Monica_Lemaire

My husband and I are planning a trip mainly to Ireland (14 days) next spring/summer and I see that many people do a 2 day layover in Iceland. I am wondering is there any additional costs besides the cost of staying there? What about for the flight? Also we would like to add a couple days in London if possible...is this too much for 14 days? In Ireland we would like to be in Dublin for a couple of days, then down to Dingle by way of Waterford....I am hoping that someone can tell me either this is too much or not enough. The plan was to stay for 4 or so days in the Dingle area...would this be too much time? Any and all information would be greatly appreciated!

Tony2phones

Where are you coming from?
Ireland via Iceland and London?
Why Dingle for 1/3 of your time on the island of Ireland?

historytraveler

Iceland Air offers stopovers from one night to a week without additional airfare. They frequently have special promotions for hotels etc. for just such purpose. Have a look at theri website.

www.icelandair.com
www.icelandair.us

Heimdall

Layovers in Iceland are very practical when flying with Icelandair. There are companies that provide tailored excursions based on how long you will be staying. One company even has day trips from the airport for those who arrive on the morning flight and leave in the evening: http://www.re.is

Two days in Iceland would be lots of fun. I haven't done that yet, but on one trip between the US and UK had a 12 hour layover. I took the flybus into Reykjavik, walked all over town, then took the Blue Lagoon excursion, which dropped me back at the airport in time for the flight.

Tony2phones

looks like a good option, not heard of it before.

BKP

We just used Icelandair to fly from London to Seattle and back. We had a 9 hour layover on the way from Seattle to London. It was enough time to eat (a decent) breakfast at the airport, catch the free bus to the Blue Lagoon, enjoy the mud and massage then free bus back to the airport.

There seem to be several companies that offer excursions for limited time frames.

It worked well for us because as Iceland wasn't really the focus of our trip we didn't research it very well. It was nice to let someone else do the thinking!

MontagueFamily

Are you aware of the distance between Ireland and Iceland?

historytraveler

Just made a quick check and I don't think you can fly from Iceland to Ireland, at least on Iceland Air. You can, however, fly from London or Manchester to Iceland and onward. So Iceland stopover option probably only doable on return flight from London.You might also have a look at other airlines flying into/out of Iceland. They may have flights from Iceland to Ireland.

Heimdall

Icelandair has flights from the British Isles at London, Manchester, and Glasgow. Here are the airports they fly to/from: http://www.icelandair.com

They have been very clever in making Keflavik Airport a hub between North America and Europe, with one wave of flights leaving in the morning, and another wave in the afternoon. The terminal is small, so changing from one airplane to another is easy, and there is never a long wait between flights unless you opt to take a layover as I did that one time.

Although the changeover at Keflavik adds to the overall time, I have found it pleasant to have a couple hours break in the middle of the trip. There is no need to change money to kronur if you stay at the airport. If you opt for a layover you have a chance to see a little bit of a very unique country.

Gordon_R

<i>so changing from one airplane to another is easy,</i>

Not as easy as it could be however as they still make transit passengers queue up to go through passport control and security between incoming and outgoing flights. We had a very short turnaround of approx 1 hour returning from SEA to LHR at KEF, which was a lot more stress than I appreciate first thing in the morning.

Outbound to SEA was much better as we did one of the 2-night stopovers mentioned above - well worth it as a quick intro to a unique country.

Sea_Drop

I am not sure whether you decided or not.
Ireland is full with amazing placed - but most of them are hidden and sometimes you have to do extra miles...
Reaching Iceland from Ireland is not easy, we will fly from Manchester this summer as no direct flights from Dublin.

Dingle is a good choice but I would go for Galway and Mayo, too. And if you are happy to drive extra, I think near Sligo and the East coast (Northen Ireland) can be also great.

janisj

Sea_Drop: Welcome to Fodors. When topping a thread it is usually a good idea to check the dates -- this one is two years old (and the OP only ever posted this one time then disappeared from the forums)