Explore Switzerland and Iceland in 10 Days

Switzerland and Iceland June 2017

After our Canadian adventure of crystal blue lakes, snow capped mountains, brisk nights camping under the stars, encountering wild bears, elk, and mountain goats, and of course difficult yet rewarding hikes, we knew we had to step it up a notch the following summer. It would be very difficult to contend with Banff and Jasper National Parks. You can read our itinerary for that trip here. After much deliberation, we decided on Switzerland and Iceland for the summer of 2017.

Flights

The first step in planning any trip - especially a multi-country trip is finding flights. After your flights are set in stone, that is when you can begin searching for Airbnbs, hotels, cabins, hostels, campgrounds etc.

We booked very affordable flights through Icelandair. Icelandair flies to and from many countries, but you must layover in both directions. You can find a list of all of the airports Icelandair flies to here. The amazing part about flying through Icelandair is that you can choose to layover in Iceland for up to 7 nights! It’s the perfect way to squeeze in an Iceland adventure.

We found it to be more affordable to fly to Switzerland first and then we laid over for 5 nights in Iceland on the way home. With all of the flights logistics out of the way we could get to the fun part of planning our trip.

Airbnb

We were able to stay in a very affordable and beautiful ski resort apartment located above the Bellevue Axalp restaurant in Switzerland. We had a breathtaking view overlooking Lake Brienz. This was a good location for us because we were right in the Swiss Alps and most of our plans involved hiking which leads me to my next point.

Car Rental

Many blogs will tell you not to rent a car in Switzerland because it has the most efficient train system in the world. That may be true, but if we did not rent a car, we would have been stranded in many places and unable to get to others on our list. In short- ask yourself this question before deciding whether or not to rent a car: “Do we want to travel off the beaten path and go hiking in the Alps, or do we want to only explore cities?” If you want to do any hiking at all... rent a car. If you would like to stay in an Airbnb at a ski resort...rent a car. Chances are it is going to be a very long drive up a steep mountain, to get to your house, and you will not feel like walking it. My other suggestion would be to talk to your Airbnb host and see what he/she recommends.

How to make the most of 5 days in

Switzerland:

Day 1: June 20th

• Flew into Zurich

• Picked up our rental van in the airport

• Spent a few hours around Lake Zurich before starting the 2 hour drive to our Airbnb

• There are restaurants around the lake and we even got up the courage to go swimming in the chilly, yet beautiful and spectacularly clean lake.

• Arrived at the Bellevue and settled in for the night in our gorgeous apartment.

Day 2: June 21st

• In order to make this trip an unforgettable one, we decided to expand our horizons beyond hiking.

• We started our day by going to The Switzerland Mountain Coaster - definitely a fun and beautiful way to begin the day. We took the gondola up to the Mountain Coaster to save some time and then hiked back down to our car - meeting some friendly cows along the way.

• Next up, 4pm Paragliding reservation with Airtime Paragliding in Lauterbrunnen. If you are able to stomach heights and the adrenaline rush of paragliding in the Swiss Alps this is definitely the company to do it with! All of the instructors or “pilots” were incredibly skilled, funny, and calm.

Day 3 : June 22nd

• We had discussed the idea of hiking the Hardergrat trail before sunrise so that we could make it to the peak by sunrise. Most blogs you read about Hardergrat say that it is doable. After we discussed it and weighed in the dangers of hiking an unknown ridgeline trail we decided to wait and hike it during the day. Boy were we glad! The Hardergrat trail is nothing to joke about. There are no trail maps for the hike because of how dangerous it is and they do not want to promote it.

• We caught the 10:10 train from Interlaken Ost which brought us up to a restaurant/lookout point called Harder Kulm. That is where our hike began. We had no idea what to expect or how long it was going to take to make it to the one peak called Augstmatthorn.

• It took us over 5 hours to make it to the first peak. At the time, we believed we made it to Augstmatthorn! After doing some research we now know it was called Suggiture - but wow, was it beautiful. We could have spent hours at the peak just taking in all of Switzerland’s magnificence. We decided to turn around there and make our way back down the narrow and steep trail. It took us about 3 hours to make it back to Harder Klum.

• Previously, we bought lunch vouchers with our train tickets, but we obviously missed the window for lunch so we were unsure if the restaurant would still take them. The manager was so kind and I think she could tell how exhausted and sunburnt we were and she allowed us to use them towards our dinner! Such a nice surprise. We ate a great dinner and drank “The World’s Coldest Beer” all while taking in the scenic summit views of the town of Interlaken located in between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun.

• Hardergrat was one of the most difficult, yet rewarding hikes I’ve ever done. If you are in decent shape, you are patient, and looking for an amazing view - Hardergrat is for you. Just be very careful!

Day 4: June 23rd

• The historical city of Bern.

• If you are traveling to Switzerland you 100% need to visit Bern.

• The city is very bike friendly - almost everyone rides bikes.

• We rented bikes for free and road around to explore the city.

• While we were riding around we noticed a whole bunch of people floating down the river in front of the capitol building. The water looked so refreshing and it was now our mission to figure out how we could join in.

• We headed up the river to see where everyone was jumping in and many people were jumping off a bridge so that’s what we did! It was higher than it looked and most of our feet touched the bottom of the river when we jumped in. We were swept downstream so quickly and it was a little challenging to get out - but so worth it! We jumped in a couple of times and then decided to call it a day.

• We got dinner in Interlaken at a hostel called Balmers Biergarten. It was delicious and we were surrounded by people our age who were visiting from all over the world. Such a cool experience.

Day 5: June 24th

• Grindelwald - this town has a gorgeous and upfront view of snow capped mountains.

• We did something a little different here too - called Trottibikes.

• We purchased the “Trottibike scooter adventure at Bort with a train journey” tickets.” It is a train ride up to a beautiful lookout where we lounged, took pictures, got some coffee and snacks, and then got our trottibikes and scooted down the mountain! These bad boys flew! So much speed. It was such a fun excursion and definitely worth it for the amount of laughter we had going down the mountain.

• We journeyed back to Interlaken to spend the night in town.

Day 6: June 25th

• Travel Day

• We stopped in Lucerne - walked the covered bridge, got breakfast, and drove to the airport to return our rental car.

• Next stop, Iceland!

How to make the most of 5 days in

Southern Iceland:

Airbnb in Iceland

• Depending on where you would like to explore should determine where you want your main post to be. We collectively decided to spend our 5 days in Southern Iceland so we rented an Airbnb in Selfoss. The following itinerary will follow our travels through southern Iceland.

Day 1: June 25th

• Travel Day

• Before leaving the airport we did our duty free shopping.

• We had seven people in our group and rented a car that fit seven people, so we really didn’t have any extra room to buy much in the airport. We limited ourselves to a few bottles of wine but the airport is definitely the place to get any alcohol. Read any blog and I’m sure they’ll all be in agreement that drinking in Iceland is very expensive.

• Picked up our rental car

• Settled into our Airbnb

• Covered the windows with towels because of the midnight sun and got an amazing night sleep.

Day 2: June 26th

• Planned all our meals for the week and went grocery shopping at a Kronan. It is very expensive to eat out in Iceland. For example, a burger and fries may cost around 4,000 ISK which converts to about 40 USD. A personal size pizza may cost around 2,000 ISK which is about 20 USD. A beer at a bar cost us 1350 ISK which is about 13.50 USD. It’s safe to say we only got one drink when we went out later in the week.

• Since we were traveling on a budget we decided to buy most of our food in a grocery store which turned out to be a huge money saver! The prices in Kronan were pretty reasonable. One thing to keep in mind is that even though the grocery stores are very similar to ours, everything is written in Icelandic. Luckily, the people there were very friendly and helped us translate because everyone speaks English as a second language.

• On the way home from grocery shopping we stopped at Kerið crater. You had to pay 400 ISK to get in (4 USD). It was pretty - but not necessarily worth it.

• Our Airbnb host told us about an inactive volcano that was in walking distance from the house. We could see it from our backyard. We decided to explore that next. Unfortunately, we never got the name of the volcano. Wherever your Airbnb is, ask your host for neat places to explore around there. Those are usually places that are not crowded with tourists.

• After the hike, we made dinner and ventured off to our very first hot spring hike - Reykjadalur Valley.

• Reykjadalur Valley was amazing! The hike was not too challenging, and it was beautiful. We began the hike around 8pm and reached the hot springs around 8:30. You can see what the natural hot springs look like below. We found the perfect size pool right away. It was big enough, deep enough, and warm enough for all 7 of us. We stayed and enjoyed the surrounding beauty until 11:30pm! Gotta love the midnight sun!

• There are little walls that acted as “changing rooms” all along the hot springs. Due to the air temperature you’ll want to change out of your bathing suit and into warm dry clothes for the hike back down.

Day 3: June 27th

• Seljalandsfoss Waterfall - filled with tourists, but very impressive. It’s a great stop. There is also a hidden waterfall that you can walk to from Seljalandsfoss called Gljúfrabúi Waterfall.

• Gljúfrabúi translates to canyon dweller.

• It is more of a private viewing because only a few people can fit inside the canyon at one time. Amazing! You’ll want to have your rain gear with you to see this waterfall. There is no avoiding the mist inside the canyon. And watch your step, the rocks are quite slippery!

• Next stop, Vik.

• We visited Black Sand Beach in Vik which was another out of this world experience (que Jurassic Park music). First, we traveled through the town of Vik and found a more private beach with some hiking and we ate our lunch on top of huge grass covered boulders. I cannot find the name of this beach. We did a lot of random exploring throughout the week which lead us to some of the best places.

• Eventually, we made it to the famous Black Sand Beach with the basalt columns. There were many tourists here as well, but we got a lot of very cool pictures with the rocks. Also - just be careful about getting too close to the water. Apparently, it is known for unexpected surges and has taken a few lives.

• Our last stop for the day was Seljavallalaug. This is another “hot spring” that felt more like a “lukewarm spring”. From our experience, especially in comparison to Reykjadalur, I really would not recommend this excursion to anyone. It was about a 10 minute walk from the parking lot, the pool was filled with algae and not very warm, and the changing rooms were very dirty. It did look like there could be more hiking done in that area, but after getting out of the water and feeling tired and cold by that point, we were ready to head home for dinner.

• We arrived home around 11:30pm again. The constant daylight really threw us off the entire week! We stayed out late and slept in most mornings.

Day 4: June 28th

• Þingvellir National Park - A historical site and a national park. Þingvellir housed Iceland’s Parliament from the 10th - 18th centuries.

• Þingvellir is also where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart to create a rift valley that we can see on land.

• We wanted to visit Þingvellir because it is a (UNESCO) World Heritage Site and because of the rift valley. It was beautiful, but we did not have to spend much time there to see most of it.

• Next, we wanted to make it into Reykjavik to experience eating out and to see the sights in the city. It was about an hour drive into the city but definitely worth it! We saw the Harpa Concert Hall, The Sun Voyager sculpture, the Hallgrímskirkja church, and breezed in and out of shops. We had a great time exploring the city.

Day 5: June 29th

• Zodiac Boat Tour at Glacier Lagoon - another must do!

• There are many different types of tours that you can do at Glacier Lagoon but the Zodiac Boat Tour was amazing and worth the extra money. It was 9800 ISK for an exhilarating and private boat tour that takes you extremely close to glaciers. It was incredible! Our tour guide was very friendly and knowledgeable.

• After the Lagoon tour we made our way to Skaftafell National Park. This was a breathtaking park which included moderate hiking, waterfalls, and a bird’s eye view of a huge glacier.

• The church that we visited in Reykjavik was modeled after Skaftafell waterfall in Skaftafell National Park. As soon as we saw the waterfall, we could see the resemblance.

• The hike up to see the glacier was fairly easy with a beautiful panoramic view of Iceland the entire time.

• The hike was a loop which made it a nice decent down to the parking lot.

• Our night consisted of packing up and getting ready for our flight home the next day.

Day 6: June 30th - the sad day

• Drove to the airport

• Dropped off the rental car

• Flew home to JFK