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Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Blue Lagoon, Golden Circle, Westman Island.

Basically any tour you could want to do can be booked out of Reykjavik, you'll just get to see more of the countryside via car and being on your own.

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kanonvandekempen
Mar 14, 2009
I'm going to be in Iceland with 4 friends in september. We'll have about 10-12 days, I was planning on doing some kind of 9-10 day round trip of the island. Are there going to be a lot of tourists around that time? i'm thinking of organising everything myself, rather than using a travel agency, but I don't know how feasible it is.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


It's doable, you're just going to be doing a bunch of traveling. There's one main road that goes around the entire country so the logistics aren't particularly difficult and aside from Reykjavik, Keflavik, Akureyri most of the towns consist of one main road and some side streets. It's nearly impossible to get lost.

As far as attractions and things to do, we've gone over the southern half of the island pretty extensively so just read back and you can find the information you need. Other than that I'd look at tripadvisor to pick out things to see and do. It's used pretty extensively by tourists to the country and fairly accurate.

Also, September is considered off peak. Once schools are back in session things get a lot less crowded. You should be fine as far as crowds and access to reservations/Airbnb/whatever.

Whip Slagcheek fucked around with this message at 21:48 on May 28, 2016

lightpole
Jun 4, 2004
I think that MBAs are useful, in case you are looking for an answer to the question of "Is lightpole a total fucking idiot".
Even off peak times fill up for certain things and major attractions. If there's anything must see on your list try to plan ahead a little.

Pablo Gigante posted:

I just booked a four day trip at the beginning of my vacation this summer, end of July/beginning of August (going to Northern Ireland to visit family and then to England). Staying in Reykjavik but I'm renting a car so I can take day trips. I would love to see more of the country but that's what return trips are for right? :) What are some good day trips from the city

Cover the whole south coast from Reykjavik to Jokulsarlon. If you start from Reykjavik plan to be in the car for maybe 12 hours to get there and back but you should cover most of it.

There are day trips to hike Skaftafell out of Reykjavik if necessary but anything further east pretty much requires you to grab a hotel over there. You can make it with a car and leaving early but I wouldn't recommend it. Most of the closer stuff has transportation as well but driving there is much better.

lightpole fucked around with this message at 06:27 on May 29, 2016

transient
Apr 7, 2005

kanonvandekempen posted:

I'm going to be in Iceland with 4 friends in september. We'll have about 10-12 days, I was planning on doing some kind of 9-10 day round trip of the island. Are there going to be a lot of tourists around that time? i'm thinking of organising everything myself, rather than using a travel agency, but I don't know how feasible it is.

I *think* I had 10 days total in Iceland in June (most daylight of the year) a few years back. We spent ~7 of them on the southern half. We could have shaved a bit off, but they were full days of hiking, sightseeing, overnight in the Westmann islands, etc.

Like Whip said it's totally doable, but I can't imagine having had as much fun trying to do more. Off the ring road, the north has a lot worth seeing and a ton of fjords that will slow you down considerably.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
Yeah, we had 11 days and went south to Jokulsarlon then north to Latrabjarg and I wouldn't have really liked to do much more driving than that in the same time period.

JasonDouglasBerry
Oct 24, 2005

Indolent Bastard posted:

Any advice for someone that will be in Reykjavik in mid-June?

I'm looking for high cool factor. I don't want to fly there to shop or see some mundane bullshit.

Driving is fine, costs aren't a huge deal but I don't want to go home broke.

I spent about 12 days in Iceland last September and had a blast. We used the South Circle Passport bus pass (approx $165 USD) with Reykjavik Excursions and it worked out really well because it took us to all of the places we wanted to see in the southern portion of the island. We spent 3 days camping in Skaftafell which has a super high cool factor. You can set up a tent in the campgrounds there and take one day to hike to the summit of Kristínartindar Mountain where you have awesome views of two separate valleys with glaciers pouring in. You can also take a day to go ice climbing in Skaftafell - which is super rad. On the bus ride up, you stop at neat landmarks along the way.

I'm not a huge fan of having to drive in foreign countries for multiple reasons, so I didn't mind the bus experience at all. I'm also all about travelling frugally - being able to camp helps.

If you like hiking/backpacking, hike the Landmannalauger trail, or if your short on time, just the Fimmvorduhols trek.

Also, in going along with the advice of others, buy all of your booze at the Duty Free shop in the airport. Not only is it expensive to buy alcohol in Iceland, but the liquor laws are pretty strict and many of the stores have limited hours.

Hope this helps.

Happy Travels!

sweatshopdaycare
Sep 26, 2005

~~~facial hare~~~
After reading through this thread I am wondering if this itinerary is realistic or if we need to scrap our plans. We would be renting one of those camper vans to use for our travel, eating, and sleeping. The time periods after each bullet are supposed driving times according to Google Maps. This would be end of June - early July.

Day 1 Monday: Interior (4 hours 20 minutes total drive time)
• Arrive in Reykjavik and rent a car
• Drive to Ţingvellir National Park (37 minutes)
• Drive to Geysir, see the Strokkur geyser (55 minutes)
• Drive to Gullfoss Waterfall (11 minutes)
• Drive to Keriđ Crater Lake (47 minutes)
• Drive to Seljalandsfoss Waterfall (1 hour 6 minutes)
• Drive to Reynisfjall troll rocks (46 minutes)
• Spend the night in Vik (2 minutes)

Day 2 Tuesday: Southern Iceland (3 hours 31 minutes total drive time)
• Drive from Vik to Svartifoss Waterfall (1 hour 42 minutes)
• Hike around Vatnajökull National Park
• Drive to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon (46 minutes)
• Drive to Höfn (1 hour 3 minutes)

Day 3 Wednesday: Eastfjords (4 hours 43 minutes total drive time)
• Drive from Höfn to Djúpivogur (fishing town) (1 hour 29 minutes)
• Djúpivogur to Eskifjörđur (fishing town) (2 hours 6 minutes)
• Eskifjörđur to Seydisfjordur, spend the night (1 hour 8 minutes)

Day 4 Thursday: Northern Iceland (3 hours 25 minutes total drive time)
• Drive from Seydisfjordur to Námaskarđ martian landscape (2 hours 25 minutes)
• Námaskarđ to Grjótagjá cave (3 minutes)
• Grjótagjá to Myvatn hell landscape (10 minutes)
• Myvatn to Husavik, stay in Husavik (47 minutes)

Day 5 Friday: Whale Watching (5 hours 47 minutes total drive time)
• Whale watch in Husavik
• Drive from Husavik to Reykjavik (5 hours 47 minutes)

Day 6 Saturday: Relaxing day in Reykjavik (options below)
• Elf School (Alfaskolinn)
• Blue Lagoon (42 mins Southwest of Reykjavik)
• Gljúfrafoss (cave waterfall south of Reykavik)
• Silfra (42 mins Northeast of Reykyavik, scuba dive in a lake between two tectonic plates)

Day 7 Sunday: Fly back

Edit: forgot to ask if anyone has any experience with the camper vans and how they worked with just pulling over for the night to sleep along the ring road or at a camp site.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


God drat that's a ton of driving. On its face your itinerary is doable, but frankly it sounds exhausting. Day 1 is going to be a kick to the balls if you're not rested. The Golden Circle can be pretty busy traffic wise but your flight should arrive early, as most US flights do.

I didn't do any RV'ing in Iceland but my understanding is their rules are fairly lax about just pulling off and setting up camp. All of the big national parks have RV parks and if I remember correctly they didn't charge much for you to stay the night.

As an aside make sure you have 24 hours between your dive and your flight. Getting bent because you flew too soon after you went diving is a very real risk.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
Are you multiple drivers, sweatshop? For one driver that sounds pretty awful (24 hours in 5 days) but for 2 it sounds reasonable. I'm planning on ~36 hours of driving in 9 days which is only a little less intense than yours (2 drivers), also at an average of like 3.5 hours a day plus one super long day through Landmannalaugar.

sweatshopdaycare
Sep 26, 2005

~~~facial hare~~~
Thanks much to you both for the quick replies! Yeah we are two drivers. Sounds like we will need to load up on caffeine in Reykjavik but I'm glad to hear our plans aren't totally crazy.

Indolent Bastard
Oct 26, 2007

I WON THIS AMAZING AVATAR! I'M A WINNER! WOOOOO!
Does anyone have opinions on the Viking Festival June 16- 19?

Does it really start at 1pm? That seems late to me.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
It's daylight pretty much 24 hours of the day which means everyone starts pre-drinking at like 11pm, a 1pm start time is totally normal.

Also that sounds loving dope, absolutely go, and do the archery and axe throwing.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Yeah Iceland is bizarro world is start times, especially when it's 24 hours of light.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
I'm bummed that I'm missing all the cool solstice festivals in Iceland by one day. I should've flown in at the start of the weekend and not the end.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
https://en.ja.is/kort/?type=map&x=510939&y=399268&z=4

This map is so much massively better than Google maps that anyone in charge of Google maps Iceland should just quit their job in shame.

Google maps really makes driving the F roads seem excessively simple and straightforward, when actually there are a ton of tracks running in different directions all over the place (e.g. particularly around Landmannalaugar).

I still have fingers crossed that the roads to Landmannalaugar will be open by next week when we go, but if not I guess we'll have an extra day in our itinerary and can go to the northwest fjords. Right now you can only get to thorisvatn.

Indolent Bastard
Oct 26, 2007

I WON THIS AMAZING AVATAR! I'M A WINNER! WOOOOO!
What booze should I grab at the duty free?

I want to avoid the licorice flavored stuff and no Brennivín or Akvavit please. :barf:

E: OK after a little more research maybe Brennivín.

Indolent Bastard fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Jun 13, 2016

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Something I forgot to mention but if any of you are in a town when there's a pro soccer game going, go. They're cheap and a really fun atmosphere. We went to a game in Vestmannaeyjar and it was like a scaled down premier league atmosphere. The entire town shuts down and everyone files into the stadium.

Saladman is probably out of luck though because they're on a break due to Euro 2016, but there's watch parties in Reykjavik.

Indolent Bastard
Oct 26, 2007

I WON THIS AMAZING AVATAR! I'M A WINNER! WOOOOO!
I am on a quest for some really good salted licorice, I'm in Reykjavik, any suggestions?

transient
Apr 7, 2005

Saladman posted:

I'm bummed that I'm missing all the cool solstice festivals in Iceland by one day. I should've flown in at the start of the weekend and not the end.

I was going to say you weren't missing anything, but a quick search shows they do have a pretty cool festival now. The solstice was pretty much a non-event in 2012.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

transient posted:

I was going to say you weren't missing anything, but a quick search shows they do have a pretty cool festival now. The solstice was pretty much a non-event in 2012.

Maybe the current festivities also have something to do with the entire country's male population between 18-45 being in France for a month playing in the Eurocup.

Off to my flight! I hope I don't have to resort to cannibalism during my two hours in Berlin Tegel, if it's anywhere close to as bad as posters in this forum make it sound.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
Tegel is fine, you just kind of feel like you just stepped into the middle of WWII when you're there.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Think of it as a living historical experience :eng101:

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
I survived. It's actually a fine airport in summer. It's so open that it seems like you might freeze to death transiting terminals (or even waiting at C terminal) in winter though. C terminal is depressing but A/B terminal was modern enough with food options and etc. It's a super weird layout I've never seen anywhere else ever though for Term A--every single gate gets its own security check and bag claim?? Super odd.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


I feel like CDG is like that too, but that's a massive sprawling airport

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
CDG is easily in the top 3 worst airports known to man but at least Tegel is like 1/1000th of the size.

Aquila
Jan 24, 2003

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU3TYFSNybg

Sigur Ros driving the ring road right now. Makes me want to go to Iceland even more. I think I know what I'm gonna burn all my miles on.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Heh. Icelandair has the Sigur Ros discography as part of their in flight entertainment.

Pablo Nergigante
Apr 16, 2002

Never been to Tegel but confirming that CDG sucks and is really ugly too, at least the terminal I flew into. Orly was much more pleasant

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Frankly I'm surprised the cheapest option to Reykjavik wasn't WOW Air or Icelandair. In almost every instance they can undercut their competition pretty noticeably.

With that said, Keflavik is a fine airport until you get to the departing gate. Then it becomes hell on Earth. First and only time I've ever actually taken the time to contact corporate offices and complain about operations.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
I flew Air Berlin which is a dirt cheap carrier in general. Iceland Air was dramatically more expensive from Zurich -- like double even though it was a direct flight. Didn't check WOW specifically, but WOW does list on Google flights and it wasn't close to Air Berlin's prices.

I have a 12:45 am flight and get kicked out of Blue Lagoon at 9pm so I should have a ton of time to drop off the car and get through security on the way back, pop some melatonin, and zombie my way through a 6am landing in Düsseldorf. Kind of odd that the flight connections arent symmetrical actually.

Did the golden circle and the south coast to Vik the last couple days. All beautiful but nothing totally unique. No goddamn puffins, seagulls seem to have pushed all the puffins near Vik out of their nesting sites. We have a 2600mm spotting scope that works as a camera attachment and we were thorough in checking the cliffs.

Off to Landmannalaugar tomorrow.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Puffins are pretty hit and miss because they spend a bunch of time out fishing for food. Whale watches are a pretty good opportunity to see them.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
We saw one. ONE. Puffin at the end of Snaefellsnes peninsula at the lighthouse. Tons of other birds. Poor puffin, had a nest ready and everything :/. Spent an hour and never saw Mr (or Mrs) Puffin

Decided to go to Reykjavik today instead of Latrabjarg so we could watch UEFA. Correct choice. Back home tomorrow at midnight, but definitely would come back. 11 days not enough even for a moderately intensive schedule.

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Yeah I would love to be in Reykjavik right now for the Euro. It was probably pandemonium yesterday after the win against England.

ookuwagata
Aug 26, 2007

I love you this much!

Whip Slagcheek posted:

Frankly I'm surprised the cheapest option to Reykjavik wasn't WOW Air or Icelandair. In almost every instance they can undercut their competition pretty noticeably.

With that said, Keflavik is a fine airport until you get to the departing gate. Then it becomes hell on Earth. First and only time I've ever actually taken the time to contact corporate offices and complain about operations.

Haha, yeah, I remember waiting in a big mass of people waiting to get on the plane, then this official comes up to me and demands to know my itinerary. I tell him I arrived a week ago, and now am returning to the US. He wants to know my itinerary when in the US.

I was confused as hell. "I'm going home." He keeps asking me for my itinerary in the US. "I debark at JFK, clear customs, walk to the domestic departures and go to San Francisco, and go home?" He keeps asking me my itinerary. I'm confused as hell and don't know what he wants. I show him my printed out ticket, and he keeps asking for my itinerary.

Eventually he demands my passport, and disappears with it for 10 minutes, and then returns it to me and clears me to get on the plane.

lightpole
Jun 4, 2004
I think that MBAs are useful, in case you are looking for an answer to the question of "Is lightpole a total fucking idiot".
WOW was the cheapest option with an actual direct flight as opposed to waiting around JFK for a day for me. I didn't have any problems in Keflavik either. The airline did lose my buddies checked bag and I didn't get him the hotel address like I should have so that was a bit of a pain but everything else was easy aside from the terrible terminal set up. I don't remember what he flew but it wasn't WOW.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
I never had to clear customs, but when the European gates of KEF are a shitshow. The airport is operating at about 500% designed capacity in the summer though so I kind of get it. i think my favorite part might be how they have approximately 3 seats per gate and everyone else has to sit on the floor or stand for an hour while waiting for them to decide when tiur 3am takeoff time should actually be.

I don't envy the people working though, sounds super stressful. Except that customs official who seems like he didn't speak English at all. (Actually I was kind of surprised at how badly English was spoken by many older Icelanders; maybe Danish was still the king foreign language until the 60s or 70s?)

Whip Slagcheek
Sep 21, 2008

Finally
The Gasoline And Dynamite
Will Light The Sky
For The Night


Yeah the waiting areas near the gates are awful. You're almost better off backtracking to the food court area and hanging out there until it comes time to be by the gate.

Comb Your Beard
Sep 28, 2007

Chillin' like a villian.
How about an abbreviated Iceland itinerary for a long layover coming or going to Europe? Those cheap Europe flights are pretty tempting plus the opportunity to check out Iceland.

Reading this thread it seems to be a few days of Reykjavik + 1 or 2 days of the Golden Circle.

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Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
More than 2 days of Reykjavik sounds pretty boring, even if 1 of those days is mostly a travel day. It's a small town, and while nice enough, it's still a small town that was 98% built in the late 1900s and is mostly modern shopping streets and nondescript buildings. If you stop over for more than 1 day, do something outside on the Golden Circle.

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