours in the mid-afternoon.

So now I just spent six amazing days in Iceland. But my holiday wasn’t over yet. Next stop: Austria!