Iceland [for vacation]

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Erwin
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Iceland [for vacation]

Post by Erwin »

Has anyone been to Iceland on vacation? My wife and I will be there for 10 days in the fist part of August. We arrange with a local travel company to do a self drive tour. I get a car, a place to stay every night as we travel the 1400 km loop and a detailed map/cell phone/GPS, etc. Is there anything out of the ordinary that I should be aware? Thank you.
Erwin
grok87
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Re: Iceland

Post by grok87 »

mpt follower wrote:Has anyone been to Iceland on vacation? My wife and I will be there for 10 days in the fist part of August. We arrange with a local travel company to do a self drive tour. I get a car, a place to stay every night as we travel the 1400 km loop and a detailed map/cell phone/GPS, etc. Is there anything out of the ordinary that I should be aware? Thank you.
I've never been there but have always wanted to go. I hear you can stopover on the way to the UK. I'll be very interested to hear about your trip. From what i hear you should bring a sleep mask!
cheers,
RIP Mr. Bogle.
dailybagel
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Re: Iceland

Post by dailybagel »

I went with some college friends to Iceland, and did the "Ring Road" loop. Here are a few thoughts:


  • Reykjavik is a charming city with a European feel. All the other cities in Iceland are pretty small.
  • We had nine days in total, and spent about two days in Reykjavik on the front and back end. With about six/seven days for driving around the loop, we had significant driving every day, say 1-3 hours. Depending on your tolerance for road time, this might be too much.
  • Route 1 (the loop you mentioned) is mostly a two-lane road, with small shoulders. Imagine a rural state highway in the US. Not a big deal, just surprised me a bit.
  • We stayed in small, B&B-style accomodation, and really liked it. One place was a farm with outbuildings converted to housing, for example.
  • Not sure if this will be important, but in our experience, everyone seemed to know everyone. If you need help or advice, just ask at your hotel or lodgings. There's also a tradition of hospitality that seems alive and well.
  • Some specific recommendations: the large national museum in Reykjavik, the Akureyri Museum in Akureyri. We also had a great time at a volcanic hot springs place which was NOT the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon was pretty nice, but quite crowded even in the March off-season. I'll try to find the location of the particular one that we visited.
Hope this is helpful. If you have any questions, post again and I'll try to answer.
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NAVigator
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Re: Iceland

Post by NAVigator »

My daughter just returned from Iceland and Sweden about a month ago. She enjoyed seeing Reykjavik especially the Natural History museum as mentioned above. She also enjoyed the volcanic hot springs and geysers. There is a cave where you can go in a tourists and many caves for experienced spelunkers. Interesting landscape photos were taken at 2 am. She will be moving from Boston to Stockholm so there will be more opportunities to see neighboring Iceland.

Jerry
"I was born with nothing and I have most of it left."
Topic Author
Erwin
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Re: Iceland

Post by Erwin »

dailybagel wrote:I went with some college friends to Iceland, and did the "Ring Road" loop. Here are a few thoughts:


  • Reykjavik is a charming city with a European feel. All the other cities in Iceland are pretty small.
  • We had nine days in total, and spent about two days in Reykjavik on the front and back end. With about six/seven days for driving around the loop, we had significant driving every day, say 1-3 hours. Depending on your tolerance for road time, this might be too much.
  • Route 1 (the loop you mentioned) is mostly a two-lane road, with small shoulders. Imagine a rural state highway in the US. Not a big deal, just surprised me a bit.
  • We stayed in small, B&B-style accomodation, and really liked it. One place was a farm with outbuildings converted to housing, for example.
  • Not sure if this will be important, but in our experience, everyone seemed to know everyone. If you need help or advice, just ask at your hotel or lodgings. There's also a tradition of hospitality that seems alive and well.
  • Some specific recommendations: the large national museum in Reykjavik, the Akureyri Museum in Akureyri. We also had a great time at a volcanic hot springs place which was NOT the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon was pretty nice, but quite crowded even in the March off-season. I'll try to find the location of the particular one that we visited.
Hope this is helpful. If you have any questions, post again and I'll try to answer.
Thank you very much, very useful. We were planning to visit the Blue Lagoon in the morning of the one full day we have in Reykjavik, and then in the afternoon walk around (now we will add the Museum). Are you suggesting differently?
By the way, our trip starts in Norway, where we have rented a small water front cottage in one of the Fjords for a week. Never been in Iceland, but traveled extensively and Norway is by far my preferred site for outdoors and sightseeing, even better than the south of Chile. Erwin
Erwin
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: Iceland

Post by TomatoTomahto »

My wife ran a marathon there many years ago. She has no particular recommendations (they would be out of date in any case), but said that you'd really enjoy it. The people are friendly and the landscape is other-worldly. Thanks for posting; we're thinking of it for our next vacation since you jogged (pun intended :D ) her memory.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
Super Hans
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Re: Iceland

Post by Super Hans »

I went last August for 5 days and had a great time. I rented a car from Hertz at the airport and went straight to the Blue Lagoon and then drove through some interesting terrain before checking into a hotel in Reykjavík (next to the famous hot dog stand, which I recommend even though I don't usually eat hot dogs). The city is nice, but it's much smaller than any European capital and I wouldn't allocate too much time for the city itself. I slept there throughout my short trip, though. I devoted one day to the "golden circle" route, topping it off with a seafood feast at Við fjöruborðið in Stokkseyri. I didn't think to stop to pay my respects to Bobby Fischer at Selfoss. The next day I took the long drive out to the glacial lagoon, Jökulsárlón. I stopped a lot along the way, including for a short tour at a geothermal power plant. On another day, I went out on a whale/puffin watching boat ride after checking out the museum that others mentioned.

With 10 days, you should be able to knock out the whole island. The very long days help in that regard. I don't know if it would be worth getting a 4 x 4 to really go off the beaten path. My Corolla was fine for my more limited journey. One thing to watch out for is keeping your gas tank topped up as you venture to more remote areas. There are lots of self-service, unmanned pumps, but if you're using a US credit card without the smart chip, they won't work.
beardsworth
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Re: Iceland

Post by beardsworth »

mpt follower (original poster),

Iceland has been in the news a lot for taking a different approach to its national financial crisis than is being taken by many other countries. That's what I thought this thread was going to be about when I saw the one-word thread title "Iceland."

I can't guarantee how much difference it would make, but you might attract fewer people looking for financial news, and more people with experience-based travel advice, if you changed the title to something like "Iceland travel."

Best wishes on your trip.
dailybagel
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Re: Iceland

Post by dailybagel »

mpt follower wrote:
Thank you very much, very useful. We were planning to visit the Blue Lagoon in the morning of the one full day we have in Reykjavik, and then in the afternoon walk around (now we will add the Museum). Are you suggesting differently?
By the way, our trip starts in Norway, where we have rented a small water front cottage in one of the Fjords for a week. Never been in Iceland, but traveled extensively and Norway is by far my preferred site for outdoors and sightseeing, even better than the south of Chile. Erwin
Sounds like a lovely vacation. My suggestion is not to skip the Blue Lagoon. Only to be prepared that it will be pretty busy.

When we went in mid-march, the BLue Lagoon was crowded with European and American tourists. Still a fun experience.

In contrast, the other hot springs place, with saunas and a small facility, was nearly empty, with ourselves and one or two other parties. A much more relaxing experience. I can remember it was near a geothermal power plant, although I know that doesnt really narrow it down.
nhdean
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Re: Iceland

Post by nhdean »

I went last june with my wife and we rented a car also. we had a great time. We are going back in october hoping to see the northern lights. The most memorable ride for us going to see Eric the reds birth place which was reconstructed. We went to the top of the Snæfellsnes peninsula. It was a really good dirt road that took us through a fjord. It was great. When you get to the town of Stykkishólmur you can take a cruise around the bay to look at the birds and the bay. They will throw a net into the water and get some scallops which you can eat. Obviously there is so much more but that is just one of the things I enjoyed the most.
animule
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Re: Iceland

Post by animule »

mpt follower wrote:Has anyone been to Iceland on vacation? My wife and I will be there for 10 days in the fist part of August. We arrange with a local travel company to do a self drive tour. I get a car, a place to stay every night as we travel the 1400 km loop and a detailed map/cell phone/GPS, etc. Is there anything out of the ordinary that I should be aware? Thank you.
Our family is actually going to Iceland at the end of this month, a three day, two night stopover before Amsterdam. We're staying just outside of the capital, and rented a car while there (and took out the gravel insurance). We plan on concentrating on the western quarter of the country and would like to try to make it to the northwestern fijords area if the roads aren't too challenging.

The rental car place has an interesting video about getting around. Sobering, to say the least. And I've seen a few photos of what happens when people have tried to cross rivers in cars, so we're hoping to avoid that kind of disaster.

http://www.iceland-car-rental.com/en/pa ... cts-icr-en
birdy
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by birdy »

As Part of a cruise, we went to Iceland, Norway, and Belfast Northern Ireland. Our Cruise was on the Royal Princess. We left out of Southhampton England. Iceland was very other-worldly. The land was rugged (volcanic) and the Icelandic people use alot of geothermal energy for heating their homes. Reykjavik is their capitol. While there we went to Arbaer Folk Museum (open-air museum with old homes and a very pretty setting to wander around). We went to The Pearl (glass-domed area on top of a giant hotwater tank) for a nice view of the area (if not enough time, easily skip it). Wullfoss Waterfall was very impressive--they do not believe in guard rails and people we right on the very edge of the waterfall (very scarry to us). We went and visited the geysir field where the name "Geysir" was origionally coined. Was diferent from our Yellowstone geysers with people walking right up to the erupting features! We also ate lunch at the Hotel Geysir. We werethere early July and it was in the mide 40's to mid 50's so make sure you take warm clothing and gloves. The big tourist thing was to buy hand knit sweaters, but they were VERY expensive. They also had little troll-like statues everywhere which were really cute (we only took pictures of them). We also did a fun little walk/hike through a rift in the tecktonic plates (I can't remember what the place was called). While in Iceland the sunrise was at 3:15 am and Sunset was 11:48 pm. Very strange to be sitting in the ships hot tub at 11:00 at night with the sun still up! The one thing I wish I could have done was ride an Islandic horse. They have a special gate called "Tolt". I did get a chance to jump across a ditch at a rest stop and pet the very friendly horses out in their pasture!
Lots of the people spoke English and were really helpful when my husband and I decided to take a city bus to visit a different outdoor museum and couldn't figure out which bus to take! We also visited Akureyri and Godafoss Waterfall. Fun and different country to visit! Food and drinks were expensive, but we ate mostly on our cruise ship anyway. You will have a great time in a unique country!

birdy
halfnine
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by halfnine »

We drove around the island back in 2009. Although we camped instead of arranging lodging for the flexibility as we didn't know how long we wanted to spend at any one place and didn't want to confine are options. Since the camping in Iceland is first rate (hot showers, laundry machines at many, etc) its not much of a sacrifice.

As far as not to be missed. Many sites are either along the Golden Circle or within a few miles of the Ring Road that goes around the island. So based on their proximity to the main routes, I'd say all those sites are worth a look.

Now, there are some excursions off the main route if you have more time or don't mind the additional driving . Of those....

We enjoyed Dettifoss although you have to drive off sealed road to get there. Took us about 45 minutes one way but the road wasn't as bad as indicated although I am sure this varies by season and year.

We took the ferry to Hrisey and had some Halloway beef at Brekka. It was one of the best meals I've had anywhere.

We also drove up and around the Northwest of the island. Definitely worthwhile to escape the other foreign tourists, see the fjords, and get up close to the puffins at Latrabjarg. But you'll definitely need a few extra days to add the loop.

We also enjoyed just taking any road other than the Ring Road to get from A to B. No one individual spectacular site or moment in doing this. But just a lot of little things here and there that added up. This really isn't much of an option though if you are not camping.

Some other notes:

Go for a horse ride. We did but also wished we would have tied this in with a farmstay along the way.

There are many Icelandic specialties, definitely eat them.

There apparently is a free bike tour (leave a tip) of Reyk. We didn't know about it at the time but would have done it otherwise.

We skipped the Blue Lagoon and opted for the Myvatn nature baths instead. So can't comment one versus the other but it is an option for you as well.

You really can pay for just about everything with a credit card. The gas stations though require a credit card with chip and a pin number. So you'll need to either have one of those, pay inside during gas station operating hours or buy a gas card (the gas card rounds up on each use so get as close as possible when filling up). We did run into an unmanned gas station out in the middle of nowhere that was solely in Icelandic. Fortunately an old man walked up out of nowhere and sorted it out for us.

Without a 4x4 we were pretty much able to drive everywhere except we missed out on the Interior, Laki, any of the lava caves, and Landmannalaugar. Everything else was reachable except a bit slower going in some instances. Most of the driving on the main road circling the island (including the far northwest roads) are almost entirely paved these days. Anyway some more driving info from my notes... The ring road is packed with foreign tourists during the summer. It is also mostly paved with the main exception being the stretch where you leave the south and head off to the east. The non F roads in Iceland are all easily driven by 2wd vehicles and it's rare when the roads are so rutted/potholed that you would have to drive at 15 kph. The most challenging stretch of 2wd road was actually the bypass road (bypasses the longer ring road) we took to get from the south to the east. Not challenging because the road was bad but because of the 17% grade on narrow, unsealed road with blind corners and good drop-offs.... 90 kph on sealed roads (generally I was doing about 100-110); 80 kph on unsealed (generally I was doing between 40-60 with our tiny car); don't really have to worry much about speeding as all the Icelanders were flying by and hardly a cop around.

Enjoy.
nhdean
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by nhdean »

I wanted to ask what tour group you are using. I am going to Iceland in Oct and booked a trip with a guide this time around?
damasco9
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by damasco9 »

Hi, i went last year with my wife in a trip in Reykjavík in iceland and let me tell you something , we were amazed by the greatness of this little country from the north of europe..it's a little more cold from the rest of europe but you get used to it after a while..anyway you have a lot to visit if you have the time ..i totally recommend it.. :happy
nhdean
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by nhdean »

We went last year and rented a car. We thought we saw lot, but realized there is a whole lot more to see.Through dogs, wife shows, we met a breeder out there. we actually went over for dinner. We had great time.

I booked a guided tour this year to iceland.
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Erwin
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by Erwin »

mpt follower wrote:Has anyone been to Iceland on vacation? My wife and I will be there for 10 days in the fist part of August. We arrange with a local travel company to do a self drive tour. I get a car, a place to stay every night as we travel the 1400 km loop and a detailed map/cell phone/GPS, etc. Is there anything out of the ordinary that I should be aware? Thank you.

We are back from Iceland. WOW!! Should anyone be interested in details, post it
Erwin
magazinewriter
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by magazinewriter »

I'd be interested to hear about your trip. I don't have specific questions but Iceland is on my bucket list.
birdy
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by birdy »

I also would like to see what you thought of the country! I enjoyed it very much when we were there. Then people were just nice as could be and the countryside was very different from what we have here!

birdy
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Erwin
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by Erwin »

My wife and I were in Iceland 11 days. Two days in the capital of Reykjavik, nothing special, and the other 9 traveling. We did the standard tour, the around the island full circle, about 1900 km (1180 miles).
I have been to many places in my life, and I consider Iceland just about the most impressive if 100% nature is the goal. Iceland is about the size of Cuba, but instead of 11 million people, only a bit of 300,000 people live there, out of which over half in its capital Reykjavik, so as you travel, you see very few people, if at all. The beauty is raw, untouched and unspoiled by man, from volcanos to geysers to glaciers, to spectacular water falls. As you drive you mostly see the Atlantic Ocean (although there were large stretches where we were inland) and if you think that Hwy 1 in California is beautiful, there is nothing comparable to the drive along the Icelandic coastline.
Since we knew nothing about Iceland, we got a self-drive package from one of the local tour companies (Nordic Visitor). It included a car (we picked a standard shift diesel Ford Focus - very adequate for 2 people, no need of 4 wheel drive), all the hotels (small and very pretty rooms mainly in farms) including breakfast, a cell phone, GPS (a must), and a very detailed map showing the main highlights along the way and the locations of the hotels, which trust me, they are nowhere. Not cheap, but I figured that if I was going to travel all the way to Iceland, I just did not want to make mistakes. But I am sure that it can be done cheaper if you have the time and patience.
Every day we would wake up around 8 (rather late for us but it was so painfully quiet that we naturally slept longer), had breakfast, and around 10 we would start the drive. Between June and into September, there is almost no darkness, so we never had to worry about starting the day too late. We would never reach the next hotel before 8 PM, but it always felt like in the middle of the day. Also, in early August, we had great weather. Around 15 C (60 F) and almost no rain. We have heard that it can get really cold and nasty, but we were lucky.
We really enjoyed the drive, very few if any cars which is important because the roads were very simple two way roads - one lane in each direction. We stopped many times, either to see a natural attraction, where you see some tourist, or just to admire the spectacular views of the landscape (mountains, water, vegetation, colors, etc.) If we had to do it again, there were many places where we would have stayed longer, so I think that I would have added a couple of more days). By the way the Icelanders speak perfect English, I felt I was back in the states, they are extremely friendly and very proud of their country, as they should be.
In summary, very enjoyable!
Any further questions, write to me.
Erwin
birdy
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by birdy »

Thank you so much for the update on your trip! I got to relive my time there! Did you swim in the "blue Lagoon"? That was one thing I wish we had had time to do.

birdy
nhdean
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by nhdean »

I agree with everything you said about Iceland. We had a great time there as well when we went last year for the first time. We were lucky and met a couple out there and they invited us over for dinner. His parents own a sheep farm and they made us leg of lamb. I am not a lamb fan, but this was incredible. We are fortunate that we will have a free day in Reykjavik and we are meeting up again. We booked our next trip in October through Tour.is.

Living on the east coast makes airfare really reasonable. It is actually less to fly there compared to flying to the west coast.
magazinewriter
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by magazinewriter »

Thanks for the update mpt follower. It sounds like a wonderful trip.
animule
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by animule »

Hi Everyone,

Had a chance to visit Iceland in late July of this year. Have to say that the place blew us away. Only spent three days there, but holy smokes - this place is just amazing as far as the natural beauty is. We rented a car and stayed in a place just outside of Reykjavik, did the Golden Circle (Gulifoss, Thingvelleir, Geysir) and more.

One piece of advice - get GPS. You will get lost. The T-shirts there say "Lost in Iceland" as if it is some kind of sport. They don't mark a lot of the roads very well in Iceland. You could be on a road for a half hour before seeing a marker for it.

Iceland is like a combination of Hawaii, Wyoming, Nova Scotia, Western New York and who knows what else. The sheer beauty of waterfalls totally unspoiled by commercialism of any type, of grassy mountains, of horses all over the place, of glaciers, mountains and more will just blow you away. And the place is literally "on fire." If you want to see geothermal in action, just look for the smoke rising from the ground. It marks vent places for the steam coming from deep down.

We traveled there on a lark as we were going to the Netherlands anyways on Icelandair, and thought "why not?" I have to say that this place is something else. If you like natural beauty - this is the place.
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Erwin
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by Erwin »

birdy wrote:Thank you so much for the update on your trip! I got to relive my time there! Did you swim in the "blue Lagoon"? That was one thing I wish we had had time to do.

birdy
Yes, we went to the Blue Lagoon (next to Reykjavik) and then to another thermal bath, Myvatn Natural Baths (next to the Myvatn lake), which we liked even better, smaller and less people. The feeling of being in a bath where hot water flows out of the bottom of the pool is really an experience.
Erwin
Cash
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by Cash »

halfnine wrote: There are many Icelandic specialties, definitely eat them.
Except hakarl. I tried that and was vomiting for the next 24 hours...(made even worse b/c I tried it the night before our flight to London for the Olympics...)

Otherwise, I enjoyed Iceland (and its food) very much :).
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Erwin
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by Erwin »

Cash wrote:
halfnine wrote: There are many Icelandic specialties, definitely eat them.
Except hakarl. I tried that and was vomiting for the next 24 hours...(made even worse b/c I tried it the night before our flight to London for the Olympics...)

Otherwise, I enjoyed Iceland (and its food) very much :).
They have superb lamb and fish, specially cod. You can try horse or whale meat, which I did but did not enjoy either.
Erwin
nhdean
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by nhdean »

I just got a couple of weeks ago from my second trip over there. We had a great time. We were lucky because the 8 days we were there it was perfect weather. We were also very lucky to see the northern lights on all but 2 nights.
protagonist
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by protagonist »

I liked this place...really nice owners....good place to meet people and chat: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_R ... javik.html
nhdean
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by nhdean »

I have been to Reykjavik twice and I never saw that place. I was even in that part of the city. I guess I have to go back and find it :D
slbnoob
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by slbnoob »

Excellent thread. Any comments on the following would be appreciated.

1. I am planning to go around August-September mainly keeping low airfares in mind. Anything to consider about the weather then?

2. I will carry a credit card with chip. But I am also considering carrying significant cash with me. I don't want to hand over money to CC companies for their ridiculous exchange rates. Any suggestions for CC for foreign currencies.

3. How to get a cell phone working in Iceland? Can I carry my S4 or even a basic GSM phone from here and buy a SIM?

4. Carry a GPS from here.

5. Should we make hotel reservations along the whole route (Ring Road) or just take it as we go. Since its late August-September, I am hoping for not much tourist crowd.
slbnoob
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by slbnoob »

Bump.

Any pointers on how to arrange for accommodation while I'm driving along Route 1 early September?
oxothuk
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by oxothuk »

slbnoob wrote:Excellent thread. Any comments on the following would be appreciated.
2. I will carry a credit card with chip. But I am also considering carrying significant cash with me. I don't want to hand over money to CC companies for their ridiculous exchange rates. Any suggestions for CC for foreign currencies.
My experience was that CCs could be used almost everywhere in Iceland, even for very small purchases. The local bus in Reykjavik was one exception (solved by buying a daily pass).

There are many CCs now which don't have foreign transaction fees.
Armydoc
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by Armydoc »

Just got back from a week in Iceland with family. We rented a camper in Reykjavik, and would recommend this for someone who is adventurous and doesn't want to deal with finding a hotel everyday. As you know, the things you want to see/do in Iceland are not centrally located around 1 city, so its not like you will want to come back to home base each night. In Iceland, you can pull off on the side of the road and "camp" basically anywhere you want. Some of our favorite spots were no surprise: Gulifoss, Geysir, Skogar, Jokulsarlon. There are often no hotels in the immediate area, but you can camp right next to a giant waterfall, icebergs, etc.

One piece of advice, if you shop at the grocery stores.... "Bonus" is the major grocery chain. Their logo is a pig. When we provisioned at Bonus the first day, we really thought that we purchased a lot of pork, because every package of meat had a pig on it and the text was in Icelandic, which we don't understand. I never saw an actual pig in Iceland, but we found that they raise a lot of sheep and horses for meat. Might bother some people.

I would also agree with above posters that you really should have a GPS. Usually I go off paper maps, but the $7 euros/day for the GPS was well worthwhile on this trip.
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TheTimeLord
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by TheTimeLord »

mpt follower wrote:Has anyone been to Iceland on vacation? My wife and I will be there for 10 days in the fist part of August. We arrange with a local travel company to do a self drive tour. I get a car, a place to stay every night as we travel the 1400 km loop and a detailed map/cell phone/GPS, etc. Is there anything out of the ordinary that I should be aware? Thank you.
No but I really want to go. Images I have seen from there are amazing.
IMHO, Investing should be about living the life you want, not avoiding the life you fear. | Run, You Clever Boy! [9085]
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swimirvine
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Re: Iceland [for vacation]

Post by swimirvine »

I'm "Icelandic" and I put that in quotes because I was born in the U.S. but my family is from Iceland. When I've visited I've always stayed with family.

The highlands and Hveravellir hot spings are great especially if you can camp overnight. Bring your bathing suit! You should know that they are VERY picky about rental cars and where you take them. You have to rent a 4WD SUV if you want to go to the highlands. The roads are terrible. They have GPS on the cars and if you rent a sedan and take it to the highlands they'll slap you with a huge fine.

Other things to see:

Gullfoss (waterfall)
Geysir (geyser)
Thingvellir (park) - one of the only places you can see the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates separating above the ocean.
Black Cliffs - not sure of the name but it's beautiful

There are public pools in almost every town if you know where to find them. It might cost a dollar or two to get in but anyone can use them. They usually have multiple hot tubs, a swimming pool and a slide or two. As we drove around my family would always have us make a pit stop for a meal and dip in the local pool. They're all geo-thermal heated.

Have Fun!
The way I invest my money is not the right way to invest, it's the right way for ME to invest.
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