Iceland 4 days in Feb - Trip Report
 

Just returned from 4 days based in Reykjavik - myself and friend, both females age in 60s. She wanted to see Northern Lights and I went along for the fun, especially since my husband had no interest in Iceland. Important info - 24 hours prior to our trip Reykjavik had historic snowfall of 20 inches. This both added to and presented challenges to our trip.

Took non-stop Icelandair from Boston arriving at 8 AM. We priced trip on WOW, but with all the add-ons it would have saved little $. One annoyance - airline switched equipment at last minute so that my carefully selected aisle seat turned out to be middle seat on cramped 757. Fortunately, plane not full so was able to switch. Arriving we had booked an airport - Blue Lagoon - hotel trip. Pickup by FlyBus was chaotic; no one in bus area knew anything and we were left to go from bus to bus on an ice-covered and unlit parking lot to find our bus.

Blue Lagoon has timed entry tickets and since we were quite early, had to wait in cafe. Nice snacks and enjoyed people watching - but lack of sleep was catching up with us. Blue Lagoon is very tourist-oriented. Clean, organized. You get a locker, then shower and into the water. Perfect temperature and after mud mask, I looked 30 years younger - jet lag really catching up on me since I believed that. Transfer to hotel was even more FlyBus chaos. The luggage heck guys had to give us info. Then we spent 2 hours on the bus (30 minute trip) while bus dropped off guests at seemingly every hotel in Iceland. While ticket did say they drop you at hotel, it is totally unreasonable to have a 50 passenger bus do this, since they had no idea ahead of time to which hotels people wanted to go. Bus finally dropped us at main FlyBus terminal where 40 people from assorted big buses tried to get on 2 minivans for further transport. Eventually made it to hotel, 3 1/2 hours after leaving Blue Lagoon.

No time for real dinner, since we had booked tickets for Northern Lights boat tour that evening and nap was more important. Trip through Special Tours company was perfect - transport to dock, on whale watch vessel, don warm survival suits, and onto the top deck for amazing views of Northern Lights.

Stayed at Hotel Holt based on friend's recommendation. Very nice experience. Staff is outstanding and desk staff were able to answer any question, book us taxi and return airport transfer. Breakfast was usual northern European-style buffet with breads, cheese, fish, yogurt, coffee. Rooms good size, bathrooms tiny - but everything worked and plenty of hot water. We were on top floor with view of city (even side rooms)

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Next day we had booked Walking Food Tour of Reykjavik. Meeting place was Harpa Concert and Convention center, a modern glass building on the water. It is open to the public, has a nice gift shop, and bathrooms that are open for all. Food tour was a challenge because of record snowfall and few sidewalks and many streets were never shoveled or plowed and after 48 hours snow had been compressed into treacherous ice. Very difficult walking (total about 2.5 miles) but tour was very good. A bit of history, about 8 sampling stops - including one offering taste of infamous preserved shark. Other stops at cheese shop, famous Iceland hotdog stand, and for lamb soup. We ended up near Harpa around 4:30 PM - too early and not hungry for dinner so back to hotel.

While there are multiple restaurants with 3-5 blocks of Hotel Holt, we could not face the thought of another ice slide walk, as the street of hotel was the worst of the ice fields. Settled on drinks at the bar, ordering from bar menu. Friend ordered "cheese and fruit plate" - which for about 20 USD included 3 cubes of cheese and some dabs of jam. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich for slightly more and it was a 2-bite event.

Next day we had booked a Golden Circle Tour; we had considered renting a car, which is more our style - but considering weather and roads, glad we did not. Another FlyBus chaos once at terminal trying to find our bus. The snow made the countryside incredibly beautiful and we enjoyed stops at geyser, waterfall, hydroponic tomato farm. Tour guide was informed but did not know when to just be quiet and let us enjoy the scenery. Bus was then to drop off again a hotels - but we chose option of being dropped downtown to avoid further time on FlyBus.

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Had dinner at Solon Bistro a few blocks from Harpa - best meal of our trip. Fish and chips, salmon with mango salsa and ice cream for dessert. Walked last few blocks to hotel - again on the ice field.

Our last AM was spent doing a little shopping before airport pickup. KEF airport is wonderful - efficient, good signage, automated where possible with helpful personnel when necessary. Good selection of food and snacks. Flight home on 1/3 full 767 was uneventful.

Some general thoughts. The food - to my observation Iceland's reputation for mediocre and expensive food is deserved. They have the ingredients, but they manage to over-sauce, over-cook much of it. I had a veggie lasagna that was boiled carrot and potatoes with cheese melted over it. Sandwiches were floppy meat with no condiments. The bread was usually good, as were desserts. A simple lunch for 1 can easily be 25 USD.

Weather - historic snow aside, we had fantastic weather. Wind and clouds are common, but we encountered little of either. Temps were around freezing; lots of sun.

People were without exception pleasant and helpful. The quiet of Reykjavik was notable - in 4 days never heard 1 siren or 1 car horn beeping. People speak in reasonable-decibel voices. Also very clean. Most of country is geothermal-powered, so low pollution. Even major tourist sites are reasonably well organized with good signage and, again, helpful and pleasant staff.

If you are a moderately sedentary tourist, 3-5 days seems like the right amount of time - perhaps a bit more in warm weather. Northern Lights are hit or miss. Schedule a viewing very early in trip since most companies offer you free repeat visit if none are sighted. Still, no guarantees since a cloudy or windy front can make them invisible.

If you are an outdoor active person, a longer visit would be amazing. We met people going glacier hiking, snowmobile-ing or doing some winter hiking in non-city areas. Not our thing, but would probably be outstanding.

Great trip report Gail. Thanks for sharing. I do not like cold weather at all, so Iceland is not on my bucket list. However, my next door neighbor has gone and liked it a lot in the summer. DH's has a very good friend who works for a company based in Iceland.

Thank you gail, great report.

I'm reading everything I can get my hands on before our 10 day trip to Iceland in May, which will hopefully be an outdoor active person trip!

Thanks, excellent brief overview!

Thanks for the report. So glad you got to see THE lights!! On my bucket list. How did the tour's photos turn out? Feel free to post them and any you took there and elsewhere.

I spent last week in Iceland and left Saturday afternoon before the big snowstorm. The lights had been on my bucket list and I saw them last Tues. and Thurs.
You are right about the expensive, not very good food. I was in sticker shock with a prewrapped sandwich costing 11-15 dollars. I can't imagine what a Subway sub would cost.
My favorites thing about Iceland are the clean air and water and almost no crime. Glad you had a good time, I know I did.

Wonderful report! Glad you saw aurora -- how/what were they -- colors? curtains? I've only seen them in northern NEng and small display in northern Wisconsin - would love to see them further north in flatter place.

What months do they say are most likely to have them? Is summer out of the question?

Thank you so much. This is very helpful and interesting information.

We were in Iceland Feb 13-18 with Gate 1. It was a great trip but we did not see the Northern Lights, it was cloudy and rainy every day but one. Nevertheless, we had a great trip and the food included with the tour was surprisingly good. We stayed at the Foss Hotel and in the countryside at Strata Hotel in Hella. I would go on another Gate 1 tour, altogether it was a fun tour. We started in ATL to JFK to KEF so it was a long trip. It would be a great weekend getaway if you lived in NYC, Boston, etc.

gail, sounds like you had a wonderful time, even with the snow. So glad you saw the northern lights. DH and I spent 5 nights in Iceland in mid-January and never did see them. The weather was atrocious and not good for viewing. We'll try again another time as we did enjoy Iceland.

We were indeed fortunate to see Northern Lights. I was surprised how good the trip was, since I generally detest col;d weather and darkness. I was rarely actually cold, dressing in layers. In fact, more often over-heated from walking. Only time I was actually cold was from the wind while on trip to see waterfall and geysers.

Great report gail.

It sounds like a person could lose weight eating in Iceland. You can't be a fussy eater there. Did you like shark??

The Northern Lights sounds wonderful. Your whole trip sounds fun (exception the bus to the hotel...that sounds awful!!).

Regarding the shark. There is this traditional preserved shark item, usually reserved for specific holidays and apparently tourists. If you Google it, there are all sorts of terrifying reports of how it is prepared - ranging from formaldehyde to urine soaking. On our Food Tour, 4 people agreed to try it. (I was one of the sane majority). One declined after smelling it. One said it smelled like bathroom cleaner in a prison (not sure how he knows about that). Came in 1 cm cubes with a chaser of some sort of liquor. All survived the experience, one stating the alcohol tasted worse than the shark. We suggested it was perhaps an antidote for the shark.

I'm thinking of a solo February trip, so good to know. One is allowed to take 3 kilos of most foods into the country. I guess I'll be taking energy bars. :)

LifeGirl -

Curious about "three kilos of most foods"? Not disputing it, just wondering where you heard/read that. We took a supply of snacks (and wine) with us to Iceland and were not aware of any limit (other than on alcohol, which was pretty generous as I recall).