They flew home on Sunday, and I have been grinning about this group ever since, a 4-day private Iceland tour for two couples that just clicked.
Four travelers. Two couples. Four days. Megan and Tom, Rob and Karen. Here is the part I keep telling people: both couples were married on the very same day of the same year, years before the four of them had ever met. They only worked it out later, somewhere into the friendship, and they have been marking the date together since. This trip was that anniversary. They chose Iceland to spend it.
I met them at Keflavík when they landed and I dropped them back there four days later. In between we drove the Reykjanes Peninsula, took the ferry to the Westman Islands, looped the Golden Circle, and ran what turned into an unofficial survey of small Icelandic breweries. The weather behaved in a way it almost never does for four days straight. Warm. Sunny. Still. About as good as this country gives you.
They booked their own hotels, which suited everyone fine: Blue Lagoon Retreat the first night, ION Adventure Hotel the second, Hotel Borg in Reykjavík for the last. Everything between the front doors was mine to handle.
And the beer. We will get to the beer.
Day One — Reykjanes, and a Bakery First
One flight landed on time. The other slipped. So Rob and Karen and I sat at the airport and waited for Megan and Tom, which is a nice way to start a tour, standing around the arrivals hall making introductions while the second plane taxis in.
By the time everyone was through, four hungry people had been traveling overnight. The smart move is not to point a car at a volcano. The smart move is food. We pulled into a bakery in Keflavík and let everyone refuel before we did anything else.
Then Reykjanes. We started at Kleifarvatn, the deep lake that sits in the rift with black sand around its edge, and went on to Seltún, where the ground hisses and the mud pots turn the hillside yellow and rust.
We crossed to the Fagradalsfjall lava field, still young, the rock sharp and dark and not yet softened by moss. Gunnuhver after that, the big roaring steam vent on the tip of the peninsula. If you want the full version of this area, I wrote a Reykjanes guide a while back.
Lunch is where the trip found its theme. I took them for fish and chips at Papa’s in Grindavík, which is the best fish and chips in the country as far as I am concerned, and someone ordered a local beer to go with it. That was that. I realized by their enthusiasm and curiosity that tasting beer was going to be a running feature of these four days. No complaints from me, although driving prevented from taking part.
Then I dropped them at Blue Lagoon Retreat to soak and sleep.
Day Two — Puffins, a Volcano, and the First Brewery
Eight in the morning, out the door of the Retreat. We drove down to Landeyjahöfn and caught the ferry across to Heimaey, the only inhabited island in the Vestmannaeyjar group.
First stop, Stórhöfði, the windy headland at the south end. This is the largest puffin colony in the world, and in mid-June the cliffs are packed with them, little orange-beaked birds wheeling in and out of their burrows. The group could have watched them for an hour. If you are curious about puffin timing, I put the season details in this article.
Lunch at Næs, with a locally brewed beer, naturally. And at the end of it, two requests landed on the table. First, could we stop at the golf course shop they had spotted on the drive in. Second, and this one mattered more to them, could we get to the Brothers Brewery so they could try whatever else the island made, because the beer at lunch had won them over.
The shop was easy. We swung by on the way to Elephant Rock, the basalt formation on the coast that really does look like an elephant dipping its trunk into the sea.
The brewery took some juggling. To fit it in before the ferry, we had to drop the planned visit to the Eldheimar museum. I floated that as a question, half expecting a museum-versus-beer debate. There was no debate. The brewery won by a landslide.
Before any of that, we climbed Eldfell, the cone that tore open without warning in 1973 and nearly buried the town.
Then we came down and spent the back half of the afternoon on the brewery terrace in full sun, which is not a bad way to celebrate an anniversary.
One more thing on the way home. We came off the ferry at Landeyjahöfn and the evening light had turned gold, and there was Seljalandsfoss off to the side, lit up. Too good to drive past. So we pulled in for an unplanned stop, and the sun was hitting the spray at just the right angle to throw a rainbow across the mist at the foot of the falls. You can walk behind this one, the path loops right into the cave behind the water, and we had it in about the best conditions I have seen all year. Nobody minded the detour.
Then I dropped them at ION Adventure Hotel for the night.
Day Three — The Golden Circle, the Slow Way
Nobody wanted an early start, and there was no reason to force one. I picked them up at 10:30 from the hotel and we eased into the Golden Circle.
Þingvellir first, the rift valley where the old parliament met and where the two tectonic plates pull apart a couple of centimeters a year. Then a logistics wrinkle, the good kind. Megan and Tom had booked an afternoon horseback ride, so we needed to eat near Hveragerði and time things around it. I knew the spot: a brewpub in Hveragerði that, as it happens, also makes excellent pizza. Another long, sunny lunch. Another round of tasting.
After lunch I dropped Megan and Tom at the stables for their ride on the Icelandic horses, the small tough breed with the extra gait you don’t find anywhere else. Rob and Karen weren’t riding, so the two of them came with me to Kerið in the meantime, the old crater with the red rim and the still green water at the bottom. We circled back, collected the riders, and finished the loop properly.
Ice cream at Efstidalur, the dairy farm where you can eat it looking through a window at the cows that more or less made it. Gullfoss next, the two-step falls dropping into the canyon with enough spray to mist your glasses. Geysir last, where Strokkur goes off every few minutes and everyone still flinches when it does.
Then I drove them back into Reykjavík and dropped them at Hotel Borg for their final night.
Day Four — Reykjavík, and Goodbye
Their last morning was their own. They wandered Reykjavík on foot, did a bit of shopping, had a slow coffee somewhere. I came by late morning, loaded the bags, and drove them out to Keflavík for the flight home.
Quiet drive. The kind you get at the end of a good run, when everyone is a little sun-tired and content and nobody feels the need to fill the silence.
Why This One Stuck With Me
I run these tours for a living, so take this with the appropriate grain of salt. But the anniversary thing got me. Two couples, married the same day, the same year, finding that out long after the fact and deciding it was worth flying to an island in the North Atlantic to celebrate together. You don’t get that every week.
The other thing was how easily the trip bent around them. A group ferry tour can’t drop the museum to chase a brewery, and it can’t split four people so two can ride horses while the other two go look at a crater. We did both without anyone breaking stride. That flexibility is most of what a private setup buys you, and it is the part that doesn’t show up in a brochure. If a small friend group or a milestone trip is what you are planning, that is exactly where this kind of tour earns its keep. You can see how we put these together on the multiday tours page, or just tell me what you have in mind.
Their Words
A couple of days after they got home I sent over the photos I had taken during the tour. Megan wrote back:
“Hi Julien, Thank you again for showing us such a fabulous time in Iceland! Tom, Rob, Karen and I loved every minute of it, and all agreed it was such a special way to celebrate our anniversaries! Thank you for sharing your photos, they’re fantastic, and I will forward on to Karen and Rob.”
Best part of the job, that. Four people, one date on the calendar, a brewery terrace in the sun, and an island that decided to behave for once.
FAQ
How many days do you need for a private tour of southwest Iceland? Four days is enough to cover the Reykjanes Peninsula, the Westman Islands and the Golden Circle at a relaxed pace, with room left for unplanned stops. It suits a long weekend or a short anniversary trip without feeling rushed.
Is June a good time for a private tour of Iceland? June is one of the best months. Daylight runs close to round the clock thanks to the midnight sun, the puffins are nesting, every road is open, and warm sunny spells like the one this group enjoyed are possible, though never guaranteed.
Can two couples or a small group share one private tour? Yes. A private tour is ideal for small friend groups. The itinerary bends around the whole party, and it can even split for part of a day, as it did here when one couple went horse riding while the other visited a crater.
Can the itinerary change during the tour? Yes. Because the tour is private, stops can be added or dropped on the day. On this trip we swapped a museum visit for a brewery and pulled in for an unplanned stop at Seljalandsfoss when the evening light turned perfect.
All articles in our travel stories relate tours that we crafted and operated since Lilja Tours was founded. Clients gave us permission to use their pictures, which we appreciate because we want these accounts to be as authentic as possible. To preserve our clients’ privacy, we never use their real names.
