westman islands

There’s lots happening in Iceland right now! New whales, new museums, new spas, and much more! We’re heading to Iceland in 2 weeks to check it all out.

New Thermal Bath Opening in East Iceland

The Blue Lagoon is a hugely popular thermal spa in Iceland, attracting over a million visitors a year. (It’s amazing, but expensive.)

A new premium spa is opening this month, and it will cost you a whole lot less than the Blue Lagoon. The downside: you’ll have to venture far away from Reykjavik.

Vok Baths near Egilsstaðir is set to open in July; you can book tickets on their web site starting July 15th. The place looks wonderful, but … small? Here’s an image from their web site:

Another new-ish option around Ring Road is GeoSea in Húsavík (north Iceland), which opened last September. We’ll check both out later this month and write detailed reviews!

Oh, and if you’re up north, there’s a new museum that just opened: 1238, the Battle of Iceland. It’s an immersive virtual reality experience.

Beluga whales arrive at the Westman Islands

There are a lot of recent marine-life-related changes on the Westman Islands. In May the Sæheimar aquarium on the island closed. And the new Beluga sanctuary has now opened. But what’s a Beluga Sanctuary without beluga whales? Well, the whales arrived in June— from a park in China! The whales flew on an airplane! And not just any airplane:

That image is from Cargolux, the company that transported the whales. They customized the plane for these whales!

The whales are now safe and sound, though they are still in a 40-day quarantine. Keep up with the latest on the Beluga Sanctuary’s web site! The whales are names Little Gray and Little White. And look how cute Little Gray is! Well, they’re both cute, but I just liked this picture of Little Gray from their web site:

There are lots of puffins on the Westman Islands too!

Apparently there are more puffins on the Westman Islands this year than any year since 2007. (And 2007 is when they started recording the data!) And here’s an amazing stat from the article: “Over half of the world’s population of Atlantic puffins breeds in Iceland, or some 8-10 million birds.” The “occupancy rate” of nesting locations this year is up to 78%.

No whale hunting in Iceland this year

One more piece of whale-related news: For the first time in 17 years, there won’t be any whale hunting in Iceland this year. The article says this is due to “international pressure, virtually no domestic market and a rapidly shrinking international market have all put the squeeze on whaling.”

So if you’re visiting Iceland this summer and decide to try some whale meat, it’s likely imported from Norway!

Flybus prices increased

Flybus is one of the bus services that takes you from the airport in Keflavik to Reykjavik. They recently raised their prices. Roundtrip to and from your lodging in Reykjavik now costs 7999 ISK per adult, and 3999 per “teenager” (12-15 year-olds.) It’s still free for 11 and under. So a family with 2 adults and one child 12-15 now would pay about $160 US dollars or €141. For around that same price, you can rent a small car for 2 days! (We like Blue Car Rental.)

We have updated our post about getting from the Keflavik airport to Reykjavik.

Free spring water!

Our friends at Inspired by Iceland have launched a clever marketing campaign. They have released a tongue-in-cheek and very funny bottled water brand called Kranavatn. What’s so funny? Well, “vatn” means water, and Krana means … faucet, or tap. Tap water. Oh, and there aren’t any bottles. Icelandic tap water is literally spring water, and some of the best spring water in the world. Make sure you’re only getting cold water (the hot water can have sulfur in it), let the water run so it hasn’t been sitting in your pipes, and you’re drinking the exact same Icelandic spring water that people buy for $4 a bottle.

(From Inspired by Iceland)

The world’s most peaceful country … again … and again …

Iceland was chosen as the most peaceful country in the world for 2019. This is according to the 2019 Global Peace Index. They were also #1 last year. And the year before. And every year since 2008!

That’s all for now! Let us know if you’ll be in Iceland in July or August– maybe we can meet up! Or send any questions. Thanks!