Journey Of Fire & Ice: Reykjavik Return

Arrive in Reykjavik and settle in with a private transfer straight from the airport to your hotel, where four nights of 4-star accommodation set an unhurried tone before the cruise begins.

The included Sky Lagoon geothermal experience is best in the afternoon. The Sky Lagoon sits on the cliff above the sea south of the city, its infinity pool extending toward the Atlantic horizon. The seven-step Skjól ritual, moving through geothermal pool, cold plunge, sauna, steam room and fog mist, is the most complete spa experience in Iceland. The Perlan museum on the hill above the city, with its aurora borealis exhibition and 360-degree views, is the finest elevated view in Reykjavik.

A full Reykjavik day and the Golden Circle is the right excursion: Þingvellir National Park where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates are visibly pulling apart, the Geysir hot spring that gives all other geysers their name, and the Gullfoss waterfall dropping 32 metres in two stages through a canyon. Together they cover the three most significant geological sites in Iceland within a single day.

A final Reykjavik morning before the transfer to port. The National Museum of Iceland, the Culture House and the Settlement Exhibition above the excavated remains of a 10th-century Viking longhouse give a morning’s worth of Icelandic history within walking distance of each other. Seven Seas Splendor boards this afternoon.

A private transfer carries you from hotel to port. Board Seven Seas Splendor in Reykjavik, with the ship remaining in port overnight.

A final Reykjavik morning before the transfer to port. The Hallgrimskirkja church at the top of Skolavordustigur gives the finest elevated view of the city and the bay beyond. The harbour fish market at Grandagarour, open in the mornings, is the most direct expression of Iceland’s relationship with the sea. Seven Seas Splendor departs at 5:00 PM.

Heimaey, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The largest of the Westman Islands, Heimaey has one of the most extraordinary geological histories of any inhabited place on earth. In January 1973 a fissure opened without warning in the middle of the night and buried a third of the town under lava before the eruption ended five months later. The Eldheimar museum, built directly over the excavated remains of houses preserved under the volcanic ash, is the most viscerally immediate volcanic disaster site in Europe. The Stafkirkjan Viking stave church replica and the puffin colonies on the island’s sea cliffs give the day its full range.

A sea day crossing the open North Atlantic toward the Faroe Islands. The waters between Iceland and the Faroes are among the most remote in Europe and August gives them their best conditions: long daylight, settled seas and the possibility of minke whales and white-beaked dolphins alongside the ship. The Observation Lounge gives the finest unobstructed view forward. Torshavn arrives tomorrow.

Torshavn, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The capital of the Faroe Islands is one of the smallest capitals in the world, its old town of Tinganes a cluster of turf-roofed timber buildings on a narrow promontory that has been the seat of Faroese government since the Viking Age. The landscape that surrounds it, sheer basalt cliffs dropping to an impossibly green sea, is unlike anything in Scandinavia or Iceland. The village of Gasadalur on the western island of Vagar, where a waterfall drops directly from a cliff face into the ocean, is accessible by organised tour and is one of the most photographed landscapes in the North Atlantic. Few cruise itineraries reach the Faroes at all. This is what makes RSS106 genuinely distinctive.

Eskifjordur, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. A small town on Iceland’s east coast set deep inside Eskifjordur fjord, surrounded by mountains that drop directly into the water. The East Iceland Maritime Museum, housed in one of the oldest timber buildings in Iceland, documents the herring fishing industry that shaped the region’s character. The drive north along the fjord road to Neskaupstadur passes through a landscape of waterfalls, fishing villages and mountain scenery entirely off the standard Iceland tourist circuit. August in the east fjords means long afternoon light and the particular stillness of a region that very few visitors reach.

Akureyri, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Iceland’s second city sits at the head of Eyjafjordur, the longest fjord in Iceland, and has a warmth and character that surprises visitors expecting another stark volcanic landscape. The Akureyri Botanical Garden, at 66 degrees north the most northerly botanic garden in the world, is in full flower in August. The town’s wooden early 20th-century houses, the Akureyrarkirkja church designed by the architect of Reykjavik’s Hallgrimskirkja and the fish market along the harbour give the morning its content. Lake Myvatn, 90 kilometres east, with its lava formations, geothermal pools and birdlife, is accessible by organised tour for those who want the volcanic landscape.

A further day at sea cruising the Denmark Strait as the ship tracks along Iceland’s rugged northern and western coastline.

Isafjordur, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The largest town in the Westfjords sits at the end of a long fjord in the most remote region of Iceland, its painted timber houses clustered on a narrow spit of land between the water and the mountain. The Westfjords Heritage Museum in the old hospital building documents the fishing culture that has sustained this corner of Iceland for centuries. The Dynjandi waterfall, cascading down a series of steps for 100 metres into the fjord below, is accessible by boat or road and is the finest single natural spectacle in the Westfjords. Arctic fox sightings in the hills above the town are common in August.

Grundarfjordur, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The small fishing town on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula sits directly beneath Kirkjufell, the cone-shaped mountain rising 463 metres from the water’s edge that is the most photographed peak in Iceland. The view from the waterfall of Kirkjufellsfoss with Kirkjufell reflected in the pool below is the image that has made the Snaefellsnes Peninsula famous. The Snaefellsjokull glacier volcano at the tip of the peninsula, the setting for Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, is visible on clear days from the town. The Snaefellsnes Peninsula has been called Iceland in miniature for its concentration of lava fields, black sand beaches, fishing villages and glacier in a single landscape.

An early morning arrival back in Reykjavik at 7:00 AM marks the end of the cruise, with a private transfer taking you from port straight to the airport.