By Kristen Schrum
A destination that once felt like a distant bucket-list dream becomes a surprisingly accessible adventure with Icelandair’s direct flight from RDU to Keflavík.
Iceland is easy to admire from a distance. The glaciers, waterfalls, black-sand beaches, and geothermal waters feel almost too cinematic to be real. But the magic is in experiencing them up close.
For travelers in the Raleigh-Durham area, getting there is easier than you might think. My husband and I flew Icelandair’s nonstop route from RDU to Keflavík, making the leap across the North Atlantic feel almost effortless. The airline expanded the route to year-round service in the 2023–2024 winter season.
“It’s been surprising but incredible to see so much growing excitement for this route,” says Michael Raucheisen, Icelandair’s communications manager. “As an airline, we want to make Iceland feel accessible.”
Six hours after leaving RDU, we were looking out at lava fields.
Icelandair’s vacation packages made our itinerary easy to plan. We could build the trip around Reykjavík, add a guided Golden Circle tour, include the Blue Lagoon, rent a car for a day along the South Coast, and still leave space for some downtime.
Reykjavík, about an hour from Keflavík Airport, makes an ideal first stop. From there, travelers can easily get to some of Iceland’s most recognizable landscapes and be back in time to purchase an Icelandic wool sweater and enjoy the country’s fine dining.
The flight made the trip feel Icelandic before we ever stepped onto the volcanic island. In Saga Premium, Icelandair’s premier cabin, we had access to the United Club at RDU before departing and the Icelandair Saga Lounge in Keflavík before flying home. On board, meals leaned into Icelandic flavors—smoked char, lamb stew, Icelandic chocolate—and entertainment included Icelandic shows and documentaries about the land and people we were about to meet. By the time we landed, Iceland felt like a place already introducing itself.
After the overnight flight, we didn’t begin with a museum or an ambitious march through the capital. We began in the water.
Geothermal bathing is woven into Icelandic life, and for visitors, it offers the gentlest possible transition to vacation mode. Our first stop was Sky Lagoon, just outside Reykjavík, where the Atlantic stretched gray and silver beyond the edge of the pool while warm geothermal water gathered around our shoulders. The seven-step ritual moved us from heat to cold, from sauna to mist, from scrub to steam, until the fog of travel began to lift.
Later, we visited the Blue Lagoon, where milky-blue, mineral-rich waters rise from a lava field near Keflavík. Surrounded by dark volcanic rock, we soaked in the warmth with cold Icelandic beers in hand. The experience balances beauty and ease, with timed reservations, lockers, and thoughtful details that make an unfamiliar ritual feel effortless.
On our first full day, Reykjavík Excursions took us along the Golden Circle, Iceland’s iconic route through some of the country’s most striking natural and historic sites. The day included a stop at Friðheimar, a beloved tomato greenhouse where Iceland’s geothermal energy helps crops thrive. Our guide, Tony, an Iceland native, brought the landscape to life with a dry, understated humor that made even Iceland’s most extraordinary sights sound completely ordinary.
He informed us early on the tour that Icelanders have a phrase for uncertainty: Þetta reddast, roughly translated, “it will all work out.” It’s not quite carefree, and it’s not exactly reckless. It seemed more like a national shrug with a rain jacket thrown over it.
At Strokkur Geysir, the springs bubbled and sent boiling water into the air. At Gullfoss, water thundered into a canyon and returned as a thin veil of mist over slick stones. At Thingvellir National Park, the landscape widened into a place of both political and geological significance. This is where Iceland’s early parliament gathered to hear the law spoken aloud, and where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates pull slowly apart, leaving deep lines in the earth.
It’s also where Iceland’s strong sense of identity comes into focus. This is a country deeply protective of its independence, language, literature, and landscape. It once fought over cod, and it preserves its sagas and poetry with the same reverence other nations reserve for monuments.
The South Coast, also made possible through Icelandair’s planning, turned an already dramatic country into something even more cinematic. We walked behind thundering waterfalls, hiked along a glacial lagoon until we reached the glacier’s tongue, sat on black sand beaches, and watched the North Atlantic beat against the glittering basalt columns and sea stacks.
Iceland has a way of keeping the landscape constantly before you, with mountains, rolling hills, hawk-high ridges and a far-reaching horizon, always in sight. You rarely feel hidden there; instead, the openness makes you feel small, exposed and deeply aware of the beauty around you.
It was hard to believe that all of it was only six hours away from RDU, but the fact never diminished the wonder of such an adventure.
Reykjavík deserves some unhurried time, especially for travelers who still imagine Icelandic food only in terms of fermented shark and hot dogs. Those exist, of course, and we tried both. But there is also excellent fine dining with exciting takes on lamb, cod, Arctic char, skyr, rye bread, greenhouse-grown produce, and dishes rooted in local ingredients.
At Grillmarkaðurinn, an upscale restaurant in downtown Reykjavík, our waiter, Frense, explained the food scene simply: “Local is best. We take traditional Icelandic cuisine and elevate it, emphasizing local flavors. We want to keep with tradition and continue to elevate it because we are proud of our local ingredients and heritage.”
That pride followed us throughout the trip, from reindeer burgers at the Icelandic Bar to strong coffee and excellent skyr at Reykjavik Coffee Roasters. Icelanders were proud of what they served on the plate.
I had thought of Iceland as a once-in-a-lifetime trip, the kind you finally check off and feel grateful to have seen. Now that we know the country is so reachable from RDU, my husband and I are already imagining a return in the fall or spring, when we might experience the Northern Lights and drive the Ring Road.
“There’s so much to see,” Raucheisen says. “Everywhere in the country is completely different. I would love to see people branch out to see as much of the country as possible. It’s so special and full of landscapes you’ll never forget.”
That may be Iceland’s real gift to the traveler. From a distance, it looks intimidating, full of names with beautiful letters your tongue isn’t quite used to. But thanks to Icelandair’s direct flight, the country is a place you can enjoy, explore, and easily return to.
And when the weather shifts, or the drive takes longer than planned, there is always that useful Icelandic phrase waiting nearby.
Þetta reddast.
It will all work out.
