Chilling in Iceland, Tips Needed
 

I am so excited to begin a rough itinerary! But I need some help: My husband and I will have 10 full days to drive around Iceland. Because we are taking a redeye and the days leading to the flight we expect to be stressful, we would like not to do anything too wild the first day or two -i.e. no crowds at the Blue Lagoon and certainly no bar-crawls!

Ideally, since we land early in the a.m., we would like to retrieve our vehicle, head out on the Golden Circle and find a nice town/area to quietly explore, and then continue on more energetically the next day or so.

Can someone recommend a good first stop, given the above parameters? People here seem to favor a counter-clockwise route. ?

I'm sure that this is the first of several questions!

My thoughts
Even the biggest town outside of the capital will struggle to achieve "town" status in most people's eyes
I really would look at doing the Golden cicle on a small tour bus as 1) they will brief you on the culture of the country (which you may not get any other time) and 2) it only takes a day to do the three main visits (plus maybe one more) and covers very little distance compared to the rest of the circle
If you are staying somewhere try and find a town with a pool. Pools are so much part of the lifestyle you might as well fit straight in
Arbourg/Selfoss, might be nice I stayed here http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_R...th_Region.html and the pool is about 1km away (easy walk)

Memory, seems to have failed me (not now sure pool was close) but hotel was good

What time of year will you be there? I strongly agree on doing a bus tour of the Golden Circle. We skipped the Blue Lagoon as I read one article that turned me off (mass exfoliating with the special clay). We used the public outdoor pools and met and mingled with locals off-season. The towns are VERY small, picture driving in Northern Canada. Best local view is the blogger "I Heart Reykjavik". She did the loop with her sister last year and would be a great read in perpetration. She also does a foot tour of Reykjavik now, a very walkable city.
Good luck!

Sorry, we're going the beginning of June, eventide. Mass exfoliation sounds awful, lol! Thank you for the terrific link!!! How many people were on your Golden Circle tour?

bilboburgler (what a great name!), what time of year were you in Iceland? One reason we wanted to drive was so we could a) explore at our own pace, and b)snorkel at Silfra without backtracking.

On-our-own and the tour eventide linked each have advantages and disadvantages, so must think on it. Thank you both ever so much for your thoughts and advice!

May/June, flew in at 2am, caught the bus to an appartment at 4am, all in broad daylight.

Exploring on your own is great but basically the whole island is just a big slab of moving rock, unless you are a great "geo" expert most of it will mean nothing, so you need someone to interpret it or at least get an overview visit to a museum.

Rest of the time get on and see what you can see, but, some briefings will help and a small (in numbers of people), one day tour will give you that for free. For instance did you know the Island was heavily forested when the humans arrived and it only took them 200 years to clear the place so that firewood had to be imported, that the population is so closely related that they have an APP to stop you "pulling" a cousin at the disco.. etc. A unique place with a very different view on the world. (Don't mention Gordon Brown) :-)

Blue Lagoon, loved it, but we checked in on the last day as part of the bus ride to the airport (the buses manage your gear) and it made for an unforgetable afternoon and I kept what little hair I had

Did out annhig's visit report about taking cucumbers to Iceland, well written and gives a good overview

bilboburgler, we're traveling around the same time period, and arriving at 4 a.m. ish. Based on your advice, we'll book a one-day tour. Not sure yet about the Blue Lagoon. A co-worker described it as one of the best experiences of her life, which means that it's either beyond wonderful - or my co-worker has led a sadly sheltered life. ;)

"the population is so closely related that they have an APP to stop you "pulling" a cousin at the disco."

LOL!

I didn't know that Iceland was ever that forested. Sad statistic.

I'll check out ann's report - great title.

I made my first reservation - at the Start Hostel not far from the airport. We figure that we can drive around the peninsula or/and soak in the lagoon until our room is ready - and it'll be light - whoo hoo!

Bilbo - you'd make a great guide - fascinating facts, thanks!

Cat - a place that you might like for a first night stop is the terrific hotel that we found when we ran away from some substandard accommodation. [see my TR so kindly referenced by bilbo above].

http://hotelglymur.is/amenities/

whilst it doesn't have a pool, it does have some outdoor hot tubs, very comfy rooms, and a great restaurant though the drawback with that is that it might spoil you for the rest of Iceland!

it's less than an hour's drive from Reykjavik and about 90 mins from the airport.

if you wanted to go to the Golden Circle the next day, it's about 2 hours away,

Cat - missed your lost post as I was posting, i see that your first night is sorted - well done. you might still like to think about the Glymur if you want a splurge on the way back to Reykjavik.

We did go to the Blue Lagoon on our last full day in Iceland - it's quite good fun if you don't actually want to swim. I can see the point of it in cold weather when wallowing in hot water and/or mud could be quite attractive but I don't really get it in the middle of summer.

We also drove round the peninsular near Keflavik on the day we arrived - there are some interesting walks to mud pools and the like and the landscape is pretty strange. well worth exploring if you have the energy.

"last" post, not lost.

damn this auto-correct.

I'll be in Iceland the end of July only for a 2 day stopover. I've booked an excursion to the blue lagoon (transportation only) one of the afternoons. Also have a Grand Circle excursion booked. Enjoying reading everyone's comments!

Cat, thanks for the kind comments, just caught up with you and your plans. Well done

The Start hostel looks .... well "stark" but probably gives you a fair concept of what a lot of the place looks like.

I was watching an Attila the Hun movie yesterday and saw a Mongol charge at the Tolt (the special horse stride used by Icelandic horses) if you get the time and the money go for a ride (while it hurt my untrained bottom it was interesting), horses are very much part of the culture and the world's oldest law is about horses in Iceland

ann, I can't tell you how very much I am enjoying your trip report! So much so, I didn't get to bed until a good hour later than I'd planned last night. My sympathies on the demise of the remaining cucumber.

I am starting to rethink renting an expensive 4 x 4 to travel some "B" roads.

bilb, yes, the hostel is, I suppose, a bit stark, but it's well-rated, and includes a private bath, Wi-Fi and bed linen for a reasonable price by Iceland standards. Maybe even breakfast - this wasn't clear. We just need somewhere to crash the first night before we start the trip properly.

The horses are a must-see, according to my mother-in-law.

Sorry to have disturbed your sleep pattern, cat.

when you say that you are rethinking renting a 4x4, does that mean you are now thinking about doing it, or not doing it? I would strongly suggest the latter unless you really want to go off-piste!

I looked at the Hostel website and frankly it looks to offer higher standard accommodation than at least one place we stayed in, if not two. and when I got to the booking page, it said that breakfast was included, which is a bonus.

it looks like a good start! [oops!]

'Sorry to have disturbed your sleep pattern, cat."

That's okay. It's preparing me for those long Iceland nights.

"when you say that you are rethinking renting a 4x4, does that mean you are now thinking about doing it, or not doing it?"

Not doing it, though there are a few iffy places we'd like to have a 4x4 for , like Thakgil near Vik.

The hostel is fairly new, I think, and pretty reasonable, if you consider under $100 US reasonable. The booking process contradicts itself regarding breakfast. I printed out the part where it says breakfast is included. Otherwise we'll just have to eat the charge. So to speak.

at under $100, for Iceland it seems like a steal! even without breakfast.

Iceland is a funny place - long stretches of road with not a lot happening [unless you are a fan of lava beds] followed by something really tremendous. So it lends itself well to a linear road trip as opposed to staying in a hub and exploring an area. I think that that was the main mistake we made as we still spent long days driving back and forth.

The long days as useful too - in June you will have a lot of daylight to do your driving and exploring in.

ann, if you were to stay mainly on the ring road, would you still have rented a 4 x 4 to explore off from it occasionally? Was it way more expensive?

no, and yes. the vast majority of cars you see, even locals are ordinary ones and so long as you stick to the main roads you'll be fine in one. also, when we were there, the hire car companies would not allow you to take their cars onto the "F" roads or to cross any water, so there wasn't really point of having the 4x4 option.

I've read that that isn't any more the case, but IMO that sort of driving, particularly in a strange country, is best left to experts so I would stick to the A & B roads; there's plenty to enjoy on them.

After some research, I see that Thakgill can be accessed by a regular rental car, though it's slow-going. And maybe I'll book a day-tour to Landmomalogour (sp) instead of driving it ourselves. I appreciate your advice!

Cat - when i looked up Thakgill on the map, it seems just to be off the road no 1, which is the main road round Iceland, so unless it's a different place that you have in mind, you shouldn't have any problem getting there in a normal car.

as for Landmannalaugar, I found it on the internet, and it appears only to be reachable by F road, which is not a good idea in any rental car, 4x4 or not. definitely a good idea to take a tour and leave it to the experts!

Yup, I think it's the same place, ann.

Thanks for all of the super advice; I greatly appreciate it!

glad to be of help, Cattail.

You can take a guided bus tour right to Landmannalaugar. In fact I think you can take a regular bus without a tour there if you want:

https://www.icelandtravel.is/day-tou...laugar_by_bus/

You might find this interesting:

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-...al_Region.html

I would pick up the rental car in Reykajvik, drive to the Golden Circle yourself and maybe stay overnight in Laugarvatn, which is a charming little town about 20-30 mins drive from Geysir. I know some tour companies do pick ups from Selfoss for those wanting to visit Landmannalaugar, so that could work for you as well.

Unless you want to visit some places that necessitate driving on an F-Road then I wouldn´t bother with a 4x4. Landmannalaugar is one such place but as has already been recommended, I would do a guided tour for that.

As for car rental, I recommend carsiceland, I rented from them and the level of service I got was fantastic.

www.carsiceland.com

Hi! I believe this blog can be of help - www.iceland24blog.com
And, concerning Landmannalaugar - yes, yes, yes - it is really worth seeing. And not as crowded (there are even no shops, so you'll have to take snacks and water with you)

Wow, thank you all!

If we weren't going the beginning of June, we would want to trek between mountain huts. But since we are (and cold, the weather that poster described is downright depressing!), the best thing to do based on all of your advice, seems to be to take a tour to Landmannalaugar. We're hoping to do a short hike at least. I need to thoroughly check into the private and group tours you guys have given me links to.

mikey, those are great suggestions; I was a bit concerned that we'd have to backtrack to Raykajvik to take a tour.

cold, considering the in and outs of a bus/camping or hut vs. a tour, thanks. I'm not sure that I want to camp given the hugely uncertain weather conditions in June.

Anasthasia, fabulous link with so much information I'm xcited to peruse this weekend!

I'm in the process of booking a couple of nights at Thakgil in a cabin.

Rough Itinerary thus far (ten nights):

Day 1: Arriving red-eye 4 a.m. ish: Pick up regular rental car at airport. Drive around the peninsula. Check in early to Start Hotel near airport.

Days 2 and 3: Drive to Vik area. Overnight Thakgil, campground cabins.

The rest to be decided:

Thanks again, Everyone!

Start Hostel.

lol, CAT - have you read my TR?

the words "campground cabins" strike terror into my heart. OTOH how many religious maniac icelandic camp-ground owners can there be?

Yes!

I will study up on Icelandic agriculture before we check in.

I am finally getting close to a final itinerary. What do y'all think? Because we enjoy hiking and the outdoors so much, we're concentrating our ten-night trip on just southern Iceland, but we do still have options:

Day 1: Arriving red-eye 4 a.m. ish: Pick up regular rental car at airport. Options; Drive around the peninsula. Take Golden Circle tour. Blue Lagoon or other relaxing pool experience. Whale watching or kayaking.... Check in earlyish to Start Hotel near airport.

Days 2 and 3: Julia's Guesthouse, near Selfoss. Options: Hiking, hotsprings, Golden Circle, Landmannalauger in the unlikely event that the road is open.

Days 4 and 5 Drive to Vik area. Overnight Thakgil, campground cabins.

Days 6 and 7: Hofn area, Nonhammar cabins

Day 8: Nordursild Guesthouse in Seydisfjordur, for drive around the east fjord and nearby lake, hiking, kayaking, etc.

This leaves us with 2 more days at a half-way point. A dilemma: should we keep going with little time to enjoy our surroundings, or head back the way we came?