What to Do with an Early Arrival in Iceland
Arriving anywhere at 5 am can be a little jarring, but I highly recommend you land early in Reykjavik if you can and take advantage of all the things that you can do with an early arrival in Iceland. In fact, you may not have a choice, as many flights coming from the United States are of the overnight variety. There’s something exhilarating about the early morning hours in a vibrant city though. It’s like you know some secret that no one else does. It’s like you have this entire slice of urban paradise all to yourself.
What to do With an Early Arrival in Iceland – Arriving in Reykjavik
Top Tip – Stop at Duty Free when you land!
Sure this feels a little odd, dare I say a bit derelict at 6:00 in the morning, but you’ll save a ton of money by stocking up for the week rather than going to happy hour every day. For us, we got 2 bottles of wine, a 12-pack of light beer, and 3 different 4-6 packs of seltzers/canned cocktails for ~ $77. Compare that to drinking out where you’re spending $7+ per beer or $12+ per cocktail and it’s clear how much you can save.
Top Airport Transfers
One of the most obvious and important things to do with an early arrival in Iceland, is get to Reykjavik! After stocking up in duty free like the booze bags we are, we grabbed our checked bag (no issues there, by the way) and naturally, got picked out by customs to search all of our stuff. A quick explanation of our itinerary later, we wandered outside to find our Flybus shuttle into Reykjavik. Despite it being very early there was enough friendly staff to direct us to the correct bus and help us with our bags. The ride into Reykjavik is roughly 40 minutes on their comfy coaches and costs ~$33 per person. You can choose to be dropped off at the central bus station or at/near your hotel which makes it even more convenient.
This is a great place to book your hotel/airport transfers…
Top Hotels & Accommodation in Reykjavik
I booked Hotel VON specifically after reading reviews that highlighted the helpful staff, and I am happy to report that those reviews were spot on. We knew it would be far too early to check in, but at minimum, we’d need to store our bags and take advantage of a cozy lobby to swap layers and get our bearings before we went out exploring. The front desk agent kindly took our things and informed us that the guests in our room had already left for an early flight, so an early check-in was very possible closer to 10 am.
What to do With an Early Arrival in Iceland – Where to get Coffee & Breakfast?
Braud & Co. boasts the “best cinnamon rolls in the country” and I think “the world” is more appropriate a claim honestly. We got there at 6:30 am as they opened their doors. I am now truly spoiled and pastries will never be the same for me. Straight from the oven is the only way I want to eat a cinnamon roll from now on. Warm, gooey & perfect. When looking for what to do with an early arrival in Iceland, one easy way to kill time and acclimate to the time zone is get started with the most important meal of the day!
16 Frakkastígur, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
How To Spend a Morning in Reykjavik
After dropping our bags at the hotel and refilling our water bottles, we were ready to kill 3-4 hours before we could, hopefully, check into our room. I was slightly concerned that most things would be closed or unapproachable but I tried to do as much research as possible in order to be prepared when we arrived.
Hopefully this list helps you to spend less time researching, so you can feel at ease with what to do with an early arrival in Iceland! I started by making a list of all of the sights I most wanted to see and photograph. If one of your goals is to get stunning photos without other humans, this is the time to do it!
Stop #1 – Sun Voyager
“Sun Voyager is a dreamboat, an ode to the sun. It symbolizes the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.”
“Sun Voyager was built in accordance with the artist’s hand-drawn full-scale plan. Its irregular form involving flowing lines and poetic movement, a distinctive feature of so many of Jón Gunnar´s works, makes it seem as if the ship is floating on air. It reaches out into space in such a way that the sea, the sky and the mind of the observer become part of the work as a whole.
As a result, Sun Voyager has the unique quality of being able to carry each and every observer to wherever his/her mind takes him/her.”
Sólfar
A dreamboat? Undiscovered territory? Seems absolutely fitting for the adventure that lay ahead of us. As night turned to day, the inky blue sky allowed those pinks and purples and rays of sun to peek through. Seeing this unique piece of art at sunrise was a perfect first stop.
Sæbraut, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
Stop #2 – Rainbow Road & Hallgrímskirkja
Locals on Skólavörðustígur Street used to paint their street to show support for the LGBTQ community. Since 2019, it has been a permanent fixture, popular now amongst visitors too. Sometimes, you just gotta do it for the ‘gram, much to your boyfriend’s dismay. I couldn’t pass up the empty streets for a little photo shoot here with the towering Hallgrimskirkja and the autumnal trees.
While the largest church in Iceland is not open at this hour, it makes for a nice photo op with few persons, but I definitely recommend going back later.
Stop #3 – Reykjavik Harbor & Þúfa
We still had some solid time to kill before we crossed our fingers and hoped our room was clean so we could pass out (I had been awake for over 24 hours at this point), so we headed towards the harbor. Meandering through the streets, I was easily entertained by the colorful buildings and plentiful street art. I also took numerous mental notes of bars and restaurants to return to later for happy hour. Eventually, we found ourselves in a strange, industrial, seaside area which felt like trespassing and reeked of fish, but we persevered and were rewarded with a sweet gray kitty who followed us the rest of the way to…Þúfa.
Þúfa or “that hill Michael was willing to ‘die on'”, is actually a piece of art designed by Ólöf Nordal in 2013. Not sure if we would have made it out there if it hadn’t been a sunny day and we hadn’t had so much time to kill but I’m glad we did it. Besides the hill itself, the spot gives an awesome view of the mountains and the waterfront (Harpa is especially good-looking from this angle).
After this, we walked the 2.8 km (roughly 1.7 miles) back to the hotel and we were rewarded with a very very early check-in.
In Summary – What to do With an Early Arrival in Iceland
The bottom line is, there’s a surprising amount to see, do and even eat first thing in the morning. You have no need to worry when planning your trip. Use this guide so that you know exactly what to do with an early arrival in Iceland.
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