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Anyone been ? what was good, what was meh? your recommendations please.
Have a significant birthday coming up for Mrs Cardo and we fancy a trip there to celebrate.
TIA
Reykjavik was great, the spa at laugervatten was amazing. Hotel selfoss is good to stay in. Some spectacular waterfalls. I went on a wellness tour sold through secret escapes in January.
Thought Reykjavik was a bit meh to be honest. Other opinions are available.
Went a year ago, really enjoyed it (apart from the weather which was a bit dreich). It's expensive, very, very expensive.
Going at the end of the month, 40th birthday present!
It appears that northern lights, hot pools to float around in, and geysers are popular tourist pass times according to the guide books..
Take a packet of Persil for the geyser.
Stayed for Christmas two years back and we loved it. It's certainly not as pricey as some people make out but we tend to do things on a bit of a budget. We stayed in Hotel Fron which is clean, comfortable (no frills) but brilliantly located in the centre and cheap. The Chuck Norris Grill does the best burgers ever! Drinks are notoriously expensive but use The Grapevine Appyhour app to source cheap beverages and take in all the cool spots at the same time. 10-11 supermarkets are really expensive but Bonus is dirt cheap. Gulfoss has to be done and watching the sun rise on boxing day with a pint in the blue lagoon was a wicked experience.
When we went you'd have to be very brave to hire a car an go exploring but we plan to go back in the summer and hire a 4x4 camper.
If you run out of things to do (or maybe you have a thing for whale dick)they have a penis museum.
Caught the lights on the first night there too, use this to hopefully find a good forecast. - http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/
Yeah, amazing place.
Definitely hire a car/4x4/superjeep to suit your travel plans.
For a hot soak, I would recommend the hot river/pools at Reykjadalur. It's a 3km walk uphill through sulphur clouds, but you end up in a stunning river valley for a properly hot soak.
The Snaefellsnes Peninsula is worth visiting too. Stykkisholmur is the best base for here. Whales, lava fields, glacier...great place.
The Golden Circle is the obvious daytrip, or longer from Reykjavik and is worth it. We enjoyed Reykjavik too, a nice compact walkable capital.
Anyway, don't base yourself in one place. Book a few places, but don't overdo the driving. Although the driving is very stress -free compared to here.
We stayed a few days in Reykjavik, definitely worth it and then took a tour for a few days with [url= https://www.extremeiceland.is/en/ ]these guys[/url]; waterfalls, glaciers, ice caves, Jokulsarlon lagoon and beach, fabulous place...
Such a weird landscape, with lichen(?) over pretty much all the boulders, kind of almost looked lunar to me in 2008. The Blue Lagoon was worth visiting back then.
We were on a cruise, so only a few hours in Akureyri and Reykjavik, not much time to explore (as seems often the case with cruises).
Be prepared for most things to cost at least one kidney, even compared to Brexit Britain!
Some things were expensive. Bonus is the cheapest supermarket. Booze is more expensive and the vinbudens (off license) can be far apart and open at odd hours. Make sure you have a credit card with no exchange fees. Iceland is almost cashless - everything is done by card, even in remote rural places.
Mmmmm, hardfiskur......
Not much daylight in the winter.
Not everybody is happy about that. (Bit sweary.)
Been there loads of times, love it. If you are short of time, all the advice above is great. If you are there for longer, especially in summer when the F roads are open, hire a vehicle and drive as far from Reykjavik as you can. Westerfjordur, Myvatn, Egilstaddir- all have great things to do/ see. You can drive through the interior of the country from Geysir/ Gullfoss to the ring road between Blonduos and Varmahlid. Then on to Akureyri and after that Myvatn, a beautiful place. Book a bedspace in one of the Kjolur (F35) mountain huts (Hvitarnes for tranquility, Hveravellir for hot springs) and make it a two day trip to the north. F35 manageable with a conventional car but it will be hard to find insurance. A return route via the Sprengisandur route needs a 4X4 and is well worth the additional expense. Nothing special, I've done it in a very beaten up Vitara.
Expenses- well, I always think of it as 'London prices' and self cater wherever possible.
Please don't add any soaps or detergents to the hot springs, it can really screw them up.
Thanks all... Very useful info.
Always exciting going somewhere new.
One of the few places we are planning to return. Normally after a holiday we both say , 'great, but we've done that now'. Not Iceland , we both started planning our next trip as soon as we got back. Oh, and I agree about Reykavik, its pleasant but not worth the vast cost of being there.
One of the few places we are planning to return
Same here. Going to wait until my kids are a bit bigger though and can carry more/ walk further so we can do some of the classic multi-day walks. OR maybe we'll all be bikepacking by then...? Anyway, we'll need a proper adventure when we next return.
The missus & I went around this time last year. Basically drove round the outside of it over the course of a week.
Reykavik - meh. To be fair didn't spend a vast amount of time there, but paying the equivalent of £60 for (cold) burger and chips did not impress.
The stand out moment was the "Inside the Volcano Trip". Not cheap but very much a once in a lifetime thing. Quite bonkers.
Due to scheduling cockups, we managed to pass through the west side of the island at night, so didn't get to see the Snaefell peninsular.
Myvaten area was very good - there's some bonkers rock formations at the south end of the lake, the sulphur fields and the still steaming lava flowas are very worth a visit too. Oh, and the best meal of the trip at the Cowshed Cafe. Again, far from cheap, but actually worth it for once.
Selfoss and Dettifoss waterfalls are in the same area and worth a visit.
I really enjoyed the Eastern Fjords. Didn't do a lot bar drive through, but beautiful, remote and mountainous.
The south end is desolate. Cool for the first 10 minutes, but when you're driving across the same black sands 4 hrs later the appeal diminishes. The icebergs at Jokulsarlon are beautiful.
We finished off with the golden triangle. After a week of relatively deserted locations, it was all a bit too touristy for me. Gulfoss is spectacular though.
We both are desperate to go back with bikes and head into the interior. Bikepacking the Laugavegur trsail really appeals!
We hired a little 4x4 (think it was a Vitara). The main roads are pretty good, but even then there's odd stretches that are gravel. We also did some fireroady stuff to access various waterfalls and glaciers, but avoided anything that involved fording rivers. Extra paint insurance probably worth it!
We went in October or November a couple of years ago. Had an amazing time. Not expensive if you’re not fussy about food; cheap tasty calories are available from all petrol stations in the form of simple lovely hot dogs with onions, dried onions and three different sauces, only two of which you’ll be able to identify.
Hire a car. It will open up a whole adventure in itself (esp in winter, lol) we hired a tired but perfectly reliable rav4 from [url= https://sadcars.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjdLOBRCkARIsAFj5-GBFo55fm9GiNHRCQ1QHStjn5kUBSSeMl6ijIC8mCOcyKFfmbKfQ1IgaAvtWEALw_wcB ]Sadcars[/url] ; it was perfectly functional, if a bit rough around the edges. Bonus of this is they won’t be quibbling about scuffs and dings, which there’s a lot on the internet about regarding Iceland car hire. Recommended.
"quibbling about scuffs and dings,"
Having your car door bent back or torn off by the wind, is a standard "your lookout pal" item, so, if it's windy as ****, which it may well be, park into the wind!
What Yak, Ambrose and others said!
The hot river valley Yak mentioned is a must and easy to get to / diy from Reykjavik. You can also do the river as a private MTB tour with these guys (really nice little family run company) http://www.icelandactivities.is/
Go to Jokulsarlon if you can. Late in the day or early morning when it is quiet. Best bit is cross the road to the black volcanic beach and watch the glaciers float out to sea.
Book accommodation well in advance (it books up very early). Same for hire cars in peak season.
Take your own hire car excess insurance from home (which covers tyres and underbody etc). All the cars are covered in little "reported damage" stickers. Sometimes these can be cunningly relocated 🙂