Hello all,
My husband and I have finally decided on Iceland (and perhaps Norway, Sweden or Finland with the free stopover) for our vacation this year. We now need some help deciding what time of year to travel to Iceland. We are avid hikers and like to hike on our own, as opposed to with a group or guide.
This year, we can either travel the first week of July, the last week of August or the last week of September. It seems, at least for flights, the prices drop significantly for late September. In addition, since we don't have children yet, we like to avoid the "typical" American travel times like early July and late August when places are usually crowded. However, I'm concerned that late September in Iceland is too late to enjoy the beautiful hiking that makes us want to travel to Iceland! The books and research I've looked at so far seem to just say that June-August is the best time to travel to Iceland, but don't really speak to late September conditions.
I would really appreciate any and all advice you could provide.
Thank you in advance.
Melissa
July or late September travel
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Topping for Melissa
Hi Melissa,
My husband and I were in Iceland for two weeks last August. I believe we left on the 8th and returned on the 22nd. We never had any trouble with crowds. The only time we saw actual crowds was our last weekend in Reykjavik. It was their annual Cultural Festival and also the Marathon run. That is really worth seeing if you can schedule it. In other parts of the country (we drove around the ring road) even if the hotel was full it was nothing like tourist season in other parts of Europe.
Here's a link to our trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34670021
The weather we had was changable every day. Lots of clouds, a couple of sunny days. Mak sure that you take rain gear and warm clothes. We got alot of use out of ours!!
Feel free to ask any other questions that you may think of. Iceland is like nowhere else. We had a great time!!
DKW
Thanks LoveItaly for topping, and thanks DKW for your response. I'll be sure to ask lots of questions of you as we are planning, so thanks for the offer.
Unfortunately, it now looks like the end of August is out now, so we're looking at early July or last week of September.
Thanks,
Melissa
Your biggest difference will be with amount of daylight; July is lovely for that, of course! Also, Thorvald may not be open in September, and it's really great for hikes.
I was in Iceland in early October and there were still many great hikes and walks, plus the lovely coloring of the vegetation. I'd pick July, myself, though, for a first time visit, but perhaps that's because my first visit there was in July.
Have you subscribed to Icelandair's newsletter? They frequently have good specials.
Amy,
That is very helpful advice. While I'm sure we'll want to go back to Iceland many times again, it probably makes sense to pretend like this might be the only time and go in late June/early July.
Take care,
Melissa