marshacarlin

We are taking a trip to Croatia/Slovenia towards the end of May and thought we'd take advantage of Icelandic Air's offer to stop over in Iceland on our way. We are due in Dubrovnik May 22 to join a small tour, and are trying to decide on how long to spend in Iceland on our way there.... Icelandic will then fly us to Amsterdam where we will spend 3 nights before heading to Slovania to join our 15 day tour...so don't want to to extend our total travel time for too long...hence the question;
How many nights/days should we spend in Iceland?
What are the informed views on the must sees/dos at that time year, mid May? Will/might there still be snow...does it matter? (we are from the NE USA, so we can "do" snow but just wondering...I have read several previous questions/itineraries/trip reports on this forum but want to really know, given that we are trying to maximize our travel dollars, whether spending 4 nights/5days is enough or are we cutting it too short and will regret not spending an extra day to see/do..what?..We (mostly my husband) like outdoor activities at least seeing the natural beauties, and they are why we are going; will hike to a glacier, waterfall, etc, but don't intend for this to be a strenuous trip and would like to know if we can count on outdoor activities that time of year....
so....a day and half (2?) in Reykjavik, (a walking tour, museum depending on the weather); The Snaefellsnes peninsula, the Blue Lagoon at night, maybe the Golden Circle, small tour to?....not necessarily in this order.....anyway, sure those of you in the know feel like you answer this all the time but would appreciate being led to a good, reasonable, varied 4 night/5 day summary or itinerary...and then maybe we will come back again for more.......LOVE FODORS!....have been away too long...used to ask and report all the time but not so much in the last couple of years although we have traveled a lot. Thanks in advance for thoughts!

bigtyke

Do the Golden Circle, either on a tour ( that's what we did and it was enough ) or rent a car and drive yourself. You will not need any cash, credit cards are used everywhere. Food is very expensive.

Melnq8

We spent 10 days in Iceland last May - we had no major issues with the weather. You might get some ideas about things to see and do, and travel distances from my trip report, which you'll find here.

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...-trip-1453922/

jpie

Like bigtyke we found Iceland very expensive. We only had 3 nights total and did rent a car to go out to Blue Lagoon and tour a bit outside of Reykjavik. We also rented an apartment which was about the same cost of a hotel and we were glad we did so that we could eat a bit at home and have coffee etc. easily. We found with such a short time we really couldn't explore the north but I felt we got to see quite a bit for a first visit.