Trip report: 5 days in Iceland
 

I'm excited to share my trip report of 5 days in Iceland. We had a bunch of excursions scheduled but were canceled due to poor weather and volcanic activity. I think the biggest takeaway was to have a backup plan ready (which we didn't). One excursion was successful and I loved it!

Here are pictures, our itinerary, recommendations, and learnings:
http://fanofblank.blogspot.com/2017/...-and-more.html

Happy trip planning and thanks for reading!

Hi lindygirl - really enjoyed your report. We're headed to Iceland for 10 days in May and your report left me even more price-shocked than I expected.

Might have to pack some Ramen noodles:)

Hi lindygirl, Nice report. We also plan an Iceland trip but in June and will spend most of our time in the West Lands up around Rif.. It sounds like that $18/person buffet breakfast at our hotel might be the best deal of the day.

Did you have any problems with credit cards?

How about ATMs? I wonder since most of our time we will be somewhat off the beaten path.

Re credit cards/ATMs. I just returned from 4 days in Iceland. I arrived with equivalent of $100 (USD). I returned with $50 - and would have had the entire amount if I had not paid for a taxi with it and left a few optional tips.

Everyone uses credit cards everywhere - even for small purchases. I don't think I even saw any cash used for any transaction by anyone.

lindygirl -

Just sent your link to my husband, who, after reading it, asked if you're an accountant:)

hey basingstoke2,
we had no problem with credit cards. i used my capital one card that has a chip and i don't get charged foreign transaction fees.

no problem with ATM withdrawls either - i lined up for one of the ATMs in the downtown area. it seems most places take credit cards so i barely used cash.

enjoy your trip!

oops, i meant "withdrawals" not "withdrawls"!

thanks melnq8! yeah, those prices caused me to do a double-take as well. i just tried to ignore them otherwise i wouldn't have done anything or eaten anything! i figure i'll only be in iceland once... :)

haha, i'm not an accountant. i'm a product manager. i'm known for being meticulous and detail oriented though!

is it weird that i enjoy recording everything? you should see my travel spreadsheet. i love this stuff!!

Linda - I've only just started ready your TR and I can tell you than the prices we paid 10 years ago were pretty steep too. The only cheap thing was the free coffee top ups - do they still do that?

BTW I love the layout and design of your blog - very neat and the pie chart? Never seen one of those on a blog before.

<<is it weird that i enjoy recording everything? you should see my travel spreadsheet. i love this stuff!!>>

No, not weird at all - in fact very helpful for future travellers.

First report I've seen with a pie chart though, novel idea.

annhig,
i didn't know about the free coffee refills! i should have parked it at a coffee shop to take advantage of that. :o) maybe other travelers reading this thread will do that!

i'm glad you enjoyed the pie chart! i thought it would be too nerdy but i think it's helpful to visually explain the cost breakdown. i love reading about other people's experiences but without a cost context it's hard to know if you can do something similar.

ha, that wasn't meant to be a clown emoji. my happy faces have a little nose in them and now i know how it translates. i was going for this. :)

Melnq8,
thanks so much! when i travel i like to know everything - all the little pitfalls, the ah-ha moments, and of course actual costs. it really helps people understand if they would enjoy it as well.

glad you liked the pie chart. i tried a few things before settling on that. i thought it was an easy to understand visual. :)

Great blog and, yes, items like costs are SUPER helpful to travelers. The more detail the better!

I remember our sticker shock well. We blew our budget in Iceland in a way we didn't in any of our other European trips!

Thanks PegS! I was shocked after that first mediocre lunch. I don't mind paying a lot for great food (and service) but not for every meal! It almost made it hard to enjoy the food but... you gotta eat. :)

Glad I wasn't the only one who had sticker shock!

i didn't know about the free coffee refills! i should have parked it at a coffee shop to take advantage of that. :o) maybe other travelers reading this thread will do that!>>

lindy we found that free coffee refills were ubiquitous, save at one pub in the far western fjords where [wait for it] the coffee was free!!! The oxtail soup was pretty pricey though, as I recall. I remember at the big cafe/restaurant near Gulfoss as we were going in, there were some americans on the way out who were grumbling about the cost of the oxtail soup - $10 each I think they said it was - so we decided to go to the nearby pub where at least we would be paying a small fortune not to eat oxtail soup again.

Worse than the cost of the food was the standard of food, which we found pretty dire. The only place that we really ate well was at the expensive hotel Gylmur where stayed when we ran away from the awful holiday chalet that we had rented for 3 nights but only tolerated for one.

By the sound of it not much has changed.

Yeah, overall I didn't think the food was very good. There wasn't a ton of flavor aside from salt. The Icelandic meat stew we had at Cafe Paris was $26 a bowl. It's a crazy price but pretty normal given how expensive everything was there. Don't look at those prices!

Great trip report - especially since I just returned from 4 days in Iceland. Second slam of FlyBus - and apparently hotels and locals share this opinion. We took an unplanned tour of Blue Lagoon to Reykjavik trying to get to our hotel on a FlyBus - and then were dumped at their central station with 4 times as many people as would fit on the mini-vans. Everyone was rude and not helpful, which was in stark contrast to everyone else we met.

And in addition to high prices and poor quality of food, there is no good option for reducing cost. Even at places locals eat. Don't go for the food. But the experience is worth it.

gail,

Glad I wasn't the only one who didn't enjoy FlyBus. I had an especially bad experience at the FlyBus counter at KEF when I tried to understand if FlyBus could be an option to bring us back to KEF from the Blue Lagoon. I was merely asking questions about the schedule but instead, the woman working at the ticket counter took it upon herself to almost lecture me about how their buses stop running earlier some months of the year (and October happened to be one of those months). Lady, I wouldn't be asking you questions if I knew that. I simply wanted to know what my options were. Instead, she shoved a schedule at me to prove that they don't run past 4pm. Fine, I get that. What do I do now? Another lady at the counter (with great compassion) told me my best bet would be a taxi but that it would be very expensive. I appreciated that because at least she helped me understand my options.

I don't understand the attitude of the FlyBus employees. I may not like the answer you give me but at least it's an answer. It's better to understand what will happen than to just not even answer the question. It was so strange. I think explaining the situation would go a long way - most reasonable travelers would understand and work with you.

Ditto on the food. Unfortunately, you have to eat. We saw a lot of people at Bonus market - no doubt buying food to prepare their own meals!

lindygirl--I don't doubt your experiences at all, but thankfully ours were different:) We had some wonderful meals in Iceland! Snaps was the best, and we loved it so much that our kids dined there when they went a few months after us. We didn't have any issues with Flybus, other than when we we boarding the bus at the airport it was a bit confusing as to what bus to get on. At the transfer place though, we had a friendly lady as I too had questions.

mms - great to hear you had wonderful meals in Iceland! I really wanted to but only a few dishes stood out to me. Iceland was still a fun overall, just not memorable for the food.

FlyBus was okay but I just didn't think their customer service was very good nor were their operations very efficient. I think they could have done more to clear up confusion but I don't think the incentive is there since they don't have much competition. Maybe it'll change in a few years. :)

Yes, the food! Reykjavik is different, since it had the choices one would expect from a city, but going around the Ring Road it was hard to take expensive, yet mediocre food. We *did* end up picking snacks for dinner at various Bonus markets a couple of times just because the choices weren't great.

On our last two day and a half in Reykjavik, just before we flew home, I ate at a Thai noodle place twice.

Ahhhh, but the landscape is glorious. I hope to go back someday in the summer and visit the West Fjords and the Highlands.

lindygirl--I agree, if they had competition it would definitely help! The only so-so meal we had was one evening we just grabbed sandwiches from the nearby grocery store for in the hotel room. Pretty nondescript, but that would be the same thing at most grocery stores here too;)

PegS - I think I saw that Thai place and even thought about going there but I wanted to try some local fare. In hindsight maybe I should've given Thai a shot. :)

Ah, man you guys are bumming me out. Looks like we'll be eating at the Bonus Market.

Iceland is making Switzerland look like good value.

Sorry Melnq8! You might have a totally different experience and love the food! I think it's clear that we all think it's expensive, but taste is subjective. Just to give you context, my favorite cuisines are Thai and Vietnamese so it's easy to see why I drew the conclusions I did. :)

I really hope you have a blast! It's a beautiful country, full of friendly people and progressive thinking.

I just made a post about food in Iceland which has disappeared - oh well.

what I said was that those who are going round the ring road should see what the petrol stations have to offer in the way of food - often they have cafes or snack bars which can be surprisingly good.

Otherwise - good luck!

<<I think it's clear that we all think it's expensive, but taste is subjective.>>

Well, I certainly won't be eating any fermented shark!

annhig -

I shall add 'petrol station' to my Iceland food list.

At least ice cream is good (and affordable). I do love my ice cream.

And Friðheimar, the tomato greenhouse looks promising.

Mel - we found the soups edible at least, though mutton soup can become a little monotonous. IME it is worth looking at the eating recommendations in a decent guide book - and making a detour to experience them.

Will you be self-catering? [I know that it's your preferred style of travel] We tried it but it wasn't terribly successful as certainly when we went, obtaining varied fresh food at supermarkets [when you could find one] wasn't very easy, and when you did the quality was variable. We never really did find out where Icelanders bought their meat and fish which is weird I know. But the bakeries are very good so that's a start.

But like all travel, it's an adventure. Although we never ate the dreaded fermented shark we did try things like guillimot which was fine to eat, and we drank lots of coffee!

Melnq8 - I did enjoy: the Skyr, ice cream, coffee, and rye bread. Actually, the cream of langoustine was good both places I got it. The tomato soup at Friðheimar was fresh-tasting and the bread plentiful so that was a yummy lunch. Try their cucumber salsa - it was tangy and crunchy. I hope you'll be able to check it out.

You have to try the fermented shark! When in Rome... er, Iceland! Let's just say it was a bonding experience for me and my husband. Hehe :)

Iceland is also known for licorice. Chocolate with licorice is one of their specialties which you'll find plenty of at markets.

No, no, no on the fermented shark! Not even tempted.

annhig -

Unfortunately for me, I won't get anywhere near mutton soup. As if eating in Iceland isn't challenging enough, I don't eat seafood, eggs or meat (or licorice, but my husband loves it).

Sounds as if I won't be gaining weight, which is always a good thing:)

I do however, love ice cream, coffee and rye bread, and I look forward to trying the Skyr.

What's the chocolate situation?

I've been compiling a lengthy list of recommended restaurants/cafes/bakeries over the past few weeks. Hopefully, that will increase our chances of good food.

Regarding self-catering - we'll probably self-cater breakfast when its not provided by our selected hotels/guesthouses and also pack lunches. We're doing the very thing I tell people not to do in NZ - we have mostly one night stays - so much for taking my own advice - so I imagine that will severely limit any actual cooking.

Melnq8 - Ah, so you'll need vegetarian options... I don't recall much in the way of veggies but I'm sure you can find something. :) I also don't remember much about chocolate but it is available in markets and stores. Luckily there is plenty of Skyr, ice cream, coffee, and rye bread to enjoy. The pastries were also decent from what I remember.

Do try Sandholt - it was really good. I loved their coffee and they have plenty of bread and pastries. Braud & Co as well for bread and pastries.

There's a lot of chocolate, Melnq8, and Icelandic chocolate bars are quite good.

From the sound of it, DW will be subsisting on skyr and cheeses since veggies might be difficult to get. She will eat fish though so that is an option. No gluten so bread is out for her. Are eggs easy to come by - we will be in a self catering apartment in Snaefellsnes for 3 nights and eggs could be a real plus. That could be salvation. Me, I will eat anything. Well, almost anything. There is a cafe near the apartment that is well known for its fish soup. We are both looking forward to that.

Mel - if you remember my TR, you will recall that we took our own cucumber with is, more as a joke than as a means of providing sustenance, but as it happened it turned out to be quite useful as the situation with greens and fruit seemed to us to be quite dire. This was getting on for 10 years or so ago [I've just checked and it was of course 2008, just before the "Crash"] and we might just have been unlucky, but forwarded is forearmed.

I don't recall that there any problems about getting chocolate though!

<<we will be in a self catering apartment in Snaefellsnes for 3 nights and eggs could be a real plus.>>

Basingstoke - I can't remember a problem getting eggs either. Our one night in the "holiday chalet" aka the nightmare hut on the Snaefellsnes peninsular was remarkable for several things, including the smoked lamb/mutton which we discovered we had bought for supper. Not a great choice as DS hated [and still hates] anything smoked. However it had been the only meat on offer in the supermarket so that's what DH had bought. I can't recall what poor DS ate - perhaps it was the last of the cucumber!

Thanks lindy, I put Sandholt on the list after reading your blog and have added Braud & Co.

And thank you PegS for the good news on chocolate!

Melnq8--We tried Omnom chocolate there and loved it!!! They are bars, and salted almond was my favorite. Here is a link so you can see what they look like. They were not cheap, but worth it!

https://www.omnomchocolate.com/pages/products

I also really like Pure Icelandic Chocolate, but I can find that at Whole Foods here at home. The 70% extra bitter is my favorite of theirs.

This is fabulous, I'm even getting chocolate recommendations. Love it! Thank you mms!

I had a good experience with food in Iceland. I like Seafood and fresh veggies and most of the restaurants where I ate had those really tastily prepared. On the road there were fresh made sandwiches at the Gas Stations. When possible I did spend money to eat at good restaurants.

And yes,I loved Skyr.