Visiting the Southern coast of Iceland was a surreal moment. Sterna Travel did such an amazing job at timing our stops to make sure we had enough time to take in the 360-degree views, and as a blogger, the most important thing: the ability to take lots of pictures! I’m glad I chose a tour to visit this remote side of Iceland, as I think we would of gotten lost without a guide; plus, it was nice to have someone explain to us the importance of each place.
The booking process: The booking process is super simple! All you do is head over to Sterna Travel’s website and search for the tour you want to take (in this case, ours was the Beautiful South Coast). Look at their calendar to ensure availability before booking. The price for our tour was around $120 for each adult, and kids under 9 get a free pass.
The Tour: The departure time of this tour is 9 a.m. You can expect the bus to pick you up at your hotel, 30 minutes prior the start of your tour (tip: be ready on time! They weren’t even a minute late). Ours English-speaking guide was super friendly and made jokes, which made our ride even more fun. The tour does not include any meals, so either pack snacks or have a budget to buy yourself lunch at their lunch stop location.
Our first stop was the Skógarfoss waterfall. You guys, I can’t put into words how amazing this view was. It left me in awe of how beautiful our Mother Nature truly is! I’ve never seen a waterfall up that close and personal, and despite the fact it was raining, it did not diluteour feelings of excitement about standing in front of something so incredibly majestic and gigantic. Just how high? The waterfall measures 62 m high and 15 m wide.
The second stop was the wonderful black beach of Reynisfjara. The wind was super strong when we got to this location, and it continued to rain on our parade. Our guide warned us about the super powerful waves of the beach and to stay away from being too close the shore. People have drowned when swept away there, so defintely listen to your guide. One of the many things that stood out were the rock formations at this magical place. The sand is jet black from countless years of ocean waves breaking down lava that had flowed into the water ( how cool is that!?). Make sure you camera is fully charged once you get here, because like everything in Iceland, there are plenty of fun photo opps.
Our third stop was the Sólheimajökull glacier. Getting to the glacier took around 20 minutes, and it’s kind of a hike (another con:it was raining). The trek to the glacier had pretty scenic views, luckily. And once you get closer to Solheimajokull glacier, it’s crazy what you see. The ice formation gives you chills on top of the chills you already have from the weather. The color blue of the ice formations is a blue I’ll prob never see again unless I visit this place again. As I stood there I seriously counted my blessings. I’m so happy we had a guide during our walk there. I felt safe and he made sure to keep an eye on us at all times. We visited during a day that was pretty windy, so a lot of the tours that were scheduled ahead of us got cancelled. It was a treat to kind of have the rare view of the glacier all to ourselves.
The last stop was the Seljalandsfoss waterfall – where you can walk behind the gushing stream of water! I sadly decided to stay on the bus for this portion of the trip because I was completely soaked and wet from our previous hike. I have, however, heard wonderful things about this waterfall and hope to come back in the summer one day to experience it myself.
SCDC Tip: I highly suggest booking a tour if you want to visit the South of Iceland. Also, if you visit during the winter like I did, bring a change of clothes with you and make sure you wear good quality waterproof clothes! And specialty shoes are a must. Thank you, Sterna Travel for making this amazing tour possible.
This post is in partnership with Sterna Travel . All opinions are my own.
