Day 5 – Vik > Solheimasandur (plane wreck) > Blue Lagoon > Silica Hotel
Day 5 we had very lean itinerary as well, mainly is to change our accommodation again, back to somewhere nearer to Reyjavik town for our easy departure on last day. Nevertheless, it was one of our highlight day as well because we were visiting two of the renowned “must go” in Iceland, the Sólheimasandur (plane wreck) and the Blue Lagoon!
Off we go leaving the cozy guesthouse behind, driving our way to the Blue Lagoon direction and while we are still on the coastline road, we stop by the location to visit the plane wreck.
There is no signboard (during our visit) for this attraction because it is actually quite a controversial one. Mainly because the plane wreck is located inside a privately owned land and tourist can only park the car along the main road then walk in to visit this spot. There are also reviews online saying that visitor can actually drive in, but there are also news where visitors being sued by the land owner for trespassing without permission. So in order to lower the risk, we just opt to walk in like the rest. And this plane wreck is so famous that the coordinate been shared by many travelers online. (Turnoff GPS Coordinates: 63.4912391,-19.3632810. Airplane GPS Coordinates: 63.459523,-19.364618)
It is a United States Navy Douglas Super DC-3 airplane was forced to land on Sólheimasandur’s black sand beach in the south of Iceland after experiencing some severe icing back in 1973. That was considered the golden era of airplane. Anyway, this wreck is famous after drawing many photographers around the world to have dramatic shot of it landing in the middle of black sand beach.
We managed to find this coordination quite easily as you will also notice many cars stopping by the roadside. The only thing was that the walking time to the plane wreck varies by individual. We asked a tourist who is on her way out from the plane site, and she told us just a 15 minutes’ walk. Later we found out that she must be an active marathon runner as we took almost 45 mins one way to reach the plane site! (well, after the trip I checked the distance again, it is approximately 3.5km from the main road, so again, it depends on how fast you walk) We took longer also due to the bad weather where wind is very strong and we even encountered hail when we were on our way! But it was really a first time experience and we feel excited.
The plane wreck is really stunning and worth the walk. Be ready for very crowded tourist around the plane due to its popularity in recent years. So be patient to get a nice angle which makes your photo looks like no one else is around. *wink* or you could just use some handy apps or post-edit.
Then we proceed our way to check in the Silica Hotel (highly recommended) which is next to Blue Lagoon. We personally feel it is worth the money to stay in this hotel even the rooms are slightly expensive than the hotel and guesthouse around the Blue Lagoon area, but it is the nearest and their booking comes with complimentary entry to the Blue Lagoon! Definitely worth every single cent with such a comfortable hotel setting, even with their private thermal pool where you can have more privacy session as compare to the public Blue Lagoon. I will write a separate post to review on this awesome Silica Hotel.
Even though Blue Lagoon is not a natural formation, it is as popular due to its uniqueness as a place where the powers of geothermal seawater create transformational spa journeys. The highly mineralized mud or masks that they provide beside the lagoon bar were believed to have beneficial effects on skin. Indeed a memorable experience to spent time at this lagoon. We spent some time at the Blue Lagoon and later proceed back to the hotel own private pool and call it a day!
We were really lucky that during the stay in Silica Hotel, we finally saw the magical northern light, Aurora for the first time in our life! It was so mystically beautiful! It just perfected our trip even though we were real contented already with all the jaw dropping scenery we saw for the past few days.
Signing off day 5.
We Create Path 