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A web site visitor asked for a one week touring plan with a small child. Here is a sample itinerary, with minimal driving. This won’t take you more than about 2 hours from Reykjavik.
Day 1:
Option 1: Reykjanes Geopark. This will get you to some amazing sites on your first day.
Option 2:
Reykjavik. Relax, walk around if you’re not exhausted from the flight. Take a nap early if needed, or try to stay up until 6 PM and then crash. Consider the Laugardalur area: Reykjavik Family Park and Zoo, Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculpture Museum, Laugardalslaug thermal pool. Those are all just a couple minutes drive from each other, but it’s about 10 minutes away from the main downtown harbor area.Stay in Reykjavik.
Day 2: Golden Circle. See what sounds good from our Golden Circle with kids post.
Day 3: Westman Islands. This is an unusual recommendation, but I loved the Westman Islands. I think the 35 minute ferry ride is a great adventure for kids. This can be a day trip, or you can stay overnight.
See my Westman Islands with kids guest post.
Be sure to visit the aquarium to meet and pet the puffin. Or consider the bus tour with Eyja tours, which includes a visit to the aquarium.
Day 4: Head east toward Vik. Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Skogafoss waterfall (both right off of Ring Road), Reynisfjara and Dyrhólaey. Stay in or around Vik.
Read up on the “sneaker waves” at Reynisfjara!
Day 5: Drive back. See The Icelandic Horse Center, and Kerið crater if you missed it on the Golden Circle. Stay in Reykjavik.
Day 6: Reykjavik harbor area. Do a Whale Watching trip. (See our tips for whale watching in Iceland.) Visit the Whales of Iceland museum beforehand. (Be sure to consider the family ticket!) Icelandic Fish and Chips for dinner; explore the little Volcano House attached to it. Maybe a hot dog at the hot dog stand.
Day 7: Visit the Blue Lagoon in Grindavik.
If you have time, see Keflavik (the town near the airport). Visit the Viking Museum, and the settlement zoo next door.
And check out the Keflavik harbor area, including the Gaintess in the mountain and the sculpture by the water.Then back to the airport- it’s only about 10 minutes away from these parts of Keflavik.
Let me know what you think, or if you have questions!
I am just getting through all of your posts and so grateful – we are headed to Iceland for 8 days the first of September with a 4 year old and almost 2 year old. We plan to stay in an area near Reykjavik for the majority of the time and I was considering staying near Vik for the other part. Do you recommend any specific areas near Reykjavik to stay? We plan to do an Air B&B. Also, do you think Vik is a good second place to stay and how many nights do you think would be good there?
Hi- thanks for reading! I do think that Vik is a good home base for the south coast. It’s very close to Reynisfjara and Dyrhólaey. I would stay for 2 nights? But mostly I like having a night where the whole family didn’t have to unpack ad repack!
You could also stay further east if you wanted to, closer to Kirkjubæjarklaustur. That may make more sense if you wanted to head out to Fjallsárlón and Jökulsárlón glacier lagoons.
Unfortunately, sometimes the answer for where to stay on the south coast is “wherever you can find a place.” September should be better than the summer, but your south coast house should be one of the first things you book.
Good luck, and have fun!
I updated the Day 5 link to Fakasel, the Icelandic Horse Park. Fakasel appears to be out of business. See our new post about Icelandic horses.
Hi- glad you found it useful! Yes, there are a lot of options to make it as laid back as you want. You could skip the Westman Islands if you think the ferry ride wouldn’t be good for the kids, and have plenty of time to explore the south coast.
Just make sure you book lodging soon if you haven’t already– it’s tough to find places on the South Coast.
Have a great trip!
Many thanks Eric. I have booked Reykjavik Residence Hotel for the week – gives us a ‘home base’ and somewhere to come back to each night.
Hey Everyone!
We are about to take a trip to Iceland (my brother is getting married there!) and will be travelling with our twin boys who have just turned two. We’ll be there for one week.
We are staying just outside Reykjavík and have rented a car and we plan to explore the Golden Circle and South Coast in between the marital festivities. Whilst both our boys love to explore and run around, we were thinking of taking their push chair because they most likely will run out of battery during the day.
Can anyone comment about push chair accessibility to the attractions on the Golden Circle, as well as place like Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss? Also are these main attractions well secured for young children to visit? Thinking some sort of barrier would suffice!
Any information would be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks,
KatyHi Katy!
Plenty of locations in the Golden Circle and South Coast are accessible with a push chair. (By the way, I assume you’re from the UK and that a push chair is what we call a stroller in the United States.)
But, locations are not “child proofed” for young kids to visit and run around. For example, at the Geysir geothermal area, there is at most a low rope separating you from very very hot water. Here’s a sample image:
That’s right next to the walkway; if your children are likely to run off and explore, you’ll need to keep hold of them, or keep them in the stroller!
Seljalandsfoss and Skogafoss are both very visible from the parking lots, and so you won’t have trouble getting close to them, with or without strollers. But you can walk behind Seljalandsfoss, and it’s a slippery path that again isn’t child proofed. Iceland expects you to be responsible for yourself (and in this case your kids!)
So, you’ll be able to get to most everything on the Golden Circle in a stroller; park in the lower parking lot at Gullfoss to avoid the huge set of stairs. But you won’t want to let the kids run free!
Hope that helps.
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