Big & Tall Travel

My wife and I recently made plans to sail on Silversea this August. We’ll be sailing from Reykjavik, Iceland to New York. While we are very much looking forward to this sailing, we are equally looking forward to getting a taste of what Iceland has to offer.

As this adventure is only a few short months away, there’s plenty of planning that has been done and yet still more to do.

Fortunately, we’ve taken care of the larger items already:

• Flight to Iceland
• Accomdation in Reykjavik
• Lagoon Booking

Getting to Iceland

Although Iceland is a pretty small country, there seem to be plenty of ways for us to fly to the island from the DC Metro Area. From IAD, United, Delta, Air Canada, and Icelandair all offer flights. From DCA, Delta, Air Canada, United, and Jet Blue all offer either non-stop or 1 stop routes. Lastly, BWI has more United, Delta, Icelandair, and PLAY flights.

We found an extraordinarily good deal to fly direct from IAD to KEF in Icelandair’s version of business class: Saga Premium. Saga Premium does not offer lie flat seats, but the seats appear to be wider and more cushioned than those in economy. As a big guy, I’m especially looking forward to the wider and roomier seat. I’m sure my wife is too (if only to not be crammed in next to me for the whole flight)!

Where to Stay

Once we figured out how we’re going to get to Iceland, we had to figure out where we were going to stay. We are only going to be in Iceland fora little more than 48 hours. We’ve read (and have seen enough videos) to know that if you’re going to be Iceland for more than a few days, staying in either a camper van or in one of the rustic guest houses scattered around the country is probably one of the best ways to see the country. Because of my size, staying in a camper van is probably considered cruel and unusual punishment against my wife. And although the rustic cabins seem like a great and relaxing way to stay, I’m not sure we’re going to have enough time to really take full advantage of what they offer. So, conventional hotels it is.

But where, exactly? That was the question that took us more than a couple of weeks to answer. Reykjavik definitely has more than a few conventional hotels, and they all seem to be located in either the Old West Side, the Centre, or Downtown neighborhoods.

And they’re all expensive compared to similar hotels in either the US or even Europe. Fortunately, a number of the hotels in these areas are either major chains or are part of an alliance of hotels that allows the use of hotels to book.

We took advantage of an American Express Membership Rewards (MRs) promotion to transfer MRs to Hilton at a 2:1 ratio plus 50% bonus points. Using this promotion, we were able to convert 55k MR to 160k Hilton points. With these Hilton points, we booked two nights at The Reykjavik Konsulat, a Hilton Curio Collection Hotel, located in the City Centre. The hotel is centrally and only a few minutes walk from many – if not most – of the Reykjavik attractions.

Although using credit card points, and especially Amex MRs, does not usually provide the highest per point value, we found this redemption to be very valuable. Each night at the Konsulat hotel retails for around $700 during mid August. This gave us a realized redemption value of 2.54 cents per MR. This obviously isn’t as much of a value when compared to an aspirational first or business class flight redemption, but it’s not bad either.

We’re excited for this stay too! The hotel looks stunning. From reviews I’ve read, the beds and rooms are comfortable and spacious, even by American standards. Because of the Hilton Gold status afforded by the American Express Platinum Card, we’ll receive both included breakfast and a daily beverage at the hotel’s happy hour. As an added bonus, the famous hot dog stand is located right behind the hotel!

Which Lagoon?

Iceland, of course, is well known for its many geothermal pools. While tourists are allowed to make use of the many public pools and “lagoons”, there are a few lagoon attractions that are a bit more touristy.

Because this will be our first time in Iceland, we’re going to stick with the touristy lagoons. Maybe we’ll explore the public pools during our next visit, but I’m very interested to see what Icelanders think tourists want to experience when it comes to geothermal pools.

The two best known lagoon attractions are the Blue Lagoon and Sky Lagoon. Both are roughly the same price (around $150/person in 2025). The Blue Lagoon is by far the most famous one, with its milky blue water and sprawling property. I would venture to say that The Blue Lagoon is intended to be more of a resort than an attraction. They’ve designed the property to be the center of a tourist’s stay.

The Blue Lagoon appears to be a 20 minute ride from the airport and about an hour from Reykjavik proper. Very many people stop here to experience what it has to offer either on their way to Reykjavik or on their way back to the airport. Some spend their entire time in Iceland just enjoying the property. It has a spa hotel, a spa, several restaurants (one with a Michelin star), a cafe, and some incredible views.

Sky Lagoon, on the other hand, seems to be meant to be more of an attraction, an experience to add to an itinerary rather than around which to build an itinerary.

Sky Lagoon offers the geothermal pool, a small cafe, and a seven step ritual. From what I can tell, the ritual is a bit of a gimmick but is supposed to be fun and immersive nonetheless. Importantly, Sky Lagoon is much closer to Reykjavik than the Blue Lagoon. It’s only a 10 minute drive from Downtown.

Because we want to experience more than one of these lagoons during our short stay in Iceland, we’ve decided to try the Sky Lagoon.

Next…

Now that we have the foundations aspects of our trip to Iceland covered, we need to fill out our itinerary more fully. My next post will be all about where we are now with the more minute details that have been decided and our current thinking on what still needs to be planned (and what doesn’t).