This time next year we are planning to visit Iceland for something in the vicinity of two weeks. Main plan is a small group trip to see the main things which are there to see and then try to find a 3-4 day horseback ride through the countryside. So am looking for advice on several points:

1. The Main tour. Preliminary research shows in addition to the circle tour of the whole island, there are week long (or so) tours to both the North and the South. Any recommendation of which of the routes would be best for general sightseeing?

2. Any suggestions for a stable which provides said 3-4 day riding tours, preferably inn hopping (and definitely not camping)?

3. What's a decent number of days in and around Reykjavik to see the sights?

Just curious, are you sure you want to be part of a group prior to your horseback ride (I assume you mean group tour)? It is really easy to get around on your own, and we enjoyed seeing things at our own pace when we visited. We used TourIs and customized one of their self-drive packages. They booked our accomodations and car and gave us a suggested itinerary.

Yes, would prefer a (small) group for the main tour. Don't really want to do a self drive

Most probably not in a group for the horse ride, or maybe one or two others (but of course with a guide).

We did the ring road as a self-drive and I'd recommend it (even as a tour) over doing either just the north or south.

That said, the driving is reasonably easy (though we did take our rental offroad a few times) and it's reasonably hard to get lost. There are a lot of smaller attractions (very well signposted), so going independent lets you see a lot more than most groups do.

I can't help on the stable, but if you can spare two full days (we actually only did a 1 1/2 days) in Reykjavik, you'd have it well covered. It's a nice city and has some things to see, but the countryside is the highlight of the trip.

I can´t help you with the horseback tour, but as for recommendations as to where to go before that I would suggest the following.

The South East area around Vatnajökull is stunning, highlights include Skaftafell national park, Jökulsarlon (glacial lagoon) and the South Central Highlands (inaccessible without a 4WD - but am sure some tour companies can get you there).

ALso highly recommend the Westman Islands..takes about 3 hours to get there from Reykjavik, beautiful archipelago off the south coast.

The Snæfelsness peninsula on the West Coast, the whole area was subject to huge volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago and the lava flow into the sea has led to the creation of the most fascinating coastline you will see.

As others have said I wouldn´t rule out the possibility of hiring a car yourself. A lot of the car firms can recommend an itinerary (the firm I used did) and the greater flexibility offered will be invaluable, especially considering that the weather is somewhat unpredicatable in Iceland.

Thanks for the input. We are slowly starting to move towards a self-drive trip mainly because it seems the distances are a lot shorter than originally thought and thus the disadvantages of self-drive are negated by more available time (the long days help here, too). The advantages of a small group are negated, of course, but that's all subjective of course.

The car firm I used were excellent and able to offer useful advice as to where to go. I think the owner used to work in the tourist industry in Iceland so he knows what he´s talking about!

www.carsiceland.com