I travel for work more than most people would guess (well, maybe not if you follow me on Instagram), but every so often a trip comes along that reminds me why I fell in love with this industry in the first place. This was one of those. An educational trip through Iceland, technically for work, but joined by colleagues who have long since stopped feeling like friends and started feeling like family. Sal tagged along too, which is always a flag that a trip is going to be a good one. We started on land at The Edition in Reykjavik, then traded our hotel keys for a cabin on Ponant’s l’Austral, and it was a total WOW.
Reykjavik was as cute as I knew it would be, but it’s also unexpectedly lively. Cafés and restaurants spill onto the sidewalks, people seem to embrace the weather instead of hiding from it (nobody uses an umbreall!) and the whole city has this easy, relaxed energy.
But Iceland’s real theater is outside the city. Along the coast, black cliffs fold into arches and sea stacks, little crevices where puffins hide over bright blue seas and Crayola green grass frames the border. It’s the kind of scenery that makes you understand why this country produces so many stories about trolls and hidden folk.
Goðafoss lived up to its name, the Waterfall of the Gods, a wide horseshoe of white water thundering into a turquoise pool that steamed faintly in the cool air. Further inland, the landscape shifted entirely: black gravel plains, patches of old snow holding on against the summer light, glacier-streaked mountains standing guard on the horizon. It literally feels like you are on another planet, which is why it’s the preferred filming location for so many popular movies and tv shows.
If you take away only one thing from this post, let it be this: the smartest way to see Iceland is by ship, and our Ponant experience was about as good as it gets. The l’Austral feels more like a boutique hotel than a cruise ship, all soft light and gorgeous gathering spaces where we’d order a few drinks, watch for whales out the window, and get a card game or two going with friends. We spotted whales more than once from those very windows, and it never once stopped being thrilling. Because Ponant is French owned, the food was exactly as good as you’d expect. Real French butter at every meal; real cheese carts. A caviar happy hour. Spoiled doesn’t begin to cover it!
Logistically speaking, not having to drive four or five hours a day out of Reykjavik and back is a game changer. We woke up somewhere new each morning instead of losing half the day to the road, and every shore excursion was top notch. The glacier walk in particular stopped all of us in our tracks, genuinely otherworldly, blue ice underfoot and white as far as they eyes can see.
Back on land, we booked the Retreat experience at the Blue Lagoon with a private cabin, and it was well worth it, milky blue water against volcanic rock, everyone squinting into the sun and laughing about something I can no longer remember but will always associate with that particular shade of blue. And on our last clear day, a hillside gone soft and green with wildflowers, a casual photo so perfect I could 100% make a postcard from it.
Five stars, Iceland. No notes.
The quick facts
- Where we stayed: The Edition Reykjavik, then aboard a Ponant expedition ship
- Best way to see the country: by small ship, hands down, no daily driving out of Reykjavik and back
- Don’t miss: Kirkjufell and the Snæfellsnes coast, Goðafoss, a glacier walk shore excursion, the Blue Lagoon Retreat with a private cabin
- Best for: travelers who want Iceland’s capital, coastline, and highlands in one trip, without losing days to the road
Rebecca@Wanderology.com 