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visiting iceland

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Just watching the programme on iceland. If you were going for a long weekend (4 full days) to look at pretty places, sit in warm pools of water and spend money on extortionately priced food with the gf , what time of year would people recomend and where to go... rekjavik sound obvious but is it best considering limited time?
Post edited at 00:55
 ben b 02 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

Icelandair flights aren't too expensive to Reykjavik, especially if going to the U.S. (family are going to Boston via Iceland next week). The Golden Triangle is the tourist trail, but I gather from Icelandic acquaintances (one of whom, fantastically, is called Fannysdotttir) that there's a lot of sitting on buses involved. I think they are going to do the blue lagoon one day and decide about the waterfalls another... Will post back on how they get on in May.

B
 Bob Aitken 02 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):
You can go any time, even in midwinter; the landscape's starkly dramatic under snow and you have a good chance of seeing aurora. But for ease of getting about and half-decent temperatures, June-September are best, though you don't go to Iceland for sunbathing, and there's a risk of remoter roads flooding at any time of year. And it doesn't really do 'pretty places', a lot of it is spectacularly stern verging on awesome, even if there aren't any current substantial eruptions - though in the nature of Iceland, there's almost certain to be another one coming alone quite soon, and there are various places where you can see the ground steaming and feel it warm under your feet.
Easyjet now flies from various British centres to Keflavik, the primary airport, about 45 minutes from Reykjavik. Reykjavik can hardly be escaped even if you'd want to, since it has a great chunk of the total population - most of Iceland is either empty or very sparsely populated - but it's also the centre of culture, entertainment, etc.
Car hire is expensive and it's a long way between places, often over barren lava plains, so four days won't take you far unless you really work at it. The Golden Triangle mentioned by ben b is the very popular tourist circuit in the SW that takes you to key sites: Blue Lagoon (organised thermal-pool swimming), Thingvellir (site of ancient parliament, dramatic geology), Geyser (geysers!) and Gullfoss (impressive monster waterfalls). Best to allow two days for that. Lots of bus/minibus tours available if you want to avoid the driving.
 Solaris 02 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

As others have said, Iceland doesn't do "pretty" landscapes.

4 days? Reykjanes peninsula with or without the Golden Circle. Hire car – no need for 4WD.
 Chris Craggs Global Crag Moderator 02 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):
We went last year in June and loved it. Be aware that prices double in the High Season - July and August. We didn't go into the Blue Lagoon - strikes me as a bit of a rip-off/tourist trap - they wanted to charge us €10 to go into the cafe and have a look round!

http://chriscraggs.blogspot.gr/2014/06/iceland-first-impressions.html

http://chriscraggs.blogspot.gr/2014/06/iceland-two-weeks-in-and-counting.ht...

Chris
Post edited at 17:08
 skog 02 May 2015
In reply to Bob Aitken:

We went last October, for a week, and had a wonderful time.

I'd just base yourselves at Reykjavik and visit places from there, 4 days is not long!

Here's what we did:
http://www.ootnaboot.scot/iceland2014/iceland2014.htm

 Trangia 02 May 2015
In reply to Chris Craggs:

> Be aware that prices double in the High Season - July and August.

Bloody hell! They are already doubled out of season by our standards....

How do Icelanders live? Fishing can't be that lucrative and banking has failed.
 Bob Aitken 02 May 2015
In reply to Trangia:

One part of the answer is self-evident - Iceland had over a million tourist visitors last year ...
In reply to Solaris:

I didn't mean pretty = as in rolling hills of chocolatebox land I meant to say impressive as in "Look at Mount Doom, hasn't Sauron picked and impressive place to stay" type of wow this isn't Derbyshire type landscape.

End of year Oct/Nov might suit Ok actually. I think she would prefer Paris but heyho!
 Solaris 02 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

The Reykjanes peninsula (and environs) will give you a taste for the kind of place that Sauron would choose to stay, and there's more than enough spectacular and wild landscapes to explore for 4 days. Also, there are romantic places to stay in this general area.

Travel in Iceland more than amply rewards initiative and resourcefulness, so it's well worth doing plenty of research on the internet and in travel guides before committing yourself to a firm booking. (But don't leave booking too late.)
 mattsccm 02 May 2015
In reply to Solaris:
We went at the Feb half term for 4 nights. From talking to other it seems that our flight etc with Icelandair from Brum was much more pleasant than the Easyjey trip. We had 23kg luggage allowance for a start. Blue lagoon isn't a bargain but bloody good fun with a blizzard blowing whilst sitting in hot water. We found it cheaper to book through the airline. We used the Hotel Liefur Eriksson which is bang opposite that tall white cathedral thing. Wasn't terribly cold, sub zero and a bit,. Food was pricey by my standard but it seemed to be posy Cotswolds pub and tea rooms prices. Buy your own beer when you land from the duty free. Nice little cake shop/café on the main drag, from the harbour to the big pond. Down from the town end then left a bit.
Good fish restaurant in the volcano museum and that wasn't too pricey. Find the Pink Pig super market, can't remember the name for cheap grub.
Kipper 02 May 2015
In reply to mattsccm:

>... Buy your own beer when you land from the duty free.

Good advice, and the only way to get beer until a few (20?) years ago.

Food is pricey; try the Puffin. Has that bloke from Blur still got a restaurant there - it was quite good?

Don't try to buy wine; even if you can find one of the secret shops that sells alcohol, you'll need a bank loan
 genericflipper 03 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

went over last October on the cheap. used wow airlines, a cheap but good independent car hire place, shopped at Bonus supermarket etc. Its not as expensive relatively as it was 10 years ago. their cost of living only 19% higher than UK . much cheaper in shoulder season eg car hire 1/2 price.
 ck85 03 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

I went I'm December last year for 4 days, it was plenty of time to see all the usual stuff on the golden circle, jökulsárlón lagoon, part of thingvellir park, a geothermal area near keflavik and we did a bit of off road driving to find a plane wreck on the southern coast.

We Flew easyJet and rented a cottage through bungalo.com near the golden circle (didn't go into Reykjavik at all) and rented a 4 wheel drive car. It probably came to around just over £300 each.

I'd recommend laugarvartn spa instead of the blue lagoon, much cheaper and quieter and nearer the sights so you can fit it in at the end of a day's sightseeing.

It snowed quit quite a lot while we were there and before we arrived but all the roads were fine except the f roads which were shut but that was fine for what we wanted to do.

I'd totally recommend Jokulsarlon lagoon, it was a 4 hour drive but absolutely stunning. That and seeing the northern lights made the trip for me.

I'm currently in the process of booking to go again in August and things are much more expensive for that time of year. Everyone told me that if you see Iceland in winter you'll want to go again in summer and vice versa.
 wilkesley 03 May 2015
In reply to idiotproof (Buxton MC):

Went a couple of weeks ago with one of my daughters. Spent a day on Reykjanes Peninsula before taking a flight to Egilsstaoir. Then spent five days driving back to Reykavik along the coast. Being lazy we arranged our trip through Icelandic Guides, who prebooked our accommodation, arranged hire car and internal flight. Definitely one of my best ever holidays.

The weather can be brutal. We hired a Land Cruiser because we intended to follow some stone roads. When we got to Skaftafell the car was lifted off the road twice by the wind in a snow storm. Going from the hotel to the cafe over the road I was lifted right off my feet and blown about 20 yards before landing. I have been blown over several times before, but never like that! It took me about 20 minutes crouched right down and moving a few feet at a time between gusts to cross the road. The window in our room (steel frame double glazed), which was firmly shut was literally blown off its hinges.

If you take advantage of the all you can eat breakfasts and take enough for lunch it saves a lot of money. Most shops don't open until 10:00am. We took a stove and some dehydrated meals too. You can buy the screw threaded canisters at most garages. As someone else mentioned Bonus is a good place to shop.

Phone coverage is generally good. Buy a local SIM at one of the shops. However, many areas are very remote. On one of our days looking for the end some glacier, we got quite lost on some stone roads in a snowstorm. We were about 8 miles from the road with no phone signal. I had planned to follow my tracks back, but they had drifted over. We ended up on a track with a washed out section, where 4WD in Low Range came in very useful!

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