Visiting Iceland with Kids! Our South Coast Itinerary

We did it! We put our kids’ adorable passports to use and went on our first international adventure to Iceland!

Why Visit Iceland with Kids??

Iceland appealed to us because:

• It is a relatively short and direct flight (~6 to 6.5 hours) from Chicago
• Geothermal pools! The temperature may be in the 50s, but the outdoor pools are open and heated to perfection.
• Cool/different nature to learn about and/or explore, like glaciers, waterfalls, volcanoes.
• The 20+ hours of summer daylight meant we could explore at our own pace, without having to rush around, which sounded amazing for a vacation.
• Puffins! I mean, my kids are 4 and 6, so this is actually a big plus. 😀

Our 7 Night Itinerary: Reykjavik & South Coast

Below is the outline of where we stayed and what we did while staying there (or stops we made driving in / out of those areas). It worked well for us! I’ll get more in-depth on each segment, but hopefully this helps someone start planning :

• 2 nights in Reykjavik
  • Blue Lagoon
  • FlyOver Iceland
  • Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur hot dog stand
  • Rainbow Road & exploring on foot
  • Perlan Museum
• 2 nights in Ásólfsskáli
  • Golden Circle
    • Thingvellir National Park
    • Laugarvatn Fontana
    • Efstidalur Dairy Farm
    • Bruarfoss Waterfall
    • Geysir
    • Gullfoss Waterfall
  • Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
  • Sundlaugin Hvolsvelli (swimming pool)
  • Icelandic jumping pillow
• 2 nights in Kirkjubæjarklaustur
  • Vik Lava Show
  • Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach
  • Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon boat tour
  • Diamond Beach
  • Svínafellsjökull Glacier viewpoint
  • Sundlaugin Kirkjubæjarklaustri (swimming pool)
• 1 night in Sandgerði
  • Rútshellir cave
  • Selfoss Old Dairy Food Hall 

My approach for picking our accommodations was to plan out what things we might want to see and what our farthest out point would be, and then picking places that would make it drivable to get between those places without being too exhausting.

That may sound obvious, I know, but some areas of Iceland are sparsely populated and don’t have a ton of options for cottages, so it was a little challenging!

Here’s a visual of where we stayed (and how we spaced out our lodging):

More to come

Soon, I’ll break down each leg of our journey, including what our 4 and 6 year olds liked best about our Icelandic adventure, as well as how we packed for a week in Iceland in the summer!