A hot bath is the Icelanders best friend. We would definitely dare to claim so. More than 600 bathing spots are marked on the map of Iceland by now and around 200 of those are natural hot springs or hot streams, most of them not made by men (the leftover 400 are public swimming pools). We made it a sports to pay as many as possible of those 200 a visit - give us a couple of years and we at least went for a dip in all the natural baths. There hardly is anything that makes us as happy as sitting in warm water somewhere in the middle of nowhere, all alone and surrounded by nothing but the endless beauty of nature, musing on everything and nothing. Iceland is our home by heart, our favorite place on earth and it has a lot of advantages - the thin Earth's crust and incredible geothermic being one of them. Even though we have 'only' been living here for three years by now (and spent quite a bit of those years in Germany, as well) we still got to test more than just a few springs, streams, ponds and pools. We have found our absolute favorites by now and some we consider overrated. We also have a must see list of at least five places we want to visit this summer. All of this we want to share with you today - Iceland's most famous, beautiful and pristine bathing spots. The list is not complete, yet and of course highly subjective. Maybe you will come to a different conclusion when visiting one of the springs we recommended or consider overrated but at least, after reading this, you will know where to find them. We furthermore would like to equip you with some tips and hacks when it comes to 'hot-springing' in Iceland. So without further ado - here comes our hot pot guide:

There are so many restaurants in downtown Reykjavik by now that you can easily lose track of where to go and what to try during your stay in beautiful Iceland. On top of that lots of myths and wild stories rank around the eating habits of the small population with the ridiculously difficult language in the Far North and around the gruesome dishes that you apparently will get served. It's also a common misbelief that vegetarians and vegans would be in quite some trouble when spending time in the northernmost capital of our amazing planet, which is very, very wrong!. What is a fact, indeed, is that there is no such thing as cheap food up here. (But there is cheapER, at least.) Due to all of those reasons just mentioned, we sat down and wrote an article filled with our favorite places and spaces, with the ones we consider reasonably priced, plus some overall useful informations and handy tips on grocery shopping and saving money. Being a vegetarian or vegan in Reykjavik is easy - no matter if it's eating out, cooking yourself or grabbing a snack on the go. There is plant milk of literally all sorts available, from vegan pasta sauce to cheese to ice cream to super foods - you will find whatever you are looking for. No matter what diet you prefer exactly or how your budget is - we want to make sure you'll find your perfect spot for great food. Reykjavik can be a true paradise to all those wo love slow food and local delicacies (like arctic thyme <3), are vegetarian or vegan and opt for fresh ingredients. It can be IF you know where to go. And we want to make sure of that! So dive in and find out. Verði þér að góðu!

Welcome to Reykjanes peninsula - one of the most underrated parts of Iceland and at the same time one of our personal favorites. We just installed a new series here on Dear Heima where we will introduce you to the perfect day trips from Reykjavik, both summer and winter edition. Winter in Iceland is a time of gold, literally. People will tell you that Iceland in winter is nothing but dark and gloomy, but well, they are wrong. Spring is the time of storms and hail, of grey skies and foggy mornings. But the middle of winter (mid of November to mid of January) and therefore the time with least daylight is the most colorful and dreamy time we know. From sunrise around 11am until sunset around 3:30pm the sky is a magic show. From rainbow to liquid gold then back to rainbow you will witness spectacular views for a little more than for hours. Since the amount of time is that limited we suggest you to stay in Reykjavik during winter and opt for easy day trips where you don't have to drive for hours and will still see a lot of beauty. Reykjanes peninsula being one of said trips. Make sure you get a suitable car (either a 4x4, if that is too expensive than make sure the car you go for is equipped with winter tires) and always check the roads and weather before you make you way out of town. vedur.is will tell you the exact forecast for the day and road.is will inform you which roads are closed and which ones are icy/snowy or otherwise hardly passable. The good thing about Reykjanes is on one hand that the roads are almost always free since it's the way to the airport and on the other that most of the sights are inland or on the western coast so that you never get hit by possible storms THAT hard. But lets map out the perfect road trip for you to go on when chasing gold on a sunny winter day on this amazing peninsula:

So many tourists flood the country during wintertime in the hope of catching a glimpse of this spectacle but in all honesty they are just really, really lucky if they do. The first time we spent a few days in Iceland we met a journalist who already visited the country 8 (!) times to finally see them dance but he never actually did. There are so many tour operators offering expensive night drives to go see Aurora but well, chances are damn high you won't see a thing. No guide can change the weather or intensity of the solar storms and they will still take you on that drive even though they already know there won't be any green phenomenon to be seen. Over the past three years we did figure out how to calculate all given factors to have a realistic chance on seeing them, though and today we're gonna share those tools and apps. So if you ever come to Iceland and you wanna check out what you're chances are - you're perfectly equipped to make the best out of your stay and not spend hundreds of bucks on a tour without any lights. Those tour operators will probably hate us for saying this but as long as they don't offer to cancel the trip when the sky is all cloudy or the forecast is not high enough OR at least offer something awesome, instead - then don't book such a tour and rather opt for a rental car and go chase them yourself! There is three things you need in order to see the Northern Lights: a car to go somewhere without any light pollution (do NOT go to Grótta like everyone so blindly recommends, more about that later), the Icelandic weather forecast (really only trust that one) and a reliable app that tells you the actual Aurora forecast for the past couple of weeks. But let's dive into those three factors a little deeper:

Wir haben es schon so oft im Nebensatz erwähnt, ihm aber noch nie einen ganzen Beitrag gewidmet - dem Naturschutzgebiet am Rande Reykjaviks, einem unserer liebsten und meist besuchten Plätze der Insel: dem Heiðmörk. Das riesige Naherholungsgebiet wird von den meisten Touristen komplett links liegen gelassen und obwohl es direkt an der Stadtgrenze liegt, ist man fast immer komplett allein unterwegs. Wer sich ins Heiðmörk verirrt, wird erstmal erstaunt sein, denn auch wenn es ganz typisch isländisch ist, mit all seinen bemoosten Hügeln, den Bergen in der Ferne, den vielen Flüsschen und Miniatur-Wasserfällen, so ist es doch auch sehr ungewöhnlich. Denn in dem Gebiet findet ihr etwas, was Island nicht an jeder Ecke zu bieten hat... Wald! (Der Name bedeutet übersetzt so viel wie 'der Wald an der Heide', seit 1950 wurden hier über 4Mio Nadelbäume, Birken und auch hunderte Wildblumen gesetzt.) Für uns ist es ein kleines Paradies, wir haben schon so viele Wochenenden an den großen Seen gepicknickt, waren auf den vielen Wanderwegen spazieren und IKEA liegt praktischerweise auch nur einen Katzensprung entfernt, falls der große Hunger kommt oder man plötzlich eine neue Kommode braucht. :D Nein, im Ernst, das Gebiet ist wunderschön, weitläufig und bietet unheimlich abwechslungsreiche Natur. Rote Felsformationen, die Berge in der Ferne, im Sommer ein Meer aus Lupinen - dem Heiðmörk wird bei weitem nicht genug Beachtung geschenkt!

In die Wildnis - eine Aussage, die unser Leben, unsere gemeinsame Vergangenheit und die große Zukunft prägt. Wir sind keine Abenteurer per se, wir stechen nicht ungeplant in wilde Gewässer, wir umsegeln nicht die Welt, wir gehen nicht drei Monate ganz allein trekken durch Sibirien, wir leben nicht 'off the grid' in Alaska. Und trotzdem hat Aragorn damals eine Menge in unseren Herzen und Köpfen losgetreten, als er in den Wald stiefelte und 'In die Wildnis' von sich gab. Tatsächlich ist dies unser 'wie alles begann' Moment. Wie aus den pubertierenden besten Freundinnen diejenigen wurden, die wir heute sind. Wir sahen den Herrn der Ringe und verliebten uns unsterblich in Neuseeland. Waren wir schon immer mit unseren Eltern wandern gegangen, in Klettercamps gefahren und viel gereist, so hatte sich der Flächenbrand aus Träumen von der Ferne bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt noch nicht losgetreten. Er entflammte, als wir einen Einblick in die wilde Natur eines Landes auf der anderen Seite der Erde bekamen, eine Art von Freiheit glaubten verstehen zu können, wie wir sie noch nie gesehen, geschweige denn empfunden, hatten. Aus Linda und Caro, die von einer Tänzer Karriere träumten, wurden Linda und Caro, die auswandern wollten. Die frei sein wollten. Mit 16 kein leichtes Unterfangen und so fantasierten wir uns in andere Länder, (flogen aber trotzdem nach Malta in unseren ersten Urlaub ohne Eltern - es war eben günstig und nicht so weit weg). Der Funke jedenfalls war übergesprungen und so war Jon Krakauers 'Into the Wild' der sprichwörtliche Sargnagel auf unserer abgesicherten Zukunft. Das Abitur, die Ausbildung, das Studium, nichts fühlte sich mehr richtig an, stattdessen wuchs kontinuierlich der Wunsch, alles hinter uns zu lassen und gänzlich neue Wege zu gehen.