How to spend an Iceland layover on the Reykjanes peninsula

Plenty of people pass through Iceland on a layover and never leave the airport. On my way to climb Denali, with flights routing through Reykjavik, I did the opposite: I built in an overnight and treated the layover as a tiny trip of its own. It is one of the best travel decisions I make regularly.

The airport sits on the Reykjanes peninsula, a raw volcanic finger of land in the southwest, and you can see a remarkable amount of it in the hours between flights. I picked up a car, drove into Reykjavik to catch up with a relative who was studying there, and found the city exactly as cosy and eye-wateringly expensive as I remembered, the old viking ship sculpture still on the waterfront.

The next morning I gave the peninsula itself a half-day. The Blue Lagoon, as ever, for a long soak. Then the Bridge Between Continents, where you walk across a gap between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Reykjanes lighthouse, the sea cliffs and crashing surf at Valahnukamol, the steaming, bubbling Gunnuhver hot springs, and puffins wheeling around the cliffs. Geology, geothermal steam, dramatic coast and wildlife, all within easy reach of the terminal, and a full, varied day squeezed in before a flight.

If you have a long connection in Iceland, do not waste it sitting by the gate. Rent a car, point it at the peninsula, and steal yourself a whole extra little adventure between two flights. It is about the easiest upgrade to a trip you will ever make.