Trip Report for Iceland - AMAZING!
Jun 21st, 2005, 10:55 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Trip Report for Iceland - AMAZING!
First, I want to thank everyone for all their advice as I was planning my trip to Iceland. I went with two friends, who were both very busy at work before we left, so I basically planned my own trip and they went along with it. I wanted to post my report - hopefully this will help other people planning their trip.
Quick overview - I LOVED ICELAND. I think this is one of my favorite countries. The scenery is incredible, and you literally don't know what is going to show up over the next hill. There is absolutely no smog (which I found amazing), and you can see for miles. We spent 6 days in Iceland, we used Reykjavik as our base. For us, it worked well, but if I went back again I would travel further and stay in some of the farmhouses.
NOTE ABOUT FOOD: I had read a lot about how expensive the food was, so we came prepared. Our breakfast was included in the price of the Guesthouse, and we came with all sorts of food - trail mix, granola, crackers, cookies, and peanut butter. We made our sandwiches in the morning and took it with us. We only ate out at dinner. We actually did very well as far as food prices go - spent very little and we never felt hungry. I would go this route again next time I vist.
Day 1-2: Arrived in Reykjavik early (about 6:30 am). We had a reservation at Guesthouse Anna, so we went directly there. The room, of course, wasn't ready, so we walked down to Cafe Paris in the middle of the town and had breakfast. Today was a recovery day, so we went back to the hotel, took a nap, and walked around a bit. Guesthouse Anna was nice. We had a triple room with our own bathroom on the third floor. It was a bit outside the main part of the city, but only about a 10 minute walk - not bad. Since it was light pretty much all the time, we didn't worry too much about this.
In the evening, we were picked up by the Hertz rental car people and we went to pick up our car. We rented a car just for one day. When we arrived at the rental place there was a bit of a problem - the car we had rented was not available. We had wanted a small automatic, with the automatic being the important part. I asked them if they had another automatic we could use. They did, and were very apologetic when they told me the only car they had was a brand new Rav 4, and would we be ok with that? We started laughing - of course we would take an upgrade. We also got an audio CD from them. I had arranged this car through Icelandair before we arrived, and we received the CD for free. This is a fabulous way to see the golden circle. You get a map and a CD that takes you through the entire golden circle. Once we got out of the city it was very easy to do, and it was nice to be able to take our time and see what we wanted to see. We all agreed that this was a great introduction to Iceland. The drive was very easy to do in one day, and we were home by 6:00pm.
Day 3: We were picked up early for our tour of Landmannalauger with Mountain Taxi. There were only 4 of us in the jeep, and our tourguide, Christian, was great! Very knowledgeable, and took us to many little out of the way places to take pictures. My favorite picture from my entire trip was taken on this tour. I highly recommend this one - it is called Landmannalauger, but my sister and I dubbed it "hidden treasures of Iceland." Landmannalauger itself is an area where thermal rivers meet up with glacial rivers, and you can bathe right where they meet. Very neat experience - the water is HOT! We were lucky that it was very empty when we were there - I've been told that in the summer it can be packed! We were back at our hotel around 8:00.
Day 4: Picked up early by Alf at Highlander Tour. This tour covered the Southern Coast - driving almost to Vik, then into the interior to Thorsmork. Again, a fabulous tour. Alf was a great tour guide - knowledgeable and very funny. We drove down the south coast to the black sand beaches, and drove on there for a while. Then we drove up to the Glacier and several of us went on a snowmobile ride. Then back down the glacier and over to Thorsmork for hiking. We finished off by driving up the side of a mountain for a beautiful view of Reykjavik! This tour was a long one, but we all agreed we got our money's worth.
Day 5: AM - Whale watching. We were lucky and saw several whales while we went whale watching. Reykjavik is not the best place to see it, but the Snaelfullnes peninsula was not opening until June 1st (we were there from May 26-31). This was a nice way to spend the morning. In the afternoon we walked around Reykjavik and went to several museums, then went back for a quick nap before going out to dinner. Tonight was the one night we treated ourselves to a fancy meal. We went to the restaurant 3 Frenchmen(can't remember what it is in Icelandic). Great seafood place - excellent meal. It was a nice way to spend our last evening there.
Day 6: Picked up early (again!) for our trip to the Reyjannes peninsula. Again, beautiful vistas as you drive around, and THOUSANDS of birds - like nothing I've ever seen. Spent the morning driving around the peninsula, and ended at the Blue lagoon. Spent several hours enjoying ourselves there, then got back on the bus and went to the airport.
All in all, a fabulous vacation! We did spend a lot of money on day tours (which I know not everyone agrees with), but all 3 of us felt that it was money well spent. A lot of times the tour guides would stop at out of the way places that aren't on any maps, and we would never have had a chance to see them if we had tried this on our own. Plus, we all agreed that none of us wanted to try driving some of those roads - roads being a very generous description of what they were. LOL!
Thanks again for everyone's advice, and hope you enjoyed my report. If you have any questions or need more info, I'll be glad to supply it!
Quick overview - I LOVED ICELAND. I think this is one of my favorite countries. The scenery is incredible, and you literally don't know what is going to show up over the next hill. There is absolutely no smog (which I found amazing), and you can see for miles. We spent 6 days in Iceland, we used Reykjavik as our base. For us, it worked well, but if I went back again I would travel further and stay in some of the farmhouses.
NOTE ABOUT FOOD: I had read a lot about how expensive the food was, so we came prepared. Our breakfast was included in the price of the Guesthouse, and we came with all sorts of food - trail mix, granola, crackers, cookies, and peanut butter. We made our sandwiches in the morning and took it with us. We only ate out at dinner. We actually did very well as far as food prices go - spent very little and we never felt hungry. I would go this route again next time I vist.
Day 1-2: Arrived in Reykjavik early (about 6:30 am). We had a reservation at Guesthouse Anna, so we went directly there. The room, of course, wasn't ready, so we walked down to Cafe Paris in the middle of the town and had breakfast. Today was a recovery day, so we went back to the hotel, took a nap, and walked around a bit. Guesthouse Anna was nice. We had a triple room with our own bathroom on the third floor. It was a bit outside the main part of the city, but only about a 10 minute walk - not bad. Since it was light pretty much all the time, we didn't worry too much about this.
In the evening, we were picked up by the Hertz rental car people and we went to pick up our car. We rented a car just for one day. When we arrived at the rental place there was a bit of a problem - the car we had rented was not available. We had wanted a small automatic, with the automatic being the important part. I asked them if they had another automatic we could use. They did, and were very apologetic when they told me the only car they had was a brand new Rav 4, and would we be ok with that? We started laughing - of course we would take an upgrade. We also got an audio CD from them. I had arranged this car through Icelandair before we arrived, and we received the CD for free. This is a fabulous way to see the golden circle. You get a map and a CD that takes you through the entire golden circle. Once we got out of the city it was very easy to do, and it was nice to be able to take our time and see what we wanted to see. We all agreed that this was a great introduction to Iceland. The drive was very easy to do in one day, and we were home by 6:00pm.
Day 3: We were picked up early for our tour of Landmannalauger with Mountain Taxi. There were only 4 of us in the jeep, and our tourguide, Christian, was great! Very knowledgeable, and took us to many little out of the way places to take pictures. My favorite picture from my entire trip was taken on this tour. I highly recommend this one - it is called Landmannalauger, but my sister and I dubbed it "hidden treasures of Iceland." Landmannalauger itself is an area where thermal rivers meet up with glacial rivers, and you can bathe right where they meet. Very neat experience - the water is HOT! We were lucky that it was very empty when we were there - I've been told that in the summer it can be packed! We were back at our hotel around 8:00.
Day 4: Picked up early by Alf at Highlander Tour. This tour covered the Southern Coast - driving almost to Vik, then into the interior to Thorsmork. Again, a fabulous tour. Alf was a great tour guide - knowledgeable and very funny. We drove down the south coast to the black sand beaches, and drove on there for a while. Then we drove up to the Glacier and several of us went on a snowmobile ride. Then back down the glacier and over to Thorsmork for hiking. We finished off by driving up the side of a mountain for a beautiful view of Reykjavik! This tour was a long one, but we all agreed we got our money's worth.
Day 5: AM - Whale watching. We were lucky and saw several whales while we went whale watching. Reykjavik is not the best place to see it, but the Snaelfullnes peninsula was not opening until June 1st (we were there from May 26-31). This was a nice way to spend the morning. In the afternoon we walked around Reykjavik and went to several museums, then went back for a quick nap before going out to dinner. Tonight was the one night we treated ourselves to a fancy meal. We went to the restaurant 3 Frenchmen(can't remember what it is in Icelandic). Great seafood place - excellent meal. It was a nice way to spend our last evening there.
Day 6: Picked up early (again!) for our trip to the Reyjannes peninsula. Again, beautiful vistas as you drive around, and THOUSANDS of birds - like nothing I've ever seen. Spent the morning driving around the peninsula, and ended at the Blue lagoon. Spent several hours enjoying ourselves there, then got back on the bus and went to the airport.
All in all, a fabulous vacation! We did spend a lot of money on day tours (which I know not everyone agrees with), but all 3 of us felt that it was money well spent. A lot of times the tour guides would stop at out of the way places that aren't on any maps, and we would never have had a chance to see them if we had tried this on our own. Plus, we all agreed that none of us wanted to try driving some of those roads - roads being a very generous description of what they were. LOL!
Thanks again for everyone's advice, and hope you enjoyed my report. If you have any questions or need more info, I'll be glad to supply it!
Jun 21st, 2005, 11:35 AM
#2
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 273
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wow, it sounds like a great trip and I enjoyed reading your report. Iceland is one of those places that I will surely never get to, but it’s always been in the back of my mind as an interesting stop.
I’m curious, were there any language problems? How widespread is English where you visitied? Did you like the food and did you try many of the native dishes on those occasions when you dined out?
What is the political climate in Iceland, toward Europeans? Toward Americans?
Thanks again for the great report. Sounds like you had a ball!
I’m curious, were there any language problems? How widespread is English where you visitied? Did you like the food and did you try many of the native dishes on those occasions when you dined out?
What is the political climate in Iceland, toward Europeans? Toward Americans?
Thanks again for the great report. Sounds like you had a ball!
Jun 21st, 2005, 11:51 AM
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 309
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Great trip report egordon132! I was in Iceland just about a year ago and loved it too. Isn't it crazy how it never gets dark? I hope to go back sometime in the winter to see the Northern Lights.
Patti
Patti
Jun 21st, 2005, 02:21 PM
#6
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 515
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Great report!
Iceland is little mentioned on these boards so it's good when an interesting report appears to read. I've promised myself I will get back there sooner rather than later as it's easily one of my favourite places to visit and you've included some great ideas of things I didn't do the first time.
How many hours daylight were you getting at the end of May?
Iceland is little mentioned on these boards so it's good when an interesting report appears to read. I've promised myself I will get back there sooner rather than later as it's easily one of my favourite places to visit and you've included some great ideas of things I didn't do the first time.
How many hours daylight were you getting at the end of May?
Jun 21st, 2005, 07:22 PM
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wow - glad everyone liked my report! Makes me glad I wrote it! 
I"ll try to answer everyone's questions:
1) Language - we never had a problem with language. Everybody speaks English (and I mean everybody!). Most menus had english on it as well. Which is a very good thing, because Icelandic is NOTHING like English, French, Spanish...the list could go on. But, we did have fun trying to say the names.
2) We did not see any overt problems against tourists, Americans, or anywhere else. Iceland is a very safe place, and everywhere we went people were very friendly. On our first day there we went to a public pool, and we did meet a lot of Americans there (which was pretty funny). Other than that, though, it seems to be a big tourist attractions for Europeans more than Americans. But, that is just from the bit I saw.
3)Food - I'll be honest - we are not very adventurous eaters. We did try the hot dogs, which were very good. Otherwise, we really didn't try the typical Icelandic specialties. We were trying for cheap, so that is what we focused on. We had great pizza two nights at Eld smidjan, which is at the very top of Bragagata. Cute place - does tons of takeout. WE also had several meals at Vegamot. This place is apparently happening in the evening, but the food is good too. All types of food - the link is http://www.vegamot.is/en/
One funny item of note about Iceland and food is that there seems to be a fascination with Mexican food. We weren't expecting it, but burritos and nachos were on all types of menus.
4) Daylight: We were there the last week in May. It never got completely dark - we had 'twilight' from about 11:30pm to 3:30am, but it was never dark. I think during the summer it actually stays bright during the evening
5) Contacts: I'm an internet junkie, so I booked EVERYTHING over the internet. One nice thing is that you know exactly what you are going to do before you arrive. Also, a lot of the places gave a discount for prebooking over the internet. However, as has been discussed before, Iceland is expensive. Our tours were about $200-$300 per person each. It is expensive, but we felt that the benefits of the tour far outweighed trying to rent a car and do this on our own. First of all, we did a lot of offroading and none of us were comfortable with this. Also, the guides knew lots of out of the way places to show us that we would never have found on our own. This was an expensive trip for us, and there are definitely cheaper ways of doing it. But, we would do it again in a second!
Tours we used (not meant as an advertisement for anyone!)
www.mountaintaxi.is
www.highlander.is (we arranged the snowmobile tour with them)
www.whalewatching.is
www.icelandexcursions.is (for Reykjannes peninsula tour)
Ok, think that answered everyone's questions. Glad everyone enjoyed the report! Let me know if you have any additional questions.
Liz
I"ll try to answer everyone's questions:
1) Language - we never had a problem with language. Everybody speaks English (and I mean everybody!). Most menus had english on it as well. Which is a very good thing, because Icelandic is NOTHING like English, French, Spanish...the list could go on. But, we did have fun trying to say the names.
2) We did not see any overt problems against tourists, Americans, or anywhere else. Iceland is a very safe place, and everywhere we went people were very friendly. On our first day there we went to a public pool, and we did meet a lot of Americans there (which was pretty funny). Other than that, though, it seems to be a big tourist attractions for Europeans more than Americans. But, that is just from the bit I saw.
3)Food - I'll be honest - we are not very adventurous eaters. We did try the hot dogs, which were very good. Otherwise, we really didn't try the typical Icelandic specialties. We were trying for cheap, so that is what we focused on. We had great pizza two nights at Eld smidjan, which is at the very top of Bragagata. Cute place - does tons of takeout. WE also had several meals at Vegamot. This place is apparently happening in the evening, but the food is good too. All types of food - the link is http://www.vegamot.is/en/
One funny item of note about Iceland and food is that there seems to be a fascination with Mexican food. We weren't expecting it, but burritos and nachos were on all types of menus.
4) Daylight: We were there the last week in May. It never got completely dark - we had 'twilight' from about 11:30pm to 3:30am, but it was never dark. I think during the summer it actually stays bright during the evening
5) Contacts: I'm an internet junkie, so I booked EVERYTHING over the internet. One nice thing is that you know exactly what you are going to do before you arrive. Also, a lot of the places gave a discount for prebooking over the internet. However, as has been discussed before, Iceland is expensive. Our tours were about $200-$300 per person each. It is expensive, but we felt that the benefits of the tour far outweighed trying to rent a car and do this on our own. First of all, we did a lot of offroading and none of us were comfortable with this. Also, the guides knew lots of out of the way places to show us that we would never have found on our own. This was an expensive trip for us, and there are definitely cheaper ways of doing it. But, we would do it again in a second!
Tours we used (not meant as an advertisement for anyone!)
www.mountaintaxi.is
www.highlander.is (we arranged the snowmobile tour with them)
www.whalewatching.is
www.icelandexcursions.is (for Reykjannes peninsula tour)
Ok, think that answered everyone's questions. Glad everyone enjoyed the report! Let me know if you have any additional questions.
Liz
Jun 21st, 2005, 09:26 PM
#8
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 729
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
egordon132, great report. We are leaving for Iceland on July 11th. Can hardly wait. What kind of things did you do in the evening? I have been trying to find info on the Light Night folklore show in Reykjavik. Did you by chance go? Glad you had a great time!
Jun 24th, 2005, 05:53 AM
#12
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 158
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
what a great report! I enjoyed reading it!! Iceland sounds amazing. I've always wanted to make my way over there.... one of these days! For now,thanks for letting me live it though your writingsIt sounds like you had a terrific time. Thanks for sharing...
