Iceland Day 2

 Nov 3, 2025

Hotel: Aurora Igloos, Hella

Our plan was to meet for breakfast at 7:30 and then hit the road to travel the Golden Circle. Sarah woke at 5, and online it seemed like the aurora was strong, so she dressed and went down to the Sun Voyager sculpture to see if it was visible. Alas, there was too much light pollution to see the aurora, but the sculpture and harbor lights were beautiful. 

After a good breakfast at Bon in our hotel lobby, we grabbed coffees for the road and headed out of town. We made the short side trip to Pórufoss waterfall. For a while we were the only ones there. The sun hadn’t yet risen, and dawn’s colors lit the sky behind the falls, a beautiful start to the day. Our next stop was the Almannagia Gorge in Thingvellir national park, a site where North American and Eurasian tectonic plates come together, creating a split. We hiked along the rift on a sometimes slippery trail between basalt cliffs to Öxarárfoss waterfall, not terribly impressive after Pórufoss, but pretty. Our third stop was to see Geysers. The first one startled us with its eruption which goes off every 5-8 minutes. We waited to see it erupt a second time (a smaller eruption), then walked past small geysers and thermal pools to a viewpoint. It started getting windy. We went to Gullfoss and walked down to the viewpoint in strong, face-freezing winds. The volume of water was remarkable and the falls were extensive, well worth the trip. Our last natural sight for the day was Kerið Crater, a volcanic crater filled with water. Again it was very windy, but the light from the sinking sun was beautiful. We took the short trail, shielded from the wind, down to the water’s edge. It looked like there was very thin ice forming on top.

We stopped for dinner in Selfoss before heading to the Aurora Igloos in Hella for the night. We are sleeping under clear domes in plastic igloos that are charmingly laid out and furnished, including with heaters, electric lanterns, curtains for privacy, cozy beds with views of the sky. It doesn’t seem like a promising night for the aurora, but we took pictures of the night sky, fiddling with camera settings. We are prepared in case the aurora makes an appearance.