Iceland with Kids. Southern Iceland. Part 1.
This article details an Icelandic trip we took with our two children (ages 1.5 and 4 years) for five days in August 2015. Our full itinerary (with maps) can be found here.

The Black Waterfall
Our 7 hr Iceland Air flight left Seattle at 4:30pm on a Friday and deposited us at 7:30am, local time, on Saturday morning. We picked up our rental car and munched on a few bagels that I’d brought with us. We arrived on a Saturday and it’s worth noting that most grocery stores don’t open until at least 10am, so bring enough food to get you (and the kids) through those first few hours.
Our first stop was Iceland’s famed Blue Lagoon, which is conveniently located near the airport. The BL is probably the country’s biggest tourist trap yet the idea of warm water and white mud proved to be too great for our family to resist.
A friend and her family went to Iceland a few months ago and her take was that the BL was overpriced and a bit gimmicky, but in the end, worth the experience. We concurred with her assessment exactly and it proved to be a nice way to shake off the grogginess that too many hours on a plane will inflict on a person.
Plus they had white silica mud that you could smear all over your face and that’s always a draw, right?

Some people spend all day at the lagoon, as there is a restaurant, bar, and massage available onsite. For 45 Euros, you need to get your money’s worth, right? Bring your own towels and slather the provided conditioner into your hair before jumping in the pool. Even so, my hair was a brittle mess for four days after our BL outing. The bright orange swim wings are provided onsite and are required for young children. Bring your own swim diapers.

We showered off, hit up a grocery store, did a quick driving tour through Iceland’s main capital of Reykjavik, and then pointed our car southward.
We were headed three hours south to a tiny cottage on a farm, that was situated between two of Iceland’s ice caps: Mýrdalsjökull and Eyjafjallajökull. Please don’t ask me to pronounce those. I failed miserably at pronouncing anything in Iceland.




We spent our first two days exploring Vatnajökull National Park, which included some glacier viewing and a hike up to The Black Waterfall.
It should be worth noting that summer in Iceland still means warm clothes (and rain gear) for the littles. And the adults.


I should say that my camera, my beloved Nikon, is dying a slow death. Or perhaps my lenses are. I’ve had it since 2009 and the telephoto, in particular, has had a rough life. I distinctly remember it hitting the deck of an Alaska cruise ship and my sister-in-law saving it with an awesome soccer manuver as it rolled its way to the edge of the ship. So the fall (not the save) probably didn’t help its focusing ability. Anyway, that is the long way of saying that you’ll notice that many of these pictures are a bit soft.

I’m not quite sure what to replace it with; at this point in my life I’m not prepared to lug around twenty pounds of camera gear, in addition to two whirling dervishes (aka kids). Something light, with a single lens, the ability to do a manual setting, automatic focus, and a lens ranging from 18-300 (or 400!) would be my absolute ideal. Waterproof would also be nice, if we’re asking asking for the moon. 😉 Any suggestions?

Following our trip to Skaftafell, we kept heading south/east to Jokulsarlon Lagoon. This small body of water is a relatively recent landscape feature, as it formed 20 years ago due to an increase in the glacier melting rate. As the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier recedes, it drops chunks of ice into the lagoon, which then have a five hundred foot journey on Iceland’s shortest river before meeting the sea.


There are seals and birds to make things extra interesting for the wee ones.

The beach where the icebergs do most of their melting is black and gritty. It looks other-worldly. How often do you get to ‘drink’ 500 year old water?




My favorite part of the day was our hike up to Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon. It was late (8pm) and there wasn’t a single other person on the entire hike. And one of the great things about all of these attractions? They’re all free. Even the national park. There are plans afoot to change this policy but for now everything is well-priced. Well, except food, alcohol, restaurants, hotels, and rental cars. 🙂
Here’s a quiz for you: How much does a six pack of beer cost? (Answer at the bottom)
Excited to see your post (found you via Hither &Thither Scandi post!). We are headed to Iceland and Stockholm with our 3 year old in May. We will be in Iceland for 6 days with another couple and their 2 year old, renting a home in the south and day-tripping to sites. Excited to read the rest of your Iceland posts and gather some ideas and tips! Thanks for the post.
Hi Lauren,
Oh my gosh, you are going to have a great time!! Iceland was magical and the South part of the ‘island’ was our very, very favorite. My only piece of advice (of which you’re probably already aware) is to really pack for all types of weather. We went in August and brought warm coats, hats, gloves, and full rain gear. And we used all of it, especially the kids. The weather was very changeable: one minute it was sunny, the next it was pouring rain. It was an adventure and I can’t wait to go back. Have an amazing time!