Our first trip to Iceland - 8 days in May
Jun 4th, 2019, 02:12 PM
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Our first trip to Iceland - 8 days in May
My husband and I flew to KEF, then had 8 days on the ground in Iceland to drive the Ring Road and do some sightseeing. My impressions of the overall trip:
Dramatic country. Long stretches of barren land in the NE, lava fields covered with moss everywhere, beautiful glaciers and icebergs, black sand.
Expensive, but not as bad as Norway.
Tricky driving. Main road is often narrow, built up, and without guard rails. We saw one car in the water below Hwy 1 while driving in heavy fog. Sheep are on the road. Even birds on the road where warning sign posted. The cattle and reindeer were in fields, but not on the roads.
Interesting birds. Probably even better later in summer. Terns, kittiwakes, gulls, swans, geese, ducks, puffins.
Limited hours, especially outside of summer. Grocery stores have limited hours, but many restaurants were open until 9 or 10 pm in May. Small museums open only 1-4pm if at all. Many hotels started breakfast at 8am.
Dramatic country. Long stretches of barren land in the NE, lava fields covered with moss everywhere, beautiful glaciers and icebergs, black sand.
Expensive, but not as bad as Norway.
Tricky driving. Main road is often narrow, built up, and without guard rails. We saw one car in the water below Hwy 1 while driving in heavy fog. Sheep are on the road. Even birds on the road where warning sign posted. The cattle and reindeer were in fields, but not on the roads.
Interesting birds. Probably even better later in summer. Terns, kittiwakes, gulls, swans, geese, ducks, puffins.
Limited hours, especially outside of summer. Grocery stores have limited hours, but many restaurants were open until 9 or 10 pm in May. Small museums open only 1-4pm if at all. Many hotels started breakfast at 8am.
Jun 5th, 2019, 09:47 AM
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Yes, Mel.
We agreed that if we could return and visit more remote parts at the right time of year, we would.
The birds nesting in cliffs in Westfjords, Borgarfjordur estuary, maybe Dalvik. I never tire of glaciers or snowcapped mountains. The Alps are still my favorite destination in the world.
But we didn't find the "beautiful" little towns that scenic--they are simple and functional to suit the climate. Sometimes they were in scenic settings in the fjords, but we didn't find that much of interest in the small towns and museums.
We agreed that if we could return and visit more remote parts at the right time of year, we would.
The birds nesting in cliffs in Westfjords, Borgarfjordur estuary, maybe Dalvik. I never tire of glaciers or snowcapped mountains. The Alps are still my favorite destination in the world.
But we didn't find the "beautiful" little towns that scenic--they are simple and functional to suit the climate. Sometimes they were in scenic settings in the fjords, but we didn't find that much of interest in the small towns and museums.
Jun 5th, 2019, 10:28 AM
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Costs
In doing my research, I found that lots of people ask about the cost of visiting Iceland. I'll summarize what I can in US$.
We rented a mid-size automatic car from Blue. Looking back, we could have managed with a smaller manual car to save money, but we were comfortable. We paid $300+ for 8 days inclusive of CDW etc. that they include on every rental, but we didn't add any optionals like sand/ash. I booked an online prepay special and checked back closer to our trip and the special had improved to include a free second driver, so I contacted them and they refunded the difference. Pick up was slow (lots of people), but drop off was fast and easy (preference given to those dropping off and only 1 other customer when we walked in). We spent at least $200 on gasoline.
We stayed in small to medium size hotels, chain and independent, private bath, and included breakfast. Cost ranged from $80 to $160. The $80 near the airport was supposed to be a new, basic 2*, but the service was lacking (including the promised early breakfast), so not a real bargain. The $160 was the Icelandair hotel at Lake Myvatn. I booked a newsletter special for a King superior with half price breakfast. It was a large, modern room and the breakfast buffet was nice. Our favorite was the Volcano Hotel, a 7-8 room facility on a farm outside of Vik--modern in a rural setting with nice breakfast for $130. We stayed 2 nights 3 hotels and 1 night each at the others. I used a combination of booking direct to get Icelandair special to lower rates I could get via booking.com or Orbitz.
Breakfast was covered by the hotels. I prefer to picnic for one meal and eat in a restaurant or take out for the other, but my husband is less and less enthusiastic about my picnic plans and wanting more to have real meals for lunch and dinner. We didn't do self catering this trip because of all the movement and the cost of self contained units versus hotel rooms. So, more often than not, we bought some food at groceries for snacks and in-hotel desserts and a few sandwiches, but ate meals at assorted restaurants. Soup seemed to always cost $16--sometimes a small bowl, sometimes a large bowl, and sometimes with a top off. We didn't happen upon any soup bars. Lots of good lamb stew. We had a fast food dinner of 2 langostino/lobster bagettes, 2 sweet potato fries, a soda, and a milkshake for $50. We paid $30 apiece for fish/vegetable dinners several times. All restaurants offer free tap water and it is the default expectation for what you will drink. Packaged sandwiches and salads at grocery cost about $12-15. The Kronan grocery was nicer than the Bonus. We didn't visit any others. Kronan had "happy hour" of inhouse baked goods half price in last hour before closing.
We visited a few small museums, usually at $12-15 per person. We paid $6 to park at a couple of parks (Although only 1 shows up on my credit card. I do have the email receipt.). We didn't take any tours or other paid activities or admissions.
A credit card with pin was required to pay the machine to park at the parks (camera reads license plate upon entry and exit) and at unattended 24-hour gas pumps. I think one could find a manned gas station during normal business hours in most towns and pay with cash or a credit card without pin, but I think it is the only option for the parking machines.
We rented a mid-size automatic car from Blue. Looking back, we could have managed with a smaller manual car to save money, but we were comfortable. We paid $300+ for 8 days inclusive of CDW etc. that they include on every rental, but we didn't add any optionals like sand/ash. I booked an online prepay special and checked back closer to our trip and the special had improved to include a free second driver, so I contacted them and they refunded the difference. Pick up was slow (lots of people), but drop off was fast and easy (preference given to those dropping off and only 1 other customer when we walked in). We spent at least $200 on gasoline.
We stayed in small to medium size hotels, chain and independent, private bath, and included breakfast. Cost ranged from $80 to $160. The $80 near the airport was supposed to be a new, basic 2*, but the service was lacking (including the promised early breakfast), so not a real bargain. The $160 was the Icelandair hotel at Lake Myvatn. I booked a newsletter special for a King superior with half price breakfast. It was a large, modern room and the breakfast buffet was nice. Our favorite was the Volcano Hotel, a 7-8 room facility on a farm outside of Vik--modern in a rural setting with nice breakfast for $130. We stayed 2 nights 3 hotels and 1 night each at the others. I used a combination of booking direct to get Icelandair special to lower rates I could get via booking.com or Orbitz.
Breakfast was covered by the hotels. I prefer to picnic for one meal and eat in a restaurant or take out for the other, but my husband is less and less enthusiastic about my picnic plans and wanting more to have real meals for lunch and dinner. We didn't do self catering this trip because of all the movement and the cost of self contained units versus hotel rooms. So, more often than not, we bought some food at groceries for snacks and in-hotel desserts and a few sandwiches, but ate meals at assorted restaurants. Soup seemed to always cost $16--sometimes a small bowl, sometimes a large bowl, and sometimes with a top off. We didn't happen upon any soup bars. Lots of good lamb stew. We had a fast food dinner of 2 langostino/lobster bagettes, 2 sweet potato fries, a soda, and a milkshake for $50. We paid $30 apiece for fish/vegetable dinners several times. All restaurants offer free tap water and it is the default expectation for what you will drink. Packaged sandwiches and salads at grocery cost about $12-15. The Kronan grocery was nicer than the Bonus. We didn't visit any others. Kronan had "happy hour" of inhouse baked goods half price in last hour before closing.
We visited a few small museums, usually at $12-15 per person. We paid $6 to park at a couple of parks (Although only 1 shows up on my credit card. I do have the email receipt.). We didn't take any tours or other paid activities or admissions.
A credit card with pin was required to pay the machine to park at the parks (camera reads license plate upon entry and exit) and at unattended 24-hour gas pumps. I think one could find a manned gas station during normal business hours in most towns and pay with cash or a credit card without pin, but I think it is the only option for the parking machines.
Jun 5th, 2019, 01:27 PM
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What we liked most
We are a married couple in our 60s who love nature and the outdoors.
What we liked most about our trip:
Walking around Arnastapi along the coast toward Hellnar--lots of birds on the ground, in the water, flying overhead calling and working on their nests; lovely coast and cliffs; our first experience of the moss covered lava. The nice young woman in the cafe explaining how the grandmother bakes one marriage cake fresh every day.
Glaumbær turf houses--I always like to learn how people live now and in the past in different countries. My husband found it interesting too. We didn't visit Skogar.
Akureyri --This was personal. Friends of ours donated an antique Icelandic map collection to the Akureyri Museum, so we had to stop to see them and meet the director. We enjoyed the local history on lower floor too; once again learning about locals and their lives. My husband is a pilot and has a soft spot for DC-3s. There is one at the Akureyri aviation museum that was supposed to fly to Reykjavík to greet the group ferrying over to Europe for the D-Day anniversary, but engine trouble grounded it. So we got to see it and commiserate. We drove out of Akureyri on Hwy 83 to 84 to avoid the toll tunnel and saw the beautiful view of the fjord and town.
A short walk through birch woods on the south side of Lake Myvatn. The woods were full of bird song although we only spotted a few. Lots of ducks on the water below. A beautiful experience.
My husband would choose Dettifoss. He couldn't believe there was going to be a large waterfall as we drove for miles through barren brown land scattered with rocks.
The pass above Egilsstaðir. Lovely views, frozen lake, unexpected waterfall.
Glaciers. Fjallsárlón lagoon--Smaller icebergs than Jökulsárlón, but magical on an overcast day. We were lucky that Jökulsárlón was not busy, so we enjoyed looking at the icebergs there too. I may be getting them confused, but Sólheimajökull, I think, had more debris/black so was distinctive.
The basalt columns and caves at Reynisfjara Beach. Although we saw basalt formations in several places, this was large, accessible and very interesting. Unfortunately this means it was also one of the most crowded places we visited.
Puffins at Dyrhólaey. The peninsula is closed from 7pm to 9am to give the birds some privacy. We parked in the lower lot around 5pm and stood at the end of the trail watching the cliffs for awhile until we saw a few come out of their burrows, stretch and look around before flying off. So we looked in the water to see rafts of 50 birds at a time reaching closer to shore, one occasionally taking flight, soaring over us to the cliff, circling madly a few times, before returning to the ocean or landing and quickly entering a burrow. It was great sport trying to spot one and follow its track while we were freezing in the cold wind. Binoculars were essential except when they buzzed us directly overhead. I was jealous when a couple told us they saw 1000+ puffins when they visited Borgarfjörður.
Swans sitting on huge nests in fields along the road.
What we liked most about our trip:
Walking around Arnastapi along the coast toward Hellnar--lots of birds on the ground, in the water, flying overhead calling and working on their nests; lovely coast and cliffs; our first experience of the moss covered lava. The nice young woman in the cafe explaining how the grandmother bakes one marriage cake fresh every day.
Glaumbær turf houses--I always like to learn how people live now and in the past in different countries. My husband found it interesting too. We didn't visit Skogar.
Akureyri --This was personal. Friends of ours donated an antique Icelandic map collection to the Akureyri Museum, so we had to stop to see them and meet the director. We enjoyed the local history on lower floor too; once again learning about locals and their lives. My husband is a pilot and has a soft spot for DC-3s. There is one at the Akureyri aviation museum that was supposed to fly to Reykjavík to greet the group ferrying over to Europe for the D-Day anniversary, but engine trouble grounded it. So we got to see it and commiserate. We drove out of Akureyri on Hwy 83 to 84 to avoid the toll tunnel and saw the beautiful view of the fjord and town.
A short walk through birch woods on the south side of Lake Myvatn. The woods were full of bird song although we only spotted a few. Lots of ducks on the water below. A beautiful experience.
My husband would choose Dettifoss. He couldn't believe there was going to be a large waterfall as we drove for miles through barren brown land scattered with rocks.
The pass above Egilsstaðir. Lovely views, frozen lake, unexpected waterfall.
Glaciers. Fjallsárlón lagoon--Smaller icebergs than Jökulsárlón, but magical on an overcast day. We were lucky that Jökulsárlón was not busy, so we enjoyed looking at the icebergs there too. I may be getting them confused, but Sólheimajökull, I think, had more debris/black so was distinctive.
The basalt columns and caves at Reynisfjara Beach. Although we saw basalt formations in several places, this was large, accessible and very interesting. Unfortunately this means it was also one of the most crowded places we visited.
Puffins at Dyrhólaey. The peninsula is closed from 7pm to 9am to give the birds some privacy. We parked in the lower lot around 5pm and stood at the end of the trail watching the cliffs for awhile until we saw a few come out of their burrows, stretch and look around before flying off. So we looked in the water to see rafts of 50 birds at a time reaching closer to shore, one occasionally taking flight, soaring over us to the cliff, circling madly a few times, before returning to the ocean or landing and quickly entering a burrow. It was great sport trying to spot one and follow its track while we were freezing in the cold wind. Binoculars were essential except when they buzzed us directly overhead. I was jealous when a couple told us they saw 1000+ puffins when they visited Borgarfjörður.
Swans sitting on huge nests in fields along the road.
Jun 6th, 2019, 12:17 PM
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We didn't get a lot of sun on our trip. Mostly temperatures in the 40s, overcast, mist, sometimes a cold wind. Light rain part of a couple of days.
The lake up on the pass was just starting to thaw in places.
We did not experience many crowds in late May. Just at Thingvellir Park and at one restaurant along Hwy 1.
The lake up on the pass was just starting to thaw in places.
We did not experience many crowds in late May. Just at Thingvellir Park and at one restaurant along Hwy 1.
