December 29: Welcome to Reykjavik
Arrive at Keflavik Airport where you will be met by your guide and transferred to your hotel for a four night stay.
December 30: Reykjavik City Tour
Today you will go on a Reykjavik city tour. Weaving your way through narrow alleys framed with old timber houses you will learn about the life of the city from its very beginning to the present day. The tour passes the harbour, the
University, Hallgrimskirkja Church and a photo stop will be offered at Höfði house,where the Reagan/Gorbachev summit meeting took place in 1986. The rest of the day is free for you to explore, shop or take one of the many optional day tours
on offer. These tours may be booked and paid in advance, prior to departure from North America, or can be reserved and paid locally. Your tour guide will have information on the various tours available for that day.
December 31: Gullfoss and Geysir
After breakfast you head out of the city and drive over the highland plateau of Hellisheiði, arriving at the geothermal town of Hveragerði. This town is known
for its greenhouses. You continue to the picturesque Kerið, a lake-filled extinct volcanic crater. Onwards and explore the other worldly hot spring area of Geysir
with its multi-coloured pools of water and mud. Strokkur, the main geysir
spouts to a height of about 25 metres and erupts at about 5-7 minute intervals.
After lunch you continue on to the mighty Gullfoss (the Golden Waterfall), perhaps
the most beautiful in the country. You walk around the falls where the river Hvitá tumbles 32 meters in a double cascade. If the falls are not frozen and the sun is shining you are likely to see a rainbow through the massive spray that forms. On
the way back to Reykjavik a stop is made at Skálholt, the site of an ancient bishopric, and for centuries Iceland's main cultural centre.
This evening there is an early transfer from your hotel to Perlan restaurant, high above the city, where you will have a festive dinner buffet. After dinner you will be taken on a guided tour called "Brenna Brenna" by the locals, which is a tour of various city
neighbourhoods where you will see bonfires burn and hear people singing to celebrate the coming New Year. After the tour of approximately an hour and a half tour you are taken back to Perlan where sparkling wine is served and you can view the spectacle of the fireworks that light up the night sky. Why not work off your dinner
on the dance floor? Transfer back to your hotel around 2:00am. Transfers will
start running at 12:30am for those who wish to go home a little earlier.
January 1: Bessastadir and Blue Lagoon
We drive to Bessastaðir - the official residence of ¬the President of Iceland - and visit the church built in 1777 with its beautiful ¬stained glass windows. Then we pass the picturesque¬ town of Hafnarfjörður and continue to the Blue Lagoon. We put our swimsuits on and go bathing in the Blue Lagoon, a natural geothermal pool in the middle of a large and dramatic lava field. The Blue Lagoon, an oasis in the lava owes its existence to a nearby geothermal power plant, looming large over the aqua tinted waters. We stop for 1 hour for a refreshing bathe or a swim in the pleasantly warm mineral-rich water, reputed for its healing properties. In the evening is a 3 course included at Grand Hotel Reykjavik.
January 2: Farewell
Transfer without guide to Keflavik Airport for your flight home.
