The day after Vik, we didn’t have any definite plans except for an “Icelandic Beach Day” on the black sand beach of Reynisfjara, which we felt was absolutely amazing.
On this trip, we had already seen enough of the fire and ice side of Iceland by visiting an erupting volcano a few days earlier and visiting a glacier ice cave the afternoon before that.
Downtime felt almost to be expected.
But since we’re in Iceland, downtime doesn’t just mean relaxing at the hotel (we had planned that at the end of our trip), but also exploring more of Vik’s local attractions. I went out to
Our ice cave guide from the previous day had told us that the mountains around Vic were great for seeing puffins, but that even the mountains that looked like they could be climbed by car would require a four-wheel drive vehicle. Four.
I looked up at the mountain and decided that puffins were not part of our plans. Puffins are cute, but climbing up this huge mountain to watch them doesn’t seem like something we want to do.
Little did we know it would get easier.
Anyway, we headed to a more accessible location near Vik, Reynisfjara’s black sand beach and its iconic basalt columns, Reynisdrangar.
Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach is actually a beach that you should visit with caution.
Although the waves at this beach look calm, they are very powerful and can drag people into the sea, making it one of the most dangerous spots to visit in Iceland.
It’s like the first person beats people down and the person who follows pulls them down before they can get their bearings.
This is a very basic way of explaining it, but if you want to know more about it, just google “Icelandic sneaker wave”.
Yes, Reynisfjara’s black sand beach is definitely worth a visit, but you should definitely keep a safe distance from the coastline here.
And don’t think that safe distance is where other people are.
So many people ignore this and some don’t even know. So please use your judgment wisely when visiting and not based on the judgment of others on the day.
Warnings aside, it’s a really nice beach to visit. And a day with such dramatic weather makes that beach look even more incredible.
But the rain was falling almost sideways and quickly started to pick up, so we got back in the car and headed to nearby Dyrholaey Arch.
Dyrhulaei is an incredible rock formation that looks like a perforated arch, but for some reason I have not been able to find it on any of my previous trips.
It sounds silly, but there’s another great perspective that we always get distracted by. It is a perspective of the black sand beach of Reynisfjara.
It overlooks the black sand beach and is very beautiful.
So once again we ended up going there in search of Dilhola Ray Arch and to our absolute joy discovered there were hundreds of puffins there.
I seemed a little casual about my search for puffins earlier, but it occurred to me that puffins might be my favorite bird of all time.
I think they’re so cute and so charming, and just seeing them right next to us when we weren’t even looking was really great.
This is the closest we have ever been to a puffin and we have visited many places around the world in search of puffins.
After parting ways with the puffin, I remembered that I had not yet gone to see the arch at Dyrholaey, and decided that I absolutely had to do it, so I set out on a path that seemed to have no other option but to find it.
Don’t travel all the way to Reynisfjara’s black sand beaches to miss the arches of Dyrholaey again. Especially when you know how great it actually is.
Another route would have taken us back to the main highway, but we didn’t want to go back there just yet.
As it turned out, I was right, the Arch of Dyrhoraei was right up that mountain pass.
There is a parking lot nearby and it is a short walk to the observation deck.
The arch of Dirhoraei is really magnificent and very huge.
It was also incredibly raging here thanks to what looked like a small storm, so after admiring the views we headed back to the car and headed to our next hotel, The Land Hotel, which would be like a ministop. I headed over. The night before heading to the Blue Lagoon retreat.
The Retreat is quite literally a feast, and we’re here to show you what it’s all about!
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