If you’re wondering whether it’s actually possible to do a day trip to Iceland from the UK, the answer is yes. We flew from Manchester to Reykjavik, explored some of the city’s main sights, spent the afternoon relaxing at the Sky Lagoon and flew home again that same evening.
We planned this Extreme Day Trip as part of my daughter’s 16th birthday present after she asked for a spa day. Rather than booking somewhere closer to home, we decided to take it a little further and go all the way to Iceland for the day.
It sounds like a lot to fit in, but with the right flight times it worked surprisingly well. We landed at Keflavik Airport just before 10am and our flight home didn’t leave until 9.05pm, giving us enough time to travel into Reykjavik, explore the city and spend a couple of hours at the Sky Lagoon without hiring a car.
In this guide, I’ll share our exact Iceland day trip itinerary, including our flight and transfer times, what we managed to see in Reykjavik, how we got to the Sky Lagoon and how much the whole trip cost.
Just a quick note before we begin. Some of the links in this guide are affiliate links. This means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products, services and experiences we've used ourselves or genuinely believe will help you plan your trip. Thanks for supporting Build a Break.
We flew from Manchester to Keflavik with easyJet and had around 11 hours in Iceland before our flight home. Here’s exactly how our day looked.
7.10am: Flight from Manchester to Keflavik
9.55am: Landed at Keflavik Airport
10.20am: Boarded the Flybus to Reykjavik
10.50am: Flybus departed Keflavik Airport
11.30am: Arrived in Reykjavik
11.40am–1.45pm: Explored Reykjavik, including Hallgrimskirkja and Rainbow Street, and stopped for lunch
2pm: Bus from Reykjavik to the Sky Lagoon
2.30pm–4.30pm: Sky Lagoon and the 7 Step Ritual
4.30pm: Bus back to Reykjavik
Just before 5pm: Arrived back at BSI Bus Terminal
6pm: Flybus from Reykjavik to Keflavik Airport
9.05pm: Flight from Keflavik to Manchester
11.30pm: Landed back in Manchester
The whole trip cost us around £250 per person, including return flights, airport transfers and our Sky Lagoon tickets with transfers.
💸 Top tip: Book the Sky Lagoon through GetYourGuide and use our exclusive code BUILDABREAK5 in the app to save 5% on eligible bookings.
Yes, but it all comes down to finding the right flights. For an Extreme Day Trip to Iceland to work, you ideally need an early morning flight out and a late evening flight home, giving you enough time on the ground once you’ve allowed for the journey between Keflavik Airport and Reykjavik.
Our flights from Manchester worked particularly well. We landed in Iceland at 9.55am and didn’t fly home until 9.05pm, giving us around 11 hours in Iceland.
Keflavik Airport is around 45 minutes from Reykjavik, so you do need to factor transfers into your plans. We also made sure we left plenty of time to get back to the airport rather than trying to squeeze every last minute out of the day.
Travelling with just a small backpack each also helped. We had no checked luggage to wait for and could head straight out of the airport and onto our pre-booked Flybus.
If you can find similar flight times from the UK, Iceland is definitely possible as a day trip. You just need to be realistic about how much you can fit in. For us, combining a few hours in Reykjavik with the Sky Lagoon was the perfect amount for one day.
Flights that work for an Iceland Extreme Day Trip don’t come up very often, as you need that combination of an early flight out and a late flight home. We recently spotted another batch of dates that work and shared them with our Travel Club members. Members are sent our latest Extreme Day Trip flight finds every week, alongside our other DIY travel deals and ideas.
Our day started very early at Manchester Airport, where we took the 7.10am easyJet flight to Keflavik Airport. We paid just £58 each for our return flights, which was one of the reasons this particular date worked so well for an Extreme Day Trip.
We travelled with just a small backpack each, so there was no luggage to check in or collect when we arrived. Our flight actually landed a little earlier than scheduled at 9.55am and, with no queues when we arrived, we were through the airport and outside within minutes.
We’d already booked our transport into Reykjavik, so there was nothing we needed to organise when we landed. We simply headed outside to find the Flybus ready for the next part of our day.
Keflavik Airport is around 45 minutes from Reykjavik, so getting your transfers right is really important when you only have one day in Iceland.
We pre-booked the Flybus before our trip, which made everything really easy when we arrived. The buses leave from just outside the airport terminal and your ticket is valid for any Flybus departure on your chosen day, so you don’t need to worry if your flight lands a little earlier or later than expected.
We were outside the airport quickly and boarded the bus at around 10.20am. It departed at 10.50am and we arrived at BSI Bus Terminal in central Reykjavik at around 11.30am.
I’d definitely recommend booking your airport transfers in advance for an Extreme Day Trip. It meant we could get straight on the bus without wasting any of our limited time in Iceland sorting out tickets when we arrived.
BSI Bus Terminal is also a really useful starting point for exploring Reykjavik. Hallgrimskirkja is around a 10 minute walk away, so as soon as we got off the bus we headed straight into the city.
Once we arrived at BSI Bus Terminal, we had just over two hours to explore Reykjavik before we needed to be back for our transfer to the Sky Lagoon.
Our first stop was Hallgrimskirkja, Reykjavik’s famous church, which is around a 10 minute walk from the bus terminal. You can pay to go up the tower for views across the city, but with such limited time we decided to skip this and carry on exploring instead.
From Hallgrimskirkja, it’s only a few minutes on foot to Skólavörðustígur, better known as Rainbow Street. We wandered down towards the centre, stopping to look at some of Reykjavik’s colourful buildings and street art along the way.
We also used this time to grab some lunch and pick up a few souvenirs before making our way back towards BSI Bus Terminal.
Obviously, a couple of hours isn’t enough to properly see Reykjavik, but for an Extreme Day Trip it gave us a good taste of the city without trying to cram too much in. Everything we wanted to see was within walking distance, which made it really easy to combine with our afternoon at the Sky Lagoon.
We booked our Sky Lagoon tickets with return transfers from Reykjavik included, which made it really easy to fit into an Extreme Day Trip without needing a car.
Our transfer left BSI Bus Terminal at 2pm and took around 20 minutes to reach the Sky Lagoon. This worked particularly well as we were already familiar with the bus terminal after arriving there on the Flybus that morning.
We chose the package with private changing facilities, which was the most expensive option available at the time. It included our own private changing room and shower, towels, shampoo, conditioner and a hairdryer. For a normal trip I probably wouldn’t have worried as much about this, but for an Extreme Day Trip it was really handy. We didn’t need to carry towels or lots of toiletries around Reykjavik with us all day.
There are cheaper ticket options with shared changing facilities, as well as admission without transfers if you’re making your own way there.
We booked several months in advance as Sky Lagoon sessions can sell out. If you’re building it into a one day Iceland itinerary like ours, I’d definitely book your chosen time before arranging the rest of your day around it.
One thing I would change is our arrival time. We booked the 2pm transfer, but if I did the same trip again I’d choose 1pm. It would have given us an extra hour at the Sky Lagoon while still leaving enough time to get back to Reykjavik for our airport bus.
The Sky Lagoon was the main reason for our Extreme Day Trip and it definitely lived up to expectations. After spending the morning travelling and exploring Reykjavik, stepping into the warm geothermal water overlooking the Atlantic Ocean felt incredible.
Our ticket included the 7 Step Ritual, which takes you through a series of hot and cold experiences. This included a cold plunge, sauna with huge windows overlooking the ocean, a cold mist, body scrub, steam room and shower before heading back into the lagoon.
The sauna was probably one of my favourite parts. Sitting in the heat looking straight out across the Atlantic felt very different to any spa we’d visited before.
We then spent the rest of our time relaxing in the lagoon. There’s an infinity edge overlooking the ocean and a swim up bar where you can buy drinks without having to get out of the water.
We had around two hours at the Sky Lagoon before getting changed and catching the 4.30pm transfer back to Reykjavik. This was enough time to enjoy the lagoon and complete the ritual without feeling too rushed, although I would have happily stayed longer.
In fact, we loved our Iceland Extreme Day Trip so much that we’ve since booked to do it all over again. This time we’re going to visit the Blue Lagoon instead, which is much closer to Keflavik Airport and works really well when you only have one day in Iceland.
I’ll be interested to see how the two compare, but the Sky Lagoon has set the bar very high.
We caught the 4.30pm transfer from the Sky Lagoon and arrived back at BSI Bus Terminal just before 5pm. Our Flybus to Keflavik Airport wasn’t leaving until 6pm, so this gave us an hour to get something to eat before heading back to the airport.
BSI Bus Terminal is fairly small and really easy to navigate. There’s a café inside, along with toilets and an information desk where the staff can help with buses, transfers and tours. We grabbed a huge slice of pizza for around £6 each, which was perfect after spending the afternoon at the Sky Lagoon.
At 6pm we boarded our pre-booked Flybus back to Keflavik Airport. We deliberately chose an earlier transfer rather than trying to squeeze another hour into Reykjavik. With an Extreme Day Trip, I’d much rather have extra time at the airport than risk missing the last flight home.
Our flight wasn’t until 9.05pm, so we arrived with plenty of time to get through the airport, grab some snacks and relax before boarding.
Our 9.05pm flight back to Manchester left on time, and we thought our Iceland adventure was pretty much over for the day. Then we got one final surprise.
Not long after take off, we spotted the Northern Lights from the plane. They stayed visible for around two hours of the flight home, which was an incredible way to finish our Extreme Day Trip.
Of course, seeing the Northern Lights is never guaranteed, but if you’re flying home from Iceland after dark it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out of the window. If conditions are right, you might get very lucky like we did.
We landed back at Manchester Airport at 11.30pm, exhausted after a very long day, but absolutely buzzing from everything we’d managed to fit in.
Iceland definitely isn’t one of the cheapest Extreme Day Trips we’ve done. Our total spend came to around £250 per person, but a large part of that was the Sky Lagoon itself.
Return flights from Manchester to Keflavik: £58pp
Return Flybus airport transfers: £32.09pp
Sky Lagoon with return transfers from Reykjavik: £122.54pp
Total for flights, airport transfers and Sky Lagoon: £212.63pp
Once we added food, drinks and a few souvenirs, we spent around £250 per person for the whole day.
It’s also worth remembering that some of these costs aren’t really specific to doing Iceland as an Extreme Day Trip. Whether you visit Iceland for one day or stay for a week, Sky Lagoon tickets aren’t cheap and you’ll still need to pay to travel between Keflavik Airport and Reykjavik.
Our actual return flights only cost £58 each, so most of the cost of the day came from the experience we chose to include rather than getting to Iceland itself.
You could definitely do an Iceland Extreme Day Trip for less by skipping the Sky Lagoon and spending the day exploring Reykjavik instead. For us, though, this trip was planned as a birthday spa day, so the Sky Lagoon was the whole reason we booked it.
There isn’t actually much we’d change about this Extreme Day Trip. The flight times worked brilliantly, using the Flybus made getting around really straightforward and we managed to fit in everything we’d planned without spending the day rushing from one place to another.
The one thing I would change is our Sky Lagoon time. We took the 2pm transfer from Reykjavik, but if I was planning the same day again I’d book the 1pm transfer instead. We enjoyed the Sky Lagoon so much that I would have happily sacrificed an hour in Reykjavik to have longer there.
I also wouldn’t be tempted to take a later Flybus back to Keflavik Airport just to squeeze more into the day. Our 6pm bus for a 9.05pm flight gave us a comfortable amount of time at the airport, which is exactly what I want when the alternative to missing a flight is potentially an unplanned night in Iceland.
For this trip, the Sky Lagoon worked really well because we wanted to spend some time exploring Reykjavik too. It’s only around 20 minutes from the city and we were able to book tickets with return transfers from BSI Bus Terminal, making it very easy to add to our day.
The Blue Lagoon is in the opposite direction, much closer to Keflavik Airport. This potentially makes it even easier to include on an Extreme Day Trip, particularly if you’re happy to skip Reykjavik altogether and build your day around the lagoon.
That’s exactly what we’re planning for our next Iceland Extreme Day Trip. We’ve booked another same-day return from the UK, but this time we’ll be heading to the Blue Lagoon instead.
The most important part of planning an Iceland Extreme Day Trip is getting the flight times right. An early arrival and late departure make a huge difference, particularly as Keflavik Airport is outside Reykjavik and you need to allow time for transfers in both directions.
I’d also book your main activity before filling in the rest of your itinerary. For us, the Sky Lagoon was the priority, so we booked that first and then worked out how much time we had available for Reykjavik around it.
Pre-booking our transport made the day much easier too. We had our Flybus tickets and Sky Lagoon transfers sorted before leaving the UK, so there was very little we needed to organise once we arrived.
Travelling with just a small backpack each saved time at the airport and meant we could head straight out after landing. For a trip this short, I’d avoid checked luggage completely if you can.
Most importantly, don’t try to see everything. Iceland has far too much to fit into one day. We deliberately kept our plans simple with Reykjavik and the Sky Lagoon rather than trying to add extra tours or attractions.
And leave yourself plenty of time to get back to Keflavik Airport. Same-day trips are great fun, but missing the last flight home would quickly turn your Extreme Day Trip into a much more expensive overnight stay.
For us, absolutely. It was a long day, but it’s still one of our favourite Extreme Day Trips we’ve done.
We managed to visit Iceland for just £58 return, spend a couple of hours exploring Reykjavik and turn my daughter’s birthday spa day into an afternoon at the Sky Lagoon. Seeing the Northern Lights from the plane on the way home was an unexpected bonus.
Iceland isn’t going to be the cheapest Extreme Day Trip you can do, particularly if you add an experience such as the Sky Lagoon or Blue Lagoon. But if the right flights appear, it’s surprising just how much you can fit into one day.
The fact that we’ve already booked to do another Iceland Extreme Day Trip probably says everything. Next time we’ll be swapping Reykjavik and the Sky Lagoon for the Blue Lagoon, and I’ll update our Iceland guides once we’ve tried both.
If you love the idea of flying somewhere for the day and being back in your own bed that night, our Travel Club could save you hours of searching for the right flights.
Every week, I search for Extreme Day Trip flights from airports across the UK and Ireland, looking specifically for those early flights out and late flights home that give you enough time to actually enjoy the destination.
Travel Club members get these flight finds sent straight to their inbox, along with our latest DIY city breaks, family holidays and other travel deals.
Membership costs just £12 for the year, and you can join the Travel Club here.
Copyright © Build a Break | Website by Furness Media
