Review Final Iceland Itinerary Please

Old Feb 20th, 2017, 09:31 AM
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Review Final Iceland Itinerary Please

After lots of research, we have come up with the following itinerary for Iceland in September. Can you please give it a once over to make sure that we are not packing too much into too short a period of time? One constraint is that we have to adjust our schedule due to friends coming in two days after us, and leaving one day before us. Thank you.

Day 1 - Land in KEF late at night. Stay in airport area hotel.
Day 2 - Pick up rental car. Drive to Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Stay the night in town on Peninsula
Day 3 - Travel more on the peninsula. Drive back to Reykjavik to meet our friends who are arriving this day - stay in Rey. tonight
Day 4 - Drive through Golden Circle area, Seljalandsfoss, etc. Stay in Vik tonight.
Day 5 - See areas around Vik - Thorsmork Valley Super Jeep, Skoafoss, etc. Stay in Vik again tonight.
Day 6 - Drive along coast and Skaftafell NP, ending day in Hofn. Stay in Hofn tonight
Day 7 - Drive to East Fjords. Stay in Seydisfjordur tonight.
Day 8 - Drive to Lake Myvatn and spend the day. End up in Akureyi tonight, arriving late.
Day 9 - Spend day in Akureyi area. Stay in Akureyi again tonight
Day 10 - Drive back to Reykjavik. Friends have flight out at 8:30 am on Day 11
Day 11 - See friends off. Spend day in Reykjavik. Leave tonight.
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 06:35 AM
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??
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 06:50 AM
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Is it not possible to ask your friends to have a taxi bring them to meet you on the Peninsula? Or maybe Borgarnes? Maybe it is expensive for the taxi, but it sounds nicer to me. Then you go the other way to make your journey, first to Akureyi, then around and back to Reykjavik. Is that possible? (I visited some parts of Iceland but not all of them, so I am not sure.)
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 07:02 AM
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Hi megdean,

Have you looked at how long the drives you are going yourselves are going to be? We didn't do your itinerary - we decided that 10 days wasn't long enough to get all the way round the island so we stuck to the west - and you're trying to do it in 7. that's a lot of driving.

Anyway, based on our experience, Reykjavik to Vik via the Golden Circle, and Akureyri to Reykjavik strike me as very long days, especially if you want to do anything en route.

Also, I appreciate that your itinerary is affected by the later arrival of your friends, but it would make much more sense to go straight from the airport to Vik, then round the island in the way you describe, finally going from Akureyri to the Snaefellneses peninsular, then the Golden circle and finally Reykjavik. Not sure if you can adapt the route at all, but it might be worth looking at it again.
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 07:06 AM
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I've been doing a bit of thinking - how about this:

Day 3 - meet friends in Reykjavik - drive to the Golden Circle and stay there that night [it's about an hour so doable unless they arrive very late.]

Day 4 - tour Golden circle and drive to Vik [about 2 hours, so again very doable after a morning touring]

Day 5 etc - proceed as before.


it doesn't solve the long drive problem on day 10, but it gives you longer at the beginning.
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 08:44 AM
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Thank you very much for your input. I am worried we have packed too much in resulting in too much driving, and it sounds like you agree. I will think through some options today.
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Old Feb 21st, 2017, 10:47 AM
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megdean - if you click on my screen name, you can find my TR from our visit a few years ago. we had the same length of time and concentrated on the West. From memory , we spent 3 nights somewhere near Hveragardi which we used to tour the Vik, Selfoss the Westermann Isles and the iceberg lagoon [which was a very long drive!], then 2 nights in the Golden Circle, 3 nights on the Western Fjords [a real highlight] 1 on the Snaefellneses peninsular [it was supposed to be 3 but the place we'd booked was awful so we bailed out and went to a plush hotel for a couple of nights] and one at the Blue Lagoon [that's 12, which is more than I thought we'd had!]

so long as your friends don't feel too miffed as missing out on Vik, you could do this:
Day 1 - sleep at airport
Day 2 - travel to Vik [see Sellfoss, Hella, en route
Day 3 - tour to iceberg lagoon, glaciers, sleep Vik
Day 4 - back to Reykjavik to meet friends, travel onto Borganes. overnight there.
day 5 - drive to western Fjords, stay Flokandur [hotel right next to ferry port]
Day 6 -drive to far western cliffs to see birds, stay Flokandur
Day 7 - early ferry across to Stykkisholmur on Snaefellness peninsular, stay night
Day 8 - tour peninsular/boat trip, stay on peninsular
Day 9 - drive to Golden Circle, tour, stay overnight.
day 10 - drive to Reykjavik, tour city, stay overnight.
Day 11 - friends go home.

Here's the ferry company - you'll ned to check the timetable for september:

http://www.seatours.is/our-area/breidafjordur-bay

Using the ferry cuts down on the travelling quite a lot. it does mean that you are missing out on seeing the whole island but if you look at the tour companies that specialise in Iceland, they don't try to get round the whole lot in a week.

https://www.discover-the-world.co.uk...ential-iceland

https://www.heyiceland.is/tours?tour...%2C3%2C15%2C10

I'm not suggesting that you do one of their tours necessarily, but they are excellent resources to show you what is possible in the time you've got. I note that heyiceland [used to be Icelandic Farm Holidays] do offer an 8 day round trip, but the illustration they give is of an 11 day one, so i wonder how realistic it is, especially in September when you won't have the long daylight hours of an Icelandic summer.

anyway, I hope that some of that helps!
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Old Feb 22nd, 2017, 05:21 AM
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annhig, thank you so much for all of the information. We did decide to follow the Hey Iceland 9 day tour. My husband and I will leave for the Snaefellsness Peninsula on our own, and then meet up with our friends in Akureyri. They will fly there the day after their arrival into KEF. We will then finish the loop together. Thank you!

Sept. 6 - M&T arrive into Reyk at midnight
Sept 7 - M&T depart for Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Stay here tonight
Sept 8 - M&T start heading toward Akureyri, staying somewhere halfway tonight. Meanwhile, R&M land in Reyk this morning and spend the day in Reykjavik.
Sept. 9 - M&T drive to Akureyi, getting there in the evening. R&M fly to Akureyri. Meet up tonight.
Sept 10 - Drive to Lake Myvatn area
Sept 11 - Drive to Seydisehordur East Fjords area
Sept 12 - Drive to Hofn
Sept 13 - Drive to Vik
Sept 14 - Drive to Geysir area
Sept 15 - Drive to Reyk
Sept 16 - R&M depart in morning. M&T visit Reyk and fly to London tonight.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2017, 05:38 AM
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Hi megdean,

That sounds like a much better plan. it'll still be quite a lot of driving but it looks very doable.

I'm glad [if I have been] to have been of some help - but I think you already knew that the first plan didn't really work - you just needed a little push!

do come back and tell us how you got on - I hope you all have a great trip.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2017, 12:04 PM
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For your airport hotel the arrival night, the only hotel that is actually at the airport is Airport Hotel Aurora Star (be careful, there's an Aurora Guesthouse that is not the one you want). It is literally 300 yards from the terminal, so easy to walk with your luggage. I reserved my room a week in advance and paid 140 euros (in late January), so suggest you reserve early to get the best price!

I was in Vik in September and there was no room at either hotel, so I stayed in a private room w/private bath via AirbnB; room was very nice but it was over $250 for one night!! Again, book early.

Suggest you do a glacier trek at Skaftafell NP (on the way to the glacier lagoon) - it's amazing!
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Old Sep 29th, 2017, 09:20 AM
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Hello,

We just returned from our Iceland trip and want to thank you for your assistance. We had a fantastic time. I had no idea I would love Iceland so much.

We followed this itinerary. I am not a very descriptive writer, but if you have any questions, let me know.

Day 1- Landed in KEF. Bought lots of booze in duty free store at the airport. Stayed at Bed and Breakfast Keflavik Airport.

Day 2 - We picked up a Kia Sorrento at Cars Iceland. Since there were four of us, and we were travelling for a month total, we had a bit of luggage, and the Kia proved perfect for our needs. Stopped at Costco in Reykjavik for food supplies - got lots of non-perishables that we snacked on for the entire trip. Headed directly to Snaefellsnes Peninsula and circled from the south to the west, ending up in Stykkisholmur. I was pleasantly surprised at how few other cars we saw. Guess I just assumed that with tourism up so much we would see lots of people. Stayed at Stykkisholmur at Hofdagata Guesthouse.

Day 3 Travelled to Laugarbakki. Stayed at Hotel Laugarbakki

Day 4 - After driving around the Trollaskagi (Peninsula), ended the day in Akureyri. We loved this peninsula, venturing on dirt roads through the interior where we saw maybe 4 cars in an hour. We loved the solitude and peacefulness of the area. Just lovely. Stayed at Skyjaborg Apartments

Day 5 - Drove to Lake Myvatn area, stopping at Godafoss on the way. Saw the volcanic sites. Stayed at Fosshotel Myvatn

Day 6 - Drove to Seydisfjordur East Fjords area, stopping at Dettifoss on the way. Stayed at Hotel Aldan. Man, I loved this area, particularly Borgarfjodur Eystri. I wish I had two more days in this area - the mountains and hiking potential were amazing. And in Seydisfjordur, we had a glimpse of northern lights, which was the only sighting we had the whole trip.

Day 7 - Drive to Hofn. Stayed at Saelhaus Apts

Day 8 - Drove to Vik, stopping at Diamond Beach, Jokulsarlon lagoon, and Skaftafell hiking on the way. Stayed at a AirBnB house.

Day 9 - Remained in Vik area, seeing Skagafoss, Reynisdrangar, and the Folk Museum

Day 10 - Drove to Reykjavik, stopping at Seljalandsfoss and other sites on the way. Here is where we finally ran into crowds of people, tour busses, paid parking, etc. Did not go through the Golden Circle area. We were kind of running out of steam by this point, and decided we would see that next time. Stayed at Skolavordustigur Apartment in downtown Reykjavik.

Day 11 - Toured Reykjavik during the day. Departed out of KEF in the evening.

We really loved the areas in Northern and Eastern Iceland, esp the NE corner near Seydisfjordur. Wish we had about 4 more days to get some good hiking in. While on the map each location was only 2-3 hours apart, with all the stops, side trips, etc, took more like 6 hours. Roads were great, very little traffic until we passed Vik.

Since there were four of us, it worked best to get 2 bedroom apartments and split the cost. The stop at Costco and the Duty Free shop at the airport really help cut down our food bill.
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