First off, thank you all for your sweet comments on my post last week. For me, blogging has always been so much about the community that comes with it, and the comments on last weeks post was a good reminder of the amazing community I am lucky to have on my site!
If you follow my Instagram then you already know that the past few weeks have been very snowy and cold here in Iceland. Before you say anything, I know I know, I live in Iceland, doesn’t this mean snow and chilly temps are to be expected??
I would answer that back with a yes, and a no.
In Reykjavik, where I live, it is not a guarantee that you will get lots of snow over the winter. In the mountains or north of Iceland most definitely, but not so much here in the city. But these past few weeks we have had snow storm after snow storm, and the temperature hasn’t been above 0 C in days which is very unusual for Reykjavik.
But thanks to the freezing temps this means that all that snow has stayed nice and fluffy outside.
Thankfully our little Viking is loving playing out in all the snow, we can’t get him out of the house these days without his sled in tow. So before the temperature warms up just above freezing making the snow a slippery mess we made sure to make the most of the beautiful winter weather with a a countryside escape to spend the weekend playing in the snow.
Before we go on there is one very important fact about Icelanders you should know…
Cabin trips are a big deal to Icelanders.
Many Icelanders own their own countryside cabin and escape to it whenever they can. For those of us that do not own our own charming cabin just yet we take advantage of renting a cabins through our labor unions.
Side story. The demand for these cabins is high, especially during the summer and Easter holiday. Demand is so high in fact that you have to wait for the unions to open up their application for a cabin during this time, and then try and be one of the first to apply to better your odds of getting a cabin. In case your wondering, I have never been successful with my cabin bids, maybe this summer will be there year.
It’s no wonder everyone wants to rent a cabin, I mean, just look at how charming these cabins are…
Somehow I have only had one other Icelandic cabin experience during my 5 years in Iceland. I won’t complain too much about this because that cabin trip is when H and I got engaged.
But back to our recent cabin trip adventure.
For our cabin trip we decided to stay in a cabin area near the beautiful Laugarvatn. Only 80 km away from Reykjavik, I highly recommend this area for visitors who want to be near the main attractions of the Golden Circle, but still far enough away to enjoy the peacefulness of the Icelandic countryside.
And the road trip views on your drive out from the city, they aren’t too shabby either.
Note to self, wash car windshield before roadtrip.
We had big plans to spend our weekend walking out in the snow, soaking in the hot tub (most cabins have one, they are a def must for a cabin trip!), and checking out the Golden Circle sights in their winter beauty. Unfortunately (or fortunately because the sun was shining) the weather took a very chilly turn that brought temperatures -10 C and colder, not exactly ideal weather to be outside for long periods of time with toddlers in tow.
But, these little ones are Vikings, so playtime in the snow for at least a few minutes still had to happen.
Our little guy clearly got his love for the snow from his Dad, but I love that he is such an outdoor lover.
Even though it was nice and crisp outside our little ones had a great time playing in the snow, I am pretty sure little H’s sled is going to end up being our best purchase of the winter.
I’ve never mentioned this on the blog before but we are really lucky to have several little ones close to our little Viking’s age in H’s family. H has a twin brother and a sister who is my age. The three siblings all had their first kids in the same year, all being almost exactly 6 months apart, with our little man being the middle guy.
This means family gatherings are absolutely chaos, and a blast at the same time. And spending a weekend all together in a cute, but little cabin with toddlers running around, it was motivation enough to get my winter gear on and let the kids burn off some energy in the cold.
The beautiful views just outside our cabin didn’t hurt either.
We spent a lot of time playing inside this little igloo. Thanks to the previous visitors who built this, our little ones loved it!
After some morning playtime in the cold it was food and nap time, which basically sums up our cabin routine. Play, eat delicious food and then take a nap, it was a schedule I could definitely get used to.
Yet another tell of our little one’s Viking blood, he loves his Icelandic skyr. In case you are wondering, this was actually a much cleaner face than he usually gets when he eats his skyr.
Once everyone had rested we bundled up again, but this time to head out for an adventure to some of my favorite stops in the Golden Circle area.
Stop number one, Efstidalur Farm for ice cream, because in Iceland it is never too cold for ice cream.
I have mentioned Efstidalur Farm’s a few times here because I have a serious love for their salted caramel ice cream. Trust me, it is the best ice cream in Iceland, even our little man agrees with his mama.
Note to self, next time don’t offer to share with this little man, apparently salted caramel is also his favorite, he wouldn’t touch his dad’s coconut ice cream but was all about mine.
Beside the ice cream we also came to Efstidalur for the little ones to say hello to the farm animals. Little H is all about any book with animals in it at the moment, he loves running around the house making different animal sounds. As soon as he saw the cows he was running around making mooing sounds laughing away.
An outdoor lover and animal lover, he is definitely our little boy.
Our farm visit kept the kids entertained for longer than we expected (you never know how long something will keep a toddler happy for!) so by the time we left the farm we only have time for one last stop before it was dark out. Some of our group went to Geysir, but my Viking and I had to head to Gullfoss for a waterfall selfie.
Just like the old days when we used to spend our weekends chasing waterfalls all over Iceland.
I’ve seen Gullfoss a few times in the winter, but never have I seen it this frozen over. Nature is so crazy, and beautiful, the dark picture (it was almost nightfall) doesn’t do it justice. You just have to trust me, and then book your ticket to come seen the frozen Gullfoss in person.
The rest of our cabin trip was spent snuggled up in our warm cabin, enjoying games once the little ones went to bed, and sitting in the hot tub watching the Northern Lights dance across the sky.
It might of been a bit colder than we hoped for, but it was the perfect cabin getaway with our family.
If you are planning a trip to Iceland and are interested in staying in a charming cabin yourself here are a few resources to check out:
Bungalo and VisitIceand.is both have cottages from all over Iceland that you can search. There is an option to search by the region you will be traveling to as well.
For cottages in the south of Iceland use Icelandic Cottages.
If you are looking for a great cottage to stay in the north west part of Iceland I highly recommend Hvammstangi cottages. I stayed here one year for my birthday and have been trying to think of a way to get back up this way again.
For a more unique cabin stay check out Hey Iceland. They list both charming cabins, but also accomodation on Icelandic farms where you can get a real insider experience to countryside life in Iceland.
You can of course also use booking websites such as booking.com. to find cabins in Iceland.
Question of the Day?
Would you be up for a cabin trip when visiting Iceland? What time of year do you want to visit Iceland, winter or summer?
